The Crows have made one change for their must-win game against West Coast at Patersons Stadium on Saturday night, recalling goalkicking midfielder Matthew Wright.
Wright starred with 34 possessions, nine clearances and six tackles for SANFL club North Adelaide last weekend. Wright, who has played 16 games this season, replaces small forward Jared Petrenko (omitted). Adelaide has opted against recalling a ruckman to support Sam Jacobs in his battle with Eagles pair Dean Cox and Scott Lycett.
Coach Brenton Sanderson said Wright’s form warranted an AFL recall.
“Wrighty went back and played a lot of midfield minutes for North Adelaide. He got his hands on the footy and he was clearly North’s best player in their loss to Glenelg. He’s had an up and down season for us, but he’ll give us a bit of bite in the midfield and up forward,” Sanderson said.
“Pup (Petrenko) has had two quiet games in a row. Defensively he’s fine. He gives us a lot in that regard, but we need him to find more of the footy and he’s aware of that.”
View the West Coast team and game details in Enemy Territory
Defender Daniel Talia (corked buttock) has been named and is expected to play. Tall utility Shaun McKernan, forward Jason Porplyzia and defender Sam Shaw are the emergencies.
“Sam has overcome his little hamstring scare. We just didn’t want to risk him last weekend, but he’s up and flying this week,” Sanderson said.
“Porps played well in the SANFL and McKernan was pretty good too, but we decided to go with one ruck again.”
The Crows must overcome West Coast – and by a healthy margin –as well as rely on other results to keep their finals dreams alive. See the detailed scenario here.
Sanderson said the lure of finals wouldn’t change the way Adelaide approached the game.
“A good win can potentially put us in September, so that does breed a bit of excitement around the place,” he said.
“We still have to keep our focus very narrow, which is to go over and play well. If you go into the game thinking we’re just going to make it a shootout and score as many points as we can, it can almost go the other way.
“We’ll have one eye on the game here which is Port Adelaide versus Carlton. It would be nice if Port won by 60 points … Crows staff probably don’t say that too often.”
The team is:
B: Kyle Hartigan, Ben Rutten, Rory Laird
HB: Luke Brown, Daniel Talia, Brodie Smith
C: Sam Kerridge, Patrick Dangerfield, Rory Sloane
HF: Mitch Grigg, Lewis Johnston, Richard Douglas
F: Ian Callinan, Andy Otten, Bernie Vince
RUCKS: Sam Jacobs, Nathan van Berlo, Scott Thompson
INTERCHANGE: Richard Tambling, Brad Crouch, Matthew Wright, David Mackay
EMERG: Shaun McKernan, Jason Porplyzia, Sam Shaw
IN: Matthew Wright
OUT: Jared Petrenko (omitted)
