Surprise inclusion Scott Thompson will be raring to go in Adelaide’s Friday night clash with the Western Bulldogs, says Mark Bickley.
“I promise you one thing: he will be absolutely desperate,” Bicks told FIVEAA breakfast on Friday. “This is a man who most likely is playing his last year, Crows are going to play finals… so this is his last chance to try and get a crack at playing in a final and winning one… he’d be desperate to try and get one more crack at it.”
“You’re playing against one of the real strong contested sides, the weather conditions look like they could be fairly wet and slippery and there going to be a lot of hard and tough in tight footy — he’s as good as anyone in those conditions.”
Bicks was making the case for Thommo’s call up last week.
“I thought he was going to come in last week because they were poor against Hawthorn. He gets his chance, which will be great.
“The criticism of Thommo has been his ability to cover the ground and spread. When the ball’s out in the open, can he defend against opposition sides? There’ll be some opportunities to see that tonight. It’ll be interesting.
“If he plays really well then it sets up a bit of dilemma — does he stay in or does he go straight back out.”
On Thursday the Crows announced Thompson, Charlie Cameron and Andy Otten would return to the side to replace Kyle Hartigan (injured), Hugh Greenwood (managed) and Jono Beech (omitted).
“Nobody expected that Hugh Greenwood was going to go out of the side,” Bicks said.
“First year in and he’s played a number of games in succession so he must be a little bit sore and they’re making sure he’s going to be in good form for the later part of the year.”
