Adelaide forward Lachlan Murphy has been named to play his first AFL match since Round Eight.
Murphy suffered a syndesmosis injury against Port Adelaide in May but returned to competitive action in the SANFL on Saturday.
Tall forward Elliott Himmelberg has also been included in the Crows side set to face Essendon on Friday night at Marvel Stadium.
Taylor Walker will not play due to a neck injury sustained against Brisbane in Round 16.
“There’s still a little bit of soreness there that he’s not going to be anywhere near ready to play,” Crows coach Matthew Nicks said on Thursday.
“He’s disappointed. He wants to play every game he possibly can and get amongst the younger group.
“It looks like we'll be coming into a nine-day break next week, I think it would be silly for us to try and push too hard with him at the moment.
“In the end it was his decision this morning.
“If it continues to track like it is, we’d like to think he’ll be right for the Eagles. But again, it’s an unusual one and it’s one we are not going to flirt with too much.”
Defender Luke Brown will miss due to Achilles soreness.
“It’s to a point now where we are starting to look at his medium to longer-term outlook,” Nicks said.
“We don’t want to do the wrong thing there and grind him through the rest of the season.
“He’s important but his body is also important and he’ll be really important for us in 2022.
“We are going to make a decision around that, he’s going to consult another expert on that. There is a chance he goes in for surgery.”
Ben Davis, Will Hamill, Jackson Hately and Andrew McPherson have been named as emergencies, with one to be confirmed as the medical substitute one hour before the game.
Adelaide will face Essendon at Marvel Stadium on Friday, July 9 at 7.20pm ACST (7.50pm local).
The game will be televised live nationwide on Channel 7 and Fox Footy.
IN:
Himmelberg, Murphy
OUT:
Walker, Brown
Adelaide’s Round 17 team is:
