Adelaide Crows forward Lachlan Murphy pays a painful price for forgetting his mouthguard

Adelaide midfield coach Michael Godden has revealed small forward Lachlan Murphy paid a painful price for forgetting his mouthguard for the first time in Adelaide’s win over Richmond. But Eddie Betts has also accepted some of the blame.

Coach Don Pyke checks on Josh Jenkins. Picture SARAH REED

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Adelaide Crows midfield coach Michael Godden said small forward Lachlan Murphy paid a painful price for forgetting his mouthguard for the first time in Adelaide’s win over Richmond on Thursday night.

Murphy had his front teeth loosened in a friendly fire clash with captain Taylor Walker early in the first quarter.

“He said he’s going to be in the bad books with his mum,’’ Godden said on SEN radio.

“He always wears a mouth guard. They (teeth) were pushed back into his mouth, they put a steel plate in there last night.

“He’s never not worn a mouthguard,’’ he said.

Lachlan Murphy tackles Nathan Broad during the first quarter at Adelaide Oval on Friday night before leaving the field. Picture: James Elsby/AFL Photos via Getty Images

Murphy’s teammate Eddie Betts said he was also accepting some of the blame after “jinxing” the young forward by telling him to not worry about it.

“It was my bad, I think I jinxed him,” Betts told FIVEaa on Friday.

“We were in the warm ups and ... he ran up to Myles Poholke who he lives with and he said, Myles, can you go home and get my mouthguard, I left it in my bag. But it’s 30 minutes there’s and 30 minutes back, so we’re going to be at halftime by the time he gets back.

“I was like don’t worry, mate, just focus on playing footy — us small forwards chase, tackle, probably not going to get your teeth knocked out ... at halftime I’m sitting there in the meeting and Lachie always sits next to me and I’m like, where the hell’s Lachie? I’m looking around and I see the team up there and his name’s down at the bottom.

“I go to the doc and say, ‘doc, where’s Lachie?’ He goes, ‘He got his teeth knocked out. He’s in hospital.’ I was like oh my god.”

Godden said the bye had come at the right time with Josh Jenkins (knee), key defender Daniel Talia (quad) and Jake Kelly (calf) also finishing the game on the injury list.

Godden said Jenkins was in good spirits ahead of scans today which will determine the extent of his knee injury suffered in the dying minutes of Thursday night’s game.

Godden said the incident sucked the air out of the coach’s box.

“The atmosphere of the whole stadium was quite amazing, it sucked the atmosphere away,’’ Godden added.

“Fingers crossed, you’d imagine it’s going to be a couple of weeks,’’ he said.

Jenkins kicked 4.3 from 17 disposals and took seven marks and was upbeat after the game.

“I think I’ve escaped but we’ll have to get some pictures tomorrow, but at this stage the worst case scenario looks to be out of the question,” Jenkins said.

Josh Jenkins taken from the oval with a knee injury Picture: Sarah Reed

He also expects Daniel Talia to miss a couple of weeks after injuring his quad in the third quarter.

“It didn’t seem like a massive one, it could be anywhere from three to four weeks,’’ Godden added,

Godden said the Crows are finding the right midfield mix as they claimed the third successive win Thursday night.

“We’re starting to get out balance better in there,’’ Godden said.

“Their intensity around the contest was really good.

“They didn’t go ahead of themselves and got the job done,’’ he said.

And he again heaped praise on young ruckmen Reilly O’Brien who had another massive game and continue to grow.

“We’ve given him an opportunity and he’s taken it consistently,’’ Godden added.

“He was great again last (Thursday) night.

“His follow up work was elite, his pressure acts around the contest were outstanding.

“The ruck work is getting better every week but it’s more about the ground that’s pleasing us,’’ he said.

Godden said the injury to Jenkins would again raise the possibility of playing both O’Brien and Sam Jacobs in the same team.

“It’s not something we’re tinkered with yet,’’ he said.

“We’ve certainly discussed it pre-season, I’m not going to rule it out, but at this point I feel we go with one and half ruckmen with someone relieving from the front half,’’ he said.

Originally published as Adelaide Crows forward Lachlan Murphy pays a painful price for forgetting his mouthguard