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Adelaide coach Don Pyke says key forward Josh Jenkins will return from a knee injury and play against Port Adelaide in Saturday's AFL match.

Adelaide forward Josh Jenkins has surprised himself with a miraculous AFL recovery from a knee injury.

Three weeks after fearing his season could be over, Jenkins is a certain starter in Saturday's AFL grudge match against Port Adelaide.

Crows coach Don Pyke says Jenkins has passed a match-eve fitness test.

"The early signs were concern from an ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) viewpoint," Pyke told reporters on Friday.

"But once we cleared that up, it was just a matter of how quickly that was going to settle down.

"He has surprised himself how quickly he has come good ... he's feeling very, very confident and that's why we're prepared to put him back in."

The Crows (eight wins, six losses) hold sixth spot with Port in ninth place, just a win behind.

"We're both sitting at that spot whereby this comp doesn't allow you to take a breath," Pyke said.

"Both sides are coming off a loss - it will be on early.

"But it's all very well to talk about it, it's now about actioning it.

"And that will be our challenge, to bring what we need to bring against a good quality opposition."

Port enter the fixture stung by criticism of last week's 25-point loss to the Western Bulldogs.

Hinkley labelled his team "untrustworthy" and "unreliable" after the shock defeat which featured a notably quiet game from co-captain Ollie Wines.

The onballer had just a dozen disposals, his lowest tally in a complete game since his 2013 debut season.

"He's one of our captains and he, like any player of that quality, expects some heat when he has not played as well as he'd like to," Hinkley told reporters on Friday.

"And our midfield has copped some heat - and they should have, when we have been beaten in that area of the ground we have been beaten badly.

"Ollie leads that area of the ground ... tomorrow night hopefully he will show what it means to him."

Hinkley has also recalled veterans Tom Rockliff and Justin Westhoff with his club losing seven of their past eight games against the Crows.

"In our most recent history Adelaide have dominated us," he said.

Hinkley also took a swipe at Adelaide's slogan as being 'the team for all South Australians'.

"With the greatest respect to the Crows ... that is not quite right," he said.

"We have got 300,000 Port Adelaide supporters who think that this game is pretty important to the Port Adelaide Football Club club as well."