ADELAIDE, seeking to gain momentum in an inconsistent season, hardly needed yesterday's concession from AFL umpires boss Jeff Gieschen that Collingwood had indeed been robbed of victory against Geelong.
Not only are the Crows the first side to face Collingwood on the rebound since last August -- and the football world knows how the Magpies responded to that round-22 loss to Hawthorn -- now the umpires department has provided the reigning premier with extra motivation, given Gieschen's acknowledgement that umpire Shaun Ryan was wrong not to pay advantage to Scott Pendlebury when he swooped on the ball and kicked a goal that would have given his side the lead in the dying minutes last Friday.
"Unfortunately, it was an error by our umpire," Gieschen told Fox Sports News yesterday.
"In the perfect world, that is the classical advantage play that the rule was brought in for. The reason the umpire didn't allow it at the time was because he lost sight of the ball.
"It was one of those ones, if he could have it back, he would have called advantage every day of the week."
Talk about poor timing. The Crows also face a Collingwood side almost certain to be boosted by the return of captain Nick Maxwell, while ruckman Darren Jolly, midfielder Ben Johnson and Dayne Beams are also possible inclusions.
A Magpie who will not front the Crows is defender Alan Toovey, who was released from hospital yesterday after receiving a bruised lung in a marking contest against Geelong.
"I heard a voice telling me to run back and contest so I decided I had to go," Toovey said. "I thought I was in the clear, but obviously I wasn't.
"I never lost consciousness. I was just in a fair bit of pain because of the impact to my chest, and I had the wind knocked out of me in a fairly big way.
"I'll head into the club tomorrow and discuss with the doctors what the program is from here, but I'm confident I'll be back playing soon. I'm feeling a lot better."
Dale Thomas, who kicked a goal that reclaimed the lead for Collingwood late in the match with Geelong, yesterday defended out-of-form forward Alan Didak.
The dual All-Australian is down on disposals and goals from last season, but Thomas said this was due to a change in role.
"I think what Alan has been doing in a defensive role has been a bit different than in the past," Thomas said.
"Obviously, we all know he has got such great attacking instincts around the goals, but the role he has been playing within the team has probably been overlooked by the outside world.
"We know that Alan is going along nicely, internally."
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