The selectors may believe that Luke Hodge is right to return, but the Hawthorn captain looked far from ready on the training track at Waverley on Saturday.
Coming off a pre-season disrupted by achilles soreness which forced him to miss the club's opening-round loss to Adelaide, Hodge spent much of the session in soft footwear performing stationary drills away from the main group.
Coach Alastair Clarkson didn't sound confident about his skipper's prospects of leading the team into battle against Melbourne at the MCG on Sunday.
"He's got an achilles injury that's grumbling along," Clarkson said.
"He's played the last two games at Box Hill and he's got himself some match conditioning which is important for him."
"What's also important is the way we manage his training load during the week."
"He's gone for a run this morning and he'll be right to go tomorrow, with some hope."
Clarkson said much will depend on how Hodge presents on match day, whether he's pain-free and with a full range of movement.
"That's going to be an ongoing process for probably the best part of the first half of the season," he said.
"They can grumble along and be very difficult to manage."
"It's settled enough for him to be able to play and get back-to-back sessions and back-to-back games."
Clarkson said tiredness was a big factor in the loss to the Crows so he's nursed his players through the week to have them primed for Sunday.
"We just need to make sure we're consistent through the whole four quarters and we give ourselves a great chance to win the game," he said.
"But if we give the ball up like we did at different stages in the second quarter last week to get Adelaide back into the game it will give Melbourne a great chance to win."
Asked whether he takes some comfort from his 5-0 head-to-head record with Demons coach Dean Bailey, Clarkson said: "Coaches never look at that stuff, it's mainly about the game in hand."
"We played Melbourne Round 1 last year and, compared to the side we've got in this week, I think there's 10 different players in our side."
"It just goes to show how quickly through list changes or injury, form, whatever, how much your side can change in the space of 12 months."
"Melbourne's a side that's changed significantly since then as well."