ADELAIDE star duo Scott Thompson and Patrick Dangerfield have been cleared to face West Coast on Saturday, although Thompson's fitness is likely to prove touch and go for the rest of the season.
Both players trained at Adelaide Oval on Friday morning, where Dangerfield's knee was given the 'all clear' by club doctors.
Thompson also made it through the light session, but given the unusual nature of his hamstring injury, coach Brenton Sanderson said there was a risk he could again tighten up against the Eagles.
Such will likely prove the case each week until the end of the year for the 31-year-old veteran.
"Scotty Thompson was a challenging one because it wasn't your typical hamstring injury, it's more of a neural referred pain … it's a back-related tightness," Sanderson said.
"You just don't know, if he gets a hit early or late in the game with fatigue, it's hard to pick up with those neural-type injuries.
"It's a tricky one to mange … where normally you miss three weeks and you're back at full speed again, we have to just ensure – particularly with his experience and his age – that we just keep monitoring him.
"Each week we'll probably just have to have a chat about where he's at and how he's feeling, hopefully it just keeps improving."
Despite Eagle Dean Cox being ruled out of the match after being knocked out last weekend, Sanderson said ruckman Sam Jacobs was still in for a "mouthwatering" battle with Nic Naitanui.
Jacobs, who plays his 100th game on Saturday, has been in All Australian form this season, averaging 32 hit-outs and nearly 17 disposals a game.
Naitanui will be supported by emerging ruckman Scott Lycett and also Jeremy McGovern at times and Sanderson tipped Jacobs would have his work cut out for him.
"The Jacobs/Naitanui match-up is mouthwatering, I know people don't traditionally go to the game to watch two ruckmen go at it but our boy, Jacobs, is in his 100th game, he's had a fantastic season but Naitanui is just something special," he said.
"He's got that x-factor ability - they take in three ruckmen, McGovern and also Lycett so 'Sauce' will have his challenges.
"He'll have to be at his best if they triple team him."
Victory on Saturday is crucial for Adelaide to maintain its position in the top eight, grasped when it beat Collingwood last weekend at the MCG.
That win saw the Crows draw level with the Magpies and Gold Coast on points, but a superior percentage meant they claimed eighth spot.
Sanderson pointed to the gritty performance as proof that his young side had learned from its various mistakes and missed opportunities earlier in the season.
He hoped that knowledge would guard it against lapsing mentally with so much again on the line.
"We've been in this situation before … last week the opportunity was there, we were the final game of the round, a win would have put us in the eight and we grabbed it," he said.
"That's the first time we've done that this year, we've been inconsistent.
"We're learning, we saw some great leadership late last week in that game against Collingwood."
