Callinan faces his last chance

Crows forward Ian Callinan may be struggling with a knee injury but he still found something to laugh about at training. Picture: Sarah Reed. Source: The Advertiser

IT is D-Day for Ian Callinan.

Adelaide's best crumbing forward must prove his fitness on Thursday morning or be left out of the AFL premiership season-opener against Essendon at AAMI Stadium tomorrow night.

Coach Brenton Sanderson says he will make a call on Callinan after the club's Captain's Run session from 10.30am.

"Callinan is the obvious one," Sanderson said over the club's injury concerns.

"He had a knock on the knee a few weeks back and hasn't done much training, so we'll just have to wait to see how he is and then make a call on him."

We've played four practice matches but the game goes to another level in round one

Sanderson said another mystery Crow - believed to be Jason Porplyzia (stomach ulcer) - was under an injury cloud but it appeared Callinan was his biggest concern.

He hurt his knee in the club's final NAB Cup hit-out against Carlton 13 days ago and has been struggling to shake off the injury.

Adelaide is expected to err on the side of caution and leave the sharpshooting Callinan out of its round one side - to be named tonight - with Sanderson saying: "I think you need to take a fit squad into any match, but particularly round one.

"Because these games are red-hot," he said.

"We've played four practice matches but the game goes to another level in round one and we have to ensure we are picking a fit 22 for the first week.

"So we're waiting for the docs (to make a decision) on a couple of guys."

The Crows will have a strong squad to select from, with dashing defender Brodie Smith (broken collarbone) the only first-choice player already ruled out of the side.

"We've had a good summer," Sanderson said.

"We've only got a couple of injuries out of our best 22, so we'll go in pretty strong.

"We're looking forward to getting our season under way. It's a long time coming but our boys are ready."

Last year's highly-rated mini-draft pick Brad Crouch is expected to debut against the Bombers, while Luke Brown appears to have won the battle to fill the defensive position vacated by the retired Michael Doughty.

Late bloomer Josh Jenkins has beaten out Shaun McKernan as Kurt Tippett's key forward replacement.

"I really liked Brown's game against Carlton," Sanderson said.

"He played really well on (Eddie) Betts and (Jeff) Garlett at times. He's a good young talent coming through and along with Crouch is one we'd expect to play a fair bit of footy for us this year."

Sanderson said there would be some disappointed Crows players today after his final 22 was made public.

"It's a difficult week in that regard," he said of the pre-season ending.

"It's a fantastic week for adrenaline, excitement and anticipation but it's also a week of stress and anxiety.

"That's the challenge with a squad of 47.

"A lot of our guys are ready to go and some are just waiting in anticipation, waiting to see if they get picked.

"But the strength of this group is the ability of guys who are knocking on the door to actually bash the door down.

"Last year we had alot of boys playing some great footy but they didn't get selected (in the AFL).

"This year I can't see that being much different.

"You are going to have to be in really good form to get a game in this team."

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