Deep Dive: Adelaide’s inability to stop opposition scoring runs exposed again
Adelaide has a big problem and there is little evidence they know how to fix it. The longer it remains, the more winnable games will slip away.
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Adelaide has a big problem, and it has been around pretty much the entire season.
When opponents of the Crows get their tails up, they make a big impact on the scoreboard.
And despite it happening all too often for Matthew Nicks this year, his side isn’t able to limit the damage.
Many tipped the Crows to defeat Carlton at Marvel Stadium on Sunday afternoon, so insipid the Blues have been in recent weeks.
Adelaide looked to have control of the match in the first quarter, although the Crows six behinds in the opening term meant they couldn’t translate this dominance to the scoreboard.
And, actually a big criticism of Carlton, the Crows in 2021 usually have a period in the game when the opposition can score really heavily against them.
Sydney kicked 11 goals to the Crows’ three across the second and third quarter in Round 2, in Round 3 Gold Coast kicked the first three goals of the match.
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Hawthorn booted six goals to one in its run to claim victory in Launceston, while Collingwood kicked five goals in a row, all from turnovers, in its win at Adelaide Oval.
While the Crows came back in thrilling circumstances against St Kilda in Cairns, they didn’t kick a point in the first quarter and took until halfway through the second to register a score with the Saints eventually running out of gas.
On Sunday the Crows down period was the second quarter, and this time Carlton made them pay with an eight goal to three term.
“We lost our way in the second quarter and our opponent was too good in that period of time and we weren’t able to change the momentum of the game,” Nicks said.
“It’s been a pretty consistent issue for us this year, the ability to limit damage when the opposition has their tails up.
“Carlton had everything going in that quarter from the centre bounce so it is hard for us to change things from upstairs.”
So why do the Crows keep giving these moments to their opponents?
A big factor is the youth and inexperience of the Crows list.
Their defence against Carlton contained Jordon Butts and Will Hamill, who have not played more than 20 games, while Chayce Jones is still in the midst of a positional change to the backline.
“I think when you play a young group like we are you win games and you learn in games,” Nicks said.
“And unfortunately we are learning a lot … we will get better.
“We talk about leaking goals and it’s about limiting goals when the other team is on.”
Again the Crows fought towards the end, and they have now become a seriously hard team to play against.
But the frustrating thing for Crows fans is that these moments in games where they leak goals look set to continue this year as Nicks’ side learns on the job.
EDDIE SHOWS CROWS WHAT THEY ARE MISSING
Eddie Betts isn’t the answer to this problem for the Crows, but the former Adelaide hero highlighted an area Nicks’ side really needs to improve.
Whether it is through a trade, free agency, or even the draft the Crows are crying out for a small forward that can impact games.
Betts is 34, and his departure hadn’t hurt Adelaide too much on the field until Sunday night.
But at Marvel Stadium, and possibly in his last ever appearance against the Crows, Betts showed that Adelaide truly hasn’t replaced the impact he can have as a small forward.
With Tyson Stengle’s three off-field incidents last year ruining his chances of being the man to replace his cousin, the Crows have gone for most of this year with Lachie Murphy, James Rowe, Ned McHenry, Sam Berry and Harry Schoenberg as their small forward/half-forward flankers.
Murphy has all of a sudden become an integral part of the Crows forward line but is still mainly there for his pressure.
Rowe is in his first year from the SANFL and does have his moments but he has not kicked more than two goals in any game this year.
McHenry is and will be a pest – in the Hayden Ballantyne mould – and there’s nothing wrong with that, although he was guilty of a terrible piece of ill-discipline when he gifted Carlton a goal late on in the third with a late bump on Jack Newnes just when the Crows were starting to mount a comeback.
Berry and Schoenberg will be midfielders for the Crows long term.
None of these are true match-influences like Betts, and Jack Martin were against the Crows especially in that second quarter.
“Credit where it is due they (Betts and Martin) were lightning in that second quarter,” Nicks said.
“(With) our small forwards we watch a lot of footage of the best players in the game and they look to learn off that.”
Medium forward Shane McAdam can provide a spark from time to time, but the high flyer has been way too hot and cold for the Crows this year.
WORST INJURY FEARS: CROWS STAR COULD BE DONE FOR SEASON
There are serious fears Rory Sloane could miss the rest of the season after the Crows captain suffered a tendon injury in his finger.
Adelaide went down to Carlton by 10-points at Marvel Stadium, its first game since the mid-season bye.
Coach Matthew Nicks, post-match, revealed Sloane suffered the worrying injury.
“We came out OK but in the end we’ve got a small issue with Sloane, he has a high grade tendon injury in his finger,” Nicks said.
“We are fingers crossed on that but, to be honest, we are a bit concerned, we had another player who had a similar injury earlier in the year in Lachie Gollant and he missed a reasonably substantial amount of time.
“We are not 100 per cent sure yet, we will have to get that scanned and checked out but there is a possibility that we may miss him for a while.”
Gollant, who is yet to make his debut at AFL level, ruptured the tendon in his finger in March and only resumed training with the main group this month.
If Sloane has the same injury, his season is at risk.
“That’s the fear at the moment if it is the same injury,” Nicks said.
“It is one of those that takes a time (to heal), so with Sloaney we are fingers crossed he is an incredible leader on the field.
“We won’t jump yet at that conclusion but we will wait.”
Darcy Fogarty could come under MRO scrutiny for a late hit on Weitering in the third quarter, which left the star Carlton defender grounded, before forcing him to leave the field for further medical attention.
Weitering was able to return to the game, but the clash wasn’t a great look for Fogarty and it also sparked a huge melee.
Fogarty also gave away a 50m penalty in the first quarter that gave the Blues momentum, while Ned McHenry gifted Carlton a goal just before the three-quarter time when he hit Jack Newnes late.
Nicks said both Fogarty and McHenry knew they had done the wrong thing.
“They both know when those things aren’t fitting in with our team values,” he said.
“But having said that we will probably have a quiet chat during the week. Some of those things unfortunately we talk about momentum we can really let ourselves down through things like ill-discipline.”
The Crows are due to face Brisbane at Adelaide Oval next but that is up in the air as the Covid-19 situation across Australia worsens.
Hubs could be back on the table and Nicks said the Crows would do whatever is required.
“It is becoming a little bit harder to find venues to play football in and play around the country,” he said.
“We will be flexible and we will play wherever we can and we will keep our fingers crossed that we are able to play.
“We want to do what we can to play and entertain … we will be flexible and if that means hubs we will have a discussion as a group.”
The Crows weren’t helped when they were delayed at Adelaide Airport for over an hour on Sunday morning.
The Crows flew in and out of Melbourne on Sunday and were meant to leave Adelaide at 10am for the afternoon clash, but were held up at the airport.
The chaos was understood to be caused by a Virgin Australia flight attendant testing positive to Covid-19, after flying to numerous airports around the country while potentially infectious.
While stuck in the airport Crows players and staff were situated in the Virgin Lounge, minimising any potential interaction with the community.
On landing in Melbourne, they took a bus to Marvel Stadium.
Two terminals at Melbourne Airport were declared Tier 2 coronavirus exposure sites overnight, which forced North Melbourne players into quarantine in their homes until they secure a negative Covid test.
VFL sides Box Hill Hawks, who are affiliated with Hawthorn, and Aspley have also been caught up in the chaos.
Aspley players will have to quarantine for 14 days after they were on a flight which is now classed as a tier one exposure site.
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