Sloane will come back from eye surgery in Saturday night's grudge match against a Port Adelaide side bolstered by the return ex-skipper Travis Boak from a thigh injury.

Sloane has been sidelined for the past four matches after having surgery to fix a detached retina in an eye.

"He has had just over a month out so it's a big challenge for him coming back in,"Crows coach Matthew Nicks told reporters..

"But we know what sort of player he is, he will put his head over it (the ball)."

Adelaide half-backs Luke Brown (Achilles) and Will Hamill (ankle) and utility Darcy Fogarty also return at the expense of dumped quartet Shane McAdam, Andrew McPherson, Jackson Hately and Nick Murray.

Linkman Lynch has been sent for surgery on a toe problem which has cruelled his season.

The stalwart's last appearance was as a medical substitute two weeks ago, when he wasn't ready to go on after Hamill was injured.

"Tom has pushed through and played not at 100 per cent (fitness)," Nicks said.

"As weeks went by, Tom began to struggle a little more with the body and performance.

"It got to that point where the toe just wasn't seeing enough improvement.

"He has made the decision now with our doctors and medicos on the best course going forward for him is to get that operation done."

Lynch's prolonged absence comes as the 13th-placed Crows enter the Showdown against third-placed Port as rank outsiders after three consecutive losses.

But Power coach Ken Hinkley said form counted for nothing in Showdowns, evidenced by each club winning 24 of them so far.

"We have seen what they (Adelaide) bring, we have seen their pressure and when they're hunting, they get a good result," Hinkley said.

"They have played some pretty damaging football ... been able to score heavily.

"They're real threat for us and we know that."

The Power's former skipper Boak returns along with Kane Farrell, replacing Boyd Woodcock, Sam Mayes and Marty Fredericks - one of who will be the medical substitute.

The fixture is the first Adelaide Oval match with a capacity 50,000-strong crowd since last year's outbreak of coronavirus.

The state government had previously restricted crowd numbers this season to 75 per cent capacity.

Australian Associated Press