Crows lose Walker before Roos clash

Adelaide have suffered a setback before Saturday’s AFL basement match against North Melbourne, with Taylor Walker withdrawing due to illness.

The Crows said Walker had come down with a bout of gastro overnight and did not travel to Queensland with teammates on Saturday morning for the Metricon Stadium match.

The big forward’s spot will be taken by one of David Mackay, Darcy Fogarty, Fischer McAsey or Kieran Strachan with Fogarty and McAsey most likely.

The absence of their former skipper is a blow to Crows as they look to claim their first win of the year against fellow strugglers North.

The had already lost stand-in captain Tom Doedee and Brad Crouch (both hamstring) to injury with Brodie Smith to captain the team in the absence of Doedee and regular skipper Rory Sloane.

Adelaide are bottom on the ladder going into Saturday’s match and aiming to avoid a 12th straight loss in a streak stretching back to last year.

North have slumped to 17th after a six-game losing run.

Coach Rhyce Shaw has made two big changes, axing spearhead Ben Brown and winger Jared Polec.

Polec will be replaced by Aiden Bonar while Brown’s attacking post has been filled by Majak Daw, in his first AFL game since falling from a bridge in December 2018.

Saturday’s match starts at 2.35pm AEST.

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