Adelaide CEO Tim Silvers has defended big forward Darcy Fogarty after he controversially played golf just days before a back injury.
Fogarty did not feature in Friday’s thriller against Fremantle, and will now also miss the game against Carlton, but Silvers defended the 26-year-old, simply saying it was “unfortunate”.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Adelaide CEO Tim Silvers addresses Darcy Fogarty injury
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AFL expert Kane Cornes grilled Silvers over the injury on Channel 7’s The Agenda Setters, with Cornes saying he was not “buying” the story about the golf game having nothing to do with the injury.
“A hard one from me off the top, I’m just not buying that Darcy Fogarty played golf on a Wednesday, turned up to training on a Thursday proppy, he misses on Friday, misses (the game) again (this week), and his back injury had nothing to do with golf,” Cornes probed.
“Are you adamant that it wasn’t caused by playing golf?”
“That’s a nice direct one to start … thank you, Kane,” Silvers fired back.
But the Crows boss insisted that the two were not linked.
“In terms of Fog, he’s been playing golf for a long time,” Silvers said on The Agenda Setters.
“He’s been playing golf when he’s been at the footy club for seven years. It had nothing to do with his back injury.
“It’s unfortunate. We don’t want any of our players out and missing, but we’ve also got to find this balance, work-life balance for everyone in the industry (it’s important) that we can have balance. And we think it’s important that our players have balance.”
After claiming the minor premiership last year, pressure is already building on coach Matthew Nicks and the team in 2026 after an underwhelming, and slightly unlucky, 1-3 start.
AFL great Nick Riewoldt said it appeared “from the outside” that the Crows were “a midfielder short”.
Silvers the midfield piece needed to be addressed and the club planned “to be aggressive in the trade period”.
“We’ve been on a bit of a journey in terms of a long-term rebuild,” Silvers said.
“We feel like we’ve developed a rebuild well, and we think we need a few more pieces to top that off.
“So we’ve just got assigned a new list manager, and one of his tasks will be improving our list, and elite talent is what we need.”
Izak Rankine is part of that elite talent but, like the team, his start to 2026 has also been underwhelming.
“Izak had an interrupted preseason, so it was difficult for him to get up and running,” Silvers said.
“He didn’t play a trial game. But look, I think he’s not too far away, and we know even if he has a handful of touches, he can make a real impact.
“I’d like to see over the next few weeks how much he can improve.”
