With Taylor Walker in a moon boot since the start of February trying to deal with a plantar fascia injury in his foot, Daniel Talia has stated that even if the skipper is fit, the quick ball movement under the roof at Etihad might mean that Walker may not be risked come the Crows' round one match against Essendon.

Brad Crouch also falls into the same predicament, with Crouch being managed through the pre-season because of his injury history, before suffering an abdominal strain.

"It is tough to come from no pre-season to try and get straight back into round one, especially against someone like Essendon, who play really quick footy at Etihad," Crows defender Daniel Talia told the media on Monday.

"The ball zips around and especially the teams that play there on a regular basis, you think of St Kilda, Essendon, they play with real speed.

"Lots of the games are real high intensity, lots of sprinting up and down and the ball does move really quick, so you've got to factor that in.

"You do pull up a bit sore, probably compared to an Adelaide Oval or a softer ground, but that's probably just indoor footy."

Walker and Crouch failed to play at all in the JLT Community Series, but they have increased their training workloads this past week.

"He and Tex, for the first time, were doing a couple of drills and getting up and running, kicking and changing direction," Talia added.

"All the things you need to do to play.

"Both of them being out for a long time (makes them unlikely), but they're certainly getting there.

"It's probably easier for a guy like Tex who has played a lot of footy over the years and his body is a bit further along than Crouchy's.

"Crouchy's had a couple of injuries over the years and you need to be a bit more cautious with someone like that."

Talia also said that Alex Keath has recovered from the injury that was sustained in JLT 2, putting him in the mix to fill the void left by Jake Lever.

Tom Doedee and Keath look like the front runners, however Talia believes that either one will fulfil the role just fine.

"If you go with a smaller guy, like Tom Doedee, who's not quite as tall as Keathy, you get that rebound and that intercept marking," Talia said.

"He's able to do that, so there's pros and cons with both.

"It'll be a really tough decision, because in my mind, both guys have earnt the right to play, but there's only one spot there."