Former cricketer Alex Keath will make his AFL debut in Friday night's blockbuster clash with Geelong.

The 198cm, 97kg key-position player will be added to Adelaide's lineup to help cover the loss of star defender Jake Lever, who has been ruled out of the clash at Adelaide Oval.

Crows coach Don Pyke said the Club wouldn't risk Lever this week after the 21-year-old experienced hamstring tightness in last week's clash with Melbourne in Darwin.

"Jake Lever won't play with hamstring tightness, so we'll try and get him organised for next week if we can," Pyke said on Thursday.

"It's just too tight on a six-day turnaround.

"It's nothing major, so we're really hopeful he'll be right for the following game."

With fellow key defender Kyle Hartigan also sidelined with a hamstring injury, the Crows have promoted 25-year-old Keath, who was recruited as a Category B rookie after calling time on a cricket career.

Keath represented Victoria at first-class level and played five games for the Melbourne Stars before joining the Adelaide Strikers in the Big Bash League.

He replaces injured teammate Curtly Hampton on the senior roster after the utility was added to Adelaide's long-term injury list in June.

The strong-marking tall will become the fourth Crow to earn an AFL debut in 2017 following in the footsteps of Jordan Gallucci, Hugh Greenwood and Jonathon Beech.

 

He was named Adelaide's SANFL co-captain for this season alongside fellow Category B rookie Greenwood.

"Alex is a really strong competitor, his attack on the ball and his ball use is really efficient as well," Pyke said.

"He's got some speed and some competitive spirit that we like.

"He's performed really well at SANFL level for us and he comes in as a tall defender, and Geelong have some talls down in their forward line."

Rory Sloane (concussion) trained on Thursday morning and is on track to take his place at Adelaide Oval on Friday night.

"He'd have to go backwards from here to not play," Pyke said of Sloane.

Josh Jenkins also trained and looks likely to recover from a bout of food poisoning in time to confront the Cats. 

Wingman Wayne Milera Junior will be given another week to recover from a calf injury.

Adelaide's last win against Geelong was in Round 17 of 2013. The Crows have lost their last five matches against the Cats.

Pyke said Adelaide wasn't shying away from the challenge ahead, but backed his players to rise to the occasion.

“As much as it’s a challenge it’s more an opportunity," Pyke said.

"We played them six or seven weeks ago and as I said at the time ‘we have some things we need improve on and need to learn from’ and I think our recent form suggests we have.

“It’s an exciting opportunity. We get to play against a real high-quality side in a big game where the stakes are high.

"That’s what you play the game for.”