Crows prepared to go without McGovern for clash with Cats
ADELAIDE have conceded high-flying forward Mitch McGovern is “unlikely” to play in Friday night’s preliminary final against Geelong despite doing all he can to recover from a hamstring strain.
McGovern ran at training yesterday, two days after hurting himself in the Crows trial game on their weekend off.
It is the opposite leg to the hamstring injury that kept McGovern out for 12 weeks from Round 3-15 this season.
Assistant coach David Teague said scans “didn’t show a lot” but McGovern would need to do high-speed running to prove his fitness.
“He ran today so that’s a real positive, he’s probably unlikely this week but we haven’t ruled him out,” Teague said.
“I’m not sure the exact results (of the scan) but I know the results were more favourable than thought ... I didn’t think he’d be running this early on and hopefully he recovers quickly.”
Teague also said McGovern, who recently signed a three-year contract extension, might be in doubt for the grand final if Adelaide were able to beat the Cats on Friday. He said Alex Keath, Curtly Hampton, Troy Menzel, Wayne Milera, Andy Otten and Jono Beech would all be in the mix to replace McGovern if he doesn’t recover in time.
“This year we’ve had some opportunities, obviously Mitch was out for a while and we tried a couple of different options,” he said.
“We’re really comfortable we’ve got plenty of depth in that area.”
McGovern missed 10 games during the home-and-away season because of tear in his right hamstring, with utility Andy Otten filling his attacking role for much of that time.