ADELAIDE coach Don Pyke has seen enough from the club's first-round draft pick Jordan Gallucci to justify why he was so highly rated.

The 18-year-old midfielder had some important touches when the game was up for grabs in his side's thrilling six-point win against Geelong in the JLT Community Series at Richmond Oval on Sunday.

Gallucci had five of his nine possessions in the final quarter as the Crows were able to hang on after having a 28-point lead at three-quarter time.

It was his first hit-out for the Crows after he was left out of the side which played Richmond in its pre-season opener last weekend.

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"I thought he did some really good things," Pyke said.

"He'll be so much better for the experience of it because he knows what it's like.

"It's probably the first time he's played in open company, so he showed why we drafted him."

The Crows selected the Vic Metro co-captain with the 15th pick overall at the 2016 NAB AFL Draft.

Gallucci will be in the mix for the Crows for their season opener against premiership favourites Greater Western Sydney.

Midfield trio Rory Sloane, Scott Thompson and Brad Crouch are all racing the clock to be fit for the clash with the Giants and won't play any part in the pre-season competition.

Curtly Hampton continued to push his claims for a round one berth, picking up 17 possessions in the midfield and across half-forward. 

Hampton also spent time running with Geelong captain Joel Selwood, who finished with 17 touches.

"Curtly has got some positive signs as a midfielder and he's going to get better from here," Pyke said.

"Each week he'll get a different challenge in there, he's learning the running patterns, he's learning the stoppage stuff.

"He's had two games in the midfield, I'd like to think in five games' time he'll be better again and in 10 games' time he'll be better again."

The only injury concern for the undermanned Crows – who already have 11 players in the casualty ward – was a concussion to young midfielder Dean Gore, who copped a hit from a Nakia Cockatoo tackle early in the fourth quarter. 

"We're going to have to assess Dean," Pyke said. 

"It might look like he might have some concussion, so we'll monitor him tonight and through the week and we'll see how he pulls up." 

WATCH: James Rahilly's full post-match media conference

The Cats will keep an eye on forward Lincoln McCarthy after he left the ground in the second quarter with a shoulder injury.

"He hurt his shoulder, but he was only going to be play about half a game anyway," Cats assistant coach James Rahilly said.

"We'll have to have a look at it.

"Speaking to him, he thinks he's all right, but we'll wait and see."

The Cats tried a couple of different tactics, including throwing key defender Harry Taylor into attack.

"We're still going to experiment a bit, a little bit of back and a little bit of forward," Rahilly said.

"Probably majority of the time will be forward.

"He needs to keep working on the craft and working together."

Forgotten midfielder George Horlin-Smith found plenty of the ball to put himself in calculations for round one.

"He's really good around the ball, he's quite strong, he's been working on his stoppage craft all pre-season and I thought he had a good game, he was amongst it," Rahilly said.

"George is definitely a chance."