Adelaide refuse to draw the curtain on key defender Nathan Bock's season despite the AFL stakes rising in inverse proportion to his level of match fitness.

Bock has not played for the Crows since he pulled up lame with a heel fracture against Geelong in round 18, and despite training with an increasing level of intensity has been unable to shake considerable soreness following each session.

The Crows had planned to play Bock in the SANFL finals this weekend if they did not pick him for the semi-final against Collingwood, but that plan had to be shelved after he pulled up sore from Wednesday's main training run.

Coach Neil Craig, however, said Bock remained very much in the thoughts of his match committee.

"He's a legitimate chance to play again this year," Craig said on Friday.

"Nathan's getting better and better in terms of his injury.

"The pain is less and he can actually train for a full session nearly pain-free, but it's the next day that he pulls up really sore."

The soreness is complicated by the fact that painkilling injections would do little to soothe the problem, but Craig said he believed Bock would cause a genuine selection conundrum for Adelaide should they defeat the Magpies on Saturday night.

"It was less sore this week than last week and I think if we're able to win on Saturday night we'll be faced with a selection issue - do we play him or has he missed too much football?" Craig said.

"But he's still very much in our thinking."

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