Adelaide v Fremantle: Dockers score first away win against Crows in six years
Darcy Fogarty was deployed through the midfield for the second-straight game as Matthew Nicks finds his niche. But two greats have pointed out flaws.
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The transition of Darcy Fogarty into a raging bull hybrid forward/midfielder may be a slow burn for Adelaide.
For the second-straight game the key forward was deployed in and around the ball as Matthew Nicks looks to find a niche for him to slot into his Crows side.
‘The Fog’ lined up with Rory Laird and Ben Keays at the first centre bounce of the day against Fremantle at Adelaide Oval, taking on Dockers superstar Nat Fyfe in the opening exchanges of the game.
After five kicks and three goals against North Melbourne in his recall to the side last week, Fogarty more than doubled his possession count against Fremantle and finished up with a goal.
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But after the Crows’ woes in the midfield in the 12-point loss to the Dockers – losing the clearances 35-42, stoppage clearances 19-33, and the Adelaide forward line lacking efficiency and contested marking – those aren’t the sort of numbers that will convince the doubters about Fogarty right now.
“He just doesn’t find enough of the footy,” Hawthorn legend Jason Dunstall said on Fox Footy about Fogarty’s display.
But there were some signs from the Glenelg junior that showed why Nicks is going down this path.
Dustin Martin and Christian Petracca have shown just how damaging a hybrid midfield/forward bull can be.
And while it isn’t being suggested that Fogarty can reach their lofty heights, when the 193cm Crow does get going around the ball he can cause some damage.
He laid one huge tackle, ultimately ruled as high, on Docker Nathan Wilson that initially had the Adelaide Oval crowd on its feet, while breaking a tackle himself in the last quarter showed that Fogarty could be a handful the more he learns about his new role.
“I thought he showed some stuff again,” Nicks said.
“I thought he fought really well around the footy.
“It will be something that he continues to work on, it’s not an easy thing to go straight back in there and take on (David) Mundy and Fyfe.
“He will continue to work on his game, we are getting him forward of the ball as well so he can get his opportunity ahead of the footy.
“I think it is a nice asset for him to have, the ability to play in and around the footy and then also play as a key forward at times.
“I’m pleased with the way he is working, like our whole team we’ve got stuff we are working on and we need to get better, so we will continue to work on getting better.
“Fog is in that position.”
Brownlow Medallist Gerard Healy said the challenge for Fogarty would be to get his fitness up to the level to perform his new role.
And while he did look to be seriously cramping at the end, although he did go and kick a goal after the siren, Nicks said he was making ground.
“Yeah, and educating around opportunities where he can go harder and when he can conserve energy,” Nicks said.
“That’s experience, that’s something I don’t have a jar of in my draw, but we work with him on different opportunities, there are times to not rest but there are times to recover and work and the experienced mids in the competition know when to do that.
“So we will continue to work with him, (I) still like to see him at the level, I think he has something to add.”
Counter kills
After the Crows’ main training session on Thursday, Nicks revealed there “are some areas in our game at the moment that are a little bit concerning” – especially the opposition going end to end.
Those concerns might become more than “a little bit” after the way Fremantle was able to hurt the Crows time and time again on the counter attack.
Justin Longmuir’s side almost looked more dangerous when the Crows were near their defensive 50, as they rapidly hit Nicks’ side on the rebound and caused some damage.
Nicks lauded his back six, and he rightly should, because the Dockers were able to swarm forward so quickly at times the Crows defenders were defending for their lives in one-on-one contests.
“It is a hard one for us to monitor,” Nicks said of the Crows’ full-ground defence.
“When you look at the way we played the game, we just weren’t there, not quite the full 100 per cent today.
“We have to be careful not to jump at any of the numbers that come out of today, but it will be something we continue to work on.
“It won’t be a fix overnight that one, we showed some really strong defence during the game.
“I thought our backs stood up well considering the amount of times they had a one vs none coming at them.”
Adelaide’s stand-in captain Tom Doedee told The Advertiser the new man on the mark rules was giving defenders more headaches, but he welcomed the challenge.
“It has changed from being able to constrict teams for a little bit of the game and being able to hold them in your forward 50 to now if they get one kick inside the corridor it opens the whole game out,” he said.
“Freo are a really good ball use team and they love hitting it up and using it.
“The entire AFL has shifted to a game plan where you are trying roll around and support each other, but it’s getting tougher and tougher with these rules.
“But we love a challenge, we like the idea as a defensive group if the team plays on and puts speed on the ball it gives us those one-on-ones inside 50s.”
Finding the balance
The reason why the Crows lost, according to Nicks and Doedee, was due to not executing the fundamentals.
“It was just a bit of that finish and polish, but yeah, just (not doing) the fundamentals cost us,” Doedee said.
“Sometimes it was a ground ball take and then missing a kick, it was sort of one or two little things here and there.
“And Freo capitalised on our mistakes and I guess that is part of being a young group but we know we can be better than that.
