Tom Lynch sub fiasco distracted from two big moments for rebuilding Crows

Adelaide fans have a fine-tuned bulldust radar and it was flashing this week. The latest on Tom Lynch’s injury confirms they were right to be suspicious.

Tom Lynch won’t play for the Crows this week. Picture: Getty Images

This should have been one of the most triumphant weeks in Adelaide’s short rebuild.

Complete vindication for its drafting of No.2 overall selection Riley Thilthorpe and its decision to hold him back until Round 6

And the huge coup to re-sign No.6 pick Fischer McAsey when even those close to him believed he was heading home to Melbourne after his father’s summer health issues.

When McAsey re-signs and Thilthorpe establishes himself as a star of the future with five goals on debut, you need to bungle something pretty badly to steal the limelight.

Watch the 2021 Toyota AFL Premiership Season. Every match of every round Live on Kayo. New to Kayo? Try 14-Days Free Now >

Riley Thilthorpe’s brilliant debut was overshadowed by the Tom Lynch debacle. Picture: Daniel Pockett/Getty Images

Unfortunately, the latest Adelaide own goal came when it refused to own the Tom Lynch fiasco.

Stuffing up is second nature in football.

Clubs make all kinds of crazy decisions and hasty moves that cost them badly by the week.

In selection, in drafting, in the kind of sprays that just cost GWS footy boss Jason McCartney 20 big ones.

But the way they own those decisions is critical.

Adelaide spent days defending the decision to play Lynch as the sub despite needing painkilling injections and pushing back on how long it took him to suit up.

The real clanger for Adelaide was never about how long it took Lynch to take painkilling pills and strap his ankles, it was the decision to play a bloke who clearly didn’t seem fit.

If Matthew Nicks or football boss Adam Kelly had simply come out and admitted it – we stuffed up – the fan base would have been miffed but quickly moved on.

After all, Adelaide was keen to get Chayce Jones through a full SANFL game the previous day and hoped Lynch would never be used against Hawthorn.

But when Lynch was ruled out on Friday with an ongoing toe issue, the statements that he was tickety-boo to play but just needed 15 minutes of preparation rung hollow.

Instead of activating a sub who won them the game against Hawthorn, they effectively played one short with a lame veteran who couldn’t even play the next week.

No one needs reminding that Adelaide’s failure to communicate – and apologise – turned a disastrous camp into a saga that cost it senior coach Don Pyke and eventually its CEO Andrew Fagan.

Playing Tom Lynch as the sub came back to bite the Crows.

Adelaide fans have a fine-tuned bulldust radar, and it was flashing loud this week.

According to Nicks, the Crows can’t even say how long it will take for Lynch to recover.

“It’s a tough one because it’s inflammation, it’s not necessarily one where we know a time frame on … this is one of those situations where we don’t know exactly how long (out).”

The pity is that the news did genuinely distract from the focus on a pair the Crows hope could be their bookends for the next decade or more.

Local boy Thilthorpe took the type of commanding pack marks that spoke of talent only a few possess, having secured him at pick two despite a modest final year given groin issues and his status in a poor SANFL team.

They took him over Logan McDonald because exactly the kind of flight risk issues they believed they had with McAsey.

After a tough first year in COVID lockdown and his father’s issues, he is living with livewire teammate Ned McHenry and this week made it clear he was ready to recommit.

Adelaide would love for him to have made more of an impact after only 10 games so far – only one with double-figure possessions – but his contested mark running back with the flight against St Kilda last year smacked of commitment and class.

Now they have the better part of three seasons to convince him this is his long-term home.

LYNCH TO MISS GIANTS CLASH WITH TOE INJURY

–Simeon Thomas-Wilson

Tom Lynch’s toe injury will force him to sit out Adelaide’s clash with GWS this weekend, despite the Crows insisting he was match fit to be the medical sub against Hawthorn.

The Crows were accused of an “unprofessional” bungling of their medical sub in their loss to the Hawks in Launceston last time out after TV footage captured Lynch not ready enter the field of play when Will Hamill suffered an ankle injury.

Lynch had to find his boots and socks, and then required treatment for his injury, before he entered the match – 15 minutes after being activated.

Following the club and Lynch copping criticism on social media, Adelaide senior coach Matthew Nicks spoke on Monday and said his leadership group player required injections to play in matches but said he was fit enough to play against the Hawks.

Tom Lynch won’t play for the Crows this week. Picture: Sarah Reed

Nicks also said he understood that “it wasn’t the best look”, but said the Crows gave Lynch instructions to take his time in getting warmed-up to come on as the medical sub.

“Tom was fit enough to play a game out,” Nicks said.

“Tom for the last month has required treatment around preparing for a game so he has required painkillers to play so we were confident he could play the game out.

“If we were able to get through the game and Tom wasn’t required to play the game that would have been a bonus because we wouldn’t have required him to take those painkillers and he could have had a week off.

“But at no time were we concerned about Tom’s ability to play.”

But on Friday morning the Crows announced that Lynch’s injury – soreness related to a joint inflammation in a big toe – would rule him out of the clash against the Giants.

Crows head of football Adam Kelly said he would be reassessed next week to “determine an appropriate timeline” for his return to full training.

“Tom has been playing through pain and his toe has not improved sufficiently,” Kelly said.

“We had hoped lighter training loads, coupled with limited on-field minutes as the medical substitute last weekend, would prove beneficial but unfortunately this has not eventuated.

“Tom is an experienced and important player so we have made the decision to give him some rest so he can return to the team and play at his best.”

Hamill is expected to miss one to two weeks with the injury he suffered against the Hawks.