Crow McGovern in grand final fitness test

Injured Adelaide forward Mitch McGovern faces a fitness on Wednesday as his AFL grand final hopes hang in the balance.

McGovern must complete Adelaide’s main training session on Wednesday to prove his recovery from a hamstring strain.

The emerging forward and his teammates will train at Adelaide Oval before a crowd expected to swell into the thousands – it’s the last public appearance of the Crows in Adelaide before Saturday’s premiership decider against Richmond.

McGovern missed Adelaide’s 61-point preliminary final belting of Geelong after suffering hamstring tightness the previous week.

And the high-marking forward will be expected to perform at Wednesday’s training session or he will be overlooked for grand final selection.

Adelaide vice-captain Rory Sloane says McGovern must do “absolutely everything at training and just be confident in it”.

“There’s not too much extra treatment that we can probably do,” Sloane told reporters on Tuesday.

” … And he has got nothing to lose; he either gets up and plays or he doesn’t. We will give him every chance.

“He is feeling pretty good running-wise … but he hasn’t done a main training session yet, so he has got to get through.”

McGovern’s fitness is the sole selection headache for the Crows, who will enter the MCG on Saturday as warm favourites to claim the club’s first premiership since 1998.

Utility Andy Otten replaced McGovern in Adelaide’s preliminary final win.

Stay up to date with the latest sports news
Follow our social accounts to get exclusive content and all the latest sporting news!