AFL clubs have one last weekend to juggle the desire to get more games into players and the risk of injury, with at least one of this season's premiership contenders worried key players will be underdone going into the 2006 season.

West Coast, the beaten grand finalist from 2005 and a big flag fancy this year, is concerned a handful of key players won't have enough games under their belts before the season opener against St Kilda, at Subiaco Oval next Thursday.

Midfielder Chad Fletcher, half-back David Wirrpanda and fullback Darren Glass are three players the Eagles want to have ready to play the Saints, but who cannot play in practice games this weekend because they will not have time to recover.

Glass, likely to mark Coleman medallist Fraser Gehrig, is still recovering from a strained knee ligament, while Fletcher is yet to return to full throttle after breaking his collarbone surfing during the summer, and is short on body-on-body contact work.

Eagles assistant coach Peter Sumich said the trio would have to sit tight this weekend because there was only a five-day turnaround between the WAFL and AFL openers.

"The Thursday is too close for them (Glass, Wirrpanda and Fletcher) ... (they're) right in the mix to play, and from Saturday to Thursday is too close," Sumich said.

"That is a concern. We understand that if we do go down that path there will be some underdone players."

The Eagles and Saints are the only teams concerned by an earlier-than-usual start, so most of their rivals at least have one more weekend to get more hit-outs into players, although in varying quantities.

Bomber champions James Hird and Matthew Lloyd will headline an intra-club game at Essendon on Friday morning, which is in direct contrast to the Brisbane Lions, who won't have any players involved in practice games this weekend.

Hawthorn stars Shane Crawford and Peter Everitt, Melbourne gun Cameron Bruce and Port Adelaide's Gavin Wanganeen will also grace suburban venues this weekend.

Crawford and Everitt had reduced pre-season campaigns through knee swelling and hamstring tightness respectively, and will play in a VFL practice game for the Box Hill Hawks, along with young guns Lance Franklin and Jordan Lewis.

Bruce missed the Demons' entire summer campaign through hamstring problems in both legs and will play for VFL side Sandringham on Sunday, where he will come up against Collingwood pair Paul Licuria and Scott Burns, who want an extra hit-out with the Magpies' VFL affiliate Williamstown.

Essendon will stage a full-scale practice match at Windy Hill, after the match committee agreed another hit-out would be handy before the round one clash against Sydney.

"There's a lot of guys vying for selection and we thought this would be a good competitive way to do that and there's always the odd player who will be better for the run," said Bombers football manager Dominic Cato.

Brendon Goddard is the only St Kilda player in contention for one last trial game, while the Kangaroos will decide on Friday if veteran Glenn Archer plays for North Ballarat after an injury-affected summer.

Richmond's David Rodan will play for Coburg on Friday, while experienced Port players Peter Walsh, Darryl Wakelin and Michael Wilson also need one more game after limited summer campaigns.

Geelong's triumphant NAB Cup series still left some players short of practice, and Steven King, Brad Ottens, Peter Riccardi and Steve Johnson will train heavily on Friday because the Cats could not organise a practice game against a VFL side.

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