How Adelaide Crows plan to carry late 2020 success into pre-season
When the 2020 season was put on hold the Crows lost ground on the rest of the competition that they are only making up in the final month of the season. And they don’t want those gains to go to waste.
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Crows players will be encouraged to stay in Adelaide during the off-season as Matthew Nicks’ side looks to take its end of the 2020 season momentum in 2021.
After going 13 games without a win the Crows have won three in a row to sell fans some hope going into 2021.
And there is a burning desire among the Crows coaches and leadership group to not let this late-season success go to waste.
Nicks has conceded the Crows did not deal with the COVID-19 imposed lockdown after Round 1 as well as other sides, which put them seriously behind the rest when the season resumed.
Crows ruckman Reilly O’Brien, one of the few consistent performers for Adelaide in 2020, said planning was going into how this wouldn’t happen again as the playing group approached a break with no pre-season dates in sight.
“The off-season will be really challenging, we haven’t heard the dates of when we are starting pre-season yet,” he said.
“We spoke about it recently the ability of the group to stay connected and not lose these gains that we’ve made, to train together, come back in really good shape and continue to work on our game plan and what we are trying to achieve so we come back whenever it is to pre-season ready to go and really primed for a big season next year.
“We haven’t got much in concrete yet, but it will definitely be in groups to contact each other, definitely encouraging guys to hang around Adelaide and train together in groups in Adelaide, especially positional groups.”
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O’Brien said this would also involve some bonding activities, with COVID-19 restrictions seriously impacting the ability of the Crows playing group to do much together outside of training and playing.
“It will be a bit of a challenge, a lot of young guys are from Melbourne so they might head home so the ability to stay connected with them (will be important),” he said.
“Communicate with them and train in groups and even be able to do activities together like tee up some fishing trips or camping trips and have a good time together and stay connected and on top of it rather than coming into pre-season and starting all over again.
“We’ve made some really good gains and worked really hard and we don’t want to slip.”
O’Brien said despite the 13 losses in a row the Crows had remained positive about the journey they are on, but the three wines had “taken it to another level”.
“It is definitely a concerted effort form the leadership group (being so positive) and the coaches, Dan Jackson in his role of head of leadership and culture has been big in that, he has encouraged those guys to stay positive with us,” he said.
“And even in the reviews Nicksy, obviously there are lot of negatives when you are losing all the time, but he has been able to focus on the positives and maintain that belief and just be able to focus on what we have been doing well.
“We are doing the opposite of what you would normally see with teams (in their situation) it (the morale) gets worse and worse as groups sort of splinter off throughout the year and it gets more and more negative but we have been able to buck the trend.”
ONE THING CROWS GOT WRONG IN REBUILD
Adelaide chairman Rob Chapman says the Crows’ hierarchy potentially didn’t communicate the club’s rebuild as “clearly” as they could have early on in the season, and hinted at another debutant for Matthew Nicks’ side in the final game of the season.
The Crows are on a three-match winning run, but had to wait 13 games for their first win of the season as Nicks’ side struggled for much of the 2020 season.
As the Crows sunk to the bottom of the ladder, and comprehensively defeated most weeks, members of the Adelaide hierarchy such as Chapman, chief executive Andrew Fagan, football director Mark Ricciuto and list manager Justin Reid have all come under fire for why the club had gone from a Grand Final in 2017 to one-game away from the wooden spoon for the first time.
Chapman said the Crows could have communicated the club’s intentions to rebuild better.
“I knew at the end of last year we were going to be in a bit of pain,” he said on SEN.
“It was always going to be a tough one for us and our fans have never really experienced us resetting to the extent we did and will continue to do, and experience some of the pain that other clubs have clearly gone down.
“At the start the fans probably struggled to understand, maybe we didn’t communicate it as clearly as we could have, but gee whiz, they have been rewarded.
“Patience has shown out and they are getting a glimpse of what next year and the year after that will look like.”
The Crows have handed AFL and club debuts to 12 players in 2020, and Chapman hinted at another for the Richmond game on Saturday.
“Maybe, (we’re) not getting ahead of ourselves, another one in a couple of days time,” he said.
Key defender Josh Worrell, midfielders Lachlan Gollant and Ronin O’Connor, and supplemental selection period rookie Ayce Taylor are the only players on the Crows’ list who have not played an AFL game.
