‘I hope to be named’: Josh Jenkins puts hand up for selection for Showdown 47
Adelaide forward Josh Jenkins is ‘supremely confident’ he is ready to take on Port Adelaide in Saturday’s Showdown after doing ‘more than required’ at training on Wednesday.
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Adelaide forward Josh Jenkins has declared himself fit to play in Saturday’s Showdown 47 — just three weeks after a knee injury looked to have wrecked his season.
Jenkins said he made it through the Crows’ Wednesday session pain free and was “supremely confident” he was ready to take on the Port Adelaide in the crunch clash.
“The body is actually superb,” Jenkins said this morning.
“I was ripping around feeling as good as new. I did more than everything that was required.”
The Crows feared the worst after Jenkins hyperextended his right knee in the dying moments of the Round 13 Thursday night win against Richmond and was stretchered from the field following an impressive four-goal effort.
Jenkins said he expected to be picked tonight, but would still have to “jump through a few more hoops” before taking the field against Port Adelaide.
“I hope to be named and if so, it’s not a guarantee I’ll play, we’ve got the aim of playing,” Jenkins told SEN SA Breakfast.
“I’m supremely confident that I’m ready to go.
“I expect it to be all clear. I did some pretty intense drills with the rest of the guys yesterday and I felt great.”
Both Jenkins and Eddie Betts expected Wayne Milera (back) and Tom Lynch (calf) to return to the side after impressing at training this week but they were less positive about Cam Ellis-Yolmen (shin) who failed to finish Wednesday’s session.
“They trained really well yesterday and it will be great to have (Milera and Lynch) back,” Betts told FIVEaa.
“Junior (Milera) gives us drive off the back. He helps out Lairdy and Smithers.
“Lynchy is our link man. We haven’t been getting many inside 50 marks and he’s the one who drives that. He gets up the ground, links up and delivers the ball inside-50.
“He leads so hard he draws opponents with him. But he gets the ball as well. And when he gets the ball he uses it really well. Hit up a forward down the line or go through the corridor. He’s a very important player to us.”
Betts said he hoped Ellis-Yolmen would be given every chance to prove his fitness after “playing some great footy” recently.
“He’s that big-bodied midfielder who could line up against the likes of Ollie Wines, Powell-Pepper if he comes back in, Tom Rockliff. Fingers crossed for Cam, I hope he can get up.”
Betts was also open to suggestions ruckman Sam Jacobs, who has been stuck in the SANFL since returning from a knee injury sustained in Round 2, could play a role in the Crows’ forward line.
“I’m not sure what the coaches are thinking,” Betts said.
“But Sauce can play forward. In his first game back in the SANFL he kicked five goals and took about eight marks and I think all of them were in the forward 50. It would be interesting to have the big Sauce up there in the forward line, creating the contest bringing it to the ground for us little guys.”
The veteran forward, who is playing in his 12th Showdown, said he was expecting a “finals-like” contest in Showdown 47, with ladder positions at stake and both sides coming into the derby from a loss for the first time since 2011.
“No matter where you sit on the ladder, playing a Showdown here in Adelaide is a massive game, and one of the most important games of the year, so it is very important for us and we’re both coming off a loss so we’re going to have to go out and give our all,” Betts said.
“The atmosphere at the Showdown, no matter what home team it is, it’s just crazy, the noise is loud. From the start of the week, it’s in the paper, it’s in the news, the supporters are talking about it, the supporter groups don’t like each other.
“It’s pretty hectic. I really enjoy it. They’re tough games. But I really just love playing in the Showdowns.”