Adelaide is sweating on the fitness of Rory Sloane after the captain and gun on-baller suffered a potentially serious knee injury in his side’s 19-point win over Richmond on Saturday.
The Crows snared their second win of the season in the 15.11 (101) to 12.10 (82) triumph at Adelaide Oval, carving out victory on the back of a five-goal haul from former captain Taylor Walker.
But the win was soured when Sloane hobbled from the field with the help of medicos during the final quarter, after his right knee buckled in a gruesome ground-ball collision with Richmond defender Nick Vlastuin.
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Adelaide high-performance manager Darren Burgess said in a Crows statement that Sloane would be sent for scans and undergo further assessment.
“We don’t know yet… our fingers are crossed,” said Crows coach Matthew Nicks in his post-match press conference.
A frustrating run with injury limited Sloane to 12 AFL games in 2020 and 18 last season, while Saturday night resulted in his second substitution from his last three matches.
The 32-year-old also missed the Crows’ epic Showdown win in round three due to an adductor issue.
“It has been a challenging period for him… it just seems to be one thing after the other,” Nicks said.
“But he keeps fronting up… he just grinds his way through. He is exactly what we want to be as a footy team.”
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Walker bagged three of his five goals in the first time and jagged his fourth shortly after the quarter-time break.
Fellow forward Elliott Himmelberg was also influential on his way to four goals.
Ben Keays (31 disposals), Rory Laird (26 possessions, one goal) and Matt Crouch (26 touches) were pivotal for Adelaide, while Richmond was led by Dion Prestia (27 disposals) and skipper Trent Cotchin (24 possessions, one goal).
The 11th-placed Tigers and 13th-placed Crows have both won two games and lost three.
Adelaide will meet 2021 grand finalists the Western Bulldogs in round six, while Richmond is set for a clash with reigning premiers Melbourne.
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