ADELAIDE defender Brodie Smith may not miss a game despite his sickening knockout on Saturday.
 
Smith was concussed when accidentally kneed in the back of the head during Adelaide's 27-point win over Collingwood.
 
But teammate Tom Lynch said he hadn't yet been ruled out of Adelaide's home game against Melbourne this Saturday.
 
Smith flew home from Melbourne with his teammates and the club said he had been swimming and recovering lightly from the weekend's win.
 
"He's travelling along fine ... he will go through all the protocols he has to now and later on in the week to hopefully get himself up," Lynch said.
 
"We came down the race [after the win] and he was there to welcome us.
 
"He seemed fine. He flew back that night with the boys."

Head of football David Noble said Smith would be assessed each day but the club's decision as to wether he played against the Demons would be "completely guided" by the club's medical staff.
 
The Crows will start red-hot favourites to beat Melbourne in round three but, after losing to the Dees last year by three points, they will not be taking their opponent lightly.

Lynch said the loss taught the Crows an important lesson.

"There' no real easy game in the AFL these days. They're all really tough as we found out last year," he said.
 
"They came over ready to play and we weren't.
 
"We're a different team to what we were last year."

Meanwhile, veteran James Podsiadly has escaped serious injury after receiving a knock to his back in the club's SANFL game at the weekend, but will likely miss up to two weeks.

Stuck outside the Crows' best 22, Podsiadly was playing a commanding role in defence against North Adelaide on Saturday when he was forced form the ground with the injury.

He played no further part in the game but scans revealed little more than bruising.

"We’re pleased to say there’s nothing structurally wrong with James’ back. The initial diagnosis is some severe bruising," Noble said.

"It’s really good news for James and the club.

“We’re not sure where that places him as far as playing in the next week or two, but we’ll assess that with the doctor in the coming days.”

The news was worse for draftee Harry Dear, who dislocated his shoulder in the same game.

The 18-year-old will consult with a specialist to see whether surgery is required, but Noble said the initial assessment suggested he was set for a long stint on the sidelines.

“We’ve got to get Harry into see a specialist to assess what the structural damage is," he said.

"It doesn’t look great at this stage, but we’ll get a little bit more confirmation on what that means going forward.

“He’s probably going to be (at the) longer (end of the scale) than shorter.”