Adelaide forward Riley Thilthorpe is a big chance to return to the side this week if he is ticked off by the high-performance team.
The young key forward was omitted after the side’s Round 1 loss to Fremantle and has since dealt with a knee issue as well as contracting COVID.
Thilthorpe has been lining up in the SANFL when healthy and Kane Cornes believes it is a waste of development time for the former number two draft pick.
“They just have to play Thilthorpe, don’t they? I know he’s had a sore knee and he’s had COVID,” Cornes told SEN SA Breakfast.
“When he is fit and ready to go, he’s the absolute future of the club, he’s good enough, he kicked five goals on debut for goodness sake.
“Get him in there. What are they waiting for? Ken Hinkley just played Todd Marshall and Mitch Georgiades from an early stage in their careers and now look at them. They’re benefiting from that.
“What’s the benefit from Riley Thilthorpe running around in a substandard competition in the SANFL that he’s too good to be playing at?
“I don’t quite understand the management of that ... He’s too good to not be playing.”
Crows assistant coach James Rahilly said Thilthorpe likely would have returned to the side earlier if not for COVID and is in frame to play against Brisbane this weekend.
“He’s had a few little body issues and he had COVID which I think was unfortunate because he was about to come in so that was a little bit disappointing,” Rahilly told SEN SA Breakfast.
“There’s no SANFL game this week. I think he might get cleared to play, so it’s a discussion that we’ll have with the high-performance guys whether he can come in.
“It won’t be far away because he was starting to tick a lot of things and one of those was to get his body right.
“I reckon if his body gets ticked off he’ll be a chance for sure.”
Adelaide needs to respond after poor losses to GWS and Carlton in successive weeks, following their win over the Western Bulldogs.