Port Adelaide skipper Dom Cassisi says the Power are set to toss an AFL lifeline to stalwart Chad Cornes.

Cornes, a dual All Australian, was overlooked for round-one selection as new coach Matthew Primus plumped on youth.

The club favourite has not played since Primus took over as coach last July.

A six-week injury to key forward Jay Schulz paves the way for Cornes to return for Port's home fixture against West Coast on Saturday.

The 31-year-old veteran of 230 AFL games has kicked nine goals in SANFL trials in the past fortnight.

"In Chad's case, he has done everything right," Cassisi said on Tuesday.

"He's gone back ... and played really well.

"Jay's injury is disappointing, but it might open the door up for Chad."

Fellow forward Daniel Motlop is unlikely to win a recall after being overlooked for round one for disciplinary reasons.

Cassisi denied the 29-year-old Motlop's card had been marked following the latest in a string of disciplinary breaches.

"Mots hasn't lost the total respect of the players," Cassisi said.

"We set some high standards and a lot of those things are based around Monday to Friday, preparing properly and doing the right things to give yourself every chance of playing on the weekend.

"Mots didn't meet a few of those standards.

"They're not major things, but they're things that we value.

"He's a goalkicker and he puts pressure on in our forward line, we want nothing more as a playing group than to have him in our side.

"He understands that and we look forward to him turning it around this week and hopefully he'll be up for selection."

Port's crosstown rivals Adelaide have been rocked by confirmation of serious injuries to two young onballers.

Wingman David Mackay, hurt during Adelaide's 20-point home triumph over Hawthorn, will miss up to 12 weeks after having shoulder surgery.

"It was decided that surgery was the best option to fix the problem for good,"Crows football operations manager Phil Harper said.

"The other alternatives would have been stop-gap and came with a large risk of re-injury."

Midfielder Rory Sloane will be sidelined for six weeks after having two operations, on his fractured jaw and a broken thumb.

And fears remain that goalsneak Jason Porplyzia needs a shoulder reconstruction, with Harper saying the injury was still being assessed.

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