Captain Rory Sloane is in line to return to Adelaide’s side for the Showdown this Saturday providing he is cleared by an eye specialist this week.

Sloane hasn’t played since Round Three when he had a procedure to correct a detached retina in his eye.

“Rory has been back running now for about three weeks and was able to rejoin main training last week,” Crows Head of Football Adam Kelly said.

“We’re hopeful he’ll be available for selection (against Port Adelaide) but it will be pending review from our eye specialist which will be happening in the coming days.

“As you’d expect with Rory he’s the ultimate professional and leader in our group and he’s certainly maintained his conditioning.

“We’re confident once he passes that eye assessment that he’ll be raring to go.”

Forward Tom Lynch has been ruled out of the game against Port Adelaide with toe soreness. 

He will be reassessed in the coming days with a view to him returning to running.

“With Tom, with the ongoing soreness he was experiencing with that big toe joint, we’ve made the decision to take him off legs for at least a week,” Kelly said. 

“We’ll reassess that situation this Friday and make a decision about what his program will look like moving forward.”

Will Hamill missed Saturday’s loss to GWS with a foot injury after rolling his ankle in the game against Hawthorn but has been running on the Alter-G treadmill and will face a fitness test to determine his availability for the Showdown.

“Will jarred his ankle on a couple of occasions against the Hawks down in Launceston now two weeks ago,” Kelly said. 

“He’s back running on the Alter-G treadmill, which is pleasing, but we will need to assess that ongoing throughout the week for his availability.”

Draftee Luke Pedlar missed Sunday’s SANFL game against Sturt with groin soreness and will be tested before being cleared to play against Port Adelaide this weekend.

Matt Crouch (groin soreness) is progressing well in rehab and is close to integrating back into the main training group while Daniel Talia (foot surgery) is set to return to on-ground running this week.

“Matt has really made a lot of progress in the past few weeks, he’s not far away from rejoining the main training group, which is really pleasing,” Kelly said. 

“He really turned a corner there with his groin soreness, his loads continue to build and he’s not experiencing pain as we build up his loads. 

“If Matt continues on the way he has over recent weeks, we’d expect him to be available for selection in the next one to two weeks.”

Injury list, as of Tuesday, May 4:

Rory Sloane (eye) test
Will Hamill (foot) test
Luke Pedlar (groin) test
Luke Brown (Achilles) test
Tom Lynch (toe) ongoing assessment
Matt Crouch (groin) 1-2 weeks
Daniel Talia (foot) 5-6 weeks
Lachlan Gollant (finger) 6-7 weeks
Mitch Hinge (shoulder) season
Wayne Milera (knee) season