A battered and bruised Chelsea Randall has no doubt she will lead Adelaide into a home sudden death semi-final despite a late concussion scare in her side’s qualifying final loss to Melbourne.
The inspirational skipper sent a scare through the camp late in the 21-point loss at Ikon Park when Kate Hore fell across her head and neck inside the last minute.
She lay face down on the turf for a few seconds then stumbled to the ground as she walked backwards to take her free kick.
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Surrounded by trainers, Randall was sent from the ground when the umpire noticed blood coming from her nose.
The star veteran laughed off the incident that she felt was more embarrassing than concerning.
“I tripped over my own shoelaces,” Randall told NewsCorp.
“I did try to tell the umpire that but she said to go and get checked.
“I said ‘No, no, no – I’ve literally just tripped over my shoelaces’ … how embarrassing.
“The doctors have taken every precaution and they’ll continue to look over me to make sure I’m all good, but I’m feeling fantastic.”
Randall passed a concussion test after the match and will be closely monitored in the coming days.
It’s been a tough few week for the 31-year-old, who returned from an ankle injury suffered in Round 8 sporting a black eye suffered in a collision with a teammate at training.
She didn’t have her usual influence against the Demons, finishing with seven possessions and five tackles, but has declared herself ready to go again.
“I’m ok … the ankle felt really good,” she said.
“I put everything on hold to try to recover and do everything I possibly could to get back out on the park with my teammates.
“You make lots of little sacrifices … but the body, the neck, the ankle, everything is fine.”
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Adelaide will need to defeat either Collingwood or the Western Bulldogs in next weekend’s semi-final, likely to be played at Unley Oval, to progress to a preliminary final.
The Crows will have to take the long way around if they are to make it to a fifth grand final, but Randall has no doubt her teammates are up to the challenge.
“What I’ve been really impressed with this season is the fight from our girls,” she said.
“The games haven’t been easy, we’ve had the hardest draw, and we love that challenge.
“Most teams have really challenged us and we’ve mostly found a way to win those games by really battling it out.
“We’ll go back and reset … sometimes it’s nice not to have to have a week off.”
