ADELAIDE coach Don Pyke has dismissed claims the Crows deliberately give false information about their injuries.
It has taken nine rounds, but the depleted Crows finally appear to have survived a game without adding any new injuries following Friday night's 37-point win against the Western Bulldogs at Adelaide Oval.
The Crows were without nine of their best 22, including captain Taylor Walker, Rory Sloane and reigning best and fairest winner Matt Crouch.
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Walker will be out for at least a few weeks with a glute injury that was announced on Thursday morning after he had an interrupted pre-season.
Crouch (hamstring) and defender Luke Brown (adductor) were also ruled out of the win over the Bulldogs despite not being listed in the club's injury report on Tuesday afternoon.
"I sat in this room on Wednesday morning before our training session and said we're really hopeful about these guys, and I expected three or four of those guys to play," Pyke said.
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"Now, an hour and a half later after a training session, they were more unlikely than likely. "That's the changing dynamic of what we deal with.
"We'll get players that pull up sore after sessions, we get players who pull up sore after games.
"So, sitting here right now, it looks like we don't have any injuries out of tonight, I suspect everyone will be right for next week, but I can't guarantee that, because I don't know what's going to happen between now and getting going in training.
"The landscape changes so quickly, and then we get guys to scan, and we don't know whether it's going to be a game missed or not.
"We do our damndest to provide as much information as we can, but sometimes it's really hard to provide absolute clarity."
WATCH Don Pyke's full post-match press conference
Given the intense scrutiny the Crows have been under for how they have publicly handled the release of information into their injuries, Pyke was reluctant to guarantee Crouch, Brown and forward Riley Knight (hamstring tendinitis) would be definite starters for next Sunday's round 10 game with Melbourne at Alice Springs.
"I'm loathe in this environment to give predictions because I can get claimed that we're not being open or transparent, but the reality is, all of those guys are a chance for next week, and that's as much I reckon I can say," he said.
Pyke also didn't want to set a concrete timeframe on when Walker would return.
"At this stage, it's really hard to say," he said.
"We're not thinking long-term, we're thinking more in the, if you have to pin me to a number, two or three weeks to give him enough time.
"It really depends on how quickly we can build the volume in him. If we can't build the volume in him, it will be three or four weeks.
"If we can build that quickly, it could be two to three.
"We'll get him right and get him back out there."
