PATRICK Dangerfield runs the risk of making his injured shoulder worse if he plays this week, says leading sports medico Dr Peter Larkins.
The Adelaide midfielder hurt his right AC joint during Friday night's loss to Collingwood at the MCG in a collision with Sam Dwyer.
He played out the game in discomfort and it looked sore at West Lakes on Monday morning.
Larkins said his "gut feeling" was that Dangerfield would miss the Crows' clash with Geelong on Sunday at AAMI Stadium given another bump could cost him more time.
"He can make it worse. He didn't [on Friday night] luckily, because he didn't have a similar collision but one tackle, one collision [could damage it further] " Larkins told AFL.com.au on Monday.
"To play, he would have to have it strapped like he did on the weekend and he would require some pain relief either with tablets or likely an injection.
"The risk is he could play without pain and strapping but he could make it more severe and therefore be missing more time in the future.
"If he gets another hit of a similar nature even with strapping on there, it could still pop out further.
"Whilst it's a grade two tear, you can have a grade four tear where it's completely dislocated."
Larkins said Dangerfield had a "grade two, two and a half, ligament tear of the AC joint", which could cost him "a good two to three" weeks on the sidelines.
Adelaide forward Jared Petrenko is yet to return to senior football after he sustained a grade one sprain of his right AC joint in round 11.
He suffered concussion on the weekend in his second SANFL game back from the injury.
Larkins said Dangerfield's injury would take about a month to heal.
"If they wanted to get it to the point where it was low-risk where it's partly knitted up, they'd still strap him up to play in three weeks time," he said.
"Clubs go two ways; they either give them time off like they did with Petrenko, then there are others who put a pain block in and strap them up and do what he did in the last quarter, which was play around with a bit of numbness there.
"The right thing to do is have time off but they haven't really decided 100 per cent what they're going to do yet."
Earlier on Monday, Dangerfield's teammate Rory Sloane admitted it would be a tough ask for him to prove his fitness.
"Danger's very sore still, probably unlikely [to play]," Sloane said.
"At the moment he's struggling a little bit although he's super tough – I don't know how he managed to run through that game."
Veteran midfielder Scott Thompson isn't a certainty to face the Cats on Sunday either, as he continues to battle groin soreness.
Thompson was down on his usual output against the Magpies, collecting 23 disposals – a long way off his form of 2011 and 2012.
While the loss of the experienced pair would be significant against the Cats, Sloane said it would offer good opportunity to young players.
"We've got guys like Mitch Grigg, Jarryd Lyons came in and played some good footy, even 'Porps' (Jason Porplyzia) can go into the midfield as well," he said.
"We'll rotate other guys through and it'll be good for some young guys' development."
Although Thompson hasn't managed to recapture the form that delivered consecutive club champion awards over the past two seasons, Sloane insisted the 30-year-old offered plenty on game day.
Should he play this weekend Thompson will chalk up his 200th game for the club, adding to the 39 he played for Melbourne early in his career.
"He still brings that aggressive attitude, he definitely sets a tone with the way he attacks the ball, the way he tackles and just his voice out on the ground," Sloane said.
"He definitely sets the benchmark for us."
