Tom Doedee’s Round 1 chances in serious doubt after injury setback at Crows training
Hearts would have been in mouths at Adelaide training on Thursday when defender Tom Doedee landed awkwardly on his reconstructed knee. Scans have cleared him of any serious damage, but it puts in doubt his Round 1 return.
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Tom Doedee’s chances of making a Round 1 return from a torn anterior cruciate ligament injury are in serious doubt after the young Crows defender suffered a setback at training.
As part of his recovery from the ACL injury sustained in Round 1 last year, Doedee was earmarked to play in Saturday’s Under 23 Showdown trial against Port Adelaide at Thebarton Oval and a possible stint in the Crows’ second Marsh Community Series match against Gold Coast the following week.
But after the promising defender, who was included in Adelaide’s new-look leadership group last month, hyperextended his left knee at training on Thursday in an aerial contest, with the Crows tonight announcing the return of the 22-year-old would be delayed.
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Crows head of football Adam Kelly said the hyperextension happened in the same knee that kept Doedee out of nearly all of the 2019 season, but scans showed there was no structural damage.
“Tom’s ACL is unaffected, which is pleasing and a testament to the work that he and the medical and high performance team have put into his rehabilitation,” Kelly said on the Crows website.
“There is some minor bone bruising evident on MRI, which is a setback, and it is likely Tom will not be available for selection in our final Marsh Community Series game.”
It makes a Round 1 return against Sydney at Adelaide Oval even more unlikely for Doedee.
Kelly said the new member of the Crows leadership group might have to come back to footy through SANFL trial games.
“Everyone at the club obviously wants him back in our AFL team as soon as possible,” he said.
“However, we will need to take into account our upcoming playing schedule, including SANFL trial games, with a view to him returning in the early rounds of the season.”
Doedee did suffer another setback in pre-season last year, sustaining a minor hamstring strain in his left hamstring.
He finished runner-up in the 2018 Rising Star award, averaging 18 disposals and six marks.
Originally published as Tom Doedee’s Round 1 chances in serious doubt after injury setback at Crows training