Crows AFLW coach Matthew Clarke expects league to reveal 2020 season start date ‘within a week’
The Crows are preparing to select eight new players at Tuesday’s AFLW draft and a start date for the 2020 season is still unknown but coach Matthew Clarke expects it to be revealed soon.
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Adelaide AFLW coach Matthew Clarke expects a start date for next season to be announced within the next week, saying the Crows will be “ready to go” as soon as its revealed.
The start date for the 2020 AFLW season is still unknown because the Collective Bargaining Agreement, which will dictate the structure of the next few campaigns, remains unsigned after it failed to garner enough support to be passed.
Only 70 per cent of players – including Crows stars Erin Phillips, Courtney Cramey and Ebony Marinoff – voted in support of the deal on offer.
If 75 per cent players had agreed to the CBA, pre-season would have kicked off next month and round one was set for early February.
Speaking ahead of Tuesday’s AFLW draft, Clarke was not frustrated by the delay.
But hoped for a resolution soon as players were not allowed to train as a group yet due to the unsigned CBA.
“It’s not particularly frustrating,” Clarke said.
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“It will play out pretty quickly and I’m sure, within a week, I’d be surprised if we don’t have a start date.
“The reality is the same for all the teams and we are well prepared.
“Whenever they say go, we’ll be ready to go.
“We’d love to know the date, I’m sure all the players would love to know the date but we’ve got a rough idea.”
The Crows will select eight new players at the national draft as they aim to bolster their squad and win back-to-back flags following this year’s grand final triumph against Carlton.
Clarke said the depth of the SANFLW was strong and most players drafted would be able to slot straight into the demands of AFLW should they be required next season.
“We’ll get eight new players in which is a pretty big turnover but it’s the nature of the competition,” he said.
“We want to have some young talent coming through but there probably is a bit of a gap in our list profile in terms of that middle band of age player.
“The SANFLW will allow us to address that and probably balance out the list a bit.”
Clarke was unlikely to change too much of the game style that led the Crows to a second flag since the competition’s inception in 2017.
But acknowledged small tweaks would be made as he expected two-times league best and fairest winner Erin Phillips, ruck Rhiannon Metcalfe and youngster Chloe Scheer to miss at least some of the season as they recovered from ACL injuries.