Crows forward Tom Lynch will return from a shoulder injury this weekend.

Lynch, 23, dislocated his shoulder in Adelaide’s trial game win over Greater Western Sydney in early-March. The match was Lynch’s first following foot surgery in September.

Adelaide’s 2013 leading goalkicker was initially tipped to miss six weeks, but is ready to resume ahead of schedule.

Coach Brenton Sanderson said the Crows match committee would now decide whether Lynch would return against former club St Kilda or in Adelaide’s SANFL clash with Sturt on Saturday.

“Tom Lynch will play this week. I just don’t know whether it’ll be at AFL level,” Sanderson said.

“There’s still a chance we could select him (in the AFL team), but he just hasn’t played much footy. We’ll have match committee this afternoon and debate that pretty heavily.

“He probably feels like a State League run at least to get back in AFL match condition.”

The Crows will name a squad of 25 on Thursday evening, with the team to be trimmed to 22 on Friday afternoon. Patrick Dangerfield (ankle) has been cleared to play, as has forward Shaun McKernan, who missed last week with concussion.

Sanderson said Scott Thompson (corked thigh), Mitch Grigg (adductor) and Sam Kerridge (eye) were likely to be given until the day before the game to prove their fitness.

“Dangerfield is fine. It’s really hard to stop Dangerfield from playing anyway, we know that, but he trained fully today and looked really sharp,” Sanderson said.

“McKernan got through his concussion test, so he’ll be available to play. We’ll have an extended squad and will test a few guys on Saturday.”

“There are three or four guys we’ll give until Saturday morning. We’ll have an extended squad and will test a few guys on Saturday.”