Adelaide expect spearhead Kurt Tippett to play his first AFL match this season after overcoming an ankle injury.

Tippett injured an ankle a month ago but trained strongly on Tuesday to press his claims for inclusion for Saturday's home fixture against Fremantle.

"He looked pretty good to me," said Crows fullback Ben Rutten, who was at times matched against Tippett at Tuesday's training.

"I think he's feeling pretty good in himself, he was moving freely, he wasn't limited at all."

Tippett was Adelaide's leading goalkicker last season and rejected a lucrative offer to join the Gold Coast Suns.

Rutten, who will play his 150th AFL game against the Dockers, said he had noted further improvement in ex-basketballer Tippett over the preseason.

"Tippo as a forward, his improvement over the summer - I did a bit of work on him, and the improvement I noticed over the summer was really good," Rutten said.

"So it has been a bit of a shame to have him out for the last couple of weeks but he's keen and it won't take him too long to get straight back into it.

"Tippo hasn't grown up playing footy so he's still learning a lot about the game, about movement, about playing forward."

Adelaide must replace forward Jason Porplyzia (shoulder), midfielder Rory Sloane (broken thumb) and David Mackay (shoulder), who all face long stints on the sidelines after being injured in the round one win over Hawthorn.

The Crows, who had a bye last round, also will test the fitness of defender Michael Doughty (thigh) later this week.

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