Crows reveal reason behind O'Brien's axing and the fellow veteran “in a similar position”

A combination of a down month for Reilly O’Brien and a boom for Kieran Strachan in the SANFL has seen the two swap places for Thursday night’s clash against Richmond.

The Crows axed experienced ruckman O’Brien ahead of Round 13 as Matthew Nicks looked to make a statement at selection following last week’s humbling loss to Hawthorn.

The 28-year-old has played 112 AFL games and been Adelaide’s primary ruckman since 2019, with his omission largely coming as a surprise.

Adelaide backline coach Jack Hombsch gave SEN SA’s The Run Home the backstory.

“He’s trying really hard out there but his form, just from what we’re after and the level we know he can play at, just hasn’t quite been there the last couple of weeks,” Hombsch said of O'Brien.

“To Strachany’s credit, he’s knocking the door down at SANFL level and he has well and truly earned a right to get a go at AFL level.

“We’ve seen ‘Rob’ a couple of years ago when he missed out on selection and went back to the SANFL, how quickly he can rebound and find his form again too.

“We’re really confident we can get a good response from him… (we're) disappointed for him, but excited for Strachany as well.”

Strachan, 28, will play his 6th AFL game.

It’s understood that veteran Brodie Smith was also due to be dropped before being offered a reprieve with Brayden Cook’s knee injury.

When that suggestion was put to Hombsch, he admitted Smith had been in the gun.

“Smithy is under no illusion there is a little bit of selection pressure there as well… he’s in a similar position to what we’re in with Reilly in a way as a leader point of view for the team,” Hombsch said.

“He’s fantastic around the boys and he’s trying his hardest. His form is probably not quite at the level we’d like it to be, but we back him in with his experience to play a really important role for us.”

Thursday night’s clash gets underway at 7:30pm AEST.