Are Adelaide Crows planning to recall Josh Jenkins for Showdown 46 to play alongside Elliott Himmelberg instead of in place of him?
It was a throwaway line from co-captain Taylor Walker but could the Crows be planning to recall Josh Jenkins for Saturday night’s Showdown?
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It was a throwaway line from co-captain Taylor Walker but could the Crows be planning to recall Josh Jenkins for Saturday night’s Showdown?
After spending the past three weeks in the SANFL where his form has been modest, but his coaches and teammates have sung his praises and value to the team, Jenkins may return to the senior side to play alongside Elliott Himmelberg rather than in place of him.
His height could stretch the Power’s defence that may be without co-captain Tom Jonas and would be insurance for Reilly O’Brien who faces the biggest test of his career against Paddy Ryder and Scott Lycett.
“I suppose it’s up to Pykey and match committee to decide whether we go with three up front or whether we don’t,” Walker said in floating the idea on Monday.
“He’s a chance. JJ has gone back and he’s working his butt off to get back in the side.
“He’s a valuable member of our football club and if we can get him back in as soon as we can he’s going to help us go forward.
“(When he’s playing well) he’s taking marks, kicking goals and putting some real intense pressure on, we’ve seen signs of that the last three weeks so I don’t think he’s too far away.”
On Tuesday wingman David Mackay was asked whether it was possible to recall Jenkins without dropping Himmelberg who is going at better than a goal-a-game in his three games this season.
“Absolutely,” Mackay said.
“That’s not my call to make, but I think Josh is a highly valued member of our group.
“He’s going to have a key role going forward there’s no doubt about that and I’m glad I’m not in that position where I have to make those decisions because it’s pretty difficult.
“We’ve seen Josh’s quality over a number of years as a player and what he brings to the group. Obviously he’s working on a few things that he needs to work on as we all are but there’s no doubt that Josh’s influence and value particularly as a leader of this club as well.
“So it’s only a matter of time before we see him delivering what he can in the AFL system.”
Jenkins’ Showdown record is good. In seven Showdowns since 2015 he has kicked 19.7 at almost three goals a game including the game winner in Round 20 last year.
According to Champion Data in last year’s two Showdowns, Jenkins predominantly played on Jack Hombsch while Walker got Tom Clurey and Dougal Howard.
The Crows’ reserves team has the bye this weekend with the SANFL state game against WA, so if Adelaide is waiting for Jenkins to kick a bag or dominate at that level before being recalled then he is at least two weeks away.
The form of Himmelberg and emergence of O’Brien also means Sam Jacobs is not a walk-up start for the AFL team when he returns from knee surgery, which according to Mackay is exactly what the club wants.
Josh Jenkins was awarded a goal late in the Showdown after a review.#AFLCrowsPower pic.twitter.com/ghS8YJzjMd
— AFL (@AFL) August 4, 2018
“It’s critical to have that selection pressure and the drive from our SANFL team, guys in really good form, if you look at the teams at the end of the year who go deep into September they’ve got that pressure from underneath,” he said.
“We’re trying to develop that, our SANFL side is in terrific form, our young players are really developing at a fast rate, so it’s critical to driving the performance of our AFL team.
“Obviously we want everyone performing at their peak but it’s a difficult game and super competitive.
“Guys getting left out of the team gets a lot of air time externally, but internally we understand that if we want to get to where we want to as a footy club it takes 40 players on our list.
“Match committee select a 22 each week to best represent us each week and that changes all the time. This notion you only need your 22 or 25 is pretty inaccurate, it’s our whole list, right down from the young rookies who are driving the selection pressure it requires everyone and that’s how we look at it.”
O’Brien is averaging 31 hit-outs and four marks (two contested) in five games this season, and on Sunday Himmelberg only spent limited time in the ruck with eight hit-outs against the Dockers.
They face premiership player Lycett and All-Australian Ryder in Showdown 46 on Saturday and Mackay has backed O’Brien to stand up.
“We back Reilly in to the hilt because we understand the work that he’s done, we’ve seen it behind the scenes over a number of years to get his opportunity and the type of person he is,” Mackay said.
“He’s a driven character, really competitive, so we back him in no matter what the challenge is he faces.”
reece.homfray@news.com.au
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