Adelaide defender Tom Doedee remains pragmatic despite facing a long layoff with a suspected anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury.
Doedee left the field during the second quarter of the Crows’ 32-point loss to Hawthorn on Saturday, emerging from the rooms at half-time with his left knee heavily iced.
Speaking to AFC Media after the game, the 22-year-old remained hopeful of good news ahead of undertaking an MRI on Sunday.
“Not (feeling) great. We’re not too sure at the moment,” Doedee said.
“Initial tests sort of show that it’s an ACL but not guaranteed yet, so we’ll go and get scans tomorrow and go from there.
“Like (Alex) Rance said the other night, I’m similar here. I’ve got a great Club, a great culture and a great supportive family and a beautiful partner who will help me out.
“In terms of the recovery and stuff, if the worst is to be, it’s just an injury.”
The injury occurred during a tackling attempt when Doedee planted his foot and looked to change direction.
“Really innocuous. I went in to tackle (Jarryd) Roughead, he made a slight change of direction,” Doedee explained.
“I planted my foot and it’s basically a move you make 300 times in the pre-season.
“Just felt it pop, ran down to the pocket and thought I might go off and see how it is and they thought the worst.”
Doedee confirmed he received plenty of support from teammates in the rooms at half-time when quizzed on the injury.
“Plenty of (support from teammates at half-time), as you would expect,” he said.
What a man ❤️ hopefully its not what it looks like but we’ve got your back Tommy you’ll come out the other side bigger and better @TDoedee31 https://t.co/cQCNUgyZ2o
— Brodie smith (@Brodiesmith33) March 23, 2019
“I had everyone come up and say, ‘are you alright?’.
“When I told them, they were fearing an ACL, it was a bit of a worry. They were all surprised because of how innocuous of an incident it was, it was so little.
“But the support’s already begun, so if it is the worst, I’m not worried about that side of it.”
After a forgettable day not only for himself, but the team, last year’s Rising Star runner-up said the team would put the disappointing result behind them and reload ahead of a Round Two trip to the SCG to take on Sydney.
“We’ve done so well all pre-season. Tonight wasn’t our best foot forward,” Doedee said.
“A bit of mulligan, get rid of it and let us attack the rest of the year.
I’ll just put it into perspective; There’s a lot more to life than football and as much as I would love to be playing every game, I think we’ve got something special brewing here.
“It’s just part of it. I might have to sit out for the year and wait till next year.”
