Adelaide’s big men continued auditions in earnest for a spot in the forward line for Round One with a strong showing in the Club’s internal trial game on Saturday.

Billy Frampton and Taylor Walker each kicked three goals while Darcy Fogarty, Elliott Himmelberg and Riley Thilthorpe all showed promising signs in their first full-scale practice match of the new season.

The make-up of the Crows forward line remains wide open with James Rowe showing his smarts around goal, Shane McAdam taking one of his trademark spectacular grabs and Chayce Jones also hitting the scoreboard in the second half.

After some half-time jumper swapping involving big men Frampton, Fogarty, Himmelberg and Tom Lynch, the Blue team held off a late charge from Red to win 16.10 (106) to 9.10 (64).

As good as the talls were, the defenders held their own with Jake Kelly having a good battle with Fogarty and Jordon Butts doing the same with Walker.

The only major injury was to David Mackay who was concussed in the first half and did not return. The AFL’s concussion protocols automatically rule him out of next week’s trial game against Port Adelaide.

McAdam copped a corked glute late in the final quarter while midfielder Matt Crouch – who had off-season hip surgery – only played the first half in a pre-planned move designed for him to play a full game against the Power next weekend.

The game which was live streamed on afc.com.au was the first time fans got a proper glimpse of the latest draftees and they were in the thick of the action, particularly midfielders Luke Pedlar and Sam Berry who thrived on the contested footy and physical pressure.

James Borlase showed some nice moments in defence with his ability to read the flight of the ball, Thilthorpe was moved onto the wing in the second half and looked good while Rowe showed why he’s being talked about as a ready-made AFL small forward and Tariek Newchurch why he’s emerging as one.

Wayne Milera is also playing like a recruit after injury ruined his 2020 season but he moved nicely through the midfield and off half-back.

Mitch Hinge (shoulder), Tom Doedee (groin), Brayden Cook (shoulder) and Daniel Talia (knee) did not play but either coached from the boundary line or acted as the runner during the hit-out.

“I thought it was a really good hit-out for this time of year and for an internal, really competitive and we played like for like a fair bit – probably the midfield was younger versus the more experienced guys – but the younger mids hit in pretty hard and didn’t give the older or more experienced mids anything on their terms,” Senior Assistant Coach Scott Burns said.

“It’s a bit hard in an internal when you’re playing the same game plan against the other but in terms of our education prior to today and what we’re doing on the track, we’re on the same page but we really need to play other teams and get different looks because with defending in an internal you know what the opposition are going to do so it’s going to be good to get Port (next week).

“We’ve been really impressed with the younger players who have come in and players we’ve recruited from other clubs and there’s been some really strong development from underneath so if the older fellas want to put their name up and play Round 1 they’ve got to make sure they’re playing pretty good footy.

“That draft from last year, four out of the first five, they’re built to play Round 1 if they’re fit enough and playing good football but at the same time they’re competing against Hately, Keays, Sloane, Lairdy, Schoenberg, even Milera today showed some really good signs on ball and forward so it’s competitive.”

Blue 16.10 (106) to Red 9.10 (64).

Goals: Frampton, Walker, 3; Sholl, Berry, Newchurch, Jones, Rowe 2; McHenry, Wright, Thilthorpe, Fogarty, Laird, McAdam, Murphy, Keays, O’Brien.