Adelaide's Josh Rachele avoids ACL injury, Port Adelaide's Sam Powell-Pepper not as fortunate

Adelaide forward Josh Rachele has avoided season-ending knee surgery but doesn't yet know how long he'll be sidelined. The 22-year-old has been cleared of ligament damage in his left knee after being injured in Sunday's win over Melbourne. But Port Adelaide midfielder Sam Powell-Pepper was not so lucky, with his second ACL injury in as many seasons confirmed on Monday.

Rachele said scans allayed fears he had torn his anterior cruciate ligament or posterior cruciate ligament. \"Worst case scenario, you're head goes to that (ACL) instantly so I am very lucky,\" Rachele told reporters. \"It's a bit of a weird one, I actually don't know what it is at the moment. So it's a bit of a unique situation but structurally the ACL and PCL is all good.\"

Rachele had been in the midst of a career-best scoring season, kicking 25 goals from a dozen games. But he could be absent as the third-placed Crows enter a season-shaping stretch against Western Bulldogs, Gold Coast, Port Adelaide and Hawthorn. Powell-Pepper meanwhile will have surgery on his left knee, after suffering the same injury to his right knee in round eight last year.

\"(He was) really emotional to start with, I'm talking Saturday night,\" Port assistant coach Tyson Goldsack said. \"As the night kind of wore on, he was coming to terms with it. He's going to have some struggles over the next 12 months. Now, as hard as it is, it's probably not the hardest time — the hardest time is when you when you have to work back through the process to get back and get fit again. As hard as this is to take now, he'll have some more struggles along the journey, which he knows about. He's just been through it so it's still pretty fresh but he's got a young family that I'm sure will keep him busy.\"

Powell-Pepper and his wife Brya last week celebrated the birth of their third child.