Adelaide coach Don Pyke is hopeful Wayne Milera won’t become the Crows’ latest hamstring victim this season but the emerging defender remains in doubt for next Saturday’s Showdown against arch-rivals Port Adelaide.

Milera went off the ground in the second quarter of their 55-point victory over winless Carlton to have the back of his leg iced and did not re-emerge after half-time.

After Pyke on Wednesday expressed confidence that the club’s wretched run of hamstring injuries is behind them, scans early next week will reveal if Milera will join teammates Taylor Walker, Eddie Betts, Matt Crouch, Kyle Hartigan, Kyle Cheney, Sam Gibson and Lachlan Murphy as the Crows’ eighth hamstring casualty, six rounds into 2018.

“I don’t know if it’s quite (a hamstring),” Pyke said after Saturday’s game.

“It’s a bit early to say it’s a hamstring at this point. It’s in the back of the knee area, around the tendon.

“I haven’t spoken to the doctors yet but clearly at half-time they got him out and felt it wasn’t worth taking the risk at that point.”

Despite a long injury list, Adelaide remain well placed in third spot on the ladder (5-2) with their throng of fringe players admirably stepping up to fill various vacancies.

With captain Walker and vice-captain Rory Sloane tipped to return for the showdown and Gibson and Hartigan likely to push for selection over the next fortnight, Pyke will start feeling selection heat of a different kind.

“At the moment I don’t think we’re necessarily playing our best footy but we’re getting results which is ideal,” Pyke said.

“We’re seeing the development and evolution of a few players as well.

“That is one of the upside of having some injuries.

“Selection will get harder from here which is a good thing.”