Adelaide Crows defender Brodie Smith will miss the rest of the AFL season after rupturing the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee during last night's big win over GWS in the qualifying final at Adelaide Oval.
The Crows advanced to a home preliminary final but they will do it without the 25-year-old Smith, who could face up to a year on the sidelines.
"The scans showed the worst unfortunately, so I've got the ACL tear with a bit of bone bruising and some other stuff as well so I did a good job of it," Smith said.
"The docs were pretty confident I'd done it [ACL] straight away so I guess I prepared myself for the worst but held on to a little bit of hope that it would be OK.
"It is what it is and I just look forward now to the next three weeks and trying to help my teammates in whatever way I can to get the ultimate success."
The Crows, who finished on top of the ladder at the conclusion of the home-and-away season, outplayed the Giants in front of more than 52,000 spectators on a cold and wet Thursday night in Adelaide.
After Smith kicked the first goal of the match, there was more Eddie Betts magic in the second quarter, as the cult figure helped the Crows to a 44-point lead at half-time.
GWS hit back in the third quarter, kicking the first three goals before the Crows - through Richard Douglas, Tom Lynch and Brad Crouch - put the game out of reach to eventually run out six-goal winners, 12.12 (84) to 6.12 (48).
Brothers Matt and Brad Crouch, and Lynch were outstanding for the Crows, while Betts finished with three goals.
Adelaide coach Don Pyke said it was a solid start to the finals series.
"It was a real positive first step to be honest," he said.
"We played a quality opposition, played some good footy."
The Crows, with Rory Sloane expected back after appendix surgery, will next play their preliminary final after a week off, while the Giants will host a semi-final against the winner of Saturday's elimination final between West Coast and Port Adelaide.
GWS coach Leon Cameron described the loss to the Crows as disappointing but said his team would rebound.
"We'll bounce back, we look forward to the challenge," he said.
GWS will assess forward Jeremy Cameron who injured his left hamstring.
Geelong takes on Richmond tonight in a qualifying final at the MCG.
