Adelaide coach Matthew Nicks has defended the club's decision to fly retiring veteran Taylor Walker over to Perth before resting him for Friday night's game against Fremantle.
Walker, who announced his retirement from the league at the end of the season during the week, was left out of the side as the Crows prepare for a longer route to finals, likely through the Wildcard Round.
During the post-game press conference after a four-goal loss, Nicks said there was no risk to Walker's recovery by flying him over to Perth to be managed.
"It's no issue for Tex flying as far as we did on a 14-day break, he will be prepped and ready to go next week," Nicks said.
"Our planning there was a 14-day break for Tex, we were off two six-day breaks. If we had played Tex this week that would have been four in a row, sitting here now you may look at that and go, "Geez, it might be six or seven in a row before we play finals'.
"He is a damn good player Tex, but it is one of those ones where we know what he needs to play his best footy, and we are going to need him to play his best footy to win finals footy. Managing him was the decision we made.
"Now, bringing him across, he has got a fair bit of experience, it is like bringing another coach with us, he was fantastic tonight pre-game. The experience that he brings in that space, and the connection he has with our playing group, we played a pretty young forward line down there tonight, it was great to have him there to support them."
The emergence of towering and high-leaping ruck Lachlan McAndrew has been a highlight for the Crows in 2026.
Against the talented Luke Jackson, McAndrew more than held his own as he finished with 14 disposals, 36 hit outs and four contested marks.
But with Adelaide's already tall forward line, Nicks said he doesn't yet know what the perfect balance is in terms of who should play second ruck.
"Riley (Thilthorpe) had some small stints where he came from forward and went into the ruck. That's one we are going to keep looking at," he said.
"Tex is in our best side, especially once we have been able to give him the break he needs to perform at his best.
"If that's the case, it makes it harder for us to play the two rucks and we would look at playing Riley as that second ruck in that instance, in saying that, things change quickly and we want to be ready for both.
"We have looked at both throughout the year and we have had some great results with Toby (Murray) second rucking this year."
Murray struggled to impact the game against the Dockers, registering two disposals and two hit outs.
