Myles Poholke earns right to replace injured playmaker Wayne Milera after dynamic SANFL display

Myles Poholke has been rewarded for one of the great halves of SANFL football with a call-up for Adelaide’s crunch clash against St Kilda at Marvel Stadium on Saturday, while Port has named an unchanged line-up to take on North Melbourne.

Wayne Milera is comforted by Crows teammate Cam Ellis-Yolmen after injuring his left shoulder against Gold Coast last week. Picture: DANIEL KALISZ (Getty Images).

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Myles Poholke has been rewarded for one of the great halves of SANFL football with a call-up for Adelaide’s crunch clash against St Kilda at Marvel Stadium on Saturday.

Poholke has won the battle to replace injured playmaker Wayne Milera (shoulder) in the Crows’ 22 for what looms as a season-defining game.

The brilliant Milera will miss at least a month after injuring his AC joint in the win against Gold Coast last Sunday.

Strong, hard-running midfielder Poholke, 20, had 22 disposals and four goals at half-time of the SANFL draw against South Adelaide at Noarlunga, before finishing with 30 possessions, the four majors and five centre clearances to force coach Don Pyke’s hand at selection.

Adelaide player Myles Poholke celebrates one of his four goals in the SANFL last week. Picture: AAP Image/ Morgan Sette

Adelaide SANFL coach Heath Younie described Poholke’s first half as being “as good as I have seen in the SANFL’’.

“I’m proud of his effort, not just his numbers, but his attitude to come and compete,’’ Younie said.

Poholke, who has played 10 AFL games in three seasons since being drafted at pick 44 in 2016, said he “wanted to bounce back and show that I am good enough to play at the level’’ after being dropped to the local league following the Crows’ disappointing round four loss to North Melbourne.

Now he gets the chance to prove himself again.

There was no AFL recall for axed key forward Josh Jenkins after just a solid performance in the SANFL last week.

But he has been named on the team’s emergency list, along with Chayce Jones, who has recovered from concussion, Jordan Gallucci and Darcy Fogarty as Adelaide tries to level its win-loss ledger at 3-3 against the high-flying Saints (4-1).

St Kilda replaced injured captain Jarryn Geary with fellow defender Daniel McKenzie.

Port rookie Connor Rozee has been passed fit to take on North Melbourne in the Anzac Round clash at Adelaide Oval. Picture: AAP Image/Richard Wainwright

PORT Adelaide has rewarded the 22 players who sensationally upset West Coast last week and picked an unchanged line-up for Friday night’s home clash against North Melbourne.

Coach Ken Hinkley said star rookie Connor Rozee and midfield hard man Sam Powell-Pepper had both recovered from leg knocks suffered in the seven-goal win against the Eagles in Perth and would take their places in the Power team.

“They had no issues at all really after the game, so there was never any risk that either of those boys wouldn’t be available this week,” Hinkley said.

“So we back in the boys that got the job done last week.’’

The news was not so good for veteran vice-captain Hamish Hartlett, who will miss another week of SANFL action with his hamstring injury.

Hinkley said the hamstring that Hartlett — on the comeback trail from a knee reconstruction last year — hurt in the opening round of the SANFL is still causing him some grief and that there was no definitive timeline on his return.

“He’s still having troubles, not massive troubles, but we’re not going to take a risk with him until he’s ready because we know if we blow his hamstring he could miss a significant amount of time,’’ he said.

The struggling Kangaroos have swung the selection axe, dumping Jy Simpkin, Paul Ahern and Bailey Scott for Luke McDonald, Nick Larkey and Tarryn Thomas