Star midfielder Lachie Whitfield has undergone surgery on a broken collarbone but defenders Zac Williams and Sam Taylor are expected to line up against the Crows on Saturday night.

Whitfield underwent surgery on Monday afternoon after scans showed a small break.

“He got that hit obviously from David Swallow and came off,” said GIANTS General Manager of Football Wayne Campbell.

“As has been talked about recently, he’s pretty tough Lachie, he was pretty keen to get back on the ground, we thought we had the game under control at that stage so we took him off.

“It was a hard one to diagnose because it wasn’t a traditional clavicle and it was in a really weird spot so the doc battled to get a read on it but then we got a scan on Sunday which showed he has a broken collarbone. 

“He had surgery on Monday afternoon and looks like missing probably around four weeks. 

“As I said he’s always pretty keen to play and he’s a tough young fella so I’m sure he’ll be pushing for less than that but roughly four weeks out.”

In better news, Williams is expected to return from a fortnight out with a minor hamstring injury.

“At this stage, if he trains tomorrow and gets through then he’ll play,” Campbell said.

“He’s done everything he needs to do, it was probably close last week. 

“It was only a reasonably minor hamstring so all going well, which we think it will, he’ll play against Adelaide on Saturday night.

Taylor is also likely to line up against the Crows on Saturday night at Adelaide Oval after missing the win over the Suns with a cork.

“We certainly expect him to play,” Campbell said.

“Again, it was probably a conservative call. At this stage, like Zac, it looks like he’ll take the field on Saturday night.”

The GIANTS take on Adelaide at Adelaide Oval on Saturday at 7:40pm (EST).