ADELAIDE is breathing a sigh of relief after forward Tom Lynch was cleared of serious injury during Sunday’s NAB Challenge match against North Melbourne at Centenary Oval.
Lynch, 24, was carried from the Port Lincoln ground after ducking into a tackle laid by North's Jack Ziebell; his head making contact with Ziebell's hip.
Lynch broke his neck in eerily similar circumstances in round 20 last year, when he ducked into a tackle and compressed his neck in the process.
The injury ended his eight-game 2014 campaign, which began with a dislocated shoulder and also included a broken jaw.
The important Crow immediately went to ground after Sunday's collision. He was helped to his feet by trainers, only to collapse again before making it to the boundary line.
Crows medical staff then called for the stretcher and he was subbed out of the contest.
However, an Adelaide spokesperson confirmed to AFL.com.au that though Lynch suffered concussion he had escaped serious injury and would not require hospitalisation.
After being assessed by Crows doctors in the opening term Lynch returned to the club's interchange bench, where he was seen smiling and laughing with teammates.
Lynch will likely miss the club's second NAB Challenge hit-out against Geelong on March 12 but could be fit to face Port Adelaide on March 21.
"I spoke to him. He seems OK but we'll go through the normal procedure," coach Phil Walsh said.
"Hopefully it's not too serious so he'll be back for us in a couple of weeks".
Walsh liked what he saw from several of Adelaide's young players in the 10-point win.
Draftee ruckman Reilly O'Brien, who spent ample time in defence last year for the Calder Cannons, won 14 hit-outs against more experienced campaigners in Daniel Currie and Majak Daw.
O'Brien also took some strong marks around the ground and gathered eight possessions.
"I thought all our young guys had a couple of moments where they looked like they were up to the standard. Reilly had a particularly good game I thought for his first look at AFL," Walsh said.
"In saying that. I was happy with (Harrison) Wigg, Keenan (Ramsey). Even (Sam) Siggins in the last quarter I thought did a couple of things and Jake Kelly didn't look out of place."
On the other end of the experience spectrum, former skipper Nathan van Berlo made a successful return from his ruptured Achilles.
The veteran spent all of last year on the sidelines in rehabilitation, but collected 13 possessions and booted a huge supergoal in the third term against the Kangaroos.
"I actually spoke to him at quarter time, I thought he was trying a bit too hard," Walsh said with a laugh.
"It was really encouraging ... [he] kicked that great goal in the third quarter – I was really happy with VB's performance.
"He's trained really well all pre-season so I expected something like that."
