Adelaide forward Tom Lynch has undergone surgery on his big toe with the expectation that he will miss at least two months.
This comes only a few weeks after Lynch was named as a medical sub, despite dealing with the toe injury.
The Crows lost narrowly to Hawthorn in Round 6, with the forward needing 20 minutes to warm up and get himself ready to come onto the ground given the injury.
Adelaide defended their decision to use the injured player as a substitute, with coach Matthew Nicks saying it was executed exactly as planned and that criticism was “unwarranted”.
"The intention that we went into the game with and the plan was executed exactly as we'd planned it,” Nicks said last week.
"At this point, without looking into it in too much more detail, would we go the same way this week and have our medical sub not rush, compose themselves, get ready, make sure that they're ready to go?
"Yeah, we'd go the same way. We'd give that player 15-odd minutes."
Lynch has not played since the Hawthorn game and has now gone under the knife for surgery.
SEN host Andy Maher is frustrated, believing the defence of the decision to use Lynch as the sub and the inability to admit they were wrong is typical of the Adelaide Crows.
“No, but we were told he was perfectly fit?” Maher said on SEN’s Bob and Andy, when told about the injury.
“It’s something in the DNA at this footy club. What are they doing? Just say you got it wrong. You’ll be better for it.
“It’s not a big deal … but it becomes a bigger deal than it needs to. What are you doing?
“He wasn’t right, he was injured and now he’s having surgery.”
Lynch was only able to play with the aid of painkillers after aggravating the injury in Round 3.
Crows Head of Football Adam Kelly explained the decision to put the forward in for surgery on Friday.
"In the beginning we weighed up our options and the path we chose has not worked," Kelly told the club’s website.
"Tom had been able to carry the injury up until and during the round six game when he was the substitute and had 20 minutes of game time.
"He then sat out last week's match against GWS and we had hoped those couple of weeks with a lighter load would assist in his recovery."