ADELAIDE coach Brenton Sanderson says he needs his own reserves side if he is to get the best out of the club in the future, revealing a second-string Crows team could play Norwood in the first week of the SANFL finals series.

Unlike New South Wales, Queensland and most Victorian-based AFL clubs, unselected players at South and West Australian-based clubs are forced to play under different coaches and to different game plans in their respective state leagues.

Reports emerged on Wednesday that a breakaway competition involving reserves teams from Adelaide, Port Adelaide, West Coast and Fremantle could be launched as early as next season.

Sanderson said a reserves side that could be coached and controlled exclusively by the club was integral to the development of his young players.

He said he didn't necessarily mind where it played "as long as they play together and we can develop them with our coaches".

"It's important for us at some point in our future, whether that's next year or the year after, at some point we need our own side," Sanderson said.

"We've got to prepare our players and develop our players as best we can and part of that is having a standalone side somewhere."

While the AFL and state leagues have yet been unable to come to an appropriate arrangement, Sanderson said the club would look to play SANFL premiership fancies Norwood.

The Redlegs have an uncatchable lead at the top of the SANFL ladder, meaning they will progress straight through to a semi final, with the remaining top five clubs to battle it out in elimination and qualifying finals.

But rather than have the week off, Norwood coach Nathan Bassett has expressed his ambition to play a Crows reserves side.

Depending on what happens in Saturday's clash with Gold Coast, Sanderson said the game would offer non-selected players who weren’t involved in SANFL finals an opportunity to stay match-fit for the Crows.

"We are planning for that, whether it does occur - we hope it does. It's a great opportunity for us to get our boys who aren't playing in the AFL side together in a game and it'd obviously be against Norwood," he said.

"It depends a bit on this week, what happens this week in terms of injuries and form and how we'll look, but there is a chance that we might play sort of a one-off trial game for our second-tier players."

The debate surrounding AFL reserves teams was reignited in South Australia earlier in the season, when Port Adelaide-listed top-10 draft pick Steven Salopek was forced to switch SANFL clubs after being unable to get a senior game with Glenelg.

Sanderson previously said the current format was "tricky" because he might want a player to focus on a certain area of his game, while his SANFL coach might want something completely different.

"That's one thing that's a huge advantage of having your own side is that you can play the same game style with your young players, it's not as difficult to adjust when they come up and play at AFL level," Sanderson said earlier in the year.

As the Crows look to secure a top-two finish this weekend, Sanderson confirmed onballer Rory Sloane will return from injury against the Suns after missing last week's victory over Melbourne with an elbow injury.

"He has just got ... a bit of tendonitis in his elbow which has been troubling him for a couple of weeks," Sanderson said.

"Every player is carrying some sort of minor injury ailment at this time of year, but it would have been foolish for us to play him last week and then maybe make the injury worse."

Harry Thring covers Adelaide news for AFL.com.au. Follow him on Twitter: @AFL_Harry.