St Kilda’s hopes of a breakthrough win against Adelaide in their AFL clash on Saturday have suffered a setback with a virus forcing out a further two players.
Jack Newnes and Ben Patton were on Friday ruled out, joining star recruit Dan Hannebery on the sick list.
Dan McKenzie and Matty Parker have come in, with the Saints searching for their first win over the Crows since 2012.
Hannebery’s disrupted debut season with St Kilda continued when he was laid low early in the week with gastro, with his teammates then following him out of the side.
“It seems a bit like the China game for us,” said interim coach Brett Ratten, referring to the Shanghai match when a number of players went down with illness.
“There’s a couple of different symptoms – I don’t know where they’ve crossed paths but they’ve all got a bit everything with vomiting, sweating and shivering.”
Hannebery has only managed two games due to soft tissue problems but Ratten said he was still likely to play again this season even if finals were off the table.
“Dan would have been in the team but he didn’t get to train but hopefully he will be back for next week,” he said.
“We want to get him to come back and play and finish the season on a positive note.”
The Saturday night match at Adelaide Oval is must-win for the Crows, who have dropped four of their past five, but still remain in the top eight on percentage.
Ratten, who has had two wins from two outings after taking over from sacked coach Alan Richardson, said he was aware his team had never won at the ground in nine attempts.
“It would be nice to get rid of that record,” he said.
“They’ve been a powerhouse in the competition for a long time and our record has not been what we want.
“It’s different years, teams and players so I don’t think we can jump on the back of that but we will lose it a little bit.”