Steve Johnson is battling to be fit for Greater Western Sydney's AFL clash with Port Adelaide in Canberra, but two other key men are set to play.
Johnson's knee flared up after last weekend's win over North Melbourne and he couldn't train on Wednesday.
GWS coach Leon Cameron said Johnson had been in doubt for last week and his chances of playing on Saturday were touch and go.
"These sort of older guys we should give them every opportunity to get up, so we'll probably give him to Friday," Cameron said.
"But if your a betting man you'd probably say more unlikely than likely at this stage."
Cameron said there was positive and negative sides for managing the playing workload of a veteran like 33-year-old Johnson.
'Some of these guys that have been around for a long time you actually want continuity, because it's hard to get up and have a week off and then play again," Cameron said.
"You actually want continuity and Steve had an interrupted pre-season and then he missed the last JLT (game) because he got concussed."
On the plus side, for GWS, key forward Jon Patton and co-captain and key defender Phi;l Davis are expected to play against Port.
Patton missed the last two senior games with a hip injury, but came through a NEAFL match last weekend.
"We wanted to give him an opportunity to see if he could get through a full match and he did that and came through with flying colours, he trained really well today," Cameron said.
He was happy to revert to the three tall forward combination of Patton, Jeremy Cameron and Rory Lobb, even though the Giants had kicked scores of over 100 points the past two weeks.
Davis was the victim of a hard but legitimate hit on his shoulder from North Melbourne captain Jack Ziebell.
"He (Davis) will train fully tomorrow (Thursday) or Friday and then away he goes on Saturday," Cameron said.
He said Matthew Kennedy, Harry Perryman and Harrison Himmelberg were among the players under consideration to replace injured midfielder Ryan Griffen.
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