Young midfielder Jarryd Lyons and wingman David Mackay have been recalled to the Crows team for Friday night’s blockbuster against Collingwood at the MCG.
Away match day information available here
Lyons and Mackay replace unlucky onballer Aidan Riley (fractured leg) and suspended tall Shaun McKernan. Bernie Vince, who suffered a concussion in the loss to West Coast last weekend, trained on Thursday morning and is expected to take his place in the side.
Lyons will play his sixth AFL game of the season and just his ninth career match. The 20-year-old inside midfielder last played against Fremantle in Round 10.
Coach Brenton Sanderson said Lyons would take the injured Riley’s spot in the midfield rotation.
“Jarryd has played some good footy for us this season,” Sanderson said.
“He went back to Glenelg and worked on a few things and his form there has been really consistent. We want to reward guys in good SANFL form, but we also need a good balance.
"It’ll be a good challenge for Jarryd and the rest of our midfielders up against the likes of Scott Pendlebury, Dane Swan, Luke Ball and Dayne Beams.”
Mackay returns after a two-week absence. The line-breaking onballer starred for South Adelaide a fortnight ago and was the non-playing emergency against West Coast last weekend.
“D-Mac (Mackay) was very good when he went back to South Adelaide,” Sanderson said.
“He gives us flexibility and also bit more experience in what is a very young team. We’ve got 11 guys with fewer than 55 games of experiences, and six of those under 25 games.”
Untried midfielder Mitch Grigg, defender Luke Thompson and forward Ian Callinan, who has overcome a quad complaint, are the emergencies. Grigg and Thompson both travelled to Melbourne with the team on Thursday afternoon. It’s the first time Grigg – a clearance player not dissimilar to Lyons – has been included in the 25.
“Griggy has been playing well for Norwood and was really close to selection,” Sanderson said.
“Luke Thompson has also been solid for Woodville-West Torrens. He’s a speedy tall and he gives us a bit of flexibility on our emergency list.”
Adelaide has opted against bringing in another tall to replace McKernan. The forecast in Melbourne over the weekend is for rain. Sanderson said the Crows would go with a different-look forward line.
“We’ll go with one ruckman, which we’ve done a number of times already this season,” he said.
“Josh Jenkins can go into the ruck to help Sauce (Sam Jacobs) and we’ll shuffle things around to create forward options to help cover the loss of Shaun.”
Richard Tambling couldn’t be considered for Friday night’s game because of back soreness. The Club is optimistic that with an extra two day’s break, Tambling could be fit for Sturt’s game on Sunday.
The team is:
B: Ricky Henderson, Ben Rutten, Luke Brown
HB: Brodie Smith, Daniel Talia, Rory Laird
C: Nathan van Berlo, Patrick Dangerfield, Bernie Vince
HF: Matthew Wright, Tom Lynch, Richard Douglas
F: Jason Porplyzia, Josh Jenkins, Brad Crouch
RUCKS: Sam Jacobs, Rory Sloane, Scott Thompson
INTERCHANGE: Matthew Jaensch, Jarryd Lyons, David Mackay, Andy Otten
EMERG: Ian Callinan, Mitch Grigg, Luke Thompson
IN: Jarryd Lyons, David Mackay
OUT: Shaun McKernan (suspended), Aidan Riley (fractured leg)
