Impressive young defender Rory Laird has been recalled to the Adelaide team to take on Greater Western Sydney at Skoda Stadium on Sunday.
Laird, who missed the game against Hawthorn last weekend with a corked thigh, joins captain Nathan van Berlo in the 22. Van Berlo will play his first game since sustaining bone bruising around his knee in the Round Three clash with Port Adelaide.
The pair replaces defender/forward Matthew Jaensch and Richard Tambling, who was a late inclusion in the team to play the Hawks.
Coach Brenton Sanderson said two-gamer Laird had showed enough to earn an immediate recall.
“We just like ‘Lairdy’. He had a bit of soreness last week and we didn’t want to risk him. It’s good recognition for Laird because his first two games have been really solid,” Sanderson said.
“Tambling is a bit stiff going out after coming in late for Henderson last week, but the back six or seven is starting to settle down a bit and we like what Laird gives us back there.
“We’ve thrown Jaenschy around the last couple of weeks, but with the skipper coming back in someone has to miss out.”
Young midfielder Jarryd Lyons, who played his first game of the season last weekend, receives another opportunity on Sunday.
“Lyons probably played a bit too much forward last week and didn’t get enough time in the midfield,” Sanderson said.
“Even though he was subbed out, he still did some nice things and we want another look at him.”
The Crows will travel to Sydney on Saturday morning and have a light run at Skoda Stadium in the afternoon. The clash between Adelaide and GWS will be the first game at the venue this year.
The Crows have only played at Skoda Stadium once, in Round 16 last season, when they won by 119 points. Sanderson said he expected a closer game on Sunday.
“The Giants have got tons of talent, and they’re going to become very good very quickly,” he said.
“We had a game at Skoda last year, but we’ve got quite a few guys who haven’t played there before. It’s a bit of an egg shape. At one end there are virtually no pockets and at the other end the pockets are really wide, so we’ll have a light run there on Saturday to familiarise ourselves again.”
There are no SANFL games this weekend because of the state game, but some of Adelaide’s youngest players will still be at AAMI Stadium on Saturday on a special assignment.
Follow the action from Skoda with the Club’s official Twitter account @Adelaide_FC
The team is:
B: Andy Otten, Ben Rutten, Luke Brown
HB: David Mackay, Daniel Talia, Brent Reilly
C: Brodie Smith, Scott Thompson, Bernie Vince
HF: Patrick Dangerfield, Shaun McKernan, Jason Porplyzia
F: Tom Lynch, Josh Jenkins, Matthew Wright
RUCK: Sam Jacobs, Richard Douglas, Rory Sloane
INTERCHANGE: Nathan van Berlo, Jarryd Lyons, Rory Laird, Sam Kerridge
EMERG: Ian Callinan, Ricky Henderson, Matthew Jaensch
INS: Nathan van Berlo, Rory Laird
OUT: Richard Tambling (omitted), Matthew Jaensch (omitted)
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