Defender Kyle Hartigan will make his AFL debut against Fremantle on Saturday night.
Hartigan, 21, replaces veteran full-back Ben Rutten, who will miss the match with a bruised shoulder. Selected by Adelaide with pick No.14 in last year’s rookie draft, Hartigan was promoted to the Club’s senior list in place of the injured Brent Reilly earlier this month.
Click the play button above to watch Hartigan in action in SANFL highlights
Recruited from VFL side Werribee, the 194cm, 92kg, key backman has been in excellent form for SANFL club, South Adelaide. Hartigan is Adelaide’s fourth debutant this season, following in the footsteps of Brad Crouch, Rory Laird and Mitch Grigg. He will join a very inexperienced back six, which last week included Laird, second-year Luke Brown and promising defenders Daniel Talia, Brodie Smith and Ricky Henderson.
Coach Brenton Sanderson said he expected Rutten to be fit for next week’s Balfours Showdown.
“Truck has a bruised shoulder from last week. It should only be a one-week injury, but with only a six-day break between games he hasn’t quite come up,” Sanderson told afc.com.au.
“Kyle is a very similar type of player to Truck (Rutten). Kyle, Luke Thompson and Sam Shaw have all played some good footy. Sam’s had a really frustrating year with injury and is still getting back to his best form. Luke’s had a really good season, but he doesn’t quite have the size that Kyle does.
“Kyle’s in the best form and he’s also got the bigger body. Freo can go quite tall in their forward line with Aaron Sandilands and Zac Clarke and we think Kyle can handle those types of match-ups.”
Ruckman Shaun McKernan has also been included in the Crows team after serving a two-match ban for striking West Coast midfielder Brad Sheppard. McKernan replaces Grigg, who is unlucky to lose his place in the side after a promising debut last weekend. He’s been named as an emergency alongside young players Sam Kerridge and Lewis Johnston.
“It’s tough for Griggy. He played really well last week and it’s just one of those unfortunate things in footy,” Sanderson said.
“We’ve picked two ruckmen this week, so someone had to go out for Shaun McKernan to come back in. McKernan coming back allows Josh Jenkins to play more as a forward, so it’s about team balance.
“Last week, we were quite small in our forward line when Jenkins went into the ruck.”
All Australian Patrick Dangerfield will miss a second week with a badly sprained AC joint, but Scott Thompson will play despite being subbed out of the win over Geelong.
Don’t miss Part One and Part Two of our four-part ‘A Day with Sando’ video series
Sanderson was pleased with the SANFL form of a number of players last weekend, but said it was tough to make too many unforced changes to the team that beat Geelong.
“Jared Petrenko and Ian Callinan are still trying to get back in the side, and Matt Jaensch and Brodie Martin, who have been in good form too. There’s still pressure there, which is great to see.”
Away match day information is available here
The game against the Dockers will be David Mackay’s 100th. Hear D-Mac’s thoughts on his milestone, check out the photo gallery and watch his career highlights
The Crows will have a light run on from about 10am on Max Basheer Reserve/AAMI Stadium on Friday morning before flying to Perth in the afternoon.
The team is:
B: Ricky Henderson, Kyle Hartigan, Luke Brown
HB: Rory Laird, Daniel Talia, Brodie Smith
C: David Mackay, Scott Thompson, Rory Sloane
HF: Bernie Vince, Josh Jenkins, Brad Crouch
F: Matthew Wright, Tom Lynch, Jason Porplyzia
RUCKS: Sam Jacobs, Nathan van Berlo, Richard Douglas
INTERCHANGE: Richard Tambling, Andy Otten, Jarryd Lyons, Shaun McKernan
EMERG: Mitch Grigg, Lewis Johnston, Sam Kerridge
IN: Kyle Hartigan, Shaun McKernan
OUT: Ben Rutten (shoulder), Mitch Grigg (omit)
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