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Crows captain could miss next month of AFL

Taylor Walker of the Crows. (Photo by Daniel Kalisz/Getty Images)
18th May, 2018
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Adelaide captain Taylor Walker’s fitness plan has failed and he could spend a month on the AFL sidelines, his coach says.

Walker missed Adelaide’s 37-point win against Western Bulldogs on Friday night, his first absence of a mid-season spell.

Crows coach Don Pyke expects Walker to miss between two and four weeks as he tries to build fitness after a series of injury niggles.

Walker missed Adelaide’s season-opener with a foot injury and Round 7 with a hamstring concern before reporting back with glute soreness last weekend.

The skipper, who also didn’t play a pre-season game, has been sent for what Pyke describes as a “serious block of training”.

“This is a pretty taxing game that we ask our guys to play and when you haven’t done a lot of pre-season, we might have asked a bit much of Taylor,” Pyke said after the 9.9 (63) to 2.14 (26) win against the Dogs.

“And that (injuries) is the consequence.

“We”re not thinking long-term. We’re thinking more, if you had to pin me to a number, two or three weeks.

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“It really depends on how quickly we can build the volume in him.

“If we can’t build volume in him quickly, it will be three or four weeks. If we can build that quickly, it could be two to three.”

Pyke admitted the plan for Walker after his injury-troubled-season faltered.

“As it is with all plans, they all suffer … opposition and/or circumstances that change,” he said..

“In his case, we just haven’t been able to get the continuity of training and playing to allow him to really build into the season.

“The decision has been made to back him off and get him right.

“It’s not like he’s got an injury that is keeping him out, per se.

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“It’s more that he just needs some time to actually get his body right so he can play the level he needs to play.

“And I think that is being fair to him and also fair to the team.”

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