Adelaide Crows defender Josh Worrell missed his side's captain's run on Friday morning, after being involved in a car accident en route to the club's West Lakes facilities.
The Crows insist a shaken Worrell will still suit up for the club's crucial clash with a free-falling Gold Coast Suns outfit on Saturday.
Worrell emerged as one of the competition's brightest defensive prospects in 2025, with his play landing him in the All-Australian squad, yielding him a podium finish in the club's best and fairest, and rewarding him with a bumper contract extension that will see him tied to the last season's minor premiers club until the end of 2033.
Worrell has franked last year's breakout with career-best numbers across the board in 2026. He is averaging a career-high 23.3 disposals, at a career-best efficiency of 86 per cent.
The Crows backline will have its hands full in Round 18, necessitating a strong performance from Worrell and Co.
The Suns boast many avenues to goal. Ben King, Jed Walter and a suite of nimble, crafty smalls will be looking to arrest the Suns' backwards slide. The Suns last sung their song in the middle of May, after a victory over the Port Adelaide Power, and have lost six on the bounce.
Alarmingly for Suns coach Damien Hardwick, the bulk of those losses have been at the hands of finals-calibre opponents - a category the Adelaide Crows most definitely find themselves belonging to.
The Crows are 5-2 since the Suns' last victory, and have notably knocked off sides like the Cats, Demons and Bulldogs in that span.
The two sides will meet at Adelaide Oval on Saturday night.
