Sam Kerr has declared she will play for the first time this Women’s World Cup in Australia’s round-of-16 clash with Denmark, though just how much she will actually feature remains a mystery.

The Matildas captain on Saturday posted photos to Instagram of her clearly ramping up her training, then when doorstopped by TV cameras at Sydney Airport, gave her strongest comment yet on her fitness.

“I’m really excited,” Kerr told Channel Nine. “I will play, yep.”

But Kerr was limited to the stationary bike during the 15-minute window of training open to media on Sunday, which a Football Australia spokesperson insisted was a planned session “off feet” as part of her return-to-play program.

If Kerr does play against the Danes at Stadium Australia on Monday night, with a quarter-final against either France or Morocco on the line, it will clearly be for limited minutes.

The inspirational captain hasn’t played since injuring her left calf at a training session on the eve of the World Cup opener against Ireland.

But Australia can take heart from how a front four of Caitlin Foord, Mary Fowler, Emily van Egmond and Hayley Raso dominated without her against Canada, while Steph Catley has embraced captaincy with aplomb.

Kyah Simon (knee) made a rare appearance with the main training group, indicating she could also have a role to play on Monday.

Winger Cortnee Vine and back-up goalkeeper Teagan Micah sat out Sunday’s training for “loading” reasons.

The Harder factor

Centre-back Alanna Kennedy knows if the Matildas can limit the influence of Kerr’s former Chelsea teammate Pernille Harder, their job will be a whole lot easier.

“Sammy said she’s someone who can change the game for their team,” Kennedy said.

“It’s just being alert at all times against her and just showing up in the same way that we did, against Canada as a team.

“Pernille’s someone who we have to make sure that we limit her chances and her time on the ball.

“I’ve played against her a few times. I know what she’s like as a player. So that’s always good. Sam obviously knows a lot about her and has shared that with the team as well.

“If we have that same mentality that we had in the Canada game, it doesn’t matter whether you’re coming up against Pernille or a Sam Kerr on another team.”

The Matildas stepped up big-time in their 4-0 group stage win over Canada and expect to bring that intensity again.

“People love to jump on the bandwagon when we’re doing well and love to obviously criticise when we’re not. So there was a lot of points we wanted to prove,” Kennedy said.

“But for us mostly it was more about the fact that we believe in ourselves as a squad. So many people are hard on us, but we’re the hardest on ourselves.

“We just knew that we had to show up and it’s the same with this game and moving forward. We have to play like that every single game.”

-AAP