The Crows' coach says up to 25 per cent of the team for round one is still undecided. While Adelaide’s steadfast defence is settled, Craig says spots up forward and in the midfield are still very much up for grabs.
“Lets say, about three-quarters of our side for round one would be in place,” Craig said on Thursday.
“So there are still some spots up for grabs. There are some areas in our side where there is a lot of internal competition and there are other positions where that’s not the case.”
Craig and his coaching staff have taken an “experimental” approach to the pre-season competition. Instead of resting key players, as many other teams have done, the Crows have played their stars in different positions.
“We actually want to have a look at some of our senior guys, like Simon Goodwin, Andrew McLeod and Tyson Edwards, in some different positions,” Craig said.
“But also in the squad of 26 that we’ll go with on Sunday are probably six or seven new, if not brand-new, faces. So we’ve probably got a reasonable mix of both experience and newness.
"We need to keep looking at experimenting up forward with some personnel and structure there. In the midfield we need to make sure we continue to give Richard Douglas, Nathan van Berlo, Chris Knights, Brent Reilly, Scott Thompson, Brad Symes, and those types of players, time and responsibility in there.
"That’s why we’ll resist putting Goodwin, McLeod and Edwards-type players in the midfield.”
However, senior players Brett Burton and Rob Shirley will both sit out Sunday’s game after reporting some general soreness over the past few days.
Emerging defender Greg Gallman also left the track early on Thursday afternoon after hurting his knee, but the club won’t know the severity of the injury until later in the week.
Draftee Andy Otten has again been named in Adelaide’s 28-man squad and Craig said the tall midfielder was a “possibility” to make his Crows' debut.
“If Andy doesn’t play on Sunday, we’d like to think that with the way he’s been training, and he probably just needs a bit more time on the track, hopefully he’ll get his opportunity, if not Sunday, then in the next couple of games.”
Fremantle has also named a strong side with skipper Matthew Pavlich, Josh Carr, Des Headland, Aaron Sandilands and new recruit Kepler Bradley in the squad.
The Crows demolished Collingwood by 81 points in Dubai, but Craig expected a much tighter tussle with the Dockers.
“Collingwood were a very tired football club in Dubai. They had been away for three weeks, been in altitude and they’d had some sickness,” he said.
“[In contrast] Fremantle will be rested, the intensity will be higher, their reaction will be quicker. So in terms of the competition, it will be stronger and that’s not taking anything away from Collingwood’s competition.
"It will be important for us to get that competition this week.”
