All Australians Rory Sloane and Matt Crouch are among five Crows in contention to return this week.
Sloane and Crouch both face fitness tests ahead of Adelaide’s clash with Gold Coast on Saturday night.
Vice-captain Sloane missed the Club’s win over Sydney to assist in his recovery from a foot injury sustained against Richmond in Round Two.
“Sloaney played the next couple of games (after sustaining the injury) and it probably didn’t progress to the level we thought it might of,” said Crows GM of High Performance, Matt Hass.
“So, he missed last weekend and he’ll be a test for this weekend,”
Crouch, who strained his hamstring against the Tigers in Round Two, has missed the past three games.
Hass said the prolific ball winner was “very close” to a return.
“He (Crouch) will need to train on Wednesday with the group and should he pull up well from that, that’ll be a match committee decision whether they decide to go with him,” he said.
“But from a medical point of view, he looks to be all clear.”
Midfielder Curtly Hampton also aims to prove his fitness at training during the week.
Hampton didn’t play at either AFL or SANFL level after developing a tight adductor.
“Curtly flew to Sydney with the team and did the captain’s run (on Thursday),” Hass said.
“(He) just had some adductor tightness he was concerned about. He let the doctors know and we felt it was
“We’ll monitor Curtly’s training load in the lead-up to the match this weekend.”
Wingman David Mackay (concussion) and forward Lachlan Murphy (hamstring) are both available for selection.
Mackay had a weekend off after suffering a concussion against Collingwood and is progressing well.
“(Mackay’s) Passed all the concussion tests, all the medical side of things,” Hass said.
“He’s joined back in with the group and we expect him to play against the Gold Coast.”
After playing the opening three games of the season, Murphy has spent a fortnight on the sidelines with hamstring soreness.
“Murph’s been back now from that hammy injury, back into full training,” Hass said.
“(He) trained really well yesterday, will train with the group tomorrow and we expect him also to be available.”
Unfortunately, defender Kyle Hartigan is expected to miss up to three weeks with a hamstring injury.
“Harto, late in the first quarter, injured his hamstring trying to spoil Buddy Franklin,” Hass said.
“He’s been scanned. It’s a relatively minor injury but we expect him to probably miss in the vicinity of two-to-three matches.”
Four-time Crows leading goalkicker Eddie Betts and backman Kyle Cheney are likely to miss another week as they recover from respective hamstring injuries.
Injury list as of Tuesday, April 24
David Mackay (concussion) – Available
Lachlan Murphy (hamstring) – Available
Rory Sloane (foot) – Test
Curtly Hampton (groin) – Test
Matt Crouch (hamstring) – Test
Eddie Betts (hamstring) – 1 week
Kyle Cheney (hamstring) – 1 week
Sam Gibson (hamstring) – 2–3 weeks
Alex Keath (ankle) – 2–3 weeks
Kyle Hartigan (hamstring) – 2–3 weeks
Brad Crouch (groin soreness) – 4–5 weeks
Andrew McPherson (groin soreness) – 4–5 weeks
Brodie Smith (knee) – indefinite
