STAR Izak Rankine is in doubt for Adelaide's Gather Round opener against Geelong on Thursday night.
Rankine suffered a knock to his calf during the Crows' thrilling loss to Gold Coast on Saturday.
The 24-year-old is now in some doubt for the meeting with the Cats, needing to prove his fitness on Wednesday.
"I don't know as yet (if Izak will play)," Adelaide coach Matthew Nicks said.
"We don't really get a chance to train this week unfortunately, but we'll have a captain's run tomorrow which we would like to see him get involved in, but we'll just see how he pulls up.
"He got a knock to the calf, there's some bleeding there but there's no muscle damage, so it's one we just need to be mindful of.
"The speeds that he gets up to it does put some pressure on that calf, so the last thing we want is to lose him for a month or so.
"At the moment there is some doubt but he's pretty confident (that he'll play), and I think with it being a huge weekend of footy and a big Thursday night game, Izak enjoys the big stage, so he's really pushing to play."
Rankine has enjoyed a strong start to the season and ranked at No.19 in AFL.com.au's The 25 released on Tuesday.
He is thriving with more time as a midfielder, averaging 23.5 disposals, 6.8 clearances and 4.5 tackles this season.
Nicks said while Rankine will get his say on whether he is fit to play, coaches would also play a part in the decision.
"It will be a joint decision, we'll put some faith in him to make the right decision, we may have to step in if need be, but we'll see how he goes tomorrow," he said.
"On that one we have to look a little bit more long term, everything we are doing at the moment is focusing on the now, but you've got to be smart in that space.
"We'll do whatever we can to try and make the right decision, we know how much he means to our team and he's playing some superb footy around stoppage for us, but we've got other guys ready to step up if need be."
The Crows are set to regain midfielder Matt Crouch after he was rested last week.
