Adelaide Crows coach Don Pyke puts it back on players to self declare fitness concerns ahead of grand final

ADELAIDE coach Don Pyke will trust his players to make the right call on their availability for Saturday’s grand final.

ADELAIDE coach Don Pyke has implored his players to remove themselves from the selection debate if they are not feeling right to play as the preparations intensify for Saturday’s Grand Final at the MCG.

His call comes as X-factor forward Mitch McGovern continues his recovery from a left hamstring injury.

McGovern will be given a last chance to prove his fitness at Wednesday’s open training session at Adelaide Oval.

“He’s certainly going to be given every opportunity and he certainly got through a lot of training on Monday.

“He’ll do a full training (on Wednesday) and we’ll assess how he travels throughout that session.

“If at the end of it it’s clearly not right, I expect he’ll be able to say that it doesn’t feel right.

“Certainly watching him run around on Monday he was better than on Saturday and if he continues to make progress he gives himself a chance.”

Pyke said there were two or three players who were under a cloud because of injury, McGovern included.

In the end, the players would be trusted to make the right call.

“I’m really mindful of making sure we take a fit side into big games,” Pyke said on Triple M radio. “I think that’s one thing history sort of tells you: if you play guys who are under injury clouds generally it’s hard for them to feel better during the game. They generally get sorer.

“We’ll monitor all of our players and make sure they feel good.

“But they really have an obligation, not just to themselves but to the team, to if they’re not right they put their hand up.”

Pyke singled out the Tigers’ pressure — and particularly that of its small forward line — as a major hurdle in the chase for a premiership on Saturday.

The attack with five smalls and one tall is the best in the game when it comes to forcing turnovers in attack and has been central to its first two finals wins.

“I think their pressure is their No. 1 component,” Pyke said. “They really base their game around their pressure around the ball.

“So we can certainly expect a high pressure game.”

The team will have a final training session at the MCG on Friday, when they will also take part in the traditional Grand Final parade.