Forward Josh Rachele is edging closer to returning from a rib injury this week.

The 22-year-old has been out since Round Three when he suffered three fractured ribs in Adelaide’s win over North Melbourne.

While sidelined, Rachele has maintained his running fitness and progressed to contact training in the past week and will face a fitness test before the Crows take on Fremantle in Perth on Friday.

“Josh did some contact yesterday and will do some more contact today, we’re anticipating he will get through that and make himself available for Friday night’s game so that’s good news,” High Performance Manager Darren Burgess said.

“Because of the nature of the injury he missed a week of running but then the last two and a half weeks he’s done a lot of ball work and skill work and we’ve just held off the contact until the last four or five days.”

Fellow forward Darcy Fogarty is also a chance to take on the Dockers after hurting his shoulder in the Round 6 win over GWS on Saturday.

Fogarty suffered a sternoclavicular joint strain in a contest and has improved each day since.

“Fortunately when we scanned it the next day it was pretty minor and he will run today and if he gets through everything we want him to, we’ll test him out on Thursday before making a decision on his availability this weekend,” Burgess said.

“It was certainly sore on the night, and courageous of him to go back on, however he feels great today, he’s in a really good space and wants to make himself available.”

Key defender James Borlase is recovering from an ankle injury in the SANFL on Good Friday and will be tested during the week.

“James rolled his ankle on the weekend, it’s come up pretty well but he probably won’t train today and we’ll hold him off until Thursday to assess his availability for the weekend,” Burgess said.

INJURY LIST

(As of Tuesday, April 22)

Josh Rachele (ribs) test

Darcy Fogarty (shoulder) test

James Borlase (ankle) test

Toby Murray (ankle) 3-4 months