We’ve made two changes for our Pride Round clash against North Melbourne.
Adelaide has made two changes for its Round 10 clash against top-of-the-table North Melbourne at Arden Street Oval on Saturday.
Veteran Stevie-Lee Thompson has been recalled to the line-up after being left out of last week’s win against West Coast, while running defender Brooke Smith returns for her second match of the season.
Adelaide Head of Women’s Football Phil Harper said the duo would provide the Crows with great flexibility, as they looked for the right mix to curtail North Melbourne’s star-studded forward line.
“Stevie is an experienced campaigner and although she hadn’t been in great form, she bounced back really well in the scrimmage last week and gets another opportunity,” Harper said.
“North Melbourne is the benchmark and they will without a doubt put us under a lot of pressure, so we feel bringing Stevie in will be good as she provides us that extra bit of experience.
“Brooke is a rebounding defender who played the one game against Gold Coast earlier in the year and was probably unlucky to go straight out.
“She’s since performed very strongly at training and in the scrimmages, we feel she gives us that extra bit of height matching up against North, and as a result gets a well deserved opportunity.”
Irishwoman Amy Boyle Carr comes out of the side after suffering a head knock at training on Thursday.
Harper said the Club would take every precaution with the 24-year-old utility.
“Amy just got a knock in the head at training, she’s had some history of concussion and although she hasn’t passed or failed a concussion test yet, we’ve decided to err on the side of caution and take her out for this week,” Harper said.
“It’s disappointing for her because she has been going really well these past few weeks, she’ll be in the hands of the doctors now and we’ll take every precaution before hopefully welcoming her back soon.”
First-year Crow Christina Leuzzi also comes out of the side, after the coaching group decided Smith provided a better defensive match-up against the Kangaroos’ forwards.
“We thought she did quite well last week, she was really diligent defensively, but the decision was made for matchups with what North Melbourne have in their forward line,” Harper said.
“The better match up for us coming up against North this week was Brooke Smith rather than Christina so we went in that direction.
“She’s pretty unfortunate because she didn’t do anything wrong in her debut.”
Adelaide will be looking to break North Melbourne’s 21-game winning streak as it travels to Arden Street on Saturday afternoon.
Despite coming into the match as underdogs, Harper said the squad would take confidence out of recent competitive performance against the reigning premier.
“We see this weekend as a massive opportunity, if you want to be the best you have to beat the best, and we’re not disputing that right now North Melbourne are the best,” Harper said.
“Our goal is to be the best, so we’re excited to test ourselves on Saturday and hopefully show some people that have written us off, maybe they shouldn’t have written us off.
“Our recent form against North has been quite good, and we’ve had some great contests, so we’re hoping we can produce a similar style of play on Saturday.”
Adelaide takes on North Melbourne at Arden Street Oval this Saturday, with the first bounce at 2.35pm ACDT.
Fans can watch the game on Fox Footy/KAYO and 7Mate in Adelaide.
Adelaide’s Round 10 team is:
