Mercurial forward Josh Rachele will return to the Adelaide Crows line-up for Friday night's do-or-die AFL semifinal against Hawthorn at Adelaide Oval.

Rachele has been sidelined for more than two months with a knee injury. Loading Twitter content

Crows coach Matthew Nicks said the 22-year-old's return would be a boost for his side, as it looked to bounce back from its qualifying final loss to Collingwood and the continued absence of suspended star Izak Rankine.

"Josh's weapon is his energy, and what that does to help the guys around him," Nicks said.

"That energy will be important and his execution, it's going to be a tough ask with the speed of the game and things, being out of footy for that amount of time.

"It's hard to hit the ground running straight away."

Rachele tore the

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