Brad Crouch will play his first game of the year in Adelaide’s SANFL season-opener against Sturt on Sunday at Peter Motley Oval.

Crouch, 23, has been cleared to return from a hamstring injury sustained in January which interrupted his pre-season preparations.

The tough midfielder missed all of Adelaide’s JLT Community Series campaign and did not feature in any SANFL trial matches.

Five AFL-listed Crows are set to play their first game for premiership points in the clash with the reigning premiers.

Draftees Jordan Gallucci, Myles Poholke, Elliott Himmelberg, Matthew Signorello and rookie-listed father-son selection Ben Jarman have all been named for Sunday’s Round One clash.

Troy Menzel returns to action after serving as Adelaide’s AFL emergency for last weekend’s match against Hawthorn.

Menzel, Poholke and ruckman Reilly O’Brien are the emergencies for Saturday night’s Showdown XLII.

SANFL Preview: Crows v Double Blues

A host of players from the Club’s SANFL development squad could make their Crows debut on Sunday.

Northern Knights best and fairest Lachlan Murphy, key-position players Damon Hill and Louis De Michele, and onballers Blake Launer and Joey Brown have been included in the team.

Matthew Leigh, Sam Tharaldsen and Josh Wittwer, who have represented the Crows at SANFL level in previous seasons, have also been named.

Sunday’s clash will mark Ryan O’Keefe’s maiden premiership match as Adelaide’s new SANFL coach.

Hugh Greenwood will lead the team for the first time in a minor round match as fellow co-captain Alex Keath continues to recover from a hamstring injury.

Adelaide's SANFL squad will be reduced by two players to a 21-man final team on game day.

Crows ticketed members receive free entry to Sunday’s clash at Peter Motley Oval upon presentation of their 2017 Membership card. The match begins at 2.10pm.

 

Adelaide’s SANFL team is:

F: Troy Menzel (32), Harry Dear (38), Paul Hunter (37)

HF: Ben Jarman (45), Elliott Himmelberg (34), Myles Poholke (31)

C: Lachlan Murphy (48), Brad Crouch (2), Jordan Gallucci (7)

HB: Harrison Wigg (10), Matthew Leigh (57), Dean Gore (36)

B: Damon Hill (61), Sam Tharaldsen (64), Jonathon Beech (1)

FOL: Reilly O’Brien (43), Scott Thompson (5), Hugh Greenwood (20)

INT (FROM): Matthew Signorello (35), Blake Launer (52), Joey Brown (46), Louis De Michele (66), Josh Wittwer (51)


NEW: Jarman, Himmelberg, Poholke, Gallucci, Signorello, Murphy, Hill, Launer, Brown, De Michele