ADELAIDE defender Wayne Milera has avoided surgery on his injured AC joint and could be back in the next three weeks.

The 21-year-old has been sidelined since a collision with Gold Coast's Pearce Hanley in the round five win against the Suns.

Milera would have been out for two months if he required surgery.

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"As far as I know, he's tracking pretty well without it," Crows half-back Brodie Smith said on Tuesday.

"They're just trying to get him moving that shoulder again.

"From what I've seen, they're trying a few things and it looks like he's going to avoid surgery, which is great news."

Fellow defender Luke Brown is also progressing well from ankle surgery and could play his first SANFL game this weekend.

Smith is making positive progress after a slow start to the season in his comeback from a torn ACL.

The 27-year-old has recaptured his trademark run and carry from the backline with 27 and 30 disposals in wins against Gold Coast and St Kilda in the past two weeks.

"The first couple of rounds felt a bit sluggish, so just probably the workload (in the pre-season) took its toll on me a little bit," Smith told reporters on Tuesday

"I probably missed an opportunity to give myself a bit of a spell in the pre-season and I tried to get through all the sessions and do as much as I could.

"The last few weeks, I've felt I've been running out games really well, and just being able to read the play and communicating to the backs."

Smith is aiming to carry that form into Sunday's encounter with high-flying Fremantle at Adelaide Oval.

He's set to be joined by experienced midfielder Bryce Gibbs, who has overcome a bout of gastro that forced him to miss last weekend's win over the Saints.

Gibbs will be expected to play across halfback after filling that role in his last game against the Suns.

"We spoke about how he went back to the SANFL and his ball movement probably wasn't up to scratch for a quality ball user," Smith said.

"He did exactly what we wanted of him at half-back, so I was really disappointed for him that he got the runs and couldn't go again last week.

"He's fit this week, so hopefully he comes back in and slots into half-back nicely again."