ADELAIDE forward Tom Lynch has been ruled out of Thursday night's blockbuster with Richmond at Adelaide Oval with illness, but skipper Taylor Walker is on track to play.
Lynch recovered from the side strain that forced him to miss the season-opening loss to Essendon before picking up a virus.
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"Tom won't play. He's had a combination of a side strain and a bit of a viral thing that has been hanging around for a while," Crows coach Don Pyke said on Wednesday.
"The side strain has settled down now, but from a viral view point he's not quite right.
"We're really hopeful, he's trained a couple times this week, he's been in reasonable training.
"Next week we'll think he'll get a full week in and he'll be week-to-week, but we expect him to be right next week."
Walker is available after missing round one and the JLT Community Series with a foot injury.
"He's had a session yesterday, he's pulled up pretty well today," Pyke said.
"It's one of those ones we'd love to get him back in the team.
"He's done everything we've asked of him, so we'll see with selection tonight."
Lynch's absence is set to give talented youngster Darcy Fogarty another opportunity after booting two goals on debut last week.
Wayne Milera and Jordan Gallucci are in the mix to come in for Richard Douglas (suspension) and Curtly Hampton (groin).
Pyke attempted to clarify the situation around midfielder Brad Crouch, who said on radio on Tuesday that he had been suffering osteitis pubis, contradicting the coach's comments a week earlier.
"When I was asked the question a couple weeks ago and I categorically asked our doctors what it was, their definition was just groin soreness based on his symptoms are not OP," Pyke said.
"I think Brad used the words OP last night on radio.
"He's got some groin-related issues, a bit of stability, a bit of pubic synthesis stuff, a whole range of things within that.
"The reality is we're talking about some semantics, tomato (pronounced ta-may-to), tomato, argument for me.
"He finished last season with some groin issues, and it's just a matter of how it settled over the break, and it wasn't to the level we wanted.
"When we started loading him back again, he started getting sore again.
"It's been ongoing and we've now got a clear plan.
"We had previous plans, but that hasn't yielded the result we want. Now that clear plan hopes to see him back out there in six to eight weeks."
Pyke said he was disappointed with the Tribunal's decision to uphold Douglas' one-game suspension for his bump on Essendon's Zach Merrett.
"We really felt the evidence we were able to put forward showed in some way that there was doubt, if the contact was to the head versus to the body," Pyke said.
"In terms of his technique, it was very, very good.
"That was just the way it went."
