Adelaide coach Neil Craig has applauded the effort shown by Phil Davis against Fremantle in Round 11, calling the 19-year-old 'fearless' after the young gun was steamrolled by Dockers giant Aaron Sandilands late in the second quarter.
Craig said the act of courage was made even more significant given Davis' inexperience and having only played eight games of AFL football.
The Adelaide coach hopes the bravery demonstrated by Davis has set the scene for the younger players and even spurred the senior players to rediscover desperation and courage.
"It was a fearless act for a guy that was so young and inexperienced in his career," he said.
"It sets a really good scene I think for the younger players of our footy club. He's in his second year with us, you don't need to be a senior player to do it."
Craig outlined it was a good opportunity for Davis to return to the line-up and continue from where he left off after receiving plenty of praise for his effort from around the club.
Davis had kept Matthew Pavlich to just three touches before being knocked out and stretchered off just before half-time and his performance was not lost on Craig.
"A lot of our supporters were pretty impressed and taken aback by it," he said.
"He's got a great opportunity to come back into our side. There's been a fair bit of talk about what he did and it was positive talk about such a young player, an inexperienced player to do that."
"It's an opportunity to show the supporters he can step back into the fold and hopefully continue on from where he was. I thought he was very good in that game before he got hurt. I was happy with what he was doing on Pavlich."
The Adelaide coach declared Davis has fully recovered and is match fit with the eight-gamer also thought to have seriously injured his shoulder in the collision, before later being cleared.
"He needs to make sure and he's assured me with the medical people that his concussion is 100 percent," he said.
"Being last week I don't think he would have played had we not had that bye. That was two weeks after the initial contact."
While his courage was lauded, Craig offered his advice for next time hoping the 19-year-old will be more aware of his surroundings.
"Don't be afraid to have a better feel," he said.
"What we've got to understand is that these things happen in a split second, there's not a lot of time. I don’t have a problem with the guy having a quick look. Do we still need him to go for the ball, yes we do... just a slight turn (of the body) so he can still play on and get the result."