Veteran Sam Jacobs gets call ahead of Reilly O’Brien as Adelaide opts for one genuine ruckman against West Coast
Sam Jacobs is officially back for the Crows at the expense of Reilly O’Brien for tough trip to Perth Stadium to face high flying West Coast Eagles.
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Crows veteran Sam Jacobs is just a week away from reaching his long-awaited 200-game milestone after the club confirmed he would play his first AFL match in nearly five months against premier West Coast in Perth on Sunday.
Jacobs’ promotion for his first top-flight game since injuring a knee against Sydney at the SCG in round two has come at the expense of his long-time replacement Reilly O’Brien as the Crows opted against playing two genuine ruckmen.
O’Brien will fly to Perth with the Adelaide team as a standby emergency player and won’t play in the SANFL clash against West Adelaide, which also is on Sunday.
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O’Brien misses out after coach Don Pyke admitted he had begun to tire against the AFL heavyweights.
The 23-year-old has been superb since initially filling in for Jacobs as he recuperated from knee surgery and was so good he kept Jacobs, stranded on 198 AFL games since March 29, in the SANFL for two months after he returned from injury.
In 17 consecutive games after managing just two — both in 2016 — in his first four seasons at Adelaide, O’Brien averaged 15.7 disposals, 3.4 marks, 4.4 tackles and 34.4 hit-outs.
But Pyke said “ROB’s last few weeks probably haven’t been as good as he’d like’’.
He raised the prospect of bucking the Crows trend against the Eagles by playing two genuine ruckmen.
But in the end, Adelaide stuck with its usual philosophy.
The promotion of former Blue Jacobs is the only change to the Crows side, which snapped a two-game losing streak by beating St Kilda at home last week.
Chayce Jones, Hugh Greenwood and Paul Seedsman — named in the 26-man squad — have missed out on the final 22.
Jones will join O’Brien in flying to Perth.
If Jacobs fires in the battle of eighth versus second, he will play his 200th game against Collingwood at Adelaide Oval next Saturday.
The 31-year-old has spent the past eight weeks in the SANFL, where he has averaged 16.5 disposals, 6.2 marks and 30 hit-outs while kicking 10 goals, including a career-high five against North Adelaide.
“Sauce (Jacobs) has been in really good form,” Pyke said.
West Coast, which has won six of its past seven games to move to second, regained small forward Jamie Cripps from an adductor injury and promoted tagger Mark Hutchings, with Chris Masten and Jarrod Cameron dropping out of the side.
WEST COAST V ADELAIDE
Sunday August 11, 4:10pm at Perth Stadium
EAGLES
B: Hurn, Barrass, Schofield
HB: Jetta, McGovern, Sheppard
C: Cripps, Redden, Gaff
HF: Sheed, Darling, Ryan
F: Rioli, Kennedy, Allen
FOLL: Hickey, Yeo, Shuey
I/C Waterman, Petruccelle, Nelson, Hutchings,
Emerg: Masten, Rotham, Cameron, Ah Chee
IN: Cripps, Hutchings
OUT: Masten, Cameron
CROWS
B: Brown, Talia, Kelly
HB: Smith, Hartigan, Laird
C: Sloane, B.Crouch, Mackay
HF: Milera, Walker, Lynch
F: Murphy, Fogarty, Betts
FOLL: Jacobs, M.Crouch, Gibbs
I/C: Knight, Atkins, Otten, Douglas
Emerg: Greenwood, Seedsman, Jones, O’Brien
IN: Jacobs
OUT: O’Brien