Adelaide Senior Coach Matthew Nicks says the Crows will be making a a handful of changes for their Round 10 match against the Western Bulldogs in Ballarat.
Speaking to the media on Wednesday, Nicks said in-form key defender Nick Murray would return, after missing last weekend’s win against St Kilda due to concussion.
Fellow backman Tom Doedee will, however, miss the Bulldogs game, after he presented with symptoms of delayed concussion and was placed in the AFL’s protocols.
“Murray is obviously ready to come back, and he was performing extremely well before going out,” Nicks said.
“We would have been looking to bring him back in but with Tom now unavailable we will look to make that swap.
“It’s a reasonably standard one.”
The senior coach also ruled out young forward Riley Thilthorpe who will be managed this weekend, after battling knee soreness.
Nicks said Thilthorpe would be replaced by forward Elliott Himmelberg, who had been in strong form in the SANFL.
“Elliott will get the opportunity,” Nicks said.
“(He) is in good form and can step into the shoes of Riley.”
Adelaide enters the game against the the Western Bulldogs in solid form, after beating St Kilda by 52 points last week.
But Nicks said his side would not underestimate the Dogs, who were one of the in-form teams in the competition.
“They (Bulldogs) have been respected by the rest of the league for a long time now with their handball and their shape around contest,” Nicks said.
“We have done a lot of work around that area as well and we feel like we’ve improved especially into this season.
“Our challenge now is to do that against one of the best.”
Adelaide will face the Bulldogs at Mars Stadium in Ballarat on Saturday, with the first bounce at 1:40pm SA time.