Adelaide will be sweating on the fitness of two of its key forwards ahead of its Round 8 clash with Carlton.
Darcy Fogarty missed Friday night’s disappointing 18-point loss to Fremantle in Perth, and is still in doubt to meet the Blues at Adelaide Oval next Saturday.
FOX FOOTY, available on Kayo Sports, is the only place to watch every AFL match this Saturday LIVE. Catch all the action in 4K, with no ad-breaks during play. New to Kayo? Get your first month for just $1. Limited-time offer.
While Riley Thilthorpe suffered a suspected compound fracture to a finger in the second half of the loss to the Dockers. He finished the game, and looked dangerous, kicking the last of his three goals in the final term.
But the extent of his injury must have him doubtful for next week too.
Obviously, coach Matthew Nicks is hopeful that the damage is not too big.
“We’re gonna have to have a bit more of a look at it,” he said.
“He managed to go off and get back on the ground and still impact. So hopefully it’s not a long term miss for him.
“He’s very important to us at the moment, as you saw tonight. So, it was nice to see him come back out, but we’ll know more as that settles down.”
Thilthorpe’s haul took his season’s tally to 19 goals, just two behind Fremantle’s Josh Treacy, who goes in Saturday’s games on top of the AFL’s goalkicking table.
Fogarty is close behind, with 16, actually an accurate 16.3.
He didn’t play against the Dockers after he was diagnosed with a sternoclavicular joint sprain in his shoulder, following the Crows win over Greater Western Sydney.
Dockers too good for disappointing Crows | 02:55
Nicks is hopeful he’ll be fine for round 8.
“It’s an SC joint, which they can linger,” he said.
“He’s a country boy, though, so pretty sure he’ll be pretty keen after watching tonight. He’ll want to get back out there.
“I think anytime you have a player out that’s it’s been there right through, it challenges you and changes your connection with your keys, and especially ahead of the ball.
“So, Darcy is really important to us.
“At the same time, we felt like we had a group that if we gave them enough opportunity, they’d be able to score, and we could get a result.
“But tonight was just one of those nights, not being able to knock it through when we had a chance.”
While Adelaide went forward only 42 times, their lowest number of entries into attack this season, they managed to kick 9.13.
They took 14 marks in attack and put on 18 tackles in their forward line.
But they failed to make the most of all of their opportunities.
“We missed some goals that we’ve been knocking through,” Nicks said.
“Maybe Darcy Fogarty is an important player for us, because he doesn’t miss very often.
“But in the end, we didn’t really give them enough opportunity.
“The game’s won and lost in the midfield more often than not, and tonight was a prime example of it.”
Discussion about this post