Adelaide have confirmed star Izak Rankine is likely facing some time on the sidelines after suffering a hamstring injury in the dying stages of Saturday’s loss to Collingwood.
Rankine was seen holding his thigh following the final siren of the Crows’ four-point loss to the reigning premiers at the MCG, with the livewire forward seemingly injuring himself in a late play on the wing.
Rankine burst away from the contest and after running toward his side’s forward 50 launched the ball into attack, with the 24-year-old pulling up after his kick.
The Crows confirmed post-game that Rankine will undergo assessment of the ailment in the coming days as the club looks to learn the full extent of the setback.
“Unfortunately it happened in the last few seconds of the game and Izak came straight from the ground,” Crows high-performance manager Darren Burgess told the club’s website.
“We will need to assess him in coming days to determine the severity of the injury and go from there.”
Coach Matthew Nicks added post-game that the club believes Rankine has suffered a “small” hamstring strain.
Even minor damage to Rankine’s hamstring would likely put a line through the gun Crow’s chances of facing West Coast in Round 11.
The Crows are scheduled to face Hawthorn, Richmond and Sydney in the weeks after their clash with the Eagles, with a Round 15 bye scheduled following that run of matches.
Rankine has arguably been Adelaide’s form player over the past month, with the young Crows star collecting 24 disposals and three goals in last week’s draw to Brisbane before collecting a career-high 30 disposals, eight clearances and 699 metres gained against the Magpies.
Adelaide didn’t come away from the defeat with any further injury concerns, with the club’s sub change made for tactical purposes.
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