Wayne Milera dodges surgery, but will miss a month of action for the Adelaide Crows

Adelaide’s Wayne Milera has avoided surgery — for now at least — on a high-grade AC joint sprain that is expected to sideline him for at least a month.

Wayne Milera with his dislocated shoulder in a sling. Picture SARAH REED

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Adelaide’s Wayne Milera has avoided surgery — for now anyway — on a high-grade AC joint sprain that is expected to sideline him for at least a month.

Milera and the club met with a surgeon on Tuesday morning after he finished Sunday’s game against Gold Coast with his arm in a sling following a heavy clash with Pearce Hanley at Adelaide Oval.

It was initially feared he would face immediate surgery and be sidelined for a minimum of six weeks but the shoulder showed significant progress in the last 24 hours and will instead be monitored over the next week.

Wayne Milera with his arm in a sling talks to Cam Ellis-Yolmen after the big win against Gold Coast. Picture: Daniel Kalisz/Getty Images

Best case scenario is rest and rehabilitation and Milera could be back playing in a month but surgery is still an option if it doesn’t improve.

“We love what he (Milera) brings to the team, not only his run but he can mark the ball as an intercept player and you’ve seen his hardness around the contest,” assistant coach Ben Hart said.

“So we’ll miss him ... He’ll be a big loss, he’d been building his form pretty nicely and he’s a player we can use in a variety of positions. He played half back at the start of the year, moved to half forward on the weekend and was looking OK

“So they are big shoes to fill but we hope we have guys in the SANFL who are in good enough form to come in.

“It depends on how we want to structure up but if Bryce (Gibbs) does stay down back, I think we can see what Brodie Smith and Rory Laird were able to do on the weekend, so it might mean we need to find another forward to replace where Wayne was playing.

“So Jordan Gallucci, Myles Poholke, Tyson Stengle have all been in reasonable form down below in the SANFL so I think that might be what we look at trying to do.”

Hart hasn’t given up hope of seeing Darcy Fogarty play forward despite starting the SANFL season in defence.

“Part of the reason for Darcy to go back was to learn about defence and with Tom Doedee going out we needed a guy who can come in and intercept the ball and be a good user off half-back,” Hart said.

“But it does teach you a lot about the forward craft and how to lead, when to lead, so it’s two-sided to him moving back but he certainly hasn’t lost the opportunity to come and play forward - he’s a big strong body and leads at the footy so wherever he fits in best is where he’ll end up playing.”

Adelaide player Myles Poholke starred in the SANFL against South Adelaide. Picture: AAP Image/ Morgan Sette

Hart said Josh Jenkins “ticked some boxes” in the SANFL on the weekend but he is not an automatic recall to the AFL side to play St Kilda this weekend.

“It was a tough day for forwards, he had some good moments - he was involved in eight scores and hit up at the ball pretty strongly and gave a few off in that first quarter.

“He’s just got to continue to work at it and match committee will make that decision later in the week. But he ticked some boxes and it’s just that consistency level that we’ve been talking about in the contest and getting to more contests will be a thing for him moving forward.”

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