A leg injury has placed doubt over North Melbourne forward Nick Larkey's playing chances for the Roos' Round 1 bout with the Bulldogs.
Larkey is dealing with a corked calf following an incident at training that has limited the Kangaroos spearhead in the lead-up to this weekend's action.
The key forward was unable to train on Thursday and will undergo testing in the coming days to prove his fitness.
North Melbourne coach Alastair Clarkson is confident Larkey remains in the selection mix, however his hindered build-up for Saturday's match is "not ideal".
"He got a corkie at training, we didn't want to train him today to allow that to settle down a little bit," Clarkson told media.
"We're hoping he's going to be good as gold by the weekend, but we can't absolutely stamp it right now until he comes in tomorrow.
"We didn't want to run him today and aggravate that at all, so he'll maybe have a bit of a run around tomorrow or Saturday morning.
"Not ideal, but he's had a great summer and that's why we'll give him every chance to play. We're pretty confident, and so is he, that he's going to be OK to play. We just want to see him at full stretch."
The Roos will have new recruit Jack Darling available for his first game in the blue and white when North Melbourne suit up against the Dogs at Marvel Stadium on Saturday night, however Larkey's potential replacement is less clear.
Clarkson has Mid-Season Draft recruit Brynn Teakle on hand, while swingman options Toby Pink, Charlie Comben or Griffin Logue could be considered.
North Melbourne remain without tall Callum Coleman-Jones as he continues to recover from an Achilles injury from last season, leaving uncapped high-flyer Finnbar Maley as another potentially being considered to replace Larkey.
Maley, along with Teakle, was named among Clarkson's emergencies for the game on Thursday night, with Larkey selected in the starting 23.
The Roos will name their final side an hour prior to Saturday's 7:35pm bounce.
