Selection smokey?
Neil Craig admits he is being uncharacteristically cryptic about the exact make-up of his team ahead of Saturday's qualifying final against Fremantle, but he's
The Crows named an unchanged line-up on Thursday night despite the availability of important big man Ken McGregor, who missed last week's win over Melbourne with a hamstring injury, and Craig wasn't giving much away when he spoke to the media on Friday.
"He's in our 25 and anything can happen, so he's not out of contention altogether, but in the end whatever side we put on will be what we believe to be the best balanced side that we need to put on the field based on the opposition that we're playing," he said following a 45-minute training session at AAMI Stadium.
"Normally we're pretty much up front because it's been a waste of time to go any other way because of when teams play.
"The way that this situation has fallen Woodville-West Torrens (McGregor's SANFL team) don't play until Sunday, whether it gives us any little edge or not to wait until the last minute, I don't know.
"Normally I don't waste time on it, but because the situation is slightly different this time, we'll just wait and keep our side together and the opposition will know 40 minutes before the game starts."
The inclusion on the emergency list of ruckman Ben Hudson - who hasn't played AFL footy all year as he recovered from a knee reconstruction - was also somewhat of a surprise considering the encouraging form of 20-year-old Ivan Maric who has eight games under his belt this season.
However, Craig showed a straight bat that would make Ricky Ponting proud when pressed on his choice of emergencies.
"Ken McGregor has missed three weeks of footy with a sore hamstring, now he's done everything he possibly can, but please don't assume that McGregor will come straight back in and please don't assume that Hudson is in the side or not in the side," he said.
"When we make those final decisions, we'll live and die by them."
Brent Reilly had been in some doubt after straining an adductor during last week's match, but Craig declared him "ready to go" after the midfielder completed the full session as well as a searching one-on-one test at its conclusion.
Craig couldn't suppress a laugh when asked about the momentum that each side carried into the match, but felt that the big win against the Demons may have been a turning point for an Adelaide team struggling to recapture its early-season form.
"They've got more momentum than we've got; they've got nine in a row and we've got one," he said with a wry smile.
"That's more momentum than we've got, that's why last week's win for us was important. Last week's game was very encouraging for us, but nothing like the momentum that Fremantle have got.
"I saw some good signs, our supporters would have seen some signature footy that we've played earlier in the year. I saw some signs the week before, but not for as long, so what I saw against Melbourne was not four quarters, but close - that's why our supporters should be reasonably confident in us going in."