Adelaide insist captain Simon Goodwin's creaking body will be right in time for Sunday's vital AFL encounter with Richmond at AAMI Stadium.

And the Crows have followed up on their approval of Graham Johncock's improved off-field routine by recalling him to a back pocket, the only inclusion named on the ground rather than on an extended bench that will be culled from seven to four on Friday night.

Adelaide coach Neil Craig said Goodwin, who did not train at the club's main session on Thursday, was on course to be 100 per cent for Sunday, having looked sore and restricted at times last week against Carlton.

At 31, Goodwin's back is the most vexing of several sore spots, requiring plenty of management across the year.

"We want to try and get Simon back to 100 per cent, he probably played at about 90 per cent last week, but I'll be very surprised if he doesn't play at 100 per cent this week and he just needed some time off the track for that to happen," Craig said.

"He's feeling much better at the moment compared to this time last week, so I'm really confident he'll be 100 per cent on Sunday, which will be great for him because it's been a long season for him.

"He's played up forward, copped some good defenders, played different roles and he's doing a great job in terms of the captaincy.

"It's just been a timely little two weeks to just back him off."

Johncock's inclusion will allow Craig to swing he and 300-gamer Andrew McLeod between defence and attack to help cover for the absence of creative forward option Jason Porplyzia.

How long-kicking midfielder Chris Knights (hamstring) will be replaced is more of a riddle, given that injury-prone wingman Brent Reilly is in desperate need of match conditioning without necessarily pushing at 100 per cent immediately.

Reilly has played only six of 18 games in 2008 due to an assortment of physical setbacks, the latest of which was a knee strain.

"It's a really interesting one, Brent has missed a lot of footy - he hasn't been able to get any continuity in playing," Craig said.

"These days, to miss a lot of AFL football makes it really difficult to come back for any player.

"I've seen a little bit this year and towards the end of last year too with guys at our club who have had long-term injuries and we've brought back quickly - they've just struggled a bit.

"Brent isn't out of the picture, but there will be a lot of discussion as to whether we bring him straight back in.

"It fits beautifully, doesn't it, with Knights out and Reilly in, but we've got to think about how things will be going halfway through the second quarter, not what looks good on paper."

Kurt Tippett, Andy Otten and Jared Petrenko are the three youngsters vying with Reilly for a spot.

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