Adelaide has resisted the temptation to recall Richard Douglas and Ben Rutten to the team to play West Coast in Saturday night’s NAB Cup Grand Final at AAMI Stadium.
Douglas (soreness) and Rutten (foot) were both available for selection against the Eagles, but the Club has decided not to take any unnecessary risk with the key pair.
Chris Knights, Brodie Martin and Luke Thompson are the players left out of the team, which had to be cut from 28 last week to 25.
Matt Jaensch, Sam Kerridge and Tom Lynch will start the Grand Final as substitutes.
The three substitutes can be reset at half-time after the AFL decided to allow teams to play 25 players in the final round of the NAB Cup rather than 22 players initially proposed.
Coach Brenton Sanderson said it had been a tough decision to leave Knights, Martin and Thompson out of the Grand Final team.
“Unfortunately, it’s the reality of football and it’s been happening for 150 years. There is always going to be disappointment for players who miss out and particularly for players in reasonably good form and, who are important to our team not just for this week but for the whole season,” Sanderson told afc.com.au.
“We’ll have to make another three changes to this week’s team for round one to bring it back to 22 players, plus Rutten and Douglas will be available, so there could be up to five changes to the team that plays on Saturday night.
“Our message to the players is to remain positive, keep focused and prepare themselves as best as they can, so that when they do come back into the team they’re ready to play."
Rutten, who had foot surgery to correct plantar fasciitis in late-January, will continue to train over the weekend.
The Crows are still weighing up whether to play their All-Australian full-back in the SANFL next weekend.
Douglas missed the Club’s round three NAB Cup win over Collingwood because of soreness and Sanderson said the in-form midfielder was disappointed to miss out again this week.
“Dougy was really close. He’s disappointed, but we just felt there was no point in taking risks with players, who we could expose to injury,” Sanderson said.
“It was a tough call because he’s been one of our best performed players throughout the summer and he’s certainly in our best 22. I’m sure he’ll be in our calculations for round one.
“At this stage, ‘Truck’ (Rutten) won’t play SANFL this week.
“We’re going to continue to simulate match conditions for him at training, so it’s controlled.
“He’s been doing three or four sessions a week … with running, agility and wrestling.
“I know nothing can really simulate a match, but we can get pretty close.
“It’s round one of the SANFL season next weekend, so we’ll talk to West Adelaide, ‘Truck’ and our strength and conditioning coaches early next week about what the best situation is for him in terms of preparing him for round one.”
The Crows and Eagles are both undefeated in 2012.
Sanderson said the Club was keen to keep that record intact, while keeping one eye on its ongoing preparations for round one of the season proper.
“It’s nice that there’s a trophy attached to this one game, and we’ll certainly give it everything we’ve got but in reviewing this game win, lose or draw it’ll be about what we can improve on,” he said.
“We’ve still got a long way to go and there are areas of our game plan that still need tinkering.
“Every time we play, we want to win and it’s good experience for some of the guys, who haven’t have much exposure to AFL footy, to play in a game that is as close to a premiership season game as you can get.”
The team is:
3. Brent Reilly
4.Kurt Tippett
5.Scott Thompson
7. Nathan van Berlo
9. Rory Sloane
10. Matthew Jaensch*
11. Michael Doughty
12. Daniel Talia
13. Taylor Walker
14. David Mackay
17. Bernie Vince
18. Graham Johncock
22. Andy Otten
23. Jared Petrenko
24. Sam Jacobs
27. Tom Lynch*
29. Sam Kerridge*
32. Patrick Dangerfield
33. Brodie Smith
34. Sam Shaw
35. Shaun McKernan
37. Ian Callinan
40. Jason Porplyzia
45. Ricky Henderson
47. Matt Wright
*Denotes starting substitute
