Highly rated Adelaide Crows teenager Andrew McPherson injured again

A luckless Adelaide Crows teenager has had another setback in his bid to prove why he is so highly rated after being hurt in the SANFL on Friday night.

Injury-prone Crow Andrew McPherson faces another stint on the sidelines. Picture: DYLAN COKER.

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Luckless Crows teenager Andrew McPherson has had another setback in his bid to prove why he is so highly rated after being hurt in the first quarter of the SANFL match against Glenelg on Friday night.

Considered a draft steal by Adelaide when it snapped up the South Australian under-18 vice-captain at pick 40 at the 2017 national draft, McPherson has battled injuries for three consecutive seasons and hurt his hamstring at the 20-minute mark of the opening term of the 53-point loss to the Tigers at the Bay.

Luckless Crows rookie Andrew McPherson has injured a hamstring again. Picture: Michael Willson/AFL Media

McPherson missed much of his draft year with groin soreness and last year played only three SANFL games because of groin and hamstring injuries.

Now he has suffered more hamstring issues, although the club suspects his latest problem is only minor.

“Andrew reported hamstring tightness while running in his second SANFL game of the season on Friday night,’’ Crows science and medical services co-ordinator Steve Saunders said.

“Subsequent scans show a very low level edema in the hamstring with sound tissue structure.

“Andrew will be re-evaluated later in the week. At this stage we anticipate little training and game time will be lost as we continue to build his conditioning base.’’

McPherson’s talent is unquestioned, nor is his work ethic.

But his body is a concern.

In drafting McPherson, highly-respected Adelaide recruiting manager Hamish Ogilvie said

he had rated him as first-round draft material until his injury in his draft year.

“If you had have said that to any club at the start of the year, that Andrew McPherson would be (pick 40) in the draft, they would’ve said you were dreaming,” Ogilvie said after recruiting the Woodville-West Torrens product.

A midfielder/half-back, McPherson was at the time described by his former Eagles teammate and current Port Adelaide player welfare and development manager Paul Stewart as the most professional young player he had seen and a future AFL captain.

“He's a ripper kid, a future leader if ever I’ve seen one,’’ Stewart said.

McPherson just needs to be able to stay on the park to prove it.