Crows veteran Richard Douglas will join the side set to take on Greater Western Sydney in Adelaide’s must-win match on Saturday night. 

Douglas’ inclusion is one of two changes to the team that beat Port Adelaide in Showdown 45 last weekend.

Adelaide will head to Canberra without key defender Daniel Talia (leg) and forward Riley Knight (knee).

Talia unexpectedly pulled up sore after a run on Thursday and Knight’s knee injury left him unable to complete his required training loads.

“Unfortunately Riley Knight misses out this week with a knee injury so Richard Douglas comes back in which is really good off the back of his little ankle injury,” assistant coach Tate Kaesler told AFC Media on Thursday.

In place of Talia, defender Kyle Cheney will return after a one-week suspension following the Melbourne game in Round 19 put him on the sidelines. 

“Unfortunately, Daniel did his best to get up this week but it just didn’t get to the level he felt was required to play at AFL standard,” Kaesler said.

With GWS winning eight of their last nine games, Kaesler said they were the in-form team in the competition right now. 

“They’re in really good form and they’re starting to hit their straps at the right time,” he said.

“They’re a really good contested ball team, number one in the competition and number one for clearances so contested footy is going to be really important for us.”

To combat the Giants, he said it was essential the Crows enter the match with high intensity.

“We’ve got to maintain our pressure, which I think we’ve taken to another level over the last three or four weeks so that’s going to be critical in this game to make sure we get the desired result,” he said.

Jake Kelly, Patrick Wilson, Paul Hunter and Mitch McGovern have been named as emergencies.

The Round 21 team is…
IN – R. Douglas, K. Cheney
OUT – R. Knight (knee), D. Talia (leg)