AFL Round 1 2024: Full Adelaide Crows and Port Adelaide teams

Ivan Soldo has won the race to be Port Adelaide’s first-choice ruckman in round 1. Plus, Adelaide’s Taylor Walker replacement revealed. See the full line-ups here.

Port Adelaide has chosen to go with just the one ruck for round 1, with Jeremy Finlayson coming back into the Power’s side.

Former Richmond big man Ivan Soldo was already confirmed for his debut for the Power in the ruck — along with key defenders Esava Ratugolea and Brandon Zerk-Thatcher — for Port’s season opener against West Coast at Adelaide Oval on Sunday.

With Ollie Lord out for eight to 10 weeks the Power was weighing up whether to go with Finlayson — who was not in the side for the pre-season win over Fremantle and was the sub in the semi final loss to GWS — as its third tall forward or hand former Bulldog Jordon Sweet his debut and go with two rucks.

The Power have decided to go with Finlayson, who has been a key member of the side for the past two years, against the Eagles.

Father-son Jackson Mead and pressure forward Francis Evans have made the interchange, along with Finlayson, Drew and Kane Farrell after strong pre-seasons.

After looking like he was a chance to secure a wing spot for most of pre-season, Jase Burgoyne did not make the cut for Round 1.

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Ivan Soldo will make his Port Adelaide debut on Sunday. Picture: Mark Brake/Getty Images

The Crows will take a makeshift forward line into their clash against Gold Coast on Saturday at People First Stadium.

With Riley Thilthorpe already out for a significant amount of time, Taylor Walker added to the Crows forward woes after he was ruled out with a back spasm.

The 33-year-old said it was about making sure he was right for the rest of the season.

“I was very close (to playing) and had a bit of a run around yesterday, but at the age I am now I’ve got more the whole season in mind,” Walker told Triple M.

“If it were a home game I probably would have been a lot closer (to getting up), but taking the flight into consideration, we weren’t sure how well it would hold up on the trip up to the Gold Coast.

“So to miss this week gives me the best chance to play the rest of the year and in the end that is what the decision came down to.”

Taylor Walker won’t play against the Suns. Picture: Mark Brake/Getty Images

Chris Burgess will make his Crows debut against his former side, while Lachlan Gollant will also feature against the Suns.

James Borlase has held off Mark Keane for the second key defender spot alongside Jordon Butts down back, while Sam Berry returns to the side for the first time since Round 10 last year.

Crows head of football Adam Kelly said this was from a strong pre-season.

“Sam has really impressed through the pre-season and his strengths have come to the fore,” he said.

“We have enjoyed being able to see what Sam has been able to do in conjunction with our other mids and watching their connection evolve across the summer months has been pleasing.”

Luke Pedlar, Lachlan Murphy, Matt Crouch, Mitch Hinge and Jake Soligo have been named on the bench with one to be selected as the sub an hour before the game.

Walker ruled out of round 1

– Matthew Forrest

Adelaide coach Matthew Nicks won’t alter the club’s preparation tactics, with star forward Taylor Walker confirmed out for the season opener.

The veteran goal kicker is nursing a back complaint, with doubts surrounding his availability for the Crows’ clash against the Suns this week.

But on Wednesday Nicks confirmed Walker would not start the season on Saturday night, with the All Australian limited to light duties on Wednesday after missing the two previous sessions.

“We train pretty hard, we don’t apologise for that,” he said.

“We believe that training hard is the way to get it done, and with that comes some risk around getting through a session.”

Taylor Walker is out of Adelaide’s season opener with a back issue. Picture: Will Russell/AFL Photos via Getty Images

Nicks said on Wednesday afternoon on SENSA that it was a long season and it was important to ensure Walker was fit.

“Tex won’t play unfortunately,” he said. “That disappointment turns into an opportunity for someone else.

“We’ll go in with a different forward line.”

Former Sun Chris Burgess was all-but locked in to make his Crows debut after Riley Thilthorpe was sidelined with a knee injury, but now Burgess will spearhead the Crows’ attack against his old side.

Thilthorpe had surgery on his meniscus after suffering the injury in the pre-season clash against West Coast, with the former first-round pick expected to return after the mid-season bye.

Burgess was restricted to almost exclusively VFL football in the past two seasons, playing just three senior games for the Suns, however did boot 124 goals from 40 reserve-grade games across 2022 and 2023.

Chris Burgess is poised to play his first game as a Crow against his old side. Picture: Paul Kane/Getty Images

Nicks said the decision surrounding Thilthorpe’s replacement had been difficult with both Burgess and Lachlan Gollant competing for the role.

“Both of those players deserve the opportunity, unfortunately it comes through someone else’s misfortune in Riley Thilthorpe, but that’s the way the game works,” he said.

“We have a squad mentality that the next one is ready to step up.

“We’ll need that back-up ruck, and so Burgess has done a lot of that over his career, Lachie Gollant has pinch hit at times for us.”

Nicks confirmed Burgess would assist Reilly O’Brien in the ruck, however did not rule out both him and Gollant playing on Saturday.

“Burgess is the guy we brought to the club who can play a number of different roles (including ruck),” he said.

“He’ll fit in nicely and deserves the opportunity.”

Originally published as AFL Round 1 2024: Full Adelaide Crows and Port Adelaide teams