Didak failed to train on Wednesday as he continues to recover from a calf injury he sustained on Saturday night against West Coast.
Watch Football and Coaching Strategist Rodney Eade address the media on CTV in the video above.
Dawes did train, and moved reasonably well, especially after he appeared so hampered at Tuesday's recovery by the knee he hurt against the Eagles.
Magpies assistant Rodney Eade said the club remained confident they both would play but would wait until the last opportunity to make the final call.
"The word before training is that the medical staff are reasonably confident but only time will tell," Eade said.
"We'll have a bit of a run today, see how they pull up, then we can obviously name them as well and have a run in Sydney.
"It could be [a last minute call], there's no doubt about that."
Eade said Dawes could possibly play if he wasn't 100 per cent but it would come down to the overall function of his leg.
"There's a little bit of a strain there [to the medial ligament] but with the impact too, there was a bit of bone bruising, a bit of pain, which probably causes the limp," he said.
"We think that will subside reasonably quickly, and it's just a management issue for Chris to be able to cope with that.
"Chris plays a really important role so if he's anywhere near 100 per cent, like 90 per cent and he can function ok, I think we'll play him."
Eade said he didn't believe Dawes would train with the knee treated by pain medication.
But he didn't rule out the chance of medical staff using it should he play.
Dawes moved well throughout the light session, wearing leggings to cover any strapping.
He led strongly, ran freely and worked over his knee with some leaps on the marking bag towards the end of the session.
He was also put through a brief one-on-one session with coach Nathan Buckley, who spent time kicking with him and testing out his sideways movement.
As for Didak, Eade said the calf - which saw him subbed out at three-quarter time after it seized up - was still causing him trouble.
"He's still got a little bit of discomfort so it just depends how he runs and how he moves," he said.
"Then we've got to take into account obviously fatigue, a six-day break … all those things we'll take into account."
Cameron Wood, who Eade said was an option for the Pies should Dawes fail to come up, trained on Wednesday.
He also said Jackson Paine could play in Dawes' forward role and another player - possibly Tyson Goldsack - cover Darren Jolly as the back up ruckman.
When Dawes was omitted in round 23, the Pies played Paine out of the goal square and Nick Maxwell was the occasional back-up around the ground.
But the captain will miss Friday night's clash with the second of his two-week suspension for rough conduct against Hawthorn's Paul Puopolo in the Qualifying Final.
Jennifer Witham is a reporter for AFL Media. Follow her on Twitter @AFL_JenWitham.
The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the AFL or its clubs.
