Adelaide forward Lachlan Gollant will play his first game for 2023 after being included in the Crows’ side for Showdown 53.
The Crows take on Port Adelaide in an away Showdown at Adelaide Oval and have made four team changes.
Gollant is joined by Jordon Butts, Riley Thilthorpe and Wayne Milera in the line-up.
Forward Darcy Fogarty will miss Saturday night’s game as he continues to recover from a knee injury, while defender Patrick Parnell is out under the AFL’s concussion protocol.
Elliott Himmelberg and Harry Schoenberg have been omitted.
Adelaide Senior Coach Matthew Nicks said the incoming players were proven performers at the elite level.
“We have had guys putting selection pressure on from below for a number of weeks so it’s great to know that we are picking guys who are ready to not just play but perform,” Nicks said.
“Good examples were (Lachlan) Sholl and (Lachlan) Murphy, who came in last week off the back of some strong performances and training, to be some of our better performing players against Richmond.
“We’d like to think (Lachlan) Gollant is in a similar situation and ready to go, and he’s previously shown he can get it done at this level.”
Nicks said Fogarty’s knee injury had not improved enough and required a week off.
“It’s disappointing to lose Fogarty as he’s an important player for us,” Nicks said.
“He hasn’t progressed as well as we had hoped and we’ll have a better understanding of his availability going forward when we up his training loads next week.”
Chayce Jones, Will Hamill, Ned McHenry and Himmelberg have been named as the emergencies.
Adelaide takes on Port Adelaide in an away Showdown at Adelaide Oval on Saturday at 7pm.
IN: Gollant, Butts, Thilthorpe, Milera
OUT: Fogarty (knee), Parnell (concussion), Himmelberg, Schoenberg (omitted)
Adelaide’s Showdown 53 team is:
