ALARM bells aren't ringing at Adelaide anymore – this is now a full-blown injury epidemic.

That's the only way to describe the Crows' predicament given more than half of Adelaide's list has been injured in the first eight weeks of the season.

Twenty-five players across the 44 who are on the club's senior (39) and rookie (five) lists have been named on an injury list this year.

CROWS CRISIS Training program changed after hamstring horrors

Hamstrings are the biggest concern, with 30 games across nine players.

The Crows have already made changes to their training program in lieu of all the hamstring injuries, but the damage may have already been done.

Other issues have started to arise.

There's the management of Rory Sloane's foot injury that became a Lisfranc ligament strain, Brad Crouch's groin complaint (or osteitis pubis, in Crouch's own words) going from a six-to-eight-week injury to an indefinite period, and forward Riley Knight missing three games and more with what was originally described as general soreness and then hamstring tendinitis.

And why has it taken until round nine for skipper Taylor Walker to be given a few weeks off to compensate for an interrupted pre-season?

The curious one is Sam Gibson, who played 130 straight games at North Melbourne, joined the Crows, did his hamstring the day before the round one clash with Essendon, was initially listed at being out for one-to-two weeks, then wasn't sighted for the first eight rounds.

Gibson will make his belated Crows debut in Friday night's clash with the Western Bulldogs.

Other injuries are pure bad luck, such as Mitch McGovern's eight-week ankle injury from a collision with teammate Richard Douglas.

The same goes with defender Brodie Smith tearing his anterior cruciate ligament in the qualifying final against Greater Western Sydney last year.

Eddie Betts with his hamstring in ice during the Crows' round four clash with the Pies: Picture: Screen Shot

From the top 10 of the Crows' best and fairest from last year, All-Australian defender Rory Laird (third), ruckman Sam Jacobs (fourth) and Douglas (fifth) haven't missed any games with injury this season.

Reigning best and fairest Matt Crouch (three games, hamstring), runner-up Sloane (four games, foot), skipper Walker (sixth in the best and fairest, two games, hamstring and glute), forward Tom Lynch (seventh, two games with side strain and illness), Brad Crouch (eighth), Smith (ninth) and Eddie Betts (10th, two games with a hamstring) have all been sidelined at various times.

ANOTHER HAMSTRING Crouch to miss again

"There's not one thing that causes issues, there's multiple factors," Crows head of football Brett Burton told Sportsday SA on Thursday night.

"Whether from an individual point of view, how much pre-season load have they had, what has been their load over the past few years, what's their age, have their got any history of injury in that area, or another area?

"There's certainly multiple factors that have gone into why we're having the run we're having at the moment.

"We've clearly got an issue at the moment that we're trying to address.

"It feels like we've plugged a few holes into the dam wall, and then a couple more pop up.

"All we can do is address them as they come up and treat them as individual cases, which is what we're doing."

It's remarkable that, despite the huge injury toll, the Crows are sitting fourth on the ladder with a 5-3 record ahead of Friday night's meeting with the Bulldogs.

If last year's beaten Grand Finalists can somehow stay around the mark through the middle part of the season if and when reinforcements arrive, it would be an unbelievable effort.

The options at coach Don Pyke's disposal are limited, but so far, the Crows are managing to keep their head above water.

The Crows only had 11-listed players in their SANFL team for its most recent game against North Adelaide on May 5. Of that, Kyle Cheney (77 games), Lachlan Murphy (three games) and back-up ruckman Reilly O'Brien (two games) had AFL experience.

Adelaide's depth is getting seriously tested, but a tipping point is fast approaching. 

Sore Crows: Players who were/are injured