ADELAIDE has axed aspects of its new muscle-strengthening training program as a result of a spate of hamstring injuries this season.  

The Crows introduced fresh methods this year in search of an extra edge, but they have been scaled back in the past month. 

The club's injury crisis has ballooned to nine hamstring injuries in seven weeks, resulting in questions being raised at all levels of the club, including by the board.

Player workloads have been reduced and elements of strength training removed after an internal review found the Crows had attempted to squeeze in too much off a shortened pre-season.

Wayne Milera's hamstring setback and Riley Knight's "hamstring awareness" this week saw him join stars such as Eddie Betts, Taylor Walker and Matt Crouch in missing a total of 22 matches since round one.

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"I think the club have done a review of what's been happening, as you would hope and probably just pulled back a little bit on the hammy strengthening," midfielder Richard Douglas told 5AA radio last week. 

"Maybe we did a little bit too much there or pushed it a bit too hard…

"Unfortunately we're having some guys are that straining the hamstring which is not ideal but we've changed things probably over the last four weeks."

Adelaide's head of football, Brett Burton, confirmed changes had been made.

"Clearly our injury situation at the moment isn't ideal," Burton told AFL.com.au.

"We've certainly had a look at it and we've made some minor adjustments which we will hopefully see the benefits of going forward.

"It's not as simple as pointing the finger at one thing as we treat each individual player differently. What works for some, may not work for others." 

Crows head of football Brett Burton pictured with Eddie Betts after the 2017 preliminary final. Picture: AFL Photos

It is understood up to half a dozen players opted not to buy into the new program due to their personal lack of injury history.

It comes as 'KangaTech' injury prevention technology – developed by former North Melbourne fitness boss Dr Steve Saunders – has been implemented this season.

KangaTech spruiks real-time results from strength testing on a portable platform, highlighting risk factors to determine whether an athlete's training loads should be altered. 

The KangaTech program has been used worldwide in recent times and still remains a key pillar in the training program at North Melbourne, where Saunders was employed for eight years until 2017.

Since leaving North, Saunders has spent time at Adelaide and also worked as a consultant to the Crows' high performance unit while working overseas alongside England rugby and cricket teams, and NBA franchises Memphis and Brooklyn.

He is in the early stages of his work reporting to Burton and Adelaide's general manager of high performance, Matt Hass, as the Crows delve into their problems. AFL.com.au does not suggest the Crows' hamstring issues are caused by KangaTech or Saunders.

Saunders said he was "very confident" KangaTech would continue to be used by Adelaide in conjunction with their fitness programs.  

"We are working closely with Adelaide to provide detailed profiling and retraining of numerous injury risk and performance limiting factors as well as individual athlete monitoring to guide ongoing management," Saunders told AFL.com.au.  

"It's expected any interventions will be integrated into the program and the outcomes tracked."  

Captain Walker and defenders Kyle Hartigan and Kyle Cheney all injured hamstrings last year, and the trio suffered the same fate inside the first seven rounds this season.  

Steve Saunders, pictured in 2011, treating former North big man Ben Mabon's injured finger. Picture: AFL Photos 


"Clearly we have got some issues with our hamstrings, we've had too many now to just say it's unlucky," Walker told Triple M radio on Tuesday.

Crouch, Betts and Lachlan Murphy combined to miss eight matches after their setbacks, while the previously durable Sam Gibson continues to be sidelined with a hamstring injury after he was a late withdrawal from the round one loss to Essendon.

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The last set of injury figures released by the AFL – covering the 2016 season – show that an average of 5.2 new hamstring injuries occurred per club per season, causing players to miss an average total of 19.7 matches.

With the Crows already exceeding that mark after six matches, coach Don Pyke admitted something had to change.

"We've had a discussion internally about our program about some things we might be doing differently or need to change," Pyke said last week.

"We think with those modifications, we'll stop having those and the guys that return to play will be fine.

"It's not ideal at the moment, but I'm pretty confident this is just a little phase we go through and in four or five weeks' time, we'll be talking about something different."

Matt Crouch looks on after injuring a hamstring in round two. Picture: AFL Photos

High performance specialist David Buttifant, who was a key part of Collingwood's breakthrough premiership in 2010, said he understood why questions were being asked.

"These are typical things they'd be scrutinising right now: their existing systems and any new interventions that have come into their program," Buttifant told AFL.com.au.

"Because they had a shorter pre-season after the Grand Final, they'd be asking 'is it a load issue?', from a stress point of view.

"There's so many variables in terms of hamstring injuries, you have to look at what they've done differently.

"What have they done as far as preventative stuff? And if they've done a lot of it, that can cause disruption.

"There's also age and previous injury, which we know is a contributing factor to soft tissue injuries."

David Buttifant (left) was a key part of Mick Malthouse's support team at Collingwood. Picture: AFL Photos


Adelaide played 29 and 31 players in their 2016 and 2017 AFL campaigns, the lowest of any rival club. Already this year they've used 29 players.

Returning off a shortened pre-season due to their Grand Final loss, the Crows were forced to play catch-up.

After delivering less than desirable fitness numbers in the early weeks of pre-season, club leaders were forced to meet with football department staff.

"We were a bit behind where we needed to be," defender Daniel Talia said in December.

"We're an honest group, we know when we run certain times and we do a certain type of pre-season, it sets us up for the year. 

"The meetings were player-run, not aggressive at all, just being honest with each other and letting each other know we've got to improve. 

"That's certainly happened the last three weeks."

Walker remains in doubt for this week's clash with Port Adelaide, while Milera, Hartigan and Gibson are expected to miss the next 1-2 weeks.