ADELAIDE coach Don Pyke has full confidence in ruck replacement Reilly O'Brien, revealing O'Brien was close to taking the No.1 ruck spot from Sam Jacobs in the aftermath of a brilliant summer.
O'Brien, 23, will come in for just his third AFL game (and first since 2016) against Geelong at Adelaide Oval on Thursday night, replacing Jacobs who has been ruled out with a knee injury.
"[O'Brien's] had a fantastic pre-season and it was neck and neck with Sam for a while and Sam got the gig early, but he's had four years on the list, he's built his craft and he's looking forward to getting out there and playing in the ruck," Pyke told reporters on Wednesday morning.
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O'Brien will have a bit of rust to shake off having had season-ending shoulder surgery in June last year.
Before last Saturday's SANFL round one win against Sturt, his last full game was on May 26 in the SANFL against Port Adelaide.
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Since then, he played half a game in the Crows' first JLT Community Series game against Port Adelaide in Port Pirie, sat on the bench for all of their second pre-season hitout with Greater Western Sydney in Canberra and played just the first half of the following week's SANFL trial against Port Adelaide at Alberton Oval.
"He had that shoulder injury last year that meant he missed the last part of last season, but from day one, he's done a full pre-season," Pyke said.
"He's fine, he's ready to go."
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Pyke kept his cards close to his chest about any other possible changes to the side that beat Sydney by 26 points at the SCG last week.
The Crows face a tough ask against a Cats outfit that is 2-0 after impressive wins over Collingwood and Melbourne to start the season.
"They're playing some really good footy," Pyke said.
"They've beaten the Grand Final team from last year in Collingwood as well as a top-four team in Melbourne.
"They're playing really well, they've added a different look to their forward line and done a revamp by bringing in (Gary) Rohan and (Luke) Dahlhaus and the two young guys in (Gryan) Miers and (Tom) Atkins.
"They structure things up a bit different forward and (Esava) Ratugolea's back in full fitness from last year, and we know the quality of their midfield.
"They've got strengths all over the place and the way they're defending, they were able to defend 70-odd inside 50s from Melbourne last week, so they're in good form."
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