Rory Sloane is an almost certain starter for Adelaide’s Round 19 clash with Melbourne.

The hard-nosed midfielder suffered a couple of knocks during Saturday night’s win against Brisbane but has pulled up well.

Crows General Manager High Performance Matt Hass dismissed concern about Sloane’s availability.

“Sloaney obviously got his foot stepped on and he also got a knock to the shin so that caused him a little bit of discomfort but there’s nothing sinister behind either of those,” Hass said.

“He’s trained already this week and he’ll train with the main group on Wednesday so everything is positive for Rory.”

Young players Tom Doedee and Lachlan Murphy will both be assessed during the week after suffering head knocks in Round 18.

“Unfortunately we lost two guys to concussion pretty closely together in the third quarter,” Hass said.

“Obviously both entered the concussion protocol and Murph’s moved through that pretty easily and we expect him to train on Wednesday.

“Tommy’s been a little bit slower…we’re hopeful on both and it will just be a doctor’s decision later in the week.”

Defender Kyle Hartigan will be sidelined for at least another fortnight as he recovers from knee soreness.

“Harto’s developed some patella tendinopathy, so that’s a little bit of soreness at the front of his knee,” Hass said.

“That’s taken a little while to settle down. We expect him to probably miss another 2-3 weeks.”

Crows veterans Richard Douglas (ankle) and David Mackay (ribs) are both at least another week away.

In pleasing news, Brodie Smith has pulled up well after a successful return to football in the SANFL at the weekend.

“Pleasingly for Brodie he had a really successful return both from a football performance and from a GPS point of view,” Hass said.

“No swelling in the knee, no symptoms whatsoever, work rate was really pleasing. We’ll continue to build his loads and hopefully see him back in the AFL shortly.”

Sam Gibson will be available for selection after being a late withdrawal from the State League side with illness.