Adelaide captain Taylor Walker has declared himself a certain starter for Showdown XL, allaying concerns over a minor foot complaint.
Walker returned to Adelaide wearing a protective moon boot after the Crows' season-opening loss to North Melbourne at Etihad Stadium last Saturday night.
Walker said on Wednesday he had been troubled by a sore foot for the past month but was in no doubt to front against the Power in Saturday's clash at Adelaide Oval.
"I'm just trying to get a bit of weight off it early in the week," he told reporters.
"We have got our main session today; I will do the full session.
"It won't affect me at all ... I have had a bit of a sore foot for over a month or so now and Etihad is probably the hardest deck that we play on."
The Crows enter the Port clash after slipping to a 10-point away loss to North Melbourne that Walker blamed largely on costly mistakes at critical moments.
Adelaide conceded several late free kicks and 50m penalties, one of which led to a goal after Scott Thompson was penalised under the new 10m protected zone rule.
"There were some things that we could control that we will change in critical moments," Walker said.
"We understand we played some really good footy against North but not quite good enough.
"There were a couple of 50m penalties with the new rules that we are still trying to get a grasp on.
"But if we can fix those up, there's a few things that will help us."
Midfielder Matt Crouch was cleared for his hit on North's Jarrad Waite in what was just his second AFL game alongside older brother Brad.
The pair combined for 43 possessions, 13 clearances and 11 tackles between them and Walker believes the duo will only get better as the season continues.
“The more they play together, the more they’re going to grow and understand each other,” Walker said.
“For us, if they continue to play footy together it’s going to be pretty exciting for our footy club.”
Offseason recruit Curtly Hampton (foot) and rookie ruckman Paul Hunter (ankle) are the only Crows currently sidelined by injury.
The Club’s SANFL team also started the season strongly last weekend, defeating reigning premiers West Adelaide off the back of several strong individual performances.
Ricky Henderson, Cam Ellis-Yolmen, Riley Knight and Charlie Cameron were among those to impress in the win over the Bloods and could come under consideration for Saturday’s Showdown clash.
“We had a lot of guys that played good, consistent footy on the weekend,” Walker said.
“It puts pressure on our senior side. That’s great for our footy club.”
