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InjuryIQ

Essendon vs Adelaide Crows — AFL 2026 Round 21

Round 21

Match details

Home & Away
Round 21
Essendon
vs
Adelaide Crows
—
—Round Health Score (0–100), last 5 rounds. Scores drift down league-wide as the season's injury load builds — read the slope relative to the league, not the level.
Round health
—
—Round Health Score (0–100), last 5 rounds. Scores drift down league-wide as the season's injury load builds — read the slope relative to the league, not the level.

Round health not yet available.

Season —
Season —

Head-to-head

9Ongoing injuries7
4Long-term (LTI)0
8 dDays' rest10 d
1Games in 21 days0
1,375 kmLast month air km0 km
Squad stabilityESS 6thADE 3rd of 18

Value-weighted players used — 1st = most churn of key players, 18th = most settled. Weighted by player value (our metric), not raw squad size.

Soft-tissue = the OSIICS muscle/tendon family — the injuries most prone to recurrence (ESS 3, ADE 4).

What do these scores mean?
Round Health
— point-in-time (0–100, 100 = no injury absences), weighting current ongoing absences on a fixed scale comparable across rounds. The league average drifts down as the season's injury load builds, so low late-season numbers are normal.
Season Health
— cumulative season-to-date: value-weighted injury burden, availability and incidence. Load-managed rests are excluded from both.
Sun 2 Aug · 4:40pm·Marvel Stadium, Melbourne
State
VIC
Surface
Hybrid surface
Roof
Retractable roof
Capacity
56,347

Possible returns

Currently-injured players who could feature — fitness tests, squad signals and projected returns.

ESS
ADE

Returnees to watch

Recently back from injury and still in the elevated-reinjury window — risk concentrates in the first games back, especially for soft-tissue.

ESS
ADE
  • Wayne Mileraback from hamstring · 1 game backSoft-tissue return — recurrence risk is highest in the first games back.
  • Riley Thilthorpeback from other/systemic · 1 game back

Current injuries

The confirmed outs for both squads (14 across both), ranked by impact. Players in doubt are listed under Possible returns above.

ADE carry the cleaner bill of health — ESS enter with 9 ongoing injuries to ADE's 7, 4 of them long-term.

ESS8 out
  • Lewis HayesDEF
    LTI

    Knee — ACL Tear

    Long-term
    Injury-proneDue Mar 15, 2027
  • Archie MayFWD
    LTI

    Shoulder — Shoulder Dislocation

    Long-term
    Due Mar 1, 2027
  • Brayden FioriniMID
    LTI

    Chest/Torso — Back Injury (General)

    Long-term
    In rehab
    FragileDue Mar 15, 2027
  • Nic MartinFWD
    LTI

    Knee — ACL Tear

    Long-term
    IronmanDue Mar 15, 2027
  • Rhys UnwinFWD

    Hamstring — Hamstring Strain Grade II

    Severe
    Due this week
  • Kyle LangfordFWD
    Recurrence

    Quadriceps — Quadriceps Strain

    Moderate
    Due this week
  • Kayle GerreynFWD

    Knee — Knee Injury (General)

    Minor
    Due Jul 29
  • Tom EdwardsFWD

    Hamstring — Hamstring Strain

    Minor
    Due Jul 30

Signals

  • 1recurrence
  • 1awaiting diagnosis
  • 3durability-fragile
  • Body regions:
    • Knee3
    • Hamstring2
  • What they lose: 6 of 9 outs are forwards

Recurrence flags repeat injuries to the same body region within 24 months.

Injury classifications use the OSIICS system (Orchard Sports Injury and Illness Classification System). © John Orchard — Free to use with acknowledgment.