KAYNE Turner will travel to Sydney as part of North Melbourne's squad of 25, but veteran midfielder Daniel Wells has already been ruled out of contention for Saturday night's semi final at ANZ Stadium.
Turner was badly concussed against Richmond two weeks ago and missed the Roos' elimination final win over Richmond on Sunday.
Coach Brad Scott confirmed Turner was fit to play this week, but Wells was only a chance if North progressed beyond this weekend with a win over the Sydney Swans.
"Wellsy won't play this week. We'll see how he trains today and our aim is to still have him available in the event we keep winning," Scott said on Thursday.
"We certainly haven't given up on him playing for the rest of the year, but he hasn't quite done enough this week to play."
Turner, 19, was stretched off after being knocked out in a dramatic marking contest in round 23.
The second-year forward is now a chance to add to the three finals he played in his debut season.
"We were really keen for him to play last week," Scott said.
"The medical staff cleared him, but we were just really concerned that it was such a significant hit he would need the extra week and hopefully the boys could get the job done and he'd be right to come in.
"He'll be in our 25 and we'll finalise that later in the week."
Lindsay Thomas was fined this week for kicking Dylan Grimes in the chest in the third quarter of Sunday's win.
Scott said the incident wasn't enough to jeopardise Thomas' spot in the side, particularly with how he played in the fourth term.
"If it was a regular occurrence he would [be in danger of omission] but it's not a regular occurrence, it was a bit of a instinctive move – not the wisest move – but for the rest of the game he was really good when he came on as the sub," he said.
"We need Lindsay to think about his actions and he responded really well after three-quarter time.
"I think his performance in the last quarter both defensively and kicking the goal that he did was really important for us.
"What I'm more concerned about is how players respond rather than focusing on the past."
The Swans will enter the match with key players Lance Franklin, Sam Reid, Luke Parker and possibly Kieren Jack to miss.
Scott said they still expected a strong showing given the Swans' renowned ability to compete hard regardless of available personnel.
He also felt the Roos had nothing to prove this weekend despite having attracted doubters this season, and criticism a fortnight ago for resting a raft of players.
"We go about our business without fear or favour; we don't fear criticism because of the decisions we make and we certainly don't expect anyone to pat us on the back when things go our way," he said.
"The last thing we're going to do is be vindictive and start telling people 'I told you so'.
"We're not concerned about that. We've just got to do our best."