Chapman said the efforts of some of the Adelaide youngsters had been a highlight in a rough 2020.
“We stayed true to playing them and probably got some of the results that we expected, but under a new coach with a new game plan in an environment where it is really hard to teach and train, the young kids have showed something,” he said.
CROWS TOLD TO PARK FRIENDSHIP WITH BETTS
– Reece Homfray
Adelaide’s Brodie Smith says footy has become “a bit more friendly” in this unprecedented AFL season but it didn’t stop coach Matthew Nicks from telling his players to park their friendship with former teammate Eddie Betts after Sunday’s warm-up.
The Crows were seen hugging Betts before the game at Metricon Stadium as they prepared to play against him for the first time since he left West Lakes to return to Carlton in 2020.
The niceties continued post-match with Carlton’s Marc Murphy and Kade Simpson chairing retiring Adelaide star Bryce Gibbs from the ground and even swapping jumpers.
Smith revealed on The Lowdown Podcast that Nicks wasn’t thrilled with the warm reception for Betts pre-game and the Crows subsequently kept him goalless and won by 16 points.
“We probably got a bit too friendly (with Betts) before the game in the first warm up, and Nicksy actually mentioned it in our meeting that it was time to put all that aside and focus on getting the job done,” Smith said.
“Everyone knows how much everyone in the world loves Eddie but how much we love him so it was great to see him and have a good chat and there was plenty of banter on the field.
“Potentially it (the game) has got a bit more friendly among opposition (teams this year), clearly when the game is on the white line fever kicks in, but I don’t know if it’s because we’ve all come together to get the season done and we’re all doing these restrictions and sacrificing a bit.
“I know there is always a chat after the game to see how the guys are going up in the hub and how their families are.
“It has become a bit more friendly ... even in Showdowns clearly we want to beat the Power and the white line fever kicks in but everyone seems to be a bit more friendly towards each other which I don’t mind.
“I still think there’s time for it but when the ball is there to be won it’s there to be won.”
Crows board member Mark Ricciuto was commentating for Triple M when Gibbs was carried from the ground by the Blues and noted how much footy had changed since his playing days.
Port Adelaide’s Kane Cornes said it was a “nice touch” but he wouldn’t have been thrilled if he was a Carlton fan watching them swap jumpers or seeing Patrick Cripps smiling with Harry Schoenberg.
“I’m not sure the hurt was there for the Carlton fans,” Cornes said on SEN.
Smith’s co-host on The Lowdown, Tom Rockliff, says he liked the Gibbs send-off.
“I thought it was a pretty special moment, he spent so much of his career at Carlton and a lot of people said it would have been nice if there was one Crows and one Carlton player,” Rockliff said.
“But I think it was a nice touch, those two (Simpson and Murphy) were in his bridal party or really close mates and it’s no disrespect to the Adelaide Footy Club, they did a guard of honour and a nice touch in what’s been a difficult year for so many and a pretty special moment for Bryce and both footy clubs.”
After losing their first 13 games this season the resurgent Crows have now won their past three and finish the year against Richmond on Saturday.
“It’s been amazing, go back a month and we were talking about what a win would mean to the group and I thought we were all about building and getting better and I wasn’t sure,” Smith said.
“But it’s just taken the group to another level, we’re having so much fun, the confidence is really high and the best thing about it is it’s these young guys who are stepping up and winning the games for us.
“Elliott Himmelberg, Shane McAdam, Lachie Sholl, Andy McPherson, Harry Schoenberg, these are the guys who are stepping up when we’re not expecting or asking them to and for them to do it so early in their career - to have only played five or 10 games in their first season of AFL footy the future looks so bright for us all of a sudden.
“Going 0-13 then to win three in a row and turn it around late in what’s been a long season, it’s so rewarding for us older guys and gives us so much confidence going into next year.
Daniel Talia is set to return to the side and play his 200th game while Taylor Walker and David Mackay are both available for selection against the Tigers. Smith said the team was desperate to make it four wins on the trot and take genuine momentum into their off-season.
“We don’t care about where we finish on the ladder, with three on the trot let’s test ourselves against probably the in-form team of the competition along with Port Adelaide so it’s a great challenge for us,” he said.
reece.homfray@news.com.au
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