The trio were never expected to be in contention for the first game of the campaign after picking up injuries in pre-season.
But Edwards has revealed that he hopes Azaz could be ready to return for next Saturday’s trip to Millwall, and says Boro are working hard behind the scenes to ensure McGree doesn’t endure another injury-disrupted season.
“They won’t be in contention this weekend,” said Edwards of the trio, with Boro also set to be without Darragh Lenihan and long-term absentee Seny Dieng.
“We always thought they would probably miss out on this one. Finn has been looking good and we are hopeful on a quick progression with him. I don’t want to put any pressure on him right now, but we are really hopeful on next week.”
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McGree has endured a nightmare couple of years of injuries and has been restricted to just 25 Championship starts over the course of the last two seasons.
He worked extremely hard to get back fit for the start of pre-season, only to suffer a fresh injury in the friendly defeat at Bradford.
Edwards said: “With Riley, we’re hoping we won’t have another tough year for him. The big thing now that we’re working hard on is avoiding that.
“The guys – the S&C team and physios – are working hard with Riley to make sure when he comes back he stays back. That’s important now, and they’re all putting in a lot of hard work to make sure that’s the case.”
New signing Callum Brittain is available to make his debut this weekend.
Despite only joining Boro on Monday, he has had a full week with his new teammates which followed a full-season of pre-season at Blackburn, so there are no concerns about the defender’s fitness.
Edwards said: “He’s certainly ready and he’s in contention.
“I know it [the pursuit of Brittain] went on a bit longer than maybe we’d have wanted, but he was still able to have a pre-season.”
Boro kick-off their season against a Swansea side that finished last season strongly, leading to Alan Sheehan getting the head coach job on a permanent basis.
“We’re really looking forward to it,” said Edwards ahead of his first game as Boro boss.
“Alan has done a really good job. He’s changed them a little bit. They’re still really happy to have the ball as Swansea team usually have done, but I think they’re a little bit more aggressive than their teams of the past, they’re very much on the front foot, and I can see them coming here and trying to do exactly that.
“They’ll try and press us and try to take the game to us.
“They’re a bit happier and a bit quicker to maybe go in behind than some Swansea teams have been in the past as well, so it provides a really difficult test for us. But we’re looking forward to it and looking forward to getting in front of our supporters.”
