Adelaide forward Josh Rachele has sent a scare through Adelaide Oval after going down with a sickening knee injury — but there are hopes it may not be as bad as first thought.

The 22-year-old came down awkwardly after a marking contest and had his knee buckle the wrong way underneath him, in a similar fashion to how Western Bulldogs’ star Sam Darcy hurt himself earlier in the season.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Josh Rachele goes down with concerning knee injury.

Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today

Like Darcy, there were immediate fears that Rachele had ruptured his ACL.

And while that has yet to be ruled out, the young Crows star showed good signs by walking off the field after initially struggling to get to his feet.

“Similar mechanism to the Sam Darcy mechanism earlier in the year where everyone held their breath, and even the initial reports were pretty ordinary, but it ended up not being the worst-case scenario with the knee,” Nick Riewoldt said on Channel 7.

“I had one pretty similar, and hadn’t really had a mechanism like that. And so, as a player, the fear always goes to, ‘What’s worst-case scenario?’

“You see the hyper-extend there; the hope would be that it’s capsule and not the ACL. So, hopefully it’s just a stretch of the capsule.”

Josh Rachele’s knee bent awkwardly as he came down. Credit: Channel 7

Josh Rachele was subbed out with a knee injury. Credit: Channel 7

Rachele was subbed out, making way for Lachie Murphy to come into the game, as club doctors continued to assess his leg.

“Speaking to the club, he’ll get further assessment, so hopefully nothing too serious, but he will obviously not return to the game,” Erin Phillips said at three-quarter time.

Initial fears that Darcy would see months on the sidelines and potentially fail to recover before the end of the season were later allayed, with the big man eventually only missing six games.

It was the one sour note on an otherwise successful day for the Crows, who scored a gritty 13-point win over Melbourne thanks to five goals from Izak Rankine.

The Crows recovered from a 28-point deficit midway through the second term to win 13.12 (90) to 11.11 (77) at Adelaide Oval on Sunday.

The hosts led by three points at quarter-time after Melbourne blew a series of goal chances, kicking 1.6 to the Crows’ 2.3 in the term.

Adelaide forward Josh Rachele clutches his left knee after being injured in the win over Melbourne. Credit: AAP

But the Demons then produced a sizzling 10-minute burst in the second quarter which was rewarded with five consecutive goals.

The last in the scoring stretch, from Kysiah Pickett after soaring high for a pack mark, gave the visitors a 28-point advantage 12 minutes into the quarter.

Adelaide responded with three successive goals — two more from Rankine and Taylor Walker’s second for the game.

The strikes reduced Adelaide’s deficit to five points at halftime when the visitors led 6.7 to 5.8.

Melbourne’s advantage disappeared just 40 seconds into the third quarter when Ben Keays dribbled a goal to put the Crows in front. They were never headed.

Keays’ goal was followed by another pair from the brilliant Rankine as the Crows logged five goals to two for a 15-point lead at the last break.

Melbourne twice sneaked within nine points in the final quarter but couldn’t edge closer.

Rankine was superb and key forwards Walker and Darcy Fogarty scored two goals apiece.

Adelaide captain Jordan Dawson (25 disposals) and workhorse Keays (23 touches, two goals) were standouts, alongside  midfielders James Peatling (25 possessions) and Jake Soligo (21).

Melbourne ace Pickett’s two goals came from 24 possessions, Jake Melksham was ever-threatening with four majors and Jacob van Rooyen kicked two.

The Demons were also well served by winger Ed Langdon (25 disposals) and Steven May (12 marks), while former skipper Jack Viney gathered a match-high 30 disposals and laid nine tackles.