Desperate Adelaide will attempt to rush Jason Porplyzia into their side to face Sydney at the SCG just two weeks after the gifted forward suffered a potentially season-ending shoulder injury.

The ninth-placed Crows' AFL season hangs in the balance after five consecutive losses, and the return of Porplyzia is urgently needed to bolster a severely undermanned forward line.

Porplyzia was close to going in for reconstructive shoulder surgery after his dislocation against Collingwood a fortnight ago, but Kris Massie said he was likely to be available.

"He's up for selection this week, (Neil Craig) actually mentioned that Porps is ready to go or he's in the pool to be selected," Massie said.

"There's number of players putting their hand up and hopefully he gets a gig, because we all know how much talent he's got, so he's definitely a chance for this week.

"Initially when he did the injury we all knew it was a toss-up whether he'd wait for the rest of the season or have an op.

"But he's really keen to go which is a really pleasing thing for us, because not only has he got talent but it shows his attitude and keenness to get out there, and we need that at the moment."

During Wednesday's training session Craig made it clear that no-one would be allowed to spare Porplyzia any crunching tackles, even singling out burly fullback Ben Rutten to test the wounded shoulder.

Massie made the frank admission that Adelaide had been second best for hardness and desire at the contests against Port Adelaide last week, leaving them a considerable task to correct that against the renowned toughness of the Swans.

"I came off the field and I was disappointed in the sense that Port were first in and under, and no matter if you're a player or observer or whatever position you hold, you could actually see Port were first in and under," he said.

"So we really need to really dig in a bit, and not let our results control our thinking. We just want to win.

"There's a lot of negativity out there and rightly so, because we've lost several in a row, but in saying that we need to be really resilient and hardened mentally, and just go about it in a way (the same) no matter if we're winning or losing.

"(Playing Sydney) is perfect for us because we got found out on the weekend, and we're not hiding away from that, so to be able to front up against a side, where that's their strength, their in and under contested ball, it's a perfect opportunity for us to rectify that."

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