Crows crossing fingers for co-captain Rory Sloane after eye injury
As the Crows fly back from Perth following their narrow 10-point defeat at the hands of West Coast, their co-captain Rory Sloane remains under an injury cloud after hurting his eye.
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Crows co-captain Rory Sloane flew back into Adelaide from Perth on Monday afternoon sporting not only a bruised right eye, but a rather large injury cloud hanging over his head.
Ruckman Sam Jacobs said in typical Sloane fashion the important midfielder was “up and about”, but would need to wait until further medical assessment before there was any determination on his availability to play Collingwood on Saturday.
Jacobs — who was solid in his return to AFL level after five months out of the team — said Sloane was an important part of the Crows line up. And with the ninth-placed Adelaide needing a win over the Magpies to stay in the finals hunt, Sloane’s injury couldn’t have happened at a worse time.
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“With a short turnaround hopefully he’s going to be all right because he’s obviously an important player and a player who played really well yesterday,” Jacobs said.
“He had a really good first half (on Sunday), his pressure was really high and he was covering the ground really well, he’s obviously a key player for us and one we’d certainly love to have because it’s an important game.”
Sloane came off at the beginning of the third quarter during the Crows 10-point loss to West Coast in Perth on Sunday, after copping a Matt Crouch elbow to his right cheek. He was unable to play on after reporting blurry vision.
Up until his injury, Sloane had picked up 17 disposals, eight contested possessions, four clearances and he’d kicked a goal.
Jacobs said after the narrow loss to the reigning premiers, coach Don Pyke told the players of his pride in their effort.
“But he left us with the message that we still need to improve … once again, we take a lot from the game, our effort and attitude was really good, but we just need to tidy up a few things and hopefully we can convert that into a win this week.”
While there’s an injury cloud over Sloane, Jacobs said he had pulled up well after his first AFL game since round 2.
“I’m a bit sorer than I have been playing SANFL, obviously a bit of a step up in intensity, but overall really good, so pretty happy with the recovery,” he said, adding that he hoped he’d done enough to keep his spot.
“Obviously that’s out of my control, but I was pretty happy with my return game … hopefully the coaches are happy and then just do all the right things and it falls my way.”
If Jacobs plays on Saturday, it will be his 200th game of AFL football and he said it blew his mind to contemplate making the milestone.
“I’m just a small town country kid from Ardrossan and to think I’m even this close to playing 200, it blows my mind,” he said.
“Hopefully I’m able to do it this week in front of friends and family at Adelaide Oval and love nothing more than to get a win against Collingwood.”