The Collingwood match committee was not unanimous in its decision to leave experienced defender Shane Wakelin out of the side for this Saturday's knockout final against Adelaide.
Magpies assistant coach Brad Scott said it was a 'split decision' to leave out Wakelin, who is almost certainly in his final season, in favour of youngster Nathan Brown and Simon Prestigiacomo, who made his 2008 debut last week against Fremantle.
But the door was not yet closed on Wakelin's career. The 34-year-old, who has played 19 games this season, will come under strong consideration next week should the Magpies live to fight another day.
The Magpies believed that a defence led by key talls Brown and Prestigiacomo is the best equipped to deal with whatever forward combination Adelaide threw at them.
Missing their two best forwards in Jason Porplyzia and Brett Burton, the Crows have named unheralded talls Scott Stevens, Kurt Tippett and Nick Gill in attack but will also expect goals from midfielders such as Simon Goodwin, Tyson Edwards and Richard Douglas.
"They've got a variety of players they can play down there and we thought Nath and Presti gave us the most versatility," Scott said.
"We didn't want to take in the three really tall guys."
"It was a split decision at match committee and we debated it long and hard but we're all on the same page now."
"We've made our decision and we'll stick with it."
Wakelin, a 'terrific clubman', was shattered, Scott said, but still trained with tremendous enthusiasm on Friday morning.
Wakelin will travel to Adelaide, along with fellow emergencies Danny Stanley and Sam Iles, and injured skipper Scott Burns.
Scott said the absence of Porplyzia, Adelaide's third leading goal-kicker this season with 32, due to a shoulder injury was a blow for the Crows.
"He played last week under duress and that was pretty obvious for all to see but they've obviously made a very tough decision because it would have been the easy decision to play him," he said.
"He's had such brilliant form and he's such a dangerous player. It's a loss to Adelaide and we prefer that he wasn't there and that will hopefully benefit us."