Walker in doubt for vital clash with Lions

ADELAIDE will likely be without captain Taylor Walker for next week’s must-win game against Brisbane after he was banned for rough conduct.

Walker was offered the one-game suspension for his high bump on Geelong defender Zach Tuohy in the first quarter of Thursday night’s big Crows win at Adelaide Oval.

Fellow Adelaide star Bryce Gibbs can accept a $2000 fine for rough conduct after an incident off the ball, also in the opening term, in which he felled Cats captain Joel Selwood.

Young Adelaide defender Lachlan Murphy was cleared for a dangerous tackle on Selwood during the second quarter.

Walker is out of the Brisbane match unless he successfully challenges the charge early next week at the tribunal.

Adelaide is in 11th place and on the fringe of finals contention, especially given its poor percentage. But it has won two of its past three games and gained a major morale boost on Wednesday when vicecaptain Rory Sloane signed a five-year deal.

Walker crunched Tuohy as the Geelong defender was going for the ball and the Irishman had to be helped from the field. Tuohy passed concussion tests and returned in the second term.

Match reviewer Michael Christian graded the bump as careless conduct with medium impact to the head.

Adelaide coach Don Pyke said he sought out his skipper at quarter-time.

“I said, ‘look mate, it has happened, you just get on playing the game, the reality is you can’t go back and do anything about it’,” he said. “And clearly you don’t know what the outcome is going to be so we have got a game to play here, focus on that. And he was fine.”

Geelong coach Chris Scott declined to buy into the incident.