Adelaide Crows to lose Josh Worrell for extended stint after injury as ruckman Reilly O’Brien gives ultimatum to teammates
The Crows’ key defensive stocks have taken another hit, with youngster Josh Worrell set for a long stint on the sidelines after breaking his arm on Sunday.
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Adelaide defender Josh Worrell will be out for two to three months after he had surgery on his broken arm suffered against Brisbane.
Worrell was taken to hospital on Sunday after he broke his left forearm after being tackled by Brisbane’s Cam Rayner.
He stayed overnight and had surgery on it on Monday.
The Crows said the surgery was successful and the 23-year-old would begin rehabilitation next week.
“We’re all very disappointed for Josh because he was playing some fantastic footy,” high performance manager Darren Burgess said.
“Unfortunately the nature of the injury has required surgery and that will mean he will be sidelined for the next two to three months while allowing it to fully recover.
“Josh has worked really hard to become a regular and important part of the team and I expect him to carry the same attitude into his rehab and we look forward to him returning.”
Worrell has had a fine 2024 for the Crows, establishing himself as a key part of the Crows’ backline.
O’BRIEN LAYS DOWN ULTIMATUM FOR CROWS
Adelaide leadership group member Reilly O’Brien says the Crows “can’t let any more games slip” after they played out a thrilling draw with Brisbane.
The Crows and Lions played out a pulsating draw at Adelaide Oval on Sunday, with Adelaide coming back from three goals down in the last quarter.
But it was a sombre mood in the Crows change rooms post game, with Adelaide players trying to process what happened.
A Sunday night thriller in Adelaide!
— AFL (@AFL) May 12, 2024
Watch the final moments of #AFLCrowsLions now, thanks to OMO Australia. pic.twitter.com/4QxHKQ64Fw
“Weird feeling, yeah disappointing,” O’Brien told this masthead, but said the Crows could not afford many more losses.
“We did well to fight back but we needed that win, it makes next week all the more important now,” he said.
“I feel like the last month we have played our brand of footy.
“We haven’t been perfect, we have things to improve on … we probably let this one slip and the Essendon game slip, but I think we are back to playing our footy which is the pleasing thing.
“We can’t let any more games slip really, we have to keep winning.”
O’Brien said the two goals the Crows gave up late in the third quarter hurt them, with Adelaide’s backline having a tough day after a stellar showing in the Showdown.
“We probably did, just coughed the ball up a few times,” he said.
“A few turnovers which allowed some easy goals.
“Those two at the end in the third especially hurt.”
“Much better than a loss, but a really weird feeling. We played pretty well but we had some patches where we let them back into it.
“We gave up a couple of red-time goals in the third, but overall played alright but just couldn’t get the win.
“We showed really good fight to come back, so proud of the effort but probably just wasn’t our best. We allowed too many intercept marks.
“It wasn’t our best performance, we played some good footy in patches but not for enough.”
The draw leaves Adelaide in 12th spot on the ladder, eight points behind eighth-placed Collingwood.
O’Brien said the Crows were back to playing the footy they wanted to after their slow start to the season.
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