Assistant coach Matthew Clarke has backed Jarryd Lyons to make the most of his AFL opportunity after the midfielder received a call-up to the Crows team on Friday morning.
Lyons has replaced Brad Crouch, who has hamstring soreness, in Adelaide’s selected 22 to play Richmond..
The 23-year-old impressed over the summer, but narrowly missed out on senior selection in the opening two rounds of the AFL season.
The inside onballer was best on ground in the Club’s SANFL win last weekend, racking up 26 disposals, 10 clearances, five tackles, five inside 50ms and a goal.
Clarke expected Lyons to make an immediate impact against the Tigers on Saturday afternoon.
“Lyons has been really stiff not to be in the team,” Clarke said on Friday.
“His form during the NAB Challenge was really strong, particularly, his last game but he just got squeezed out. It’s really pleasing for him to come in and he’ll perform really strongly, I think.”
Crouch experienced hamstring tightness during Wednesday’s main training session.
The promising 22-year-old has played two senior games in his comeback from a foot complaint, which saw him miss the entire 2015 AFL season.
Clarke said Crouch’s hamstring issue was minor, and that he would be assessed again next week.
“Obviously, Brad hasn’t had a great run over the last 18 months, but the pleasing thing is that he had pretty good continuity through pre-season and he’s played a couple of (AFL) games now,” Clarke said.
“It’s one of those situations where we just thought it wasn’t worth the risk. It’s frustrating (for Crouch) but it’s a long year and we’ll make sure he’s back and firing.”
The Tigers have made four changes to their team following their last-gasp loss to Collingwood.
The club has come under heavy scrutiny since the one-point defeat and Clarke tipped Richmond to respond.
“They’ve played finals over the last three years and won a lot of footy games,” he said.
“They’re a quality side and we’ve got to be at our best.”
The Crows moved the ball quickly and scored freely against Port Adelaide last weekend, but conceded a worrying 70 inside 50m entries.
Clarke said defence remained a priority for his team on Saturday.
“Offensively, the last two weeks have been really strong,” he said.
“Defensively, we’ve still got some tightening up to do.”
