Adelaide key defender Jordon Butts has suffered a serious injury during the Crows' 109-98 win over the Western Bulldogs on Saturday afternoon, which senior coach Matthew Nicks has revealed is a punctured lung.
Butts was subbed out during the second quarter, but it is unclear when the incident took place. Adelaide initially explained his absence as a chest injury before Nicks confirmed post-game the extent of the backman's damage.
"[The team doctors] assessed him straight away and suspected a collapsed lung," Nicks said.
"He was shipped straight off to hospital to see the specialist that he needed to. It is a collapsed lung.
"He won't travel with us now, he'll spend the night here with the right people around him to make sure that he gets what he needs from this point on. We won't know anymore until a specialist comes in and checks him up further.
"I don't know what the incident was, we didn't see it from upstairs. We got a message from downstairs saying Jordon's in a bit of bother here. We have 100% trust in our doctors, and they went to work."
Before his injury, Butts had held his direct opponent Sam Darcy to zero shots at goal and had already recorded three spoils on the Bulldogs spearhead forward.
Brayden Cook was also unable to finish the game after he suffered a concussion following a "big collision of two players".
"And then with Brayden, unfortunately, it was just a big collision of two players going at the footy, and for him, especially being his first game back and he was showing some stuff," Nicks continued.
"After the game, he came up to me and said, โcan you believe it', he just wants to play footy, and we'll get around him and ensure all the necessary precautions are taken."
Cook will be unavailable for nexy week's clash against Gold Coast at Adelaide Oval.
