To rest a player or not to rest? That is the question for Sydney coach John Longmire.
The Swans, having all but secured the AFL minor premiership, will end their home-and-away season with a match against 15th-placed Adelaide.
But with the Crows out of finals contention and a potential home qualifying final to prepare for, Saturday's match at the SCG could present Longmire the chance to rest any of their tired players.
Forward Will Hayward has played on with knee soreness in recent weeks while star midfielder Chad Warner was managed last round with a calf complaint.
Asked if Sydney will opt in on handing some of their players an extra week's rest ahead of the pre-finals bye, Longmire remained pragmatic: "Only if they need to.
"Will's had a bit of a sore knee for a number of weeks ... I was concerned about him last week but he feels a bit better today.
"Obviously, if any players are at risk or sore, they don't play, but if they're fit and ready to go, then there's no reason for them not to play.
"You can't live in the space of 'you shouldn't play half your team because they might get injured'.
"That's a pretty dangerous space to be in.
"There's still a lot to play for this week. We still want to play very well this week against a good team.
"Adelaide bring enormous pressure around the ball. I sat there and watched their game on Saturday night (against Port Adelaide) and that game was full-on.
"That was a high, intense finals-type game and so we better be ready this week when we jump out of the blocks because the other team will be."
Warner is likely to return to the side after sitting out their 39-point victory over Essendon last round.
"He was declaring himself fit last week," Longmire said.
"He actually felt a little bit tight before the Collingwood game, didn't say anything, actually played really well and only mentioned it after the Collingwood game that he was a bit tight.
"There was nothing wrong with him in that game so we were really conservative last week, giving him last week off.
"He's still got to get through training on Thursday, but he trained today, trained fine."
