Crows lose defender Tom Doedee to suspected ACL injury in 32-point loss to Hawthorn

It was a horror start to the season for the Crows, with defender Tom Doedee suffering a suspected ACL injury in a 32-point loss to Hawthorn at Adelaide Oval.

It’s hard to know who will be more heartbroken if scans confirm Adelaide defender Tom Doedee has — as the club suspects — ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in Saturday’s 32-point loss to Hawthorn.

The 22-year-old first-round draft pick who had to wait two years to debut and then suddenly became one of the best young defenders in the competition last season.

Or the collective membership base the club estimates is nudging 80,000 that will share his pain and at the same time fear what it means to their premiership hopes.

Like Richmond’s Alex Rance who injured his ACL in Thursday night’s win over Carlton, a season-ending knee injury to Doedee will leave a gaping hole in Adelaide’s side.

The No.17 draft pick from 2015 only debuted in Round 1 last year and emerged as an instant replacement for Jake Lever. He played 20 games — before breaking his collarbone — but still finished runner-up in the NAB Rising Star Award and was ranked 10th for intercept marks in the competition.

At Adelaide Oval yesterday Doedee appeared to twist his left knee in a loose ball contest early in the second quarter and went into the rooms. He later emerged on the bench with crutches and ice and football manager Brett Burton revealed the Crows feared the worst.

“It’s unfortunately a suspected ACL so not good news for Tommy (but) we’ll get scans after the game,” Burton said at half-time.

UPDATE: Tom Doedee has a suspected ACL injury #weflyasone

— Adelaide Crows (@Adelaide_FC) March 23, 2019

“He’s an outstanding character Tommy, a good lad and is obviously disappointed but still fairly upbeat and (knows there is) still half a game of footy to go so he’s got the right attitude for the team.

“We’ll do that (scans) tomorrow (Sunday), it will be done ASAP and find out what the result is.”

Doedee overcame knee soreness in January to play in both of Adelaide’s JLT Series games and just two weeks ago premiership coach Malcolm Blight predicted he would become one of the Crows’ most important players. He signed a two-year contract extension at Adelaide last September, keeping him at the club until at least 2021.

He started yesterday’s game strongly with intercept marks in front of Jarryd Roughead and Jack Gunston before the innocuous second-quarter incident saw him leave the ground with the knee injury.

Things got worse for the Crows in the final quarter when veteran midfielder/forward Richard Douglas had to be carried from the ground with a suspected ankle injury.

Adelaide played key defender Kyle Hartigan in its SANFL trial against Port Adelaide on Friday night and he may be called on for the trip to Sydney to play the Swans on Friday night, while Darcy Fogarty who was trialled in defence over summer could be another option.

Welcome back Bradley! A much needed steadier at the 21-minute mark of the opening term 👍 #weflyasone pic.twitter.com/FbufCPv1Ca

— Adelaide Crows (@Adelaide_FC) March 23, 2019

QUARTER TIME

Adelaide 1.2 (8)

Hawthorn 2.4 (16)

The Hawks made the better start and kicked the opening two goals of the game to silence the crowd early on thanks to Jaeger O’Meara and James Worpel.

Playing his first senior game since the 2017 grand final, Adelaide’s Brad Crouch kicked a set shot goal which triggered celebrations from his teammates to keep them in touch at quarter-time as they trailed by eight points.

Debutant Chayce Jones showed good signs particularly with his tackling pressure and stopped Jarman Impey in his tracks by pinning his arm.

HALF TIME

Adelaide 5.4 (34)

Hawthorn 6.7 (43)

What a moment for our first gamer! #weflyasone pic.twitter.com/rZEdV9LWfS

— Adelaide Crows (@Adelaide_FC) March 23, 2019

The Crows suffered a major blow when they lost key defender Tom Doedee to a suspected ACL injury. He appeared to twist his left knee in a contest and left the ground before later emerging from the rooms with crutches and ice.

After a slow start the Crows kicked consecutive goals to Eddie Betts and Rory Sloane, and Chayce Jones kicked his first goal on debut.

But the Hawks steadied with goals to Liam Shiels, Isaac Smith and Luke Breust and led by nine points at the long break.

Matt Crouch and Rory Sloane are racking up possession each with 20 plus touches in the opening half for the home side.

THREE QUARTER TIME

Adelaide 5.6 (36)

Hawthorn 9.14 (68)

Hawks are so organised, disciplined and hard at the footy #AFLCrowsHawks

— Shane Crawford (@SCrawf9) March 23, 2019

Hawthorn dominated the third quarter to stretch its lead to 32 points as the Crows stumbled under pressure and failed to apply the same to their opposition.

The Hawks had 10 scoring shots to Adelaide’s two in the third term with goals to ruckman Ben McEvoy and James Cousins putting them in a match-winning position.

The Crows had more of the ball, won more clearances and contested possession but it had no influence on the scoreboard. The Hawks meanwhile could have led by a lot more but were inaccurate in front of goal.

FULL TIME

Adelaide 7.13 (55)

Hawthorn 12.15 (87)

Things went from bad to worse for the Crows when veteran midfielder Richard Douglas had to be carried from the ground with a suspected ankle injury, but Eddie Betts at least gave them some hope with a clever goal.

Adelaide then finally found some run and link-up play and peppered the scoreboard but couldn’t kick straight with Taylor Walker, Brodie Smith and Wayne Milera all missing long range shots.

The Hawks needed to land the knockout blow and it arrived with 3mins 33secs to go when Jaeger O’Meara kicked his second goal of the game to get the visitors home.

Even the big screen has given up. #weflyasoje #AFLCrowsHawks pic.twitter.com/4HbheJ1JGv

— Mikey Nicholson (@Mikey_Nicholson) March 23, 2019

ADELAIDE CROWS V HAWTHORN

Saturday March 23, 4:05pm at the Adelaide Oval

TV: Fox Footy (live), Channel 7 (live)

RADIO: TripleM, ABC, FIVEaa

WEATHER: 26C partly cloudy

TEAMS

CROWS

B: Kelly, Talia, Doedee

HB: Laird, Keath, Mackay

C: Milera, M. Crouch, Smith

HF: Lynch, Walker, Jones

F: Murphy, Jenkins, Betts

FOLL: Jacobs, Sloane, Gibbs

I/C: B. Crouch, Knight, Atkins, Douglas

EMG: Otten, Ellis-Yolmen, Fogarty, O’Brien

HAWKS

B: Hardwick, Frawley, Impey

HB: Burgoyne, Mirra, Stratton

C: Morrison, Shiels, Smith

HF: Roughead, Nash, Sicily

F: Breust, Gunston, Puopolo

FOLL: McEvoy, Worpel, O’Meara

I/C: Scrimshaw, Henderson, Ceglar, Cousins

EMG: Moore, Hanrahan, Lewis, Brand