Crows midfielder Brad Crouch and defender Alex Keath have both been ruled out of the Club’s Round One clash with Essendon.

The duo joins captain Taylor Walker, who is recovering from a foot injury, in being unavailable for Friday night’s game.

Keath sustained an ankle injury in the Club’s pre-season game against Port Adelaide while Crouch was returning from an abdominal strain.

Crows Head of Football Brett Burton said Keath was close to being available, while Crouch would spend a bit longer on the sideline after developing some groin soreness in his return from injury.

“If it was a Sunday game he (Keath) might have got there but a couple of days short so we will get him right for Round Two,” he said.

“Brad Crouch has been returning from his abdominal strain and in the process of that, he’s flared up groin issues so he will be unavailable to play this week.

“Brad is obviously an important player to us and we take a no-risk policy with him given his previous history.

“He’s missed a quite a bit of training so we need to go through a re-conditioning phase with him now and that will be a six-to-eight week process.”

Taylor Walker will build up his training loads this week as he aims to be fit for Adelaide’s first home game of the year in Round Two.

“Taylor was obviously pretty close, he’s been rehabbing that plantar fascia for past six weeks and he’s done everything he could have but just come up a little bit short,” Burton said.

“He’s not available for this week but we will set him for Round Two.”

Draftee Andrew McPherson will also be unavailable for selection as he recovers from groin soreness.

In positive news, forward Riley Knight has returned to training as he recovers from ankle surgery.

“Riley’s recovered really well from that ankle surgery,” Burton said.

“He’s gone through a good rehabilitation phase and he’s back training with the main group which is a positive and we look forward to him being available in the next few weeks.”

Injury list as of Tuesday, March 20

Alex Keath (ankle) – 1 week

Taylor Walker (foot) – 1 week

Riley Knight (ankle) – 3-4 weeks

Brad Crouch (groin soreness) – 6-8 weeks

Andrew McPherson (groin soreness) – TBC

Smith (knee) – indefinite