The most important selection decision of this weekend's AFL preliminary finals is yet to be made.

While the return of key Adelaide players Andrew McLeod and Brett Burton and the forced omission of West Coast defender David Wirrpanda highlighted this week's teams news, Luke McPharlin's availability remains the biggest question.

Fremantle will give McPharlin as much time as possible to prove his fitness for Friday night's Telstra Stadium game against Sydney.

The full back is battling to overcome the recurrence of an ankle injury.

McPharlin did not train on Tuesday and then failed to travel on Wednesday with the team.

The Dockers added to the intrigue with a closed training session at the match venue.

McPharlin is first choice to play on Sydney co-captain Barry Hall and the Swans gain an immediate edge if the Docker is unavailable or plays, but finds himself unable to move freely during the game.

Fremantle's emergencies are Antoni Grover, Graham Polak and Marcus Drum.

McPharlin has enjoyed great success this season since taking over as full back, a move forced on the Dockers when Grover was injured.

The Dockers and Swans named unchanged lineups as Sydney again goes through the finals series with minimal injury worries.

The lack of injuries was a feature of last year's premiership and Sydney again has a near-full list.

There was speculation the Swans might recall Paul Bevan to play on Jeff Farmer, but he made it no further than Sydney's emergencies.

While Adelaide's late-season injury worries are starting to ease, it remains to be seen whether McLeod and Burton will be underdone for the finals.

Burton has been out since round 18 with a hamstring injury and McLeod missed the last two games because of ongoing foot problems.

They trained strongly on Wednesday to prove their fitness and came in for Kris Massie and Richard Douglas.

Crows captain Mark Ricciuto (illness) and key defender Ben Hart (hamstring) are also trying to return to the team, but they must now hope Adelaide reaches the grand final.

It had been expected that Wirrpanda, like McPharlin, would have until as late as possible to prove his fitness.

But Wirrpanda did not travel to Adelaide on Thursday with the team.

He suffered a hamstring injury last Saturday night in the semi-final demolition of the Western Bulldogs.

That meant Drew Banfield, who missed last weekend, returned to the side along with Jaymie Graham, while Matt Rosa was omitted.

Rosa is unlucky, given coach John Worsfold praised him after last Saturday night's big win.

While Wirrpanda's absence will hurt the Eagles, team-mate Brett Jones said the side had plenty of candidates to fill in for the All-Australian.

"He's been a proven player for many years, he has had another great season, but there are plenty of guys that are willing to put their hand up to fill the void," Jones said.

"Adam Selwood is in terrific form, Chicky (Daniel Chick) was brilliant (against the Bulldogs) and Glassy (Darren Glass) has been great.

"Certainly if he wasn't there yes it would be a loss, but at the same time, someone is going to step in."

Brought to you by AAP © 2024 AAP