Injuries hampering Crows

Adelaide’s premiership aspirations are briskly spiralling in a downwards fashion following the emergence of several injuries to key players.

Andrew McLeod, Trent Hentschel, Mark Ricciuto and Ben Hart add to the Crows’ growing casualty list, only one round out from the finals.

Smooth-mover McLeod is expected to miss up to a month following surgery to remove a bursa in his foot, which was caused by an infection that flared up after yesterday’s game.

He may be available deep into September, should Adelaide progress to the preliminary final or grand final stages.

Perhaps the most damaging of the injury news was Hentschel’s horrifically dislocated knee, which was described by a specialist as being of similarity to a car crash injury.

The promising forward was attempting a snap at goal across his body, before he was tackled, and the weight of both bodies caused his knee to buckle and bend sickeningly in a direction not prominently considered to be the path that knees should bend in.

The injury has jeopardised his immediate playing future, with early reports suggesting he may not be able to make a comeback until at least 2008, if at all.

The news gets worse for Adelaide with Ricciuto out for their critical Round 22 clash against Melbourne, following a mystery virus.

While the Crows have sewn up a top-two position, a win against the Demons could see them snatch the minor premiership, should the top-placed West Coast lose to Richmond.

Ben Hart will also miss up to a month of football after suffering an achilles strain in yesterday’s match.

Football operations manager John Read talked on Monday of Hentschel’s horrendous knee injury.

"The preliminary examination (illustrates that) he has done the ACL (Anterior Cruciate Ligament), so that means a total reconstruction, which means he won't play for some 12 months or so,” he told Adelaide’s Official Website afc.com.au.

“That in itself is a bitter disappointment for Trent and obviously we're disappointed from our perspective.

"There are other parts of the knee that are being examined, and (in the coming days) we'll probably get Dr. Brian Sando to give you a run down, but at this stage further tests are being done and we do know that he won't be playing in the next 12 months.

"He's in hospital, and obviously pretty heavily sedated at the moment and will be for a few days now.

“If I can put it into some perspective, I think the specialist said it's more like a car accident injury than a football injury, so we hope for his sake that we can get over that."

While Nathan Bassett was forced to leave the field in the Showdown on the mini-Ambulance, Read said he is reasonably confident that he will be available this week.

“They did all the tests this morning and he got through with flying colours,” he said.

Adelaide play Melbourne at AAMI Stadium this Saturday from 2:40pm.

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