Porplyzia to miss finals
Posted
Adelaide midfielder Jason Porplyzia could undergo season-ending surgery next week after being ruled out of Saturday's elimination final against Collingwood at Football Park.
Magpies skipper Scott Burns is also expected to miss the clash after failing to shake off a calf injury, while Dale Thomas returns from injury to displace Danny Stanley.
Adelaide coach, Neil Craig, says the Crows were not prepared to take a risk with Porplyzia's fitness and the possibility of being a man short in a final.
Brad Moran has replaced Porplyzia in Crows line-up, and Adelaide operations manager John Reid says everyone feels for the midfielder.
"He understands... he's probably got more out of his footy than he thought he would have after it originally happened," he said.
"He's a great team player and I haven't spoken to the medical people just yet but I would imagine he'll end up having that done early next week."
Crows chief executive Steven Trigg says he is perplexed that the elimination final is not a sell-out.
About 32,500 tickets have been sold, but Football Park has a capacity of more than 51,500 spectators.
He hopes many people will buy their tickets at the gate.
"It is disappointing - I suspect though with a 19-degree day tomorrow that we'll get plenty of walk-ups and so our crowd should conceivably be somewhere in the mid 40s," he said.
