Livewire Jared Petrenko has been recalled to the Adelaide team to play North Melbourne at Etihad Stadium on Sunday.
Petrenko played the opening five games of the season, but was squeezed out of the side in Round Six. The fierce-tackling forward earns a call-up after a strong display for Woodville-West Torrens.
Petrenko replaces midfielder Matthew Wright, who has been omitted. Wright, Ian Callinan and Ricky Henderson are the emergencies. Coach Brenton Sanderson said Petrenko would bring defensive pressure to the Crows forward line.
“People will think we brought ‘Pup’ (Petrenko) back into the team because it’s Indigenous Round, but he deserves his spot,” Sanderson said.
“We’ve really lacked some forward pressure the last couple of weeks. We’ve gone taller in attack since we lost Taylor Walker and we haven’t had as much pressure on the ball when it’s being rebounded out. Even though he’s missed a few games, Petrenko leads our forward 50m tackles and we know he’ll provide us with that on Sunday.
“I am happy Pup’s playing, though. I’m proud we’ll have an Indigenous player in the team, especially, someone like Pup who loves the Club and has been great for us the past 18 months. Pup is excited about the opportunity to represent the Indigenous community and also the Indigenous players on our list.
“He’ll toss the coin and it’s a big game for Pup.”
Sanderson said Wright, who was subbed out in the second half of Adelaide’s win over St Kilda, was unlucky to lose his place in the team.
“Wrighty’s been the sub once and subbed out in another game. His form hasn’t been terrible, but not up to the standard he set for himself last year,” he said.
“Callinan is a bit unlucky too because he found some form in the SANFL last week. We’ve still got a lot of quality out of the team with Wright, Callinan, Henderson, Brad Crouch, Graham Johncock, Matt Jaensch, Brodie Martin and the likes … there is pressure now for guys to play well.”
The Crows will celebrate Indigenous Round and honour the contribution of Indigenous players – past and present – by wearing a specially-designed guernsey. Sanderson said was a driving force behind the one-off guernsey and said it would be great to see the team run out in it on Sunday.
“It’s great. With already two of the colours of the Indigenous flag, a simple change from navy blue to black means that in Indigenous Round we get to play in Indigenous colours,” he said.
Match day information about the Round Nine clash is available here.
The team is:
B: Luke Brown, Ben Rutten, Andy Otten
HB: Brent Reilly, Daniel Talia, Brodie Smith
C: Bernie Vince, Patrick Dangerfield, David Mackay
HF: Rory Sloane, Josh Jenkins, Jarryd Lyons
F: Sam Kerridge, Tom Lynch, Richard Douglas
RUCKS: Sam Jacobs, Scott Thompson, Nathan van Berlo
INTERCHANGE FROM: Rory Laird, Shaun McKernan, Jared Petrenko, Jason Porplyzia
EMERG: Ian Callinan, Ricky Henderson, Matthew Wright
IN: Jared Petrenko
OUT: Matthew Wright (omit)
Join the Club as a 2013 reserved seat member and lock away your place at Adelaide Oval 2014. Visit 19thman.com.au/adelaideoval for more information and to register your interest.
