Adelaide to take care with Rachele

ADELAIDE will continue to take a no-risk approach with young gun Josh Rachele’s return from a hip injury, Crows forward coach James Rahilly says.

The No.6 draft pick has missed the Crows’ last two games with a hip-joint injury.

He was put through an intense session by the Crows on Monday, but Rahilly hinted that the young gun could sit out Saturday’s clash against Sydney at the SCG.

“It might be tight this week, he is still in the rehab group,” Rahilly said.

“But he is running across the ground so we will be careful with that one and see how we go and make sure he is right to go.

“I don’t think he is sore, it is just a bit of a slow process trying to get that hip right.

“He probably battled in his last game in covering the ground and as a forward coming into the midfield he needs to cover the ground.

“So we will make sure he is right when he gets back.”

Rachele (pictured) made a stunning start to his AFL career for the Crows, kicking five on debut and impressing in his first handful of games.

But he was quieter prior to going down with the injury.

Rahilly said the Crows needed to be careful with Rachele, who had two years of footy interrupted by the pandemic prior to being drafted.

“I think we have to be careful, that’s the process we are taking at the moment,” he said.

After the Crows faced numerous questions about how the rebuild at West Lakes was going following 32-point loss against Hawthorn in round 17, Matthew Nicks’ side regained some respectability after pushing Collingwood all the way to go down by only five points on Saturday.

Rahilly said there had been a big focus on the Crows’ start to games. “We definitely took a step backwards with our start (against Hawthorn) and we had to play catch-up all game,” he said.