Adelaide will give Courtney Cramey until the last minute to get ready for the AFLW grand final

ADELAIDE will give veteran Courtney Cramey until the last minute to get ready for Saturday’s inaugural AFLW grand final as she continues to recover from concussion.

ADELAIDE will give veteran Courtney Cramey until the last minute to get ready for Saturday’s inaugural AFLW grand final as she continues to recover from concussion.

Cramey, 31, the state captain and one of the most decorated players in the side, continues to be monitored closely ahead of the landmark match against Brisbane on the Gold Coast.

Coach Bec Goddard said Cramey had done everything to get fit and had trained well but there were still hurdles to clear for her not to become the bad luck story of the campaign.

“She’s doing all the right things in her recovery,” Goddard said. “She’s treating her body right and as with concussion, as you know, there’s not much you can do.

“You’ve just got to wait and do the tests and hope the result comes up your way. Courtney will be given as long as possible to recover from that.

Courtney Cramey after getting a knock. Picture: Getty Images

“There is a pretty strict protocol around that and she’ll do everything that’s required with the doctors this week.”

Cramey took part in Wednesday night’s main training session at West Lakes before a smattering of fans.

But even that was not enough to make Goddard confident she would play.

“I don’t think you can be (confident) with the concussion testing,” she said. “All I know is that Courtney is one of the most professional athletes in our group.

“She’s had a long career and a distinguished career in women’s football and she desperately wants to play.”

Goddard spoke about the homework the players and coaches had done for Brisbane, which beat the Crows during the home-and-away season.

The key to reversing the result — and Goddard said the match was a golden opportunity to make things right — was to play quick football.

Courtney Cramey in action for the Crows. Picture: Getty Images

“We’re in a great position in that we’re the only team that gets to play one of the teams we have played again,” Goddard said. “And fix up the things that we didn’t do quite so well.

“Getting the ball movement as quick as we possibly can … I think we saw in the Collingwood game in the last quarter (that) our ball movement was really fast.

“It may not have looked the prettiest but it was very fast and as a consequence we gave our forwards the most opportunities to kick goals.

“Brisbane do like to roll back into our attacking half and drop their numbers back there as quickly as possible and they’re very good at it, they’re very well drilled at it.

“And then their counter-attack is pretty good, too.”

Originally published as Adelaide will give Courtney Cramey until the last minute to get ready for the AFLW grand final