MATTHEW Jaensch is backing fellow Daniel Talia to play against the Brisbane Lions on Sunday despite his fellow Adelaide defender being subbed out of last weekend's game at half-time with concussion.

Talia marked the ball deep in defence in the second term against West Coast when he was accidentally kneed in the face by opponent Josh Kennedy.

There was no malice in the incident, but a groggy Talia was helped from the ground and played no further role in the 31-point loss.

Kennedy thrived in his absence, booting four second-half goals.

Jaensch said the All Australian full-back prospect appeared to have recovered, but would still need to pass concussion tests before being cleared to face the Lions.

"I … had a coffee with him yesterday, he seems to be going all right," he said.

"[You] never know with those concussion tests, they're pretty hard to get through so not sure how that's going to go but [I'm] pretty confident he'll get up.

"[He's] a valuable player for our team and we need him up and firing this weekend."

Winning each of its remaining four games is essential for Adelaide if it's to have any chance of qualifying for a finals campaign.

The club gave up a place in the top eight last weekend when it lost to West Coast, falling four points behind eighth-placed Collingwood.

Considering the recent form of the Lions, who have won three of their last five games, Jaensch said returning to Adelaide with a victory would prove a tough ask.

"It's going to be a massive challenge - going up there is always challenging; we know they're going to push us and we know we need to play our best footy to get a win," he said.

"They've got a lot of livewire forwards, very fast, so blokes like me, Luke Brown, Ricky Henderson and Brodie Smith will have to be on our games down back.

"Tommy Rockliff is averaging over 30 possessions this year so he's the main one we need to shut down."