ADELAIDE will blood rookie midfielder Jordan Gallucci in Sunday's JLT Community Series game as it looks for options to cover the season-ending knee injury to Cam Ellis-Yolmen.

Gallucci, an 18-year-old who was the Crows' first pick in the 2016 national draft, will face Geelong at Richmond Oval in Adelaide.

Ellis-Yolmen had a right knee reconstruction after being injured in Adelaide's opening pre-season game, a loss against Richmond last Friday.

Ellis-Yolmen had been earmarked to step into Adelaide's midfield this season after being starved of opportunities last year, but that chance now falls to Gallucci.

"It's his first game in. We won't put too high expectations on him, just give him an opportunity," Crows coach Don Pyke told reporters on Thursday.

"Let's see how he travels. It's about giving the opportunity ... we'll see how he performs and sees how he fits in with the side.

"We recruited him as a high-end talent. He's a powerful athlete, he has got speed, his ball take is at a high level – that is certainly what we drafted him on."

Pyke, who's unable to select key midfielders Rory Sloane (eye socket), Brad Crouch (hamstring) and Scott Thompson (shoulder), said the injury to 24-year-old Ellis-Yolmen was a "significant disappointment".

"It was a pretty innocuous event as well. It was surprising when the news came through," he said.

"Really disappointing and sad for Cam. He's a guy who last year didn't get opportunities through just the fact we had a pretty settled line-up, and he was really hell-bent on a really big season.

"So it was pretty devastating to find out he was going to miss the whole year.

"That's footy. He's dealing with that now ... and he'll attack his rehab and his recovery and build on a career.

"He's only a young man so it's a setback, but I expect he will bounce back."