THE CROWS are confident they’ve escaped Sunday night’s brutal Showdown win over Port Adelaide with minimal damage despite finishing the game with only 19 fit men.

Port Adelaide’s Matt Thomas had his number taken for a crunching tackle on Nathan Bassett, which left the All-Australian defender unconscious on the AAMI Stadium turf.

Bassett suffered severe concussion, but is expected to be available for Sunday’s clash with Hawthorn.

The incident triggered a period of utter carnage for the Crows, with four more players going down with injuries.

Jon Griffin and Luke Jericho also copped heavy knocks in Adelaide’s gutsy six-point win, and like Bassett, will be monitored over the next 48 hours, but should be cleared to play.

Kris Massie suffered some hamstring tightness during the second half and is likely to be sidelined for round four, while the extent of Jason Porplyzia’s shoulder injury won’t be known until later in the week.

In the week leading up to the Showdown, Port Adelaide had flagged a renewal of the fierce attack on the ball that served it so well in 2007, with Sunday's high injury toll and collision rate a by-product of their aggressive approach. However, young Crows midfielder Richard Douglas said he was “not sure” if the Power had overstepped the mark with their physical tactics.

“I think there was a few more sore blokes than usual, but we’ll have a lighter week this week and be ready for next Sunday,” he said on Monday.

Douglas was one of a handful of inexperienced Crows players who held their nerve during the tight and tense final quarter.

The classy midfielder got on the end of a ball inside Adelaide’s forward 50m and burned off Power speedster Shaun Burgoyne to help ice the game with his third goal.

“I didn’t really know it was Burgoyne at the time. I just saw a bloke there, took him on and saw the big sticks, so thought I might as well try to kick a goal,” Douglas said.

“That game definitely gives us [young guys] a lot of confidence going forward and taking on Hawthorn this week. We were up against a strong side in Port Adelaide, they were hard at us and at the ball, so we’ll take confidence out of that and move forward.

“Of the four Showdowns that I’ve been involved in, it was definitely the best win we’ve had. Just by the response of the boys after the game, you could tell it meant a lot to the playing group.”

Onballers Rob Shirley and Bryce Campbell could push for selection this week while the injured quartet of Brent Reilly (wrist), Chris Knights (quad), Brad Moran (finger) and Trent Hentschel (knee) are on track to play around the weekend of the bye in May.