Two more key Crows added to club’s injury list on the eve of premiership defence, which starts against Brisbane on Saturday
Adelaide’s AFLW side now has only 21 fit players after two more names were added to the club’s injury list. It means there will be seven debutants in the tricolours against Brisbane in round one.
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The Crows’ injury woes have deepened on the eve of its 2020 season opener against Brisbane with two more key players forced to withdraw from the side after failing last-minute fitness tests.
It takes the number of fit players to only 21 from its list of 30.
Mid-forward Sophie Li and defensive leader Courtney Cramey were late withdrawals from the team today as the Crows flew out of Adelaide for Brisbane.
Li failed to pass a concussion test on Thursday night after suffering a head knock in the Crows’ trial match against Fremantle in Perth in late January, while Cramey will miss with groin soreness and will undergo scans.
It means the club’s two train-on players Rachelle Martin and Czenya Cavouras – who were announced as permanent train-ons earlier this week – have been unexpectedly elevated to emergencies and flew out with the team on Friday.
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Adelaide’s long injury list now sits at: Erin Phillips, Chloe Scheer and Rhiannon Metcalfe (all awaiting returns from ACLs), Deni Varnhagen (knee cartilage), Cramey (groin), Montana McKinnon (knee soreness) and Li (concussion), on top of Chelsea Randall (ACL) and Ruth Wallace (personal reasons) who have been ruled out for the season.
Martin and Cavouras were both called on after ruck McKinnon – the Crows’ No. 1 draft pick in October’s draft – suffered knee soreness that required a scan on Thursday night.
The late withdrawals also mean Adelaide has called on two more debutants for Saturday’s game – expected to be played in pouring rain – taking its total of new players being blooded to seven (the same number as it debuted in round one last year).
Small forward Jaimi Tabb and ruck Caitlin Gould will now play their first game in the Crows tricolours, along with the five debutants named earlier this week.
Draftee Gould, 20, has been working closely with coach Matthew Clarke on her ruck skills during the pre-season, while Tabb, 18, has become a much-admired player around the Crows’ West Lakes headquarters thanks to her strong work ethic.
Earlier this week on The Advertiser’s new women’s football podcast CJ and the Noff with Cramey and midfielder Ebony Marinoff, the two veteran Crows described Tabb as having the potential to be a future “jet” of the AFLW.
“She’s really strong around the contest and is the ultimate professional for her age,” Cramey said.
“I think those pathways she’s been involved in through the AFL have really contributed to her understanding what it takes to be a professional athlete and you can see that around the club in the way that she treats her body in terms of her gym and nutrition and she’s going to be a jet in years to come.”
Marinoff agreed: “When you’ve got to tell an 18-year-old to not do so much training, you know you’ve got a good one because she can’t plug that in.”
The Crows take on the Lions at Hickey Park from 4.40pm.