Adelaide have lost midfield general Tyson Edwards for Sunday's AFL match of the round against unbeaten St Kilda at Etihad Stadium but are inching closer to punting on Brett Burton.

The Crows named Burton in their preliminary 25-man squad on Thursday following his encouraging two-week SANFL stint following a knee reconstruction, and coach Neil Craig hinted strongly at his inclusion.

Edwards, however, will be a sizeable loss to Adelaide's engine room due to a hamstring complaint.

His last appearance at Docklands, in round 11 against Essendon for game 300, aptly demonstrated his value via a string of pivotal centre clearances in the second half.

He has maintained much of that form in recent weeks but was a forced withdrawal from Adelaide's squad after feeling a hamstring twinge during the club's main training session on Thursday.

Burton appears the most likely inclusion for Edwards, and Craig said he did not think the player known as "Birdman" could have prepared any better for a difficult match-up against the Saints.

"The thing I like that he's been able to do the past two weeks is play pretty much 90 per cent SANFL footy, it hasn't been 50 per cent, 70 per cent, he's played nearly the full game both weeks," Craig said.

"The argument could be why would you change a winning side and that's a fair argument and there won't be wholesale changes to it.

"But I could also come back to it and say if you have an attitude `if it's not broken, why try to fix it', well maybe you miss an opportunity as well.

"We believe he makes us a stronger opponent, particularly up forward, and it doesn't upset our overall balance."

In assessing what the Crows had to do well against St Kilda, Craig outlined many of the qualities synonymous with the now absent Edwards.

"We need to continue to be really good at our winning the ball and pressuring the opposition when they get it," Craig said.

"They've been a trademark of ours over the last few weeks, not totally different to St Kilda, so we need to make sure the level we do that at is as good as St Kilda if not better, and the duration.

"We were very good against them out here, but we weren't able to do it for long enough."

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