Ian Callinan and Sam Kerridge will play their first AFL games since before the mid-season break, recalled to the Adelaide side to play the Western Bulldogs at Etihad Stadium on Sunday.
Callinan and Kerridge replace injured utility Ricky Henderson (knee) and forward/midfielder Matthew Wright, who has been omitted.
The Round Nine NAB Rising Star nominee, Kerridge last played for Adelaide in Round 11, while Callinan lined-up against Richmond at the MCG in Round 12. Coach Brenton Sanderson said Callinan had been rewarded for excellent SANFL form.
“Nutta (Callinan) has hit a real purple patch over the past 2-3 weeks,” Sanderson said.
“It’s been a disappointing year for him because he hasn’t had much of an opportunity, but his SANFL form has been really good.
“With Wrighty out, we need a goalsneak/small forward and he’s the best fit for that.”
Kerridge is one of six Crows with less than 20 games of AFL experience in the team this week. Earlier this season, the goalkicking onballer held Bulldogs star Ryan Griffen to 15 possessions and no score.
“Sam’s a good, young player. We know what he can do. He’s been fighting injury and form, but he’s been pretty consistent at SANFL level. We know he plays well at Etihad Stadium, having kicked six against North Melbourne in his last game there,” Sanderson said.
“He’ll give us plenty of run, which is what we need on that surface.”
Callinan and, possibly also Kerridge, will be part of a new-look attack on Sunday.
“It’s certainly a different looking forward line. When Nutta played last year, he was in there with the two big blokes and Jason Porplzyia too,” Sanderson said.
“This week, he’ll have Tom Lynch, Andy Otten and Lewis Johnston. Jared Petrenko is probably the only player in the team that was a regular in attack last year, so there’s a different feel about it.”
Wright, Shaun McKernan and Matthew Jaensch are the emergencies. Sanderson said Wright would play for North Adelaide on Saturday.
“Wrighty kicked four goals against Geelong a few weeks ago, but we probably just need him to get some midfield minutes for North,” he said.
“He was the sub last week and was a bit quiet the game before. We need him to get a bit of from through the midfield in the SANFL.”
Henderson has impressed since taking over from injured veteran Brent Reilly in defence. Sanderson said the Club was optimistic the in-form Crow would only miss one game.
“Hendo’s got an impingement in his knee, so we won’t play him this week,” he said.
“He’s been battling with it for the last couple of weeks and been playing through it okay, but it’s probably got to the point now where he needs to have a week off.”
Young midfielder Mitch Grigg has overcome a corked hip and is expected to play on Sunday.
The Bulldogs have recalled captain Matthew Boyd for Sunday’s twilight clash. See the Dogs full team in Enemy Territory and relive the action from Last Time We Met by clicking the play button above.
The Bulldogs have been one of the form teams of the competition in the past month, ranked No.1 in total disposals and tackles and No.2 in inside 50ms in that time. They also have the highest contested-possession differential and second-best clearance differential in the last four rounds.
“Their last four weeks have been really good. Even the game they’ve lost, they’ve been right in the contest,” Sanderson said of the Dogs’ form.
“Some of their young forwards are really performing well at the moment and, of course, there’s Ryan Griffen, Adam Cooney and Tom Liberatore, so they’ve got a really strong midfield with Boyd coming back in too.
“It’s going to be a really good game, with two young sides going head to head.”
The team is:
B: Rory Laird, Ben Rutten, Andy Otten
HB: Luke Brown, Daniel Talia, Brodie Smith
C: Rory Sloane, Patrick Dangerfield, Nathan van Berlo
HF: Bernie Vince, Tom Lynch, Brad Crouch
F: Jared Petrenko, Lewis Johnston, Ian Callinan
RUCKS: Sam Jacobs, Richard Douglas, Scott Thompson
INTERCHANGE: Mitch Grigg, Sam Kerridge, David Mackay, Sam Shaw
EMERGENCY: Matthew Jaensch, Shaun McKernan, Matthew Wright
IN: Ian Callinan, Sam Kerridge
OUT: Ricky Henderson (knee), Matthew Wright (omit)
