Feargal Logan has admitted that it will not be easy to shake off the full impact of the Covid-19 issues that affected Tyrone in the build-up to Saturday's All-Ireland semi-final against Kerry.
The fixture was twice postponed after an outbreak of Covid-19 in their camp, although all of the county's senior footballers have been back in training.
Logan said that he and fellow Tyrone joint-manager Brian Dooher would hopefully be picking from "as close as possible" to a full panel on Saturday but admitted that "it's not straightforward to say that everybody has shook the Covid issue".
"Obviously it's been a challenging few weeks and we have a panel of players physically gathered up together again," he told RTÉ Sport's Marty Morrissey.
"It's not an easy thing to shake out of your system and everybody in the group and all the medical people have worked hard and we hope to have as close to possible to a good pick for the game tomorrow to get on with it and have a competitive day out with Kerry."
Tyrone captain Pádraig Hampsey echoed his joint-manager's sentiments, admitting that the past couple of weeks had been "tough" for the group.
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"The lads, it obviously hit them hard and it's great to have them back out on the training pitch," said the corner-back.
Logan explained that "it had been a very serious health issue that invaded" the panel and that the focus over the last 2-3 weeks was on "getting the time needed to get everybody back" for a competitive fixture.
With Hampsey stating that the events of recent weeks "maybe has brought us closer together", both captain and joint-manager agreed that is only bolstering the cohesion that was already there.
"The starting point is that everybody is fit and well to carry off any plan and to carry off any thoughts we have to bond ourselves together and really go at it," said Logan.
"We've a tight group. We have had a tight group for this past number of months and they have proved their worth to this point.
"So we hope they hit the ground running tomorrow and all works out well."
The last meeting between Tyrone and Kerry in June saw the latter win decisively 6-16 to 1-14 in Killarney during the Allianz League and Hampsey sees that as a "massive learning curve" for his side.
"We took a bit of a heavy defeat. They've showed some great football over the last couple of months and they're going to be a tough task," Hampsey said of Kerry.
As a result tactically, Logan admitted that the "temptation is to be defensive" but citing the forward talent further up the field, said that it was about "getting the balance right".
"We need (the forwards) to get support and to get the ball and Kerry will be no different," he said.
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