Adelaide skipper Rory Sloane has suffered a gruesome eye injury that could keep him out of AFL action for up to a month.
The 31-year-old saw a specialist on Friday afternoon after reporting blurred vision during a Thursday training session ahead of this weekend's contest against North Melbourne.
The consultation with the eye doctor revealed Sloane had a detached retina that required surgery.
Crows head of football Adam Kelly explained the star midfielder could miss a month of football as he bids to make a full recovery from the procedure.
"Rory’s health and wellbeing is obviously our number one priority," Kelly said.
"At this stage, it is hard to give a definitive date on when he will return to the field but we are hopeful of it being in the vicinity of 2-4 weeks."
A worrying injury list is building for the South Australians with midfielder Matt Crouch also sidelined for at least a month with groin soreness.
Key defender Daniel Talia will be absent for 8-10 weeks after having surgery on a troublesome foot issue, while exciting Wayne Milera (ACL) and Brisbane recruit Mitch Hinge (shoulder) have already been ruled out for the rest of the season.
The Crows are looking for their third victory of the season on Sunday when they take on winless Kangaroos at Marvel Stadium.
It's been a promising to start to the campaign for last year's wooden spooners, who only won three of their 17 matches last season and finished with a percentage of 64.4.
After surprising last year's grand finalists Geelong with an upset victory in round one, Adelaide managed more scoring shots in a 33-point defeat to Sydney at the SCG in round two, before outlasting Gold Coast Suns by 10 points at home last weekend.
