The depleted Adelaide Crows are unsure who to play on Hawthorn star Lance Franklin in the preliminary final

ADELAIDE will consider throwing a young defender with only two games to his name this year on Lance Franklin in the preliminary final.

Lance Franklin

INJURY-HIT Adelaide will consider throwing a young defender with only two games to his name this year on Hawthorn superstar Lance Franklin in the preliminary final.

The Crows have been rocked by injury, although forward Jared Petrenko is still considered a chance to play despite his tears at the final siren on Friday night after hurting his shoulder.

Daniel Talia is gone and Sam Shaw has done his hamstring, which has left very little in the pantry with Ben Rutten not believed to have the pace to go with Franklin.

Adelaide assistant coach Dean Bailey yesterday threw up Luke Thompson, who stands 194cm and played just his second senior game for the year on Friday night.

"We have lost young Shaw, the options are you have Truck (Rutten) down there and Luke Thompson - a young defender who in his second game I thought played well," Bailey told SEN Radio.

"(Andy) Otten (192cm) is another player who could certainly come back and play on a tall.

"Because we've lost Talia, who is probably our No.1 key defender, we are going to have to mix and match a bit."

The former Melbourne coach said cutting the supply to Franklin will be the best way of stopping Franklin.

"You don't want to leave your backs one on one when you're playing on someone like Buddy," he said.

"You've got to have help somewhere else to come from.

"But we don't want too many blokes behind the ball so we're kicking it back to them, so there is a delicate time of when you can the extra player back."

The good news for Adelaide is Petrenko may be a shock selection against the Hawks, a day after believing his season was over after injuring his shoulder in the final minutes against Fremantle.

"I'm not sure whether it popped out and then popped straight back in," Bailey said.

"After the game he was obviously very disappointed.

"But post-game when he had it taped up and iced up, he seemed to be a little bit more understanding of it.

"So I don't know how bad it is today - those things will probably wait until Monday."

Bailey was hopeful the 22-year-old would get up for the preliminary final.

"Sometimes in those situations when you stretch the ligaments, you can tape it and play," he said.

"He is a seriously tough competitor, so you never know - he might just find a way to turn up next week.

"Right at the end of the game was disappointing for him - that was the shock factor for him."

The Crows won their way through to the preliminary final despite a lower than expected crowd at AAMI Stadium on Friday night.

Over 44,000 attended the qualifying final the previous week, but they could manage only 31,000 against Fremantle.

Higher ticket prices have been cited as a reason, but the AFL said today they did not believe that was the reason.

Bailey was left scratching his head as well.

"I really don't know...(if it is because of) ticket prices, I'm unaware of that," he said.