Coach Brenton Sanderson said Thompson was the “logical” replacement for Talia.

“Luke has the size to play on Matthew Pavlich, Kepler Bradley or Aaron Sandilands,” Sanderson told afc.com.au.

“He’s probably the next key defender in line. We think Andy Otten has missed too much footy through injury. He probably hasn’t got the height to go with Bradley or Sandilands, and we need that versatility against Fremantle.”

Henderson returns for his first match since injuring his ankle in the Round 16 win over Greater Western Sydney. The versatile Crow, who signed a new three-year deal during the week, kicked a career-best six goals in his last full game against Port Adelaide in Round 15.

He comes into the side at the expense of tough onballer Aidan Riley, who has been omitted.

“Hendo gives us a different look with his speed and versatility,” Sanderson said.

“Aidan played as the sub last week and only got 20 minutes of game time, so he’s really unlucky but in terms of structure we feel a little bit more dangerous with Henderson in the team.

“He’s played some great roles for us this year.”

The Crows decided against recalling tall utility Josh Jenkins, who kicked eight goals for Sturt last weekend, to help Sam Jacobs and Kurt Tippett in their ruck battle with Dockers giant Aaron Sandilands.

Sandilands missed both meetings between the two teams in the minor round (which were both won by Adelaide) because of injury, but was important in Fremantle’s Elimination Final win over Geelong.

Sanderson said the Crows match committee had opted for an extra running player against the in-form Dockers.

“Jacobs and Tippett have been okay against Sandilands in the past, not necessarily in hit-outs but in terms of clearances,” he said.

“We do acknowledge that Sandilands is going to win his fair share of hit-outs, but we think the ball is going to be on the ground a bit more … so we’ve gone for speed and ability at ground-level rather than height.”

The team is:

IN: Ricky Henderson, Luke Thompson
OUT: Aidan Riley (omitted), Daniel Talia (broken arm)

B: Ricky Henderson, Ben Rutten, Michael Doughty

HB: Nathan van Berlo, Sam Shaw, Brent Reilly

C: David Mackay, Scott Thompson, Bernie Vince

HF: Matt Wright, Taylor Walker, Jared Petrenko

F: Ian Callinan, Kurt Tippett, Jason Porplyzia

FOLL: Sam Jacobs, Patrick Dangerfield, Rory Sloane

INT: Richard Douglas, Graham Johncock, Brodie Smith, Luke Thompson

EMERG: Josh Jenkins, Andy Otten, Aidan Riley




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