The sheer class of Adelaide's injured small forward Jason Porplyzia will be hard to replace, believes Crows coach Neil Craig.

Porplyzia's history of shoulder problems continued in Adelaide's 20-point victory over Hawthorn on Saturday night, dislocating his right shoulder in the initial five minutes.

The goalsneak will have scans to determine the extent of his injury after Adelaide's 16.9 (105) to 12.13 (85) win over the Hawks at AAMI Stadium.

"It took a quality player out of our forward line," Craig said of Porplyzia's injury.

"We just hope it's not a really serious shoulder injury because Jason has had a really good preseason and he's a class player.

"We were able to cover for him reasonably well but it's hard to cover that sort of class on a long term basis, so we keep our fingers crossed."

Adelaide's win was inspired by four goals to Taylor Walker and three to Patrick Dangerfield in in the second half, with young ruckman Shaun McKernan also prominent.

McKernan, in just his second AFL match, was influential around the ground and gathered 15 disposals, six marks, a goal and 13 hit-outs.

"He was very good when you consider the importance of the big stage," Craig said of the 20-year-old brother of former North Melbourne great Corey McKernan.

"It was quality opposition for a second game player.

"To perform like he did, he'll get a lot of confidence out of that, not that he needs confidence, but he'll start to understand he can play at this level.

"He was good in the ruck but I think he can play a key role up forward.

"What you saw was some flexibility forward, in the ruck - which is going to be important in this year's competition."

Adelaide has the bye next weekend and expect key forward Kurt Tippett (ankle) to return when they host Fremantle in round three.

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