The Club’s future will be on show in the opening round of the NAB Cup, with an inexperienced squad named to play against St Kilda and Port Adelaide at AAMI Stadium on Sunday.
Stars Scott Thompson, Patrick Dangerfield, Taylor Walker, Brent Reilly, Nathan van Berlo, Rory Sloane, Sam Jacobs, Ben Rutten and Jason Porplyzia will watch from the sidelines this week. Bernie Vince, who is recovering from a shoulder injury, has also been left out.
Jared Petrenko (shoulder), Sam Shaw (knee) and Nick Joyce (groin) were unavailable for selection.
The squad of 31 includes second-year players Cam Ellis-Yolmen, Mitch Grigg, Rory Laird and Dylan Orval, trade week recruit Angus Graham, rookie Kyle Hartigan, and draftees Sam Siggins and Rory Atkins, who are all in line to make their Crows debut.
Josh Jenkins, Shaun McKernan, Tom Lynch and Lewis Johnston will all be out to take the vacant spot in the Crows forward line, while Matthew Jaensch, Richard Tambling, Mitch Grigg and Luke Brown will be among the players vying to replace Michael Doughty in defence.
Emerging midfielders Brodie Martin, Jarryd Lyons, Aidan Riley, Brad Crouch and Sam Kerridge will be looking to break into the starting midfield.
Coach Brenton Sanderson said the ‘mini’ games against the Saints and Power would give the younger Crows an opportunity to impress at AFL level.
“We’ll be quite young and inexperienced this week, but we still expect to play well and to win,” Sanderson said.
“I think we’ll see a Crows team this week that is still hungry to win even though it’s mid-February. It doesn’t matter who plays – if you pull on a Crows jumper there’s an expectation you play our way.
“We have great depth. There were a lot of players last year, who played some great footy but just didn’t get an opportunity. Guys like Tom Lynch, Lewis Johnston, Aidan Riley and Jarryd Lyons – we didn’t get a chance to look at them as much as we would’ve liked in AFL games. Now is their chance.
“It’s very early in the season, but it’s a great opportunity for the young guys to come in, play hard and play well.”
In the absence of the leadership group, David Mackay will captain the team in game one against St Kilda (4:10pm). Richard Douglas will lead the side in the pre-season Showdown with Port Adelaide in match two (6:20pm).
The Crows will field a team of 24 players (18 starting and six interchange) in each game. There will also be three emergencies and four non-playing players in each of the hit-outs. The matches will be played in two, 20-minute halves.
Find out more about the NAB Cup rules
The Round One NAB Cup squad is:
1. Richard Tambling
2. Brad Crouch
4. Josh Jenkins
6. Luke Thompson
8. Lewis Johnston
10. Matthew Jaensch
11. Matthew Wright
12. Daniel Talia
14. David Mackay (C)
15. Angus Graham
16. Luke Brown
18. Graham Johncock
20. Sam Siggins
21. Rory Atkins
22. Andy Otten
26. Richard Douglas (C)
27. Tom Lynch
28. Cam Ellis-Yolmen
29. Sam Kerridge
31. Jarryd Lyons
33. Brodie Smith
35. Shaun McKernan
36. Brodie Martin
37. Ian Callinan
38. Mitch Grigg
41. Kyle Hartigan
43. Aidan Riley
45. Ricky Henderson
46. Rory Laird
48. Dylan Orval
49. Tim McIntyre