ADELAIDE forward Tom Lynch has had arthroscopic surgery on his left big toe and is expected to be sidelined for more than two months.

In the continuing fallout to Adelaide's medical sub drama in round six (where Lynch was rushed on to play against Hawthorn but clearly wasn't ready and wasn't expecting to play), Lynch has had a clean-out of his toe joint.

The club, which has defended using Lynch in that game, said he initially aggravated the toe in the round three win over Gold Coast.

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Lynch had been able to play with the assistance of painkillers, Adelaide said in a statement, and it was hoped modified training loads would assist in alleviating the soreness.

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But Crows football boss Adam Kelly said on Friday that the forward's degenerative toe problem had shown no signs of improving.

"In the beginning we weighed up our options and the path we chose has not worked," Kelly said.

"Tom had been able to carry the injury up until and during the round six game when he was the substitute and had 20 minutes of game time.

"He then sat out last week's match against GWS and we had hoped those couple of weeks with a lighter load would assist in his recovery."