Under-fire Adelaide forward Josh Jenkins will play in the Crows' AFL season opener against Essendon despite his poor pre-season series.
Jenkins, who didn't kick a goal in his side's grand final thumping at the hands of Richmond, was rarely sighted and went goalless in Adelaide's two pre-season hit-outs.
His spot in the Crows forward line has been questioned from outside West Lakes, but he still enjoys the confidence of Don Pyke's coaching panel.
"He would say he's hasn't had a pre-season that's blown things out of the water, but he's playing the role that we're asking him to do," assistant coach Ben Hart told reporters on Friday.
"Can he do it better? Probably but we'll certainly back him in.
"He's an integral part of our forward line and at his best he's integral to the way that we play.
"So we're looking forward to wat he can produce come round one and going forward."
The Crows would be loathe to make too many changes to their forward set-up, with skipper Taylor Walker also battling to be fit for round one after being slowed by a heel problem.
Midfielder Brad Crouch is also coming back from an abdominal strain, Hart admitting both still have some work to do ahead of the round one clash at Etihad Stadium.
"I think both will put themselves up for selection if they can get through training," he said.
"Then it's about how they pull up and then also it's about how many guys you can take in who are a bit underdone.
"It's fair to say both of those guys probably are.
"Really it's a wait and see proposition."
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