Adelaide midfielder Matt Crouch will miss the season opener due to injury as Senior Coach Matthew Nicks prepares to blood two debutants against Geelong on Saturday.

"Matty has pulled up a little sore through the hips and the groins and just lacked the power that he was after today during the (training) session," Nicks said on Thursday. 

"From more of a medium, longer term view, we didn't want to take a chance this week.

"(It's) a little bit of setback for Matty but more management for the time being to make sure we don't put him out there and he can't perform at his best.

"It's a tough one for me to put a (recovery) time on it.

"The power is the issue for a player, it's more about him being able to push off and get the power he wants, especially in the position that Matty plays - he's an inside mid and he uses that strength and that ability to accelerate."

Adelaide is set to give debuts to fresh draftees Sam Berry and James Rowe.

The Crows welcomed Berry with pick No. 28 and Rowe at pick No. 38 at last year's AFL National Draft.

But Nicks and his selection committee opted against debuting the club's highest draft pick Riley Thilthorpe, the No. 2 selection last year.

"We thought about round one... there's a certain amount of guys that you would love to get in and play at the level," Nicks said of Thilthorpe.

"It's a matter of how many (debutees) do you want to get into a footy side.

"This week we go up against the most experienced team in the competition so on the balance of how we went about that, it led to Riley not playing this weekend.

"He's a really exciting part of our future but we just want to make sure we don't rush him."

Nicks said selection for Round One was a difficult balancing act. 

"We looked at the opposition, we looked at the way they play - they really do control footy games," he said. 

"Most of our decisions were made around what we had ahead of the ball.

"It was the hardest position for us, trying to work out whether we went tall, small... there's that balance between competing in the air and bringing the heat on the ground.

“If you give Geelong too much time in their back line they set the ground up really well and it's hard to get the ball back off them.”

Nicks confirmed leadership group member Tom Lynch would be returning to the Crows AFL side on Saturday after playing in the SANFL. 

"We asked him to go away and lead the way a leader should and he was outstanding... he's an important part of where we're heading," Nicks said. 

Defenders Jordon Butts and Tom Doedee's names are also in the mix for selection after recovering from injury concerns, with Nicks contemplating how best to shut down the Cats’ Coleman Medallists Jeremy Cameron and Tom Hawkins.

"There should be the opportunity to bolster that back line a little bit with some of that experience," Nicks said.