Port Adelaide vice-captain Shaun Burgoyne will play his first game since Round 3 on Sunday in Showdown XXVII but veteran ruckman Brendon Lade is in doubt to take his place in the team.
Burgoyne has been battling with a knee injury for more than three months now and coach Mark Williams was rapt to declare the star midfielder a certain starter against Adelaide.
"He's an outstanding player, he's trained for the last three weeks, he's been doing lots and lots of aerobic stuff away from the track," he said.
"He's not going to play huge game time but we are thinking 50 percent of Shaun Burgoyne is better than 70 percent of someone else."
Meanwhile, Lade was a notable absentee from Port Adelaide's main training session on Wednesday.
The media were ushered out of AAMI Stadium after about 15 minutes of the closed session but not before noting Lade's absence from the warm-ups.
A club spokesman said a comment on Lade's status would be released on Wednesday afternoon.
If Lade is injured it'll be a blow for the Power who got on top in the ruck last time they tackled the Crows.
The 33-year-old's no-show on the track adds further intrigue around the Power's build-up to the Showdown with the closed training session the club's first for the season.
Williams was in a playful mood at a media conference on Wednesday morning and made light of his decision to shut the gates at AAMI Stadium.
"We've got some very secret things to do this week," he said.
"Since they (the Crows) have done it they've won every game so we might do them for the rest of the year too."
Adelaide is set to continue to implement its policy and hold a private training session this week.
Both Port and Adelaide have corporate boxes at AAMI Stadium, which could be used to spy on training, but both teams have agreed to give the other privacy ahead of the big clash.
Williams said he wasn't interested in watching the Crows' game preparation.
"We know what the Crows are going to do. They are very disciplined and we have to play disciplined footy against them," he said.
Adelaide coach Neil Craig was happy to stay clear of Port's session too.
"I'm not interested in making a circus out of training, it won't be won on the training track," he said.
"The reality is, I don't know what Mark is going to do, but I've explained to you the reason we do it. It can often be one simple little exercise, might be stoppage work or a kick-in - the rest of our training is pretty much as it's been for the last couple of years."