BACHAR Houli has joined Dion Prestia as a confirmed out for Richmond's season opener against Carlton, with the Tigers set to enter Thursday night's clash with at least four changes to their premiership-winning line up. 

Houli has battled a calf issue over the pre-season while Prestia is dealing with a hamstring. 

Coach Damien Hardwick said neither player would face the Blues but expected both to be available for round two's Grand Final rematch with Adelaide. 

"Bachar was close and we could have rolled the dice and played him but round one games are so quick and fast and his recovery would then been hindered and he wouldn't have got enough training in," Hardwick said on Wednesday. 

"We thought we'd go the conservative approach and train him up for a couple of weeks.

"Round two he's an obvious inclusion from this point, and Dion is probably the same for next week, another week of training and we'll make the call over the course of the coming weeks.

"They're both really important players for us that we weren't prepared to risk in a round one encounter."

The Tigers will name their team on Wednesday evening with Nathan Broad (suspended) and Daniel Rioli (foot) the other definite omissions. 

Hardwick said Shai Bolton and Jayden Short, who both trained as part of a 26-man squad on Wednesday at Punt Road, would be "thereabouts" when it came to selection after "great pre-seasons".

Short was an emergency for last year's Grand Final after playing 16 games for the season, along with Corey Ellis, who also trained on Wednesday and is looking for a change in luck in the final year of his contract.

Reece Conca, Sam Lloyd and Anthony Miles were others from outside the premiership 22 to take part.

The Tigers are preparing for the Blues' more attacking brand on Thursday night and are conscious of stopping the dangerous Patrick Cripps, who has shown in the pre-season he's set to be used further up the ground.

The Blues will also unveil No.3 draft selection Paddy Dow after his blistering summer that culminated in the midfielder signing a three-year contract extension last week before he's even played a game.

"Cripps seems to get taller every time I see him, he's such an impressive player," Hardwick said.

"They've got a real weapon with Patrick and his ability to push a little bit forward as well.

"We've got some great defenders that will be able to manage him as best they can.

"A player like Cripps you always put some work into. He's incredible around stoppages and also developing that craft up forward.

"Then, they've brought in a young kid called Dow, who's going to be an incredible talent, and then to complement that with a guy called Murphy.

"They've got a really solid midfield that's exciting and developing, and it's going to be a really big challenge for our guys."

Hardwick said the Tigers still felt they were "the hunter" and that they've prepared as well as possible to maintain the type of pressure that took them to the flag.

"We did play some reasonable football in the JLT and really wanted to re-establish our brand early and I thought we did that," he said.

"The regular season proper is certainly different, sides are at different stages in their preparation.

"We'll get a fair indication after round one of where we're at."

Hardwick said the pre-game premiership flag unfurling "won't be front of mind for us" but encouraged the supporters to enjoy the moment.