Midfielder Matt Crouch has been ruled out of Saturday’s clash with Sydney as he rebuilds his training loads in preparation for a return to play.

Crouch missed Adelaide’s Round One win over Geelong due to groin soreness associated with off-season hip surgery and there is no clear timeline on when he will be available for selection.

The 25-year-old All-Australian trained fully with the team last Thursday but did not recover from that session as well as anticipated and will spend the next two weeks building a foundation to rejoin the main training group.

“Matt had hip surgery in the off-season and we had been building him towards Round One and hopefully he might have been available, but he reported some groin soreness after our main training session on the Thursday and given that, we’ve decided that he’s going to spend the next two to three weeks in our rehab group as we build him back up and have him ready for selection,” Head of Football Adam Kelly said.

“We’ll be taking a cautious approach with Matt, he’s a really important player for us in our midfield and one of our strong leaders, it’s a long season ahead and once we have Matt ready and available we want him to be able to see out the season.”

Mitch Hinge had scans on his injured right shoulder on Monday after dislocating it twice during the win over Geelong. The process of assessment and identifying the appropriate course of action for Hinge’s shoulder will continue over the coming days as he continues to settle clinically.

“It was very brave of Mitch to put himself back out on the field, the team needed him and it was a very courageous act,” Kelly said.

“We need to assess that over coming days as to what the most appropriate treatment will be, and we’ll be considering whether surgery is the appropriate treatment or whether we can manage it during the year.”

Luke Brown had a scan on his Achilles on Monday after being forced from Saturday’s game with acute soreness related to a pre-existing Achilles issue. While cleared of significant damage, Brown did not train on Tuesday and will miss Saturday’s game against Sydney.

“Luke has had some history with Achilles problems so he’s now been ruled out of the game this week and we will monitor that ongoing,” Kelly said.

Jake Kelly suffered concussion and a broken nose in a collision during the second quarter on Saturday and took no further part in the game.

Kelly will not play in this weekend’s game against Sydney and will continue to be assessed and progressed under the AFL’s concussion protocol which includes a minimum of 12 days before a player can return to play. The Crows’ Round Three game against Gold Coast will be 13 days after Kelly’s concussion incident. 

Defender Will Hamill and forward Shane McAdam both had their ankles assessed during the Round One game but have been cleared of significant injury and are expected to be available to take on the Swans at the SCG.

Jackson Hately and Luke Pedlar both missed the weekend’s SANFL trial game against Woodville-West Torrens due to groin and abdominal soreness respectively. Pedlar is expected to be available to play Port Adelaide on Friday night however Hately is likely to be another 1-2 weeks before making his return.

Ben Davis has recovered from an ankle injury and is expected to be available this weekend as will Ronin O’Connor who had his training loads managed with foot soreness and Nick Murray who has recovered from a sprained ankle he suffered in the pre-season game against Port Adelaide at Noarlunga.

Injury list (as of March 23):

Matt Crouch (groin) ongoing assessment
Jake Kelly (concussion) concussion protocol
Daniel Talia (knee) 1 week
Luke Brown (Achilles) 1 week
Jackson Hately (groin) 1-2 weeks
Brayden Cook (shoulder) 4 weeks
Mitch Hinge (shoulder) TBC
Wayne Milera (knee) season