Phil Walsh killing: Adelaide Oval to open today to allow for tributes

Updated

Adelaide Oval will still open its gates on Sunday, despite the match between the Adelaide Crows and Geelong being cancelled, to allow people to pay tribute to Crows coach Phil Walsh.

The AFL community has been rocked by Walsh's death, with mourners laying flowers outside the Crows headquarters and leaving scarves outside their homes.

"The south gate on the Telstra Plaza will open at 2:30pm [Sunday]," a statement from Adelaide Oval said.

"A siren will sound at 2:50pm commemorating the time of the scheduled opening bounce.

"Patrons will then be invited to enter the arena if they wish to have a kick-and-catch.

"At 4:00pm, another siren will sound, at which time patrons will be asked to leave the stadium."

Walsh died from multiple stab wounds after a domestic dispute at his Adelaide home early on Friday morning and his wife Meredith was taken to hospital for a leg injury.

His son Cy Walsh, 26, was charged with murder and sedated in the Flinders Medical Centre when his lawyer on Friday faced a bedside court on his behalf, making no bail application.

Despite the AFL's cancellation of the Adelaide versus Geelong match, the league says all Brownlow Medal votes from this weekend's other eight matches will count.

"Players from Adelaide and Geelong will have one less match to poll votes, which is unprecedented," AFL legal counsel Andrew Dillon said in a statement.

"But it is the AFL's view this is the best outcome from the available options and it was not proper to cancel voting."

The AFL had considered cancelling all remaining matches of the round in the wake of Walsh's death.

In Belgium the Kookaburras wore black armbands in the men's hockey World League final against the hosts, as a mark of respect for Walsh.

Crows captain pays tribute to 'great man'

Walsh became coach for the Crows last year and was well known for his enthusiasm and absolute commitment to his job.

When you lose your head honcho it hits you pretty hard. Adelaide Crows captain Taylor Walker

Crows captain Taylor Walker has paid tribute to Walsh in a pre-recorded message on the club's website, saying they had formed a close relationship.

"When you look at the support that we've had over the last 24, 48 hours from external people, his ability to come in and in nine months and have an influence on every single person, not only players, but admin staff, support staff at this footy club, he was just a great man and one that I started to fall in love with," Walker said.

"I had many conversations with him and probably one that sticks in my mind is he told me not to ring him after 8 o'clock because that's his bed time," he laughed.

"There's a lot of stories that I'll probably over the next week, two weeks, however long it takes, I'll sit back and reflect on what the memories were and what I experienced along the way with Walshy."

'It's a pretty numb feeling at the moment'

Walker said players and staff had all taken the news differently, but were sticking together during the difficult time.

Sorry, this video has expired Video: Crows captain Taylor Walker says he is feeling numb (ABC News)

"We're pretty lucky to be in a footy club - it's an environment that you stick together and we can lean on each other," he said.

"Obviously when we heard the news, everyone took it their own way, but it's a pretty numb feeling at the moment.

"Blokes, individuals are probably taking it a little harder or taking it a bit different than each other, but when you lose your head honcho it hits you pretty hard."

The Crows are likely to make a decision on who will become the club's caretaker coach by Monday.

Board member Rod Jameson said the interim coach was likely to be an internal appointment.

Topics: sport, australian-football-league, adelaide-5000

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