ADELAIDE has confirmed star forward Josh Rachele will be available for the Crows' second final, either next week or the week after.

The dynamic attacker had hoped to play on Thursday night against Collingwood for the first time since suffering a knee injury on July 6, but was ruled out of that clash on Monday.

However, the club says he will be available for selection again from next week.

It means he could return as early as a semi-final next week, if the Crows lose to the Magpies, or a home preliminary final should his side win on Thursday night.

"Josh has been in full training for a week and a half now," Adelaide General Manager High Performance Darren Burgess said.

"He went well last night and will do another full week of training this week and next week, and put his hand up for selection.

"We're anticipating him being available from next week."

Rachele tore the posterior capsular in his left knee along with sustaining a bone compression injury in a round 17 clash against Melbourne.

Rachele's unavailability for Thursday night is a blow for the Crows, who will be without fellow goalsneak Izak Rankine, who has served one game of a four-match ban for a homophobic slur.

Rankine was suspended for an offensive comment made to a Magpies opponent during their round 23 encounter.

If the Crows down the Magpies, Rankine's season will be over. He will be available for the Grand Final if Adelaide loses the qualifying final, but then progresses to the premiership decider.

Rankine has been sent to Italy to avoid the Adelaide spotlight but will soon return to the South Australian capital.

"He will be back by the time we play, that's all I know ... it's certainly not a concerted effort to keep him away," Crows coaching director Murray Davis said on Monday.

The Crows have cleared Max Michalanney to return on Thursday night after he missed the past four games with a hamstring strain.

Luke Pedlar is also in the selection frame after recovering from a hamstring injury which sidelined him for the past two matches.

The Crows pipped Collingwood by three points at Adelaide Oval in round 23, ending an 11-game winless streak against the Pies dating back to 2016.

But Davis forecast a different style of game than the recent encounter, which became a rain-affected tactical slog when both clubs deployed a loose man in defence.

"It was a real battle of who would hold their nerve for the longest," Davis said.

"Both teams probably look at that game and think there were things that we could do differently.

"A little bit of it may be condition-based. In regards to that night, it was fairly slippery and pretty wet at different stages so that did contribute to it.

"I'm sure both teams will have different levers that they can pull (on Thursday night) if they need to."