“The skills are there, sometimes it’s just in the game the ability to compose yourself or clunk the mark and we just didn’t bring that.
“We have in the past though and we have shown that when we do bring it, it’s a pretty solid game we can bring.”
On the surface, fixing up the fundamentals should be quite easy for the Crows to do.
“That’s getting skin on the ball, that’s our guys doing more and more work,” Nicks said.
“It’s something we did over pre-season, something that we have kept up week after week and we just need to ramp that up again, just get as many footys in our hands.”
But now over a month into the season, doing this can be a challenge.
“I think we are seeing it across the league at the moment, there are a lot of sore players within teams,” Nicks said.
“The game length is longer than last year, there are less rotations than there was last year, most sides started pre-season after Christmas officially as a structured pre-season.
So, there’s a challenge that comes with that and our guys are now working on recovery all week but (also trying to) get enough skin on the footy
“We clean up some of that stoppage and skill errors today (and) I feel like we come away with a result.”
WHY CROWS WON’T MAKE BIG CHANGES AFTER FREO LOSS
Matthew Nicks says it wasn’t Taylor Walker’s calf issue that contributed to a quiet second half by the Adelaide talisman, but rather the Crows’ poor efficiency in the front third.
Walker looked on track to continue his outstanding form in 2021, when he had 10 disposals, a goal, two score assists and five marks – including an absolute hanger in the first quarter – at half-time during the Crows’ Sunday match against Fremantle at Adelaide Oval.
“I’ve still got a bit of pep in the step,” Walker told Fox Footy during the main break when asked about the huge grab.
But after appearing for the second half with strapping around his calf, which had impacted his week on the training track, Walker was more subdued in the third and fourth quarters as the Dockers claimed an upset win.
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He did kick a goal in the fourth that threatened to get the Crows back in the game, but finished with just three more disposals than at halftime and one more mark.
“He’s gone completely out of the game,” Hawthorn legend Jason Dunstall said on Fox Footy.
Nicks said he believed it wasn’t because of Walker’s strapped-up calf.
“At this point, nothing medically,” he said.
“Tex was solid, it is that polish, that delivery, that final piece of what is a nice piece of ball movement that can expose the opposition?
“We just didn’t quite finish that off and sometimes Tex is on the end of those.”
Star midfielder Rory Laird was assessed for a period of time during the game for an AC joint issue, with medical substitute Nick Murray warming up.
But Laird was able to play out the game, and Nicks said he shouldn’t have any lasting issues.
“It was just a stinger,” he said.
“He will be assessed in more detail ... fingers crossed that will be fine going forward.”
Nicks also said he won’t make wholesale changes to the Crows’ side, despite Fremantle winning interstate for the first time this season.
“Coming into three-quarter-time we felt like we were in a great position. We put it to them for eight to 10 minutes and to their credit they stood up,” he said.
“Our front third efficiency was really poor, even in that third quarter where the game opened up a bit.
“We felt that we had our opportunities where we weren’t able to complete the play.
“Our lack of execution and fundamentals were off, we were just off by five per cent and you can’t do that at this level.
“(But) we won’t make too many changes off of that.”
Meanwhile, Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir claimed the “rest of the competition” was now realising the depth of veteran David Mundy’s talents after he sparked the Dockers to victory.
With the game on the line, Mundy amassed nine possessions, two tackles and nailed a goal in the final quarter to have a significant impact in the Dockers grabbing their first victory at Adelaide Oval in six years.
Longmuir also heaped praise on Mundy for his off-field influence at the club, along with that of champion midfielder Nat Fyfe.
“Our supporters understand he has been a very good player for a long period of time and the rest of the competition is catching up now,” Longmuir said.
“He is a wise, calm head.
“When things are moving quickly, he is able to steady us and move at a slower pace.
“The way he is invested off the field in our young players in what we are trying to do, he has been like a second coach and mentor for them.
“I’m proud he has been able to perform the way he does on the field because that just complements what he is doing off the field.
“He is a leader in the true sense.
“Him and Fyfey are doing a good job with the younger mids and paving the way for them.”
Longmuir noted there had been “lots” made of the club’s home and away form and a priority leading into the game was to ensure his players did not buy into the subject.
He said it was all about the players being able to look each other in the eye after the game knowing they had all played their role.
“Whether we got beaten or not was irrelevant really,” he said.
The previous two weeks had been a step in the right direction, according to Longmuir, although he said there were still plenty of areas requiring improvement, as well as the need to be more consistent.
CROWS FADE AS FREO ENDS OVAL HOODOO
– Warren Partland
Fremantle earned a spot in the top eight on the AFL ladder after conquering Adelaide at Adelaide Oval on Sunday.
After a seesawing battle for three quarters, the Dockers upped the ante in the final quarter on the back of a dominance in clearances to claim the first win on the road this season.
The Dockers managed only three goals for the first half, before adding five in the third quarter and four in the final term to triumph by 12 points.
It was a lacklustre performance from the Crows, who struggled for cohesion and a winning formula.
Walker challenge
When Griffin Logue made his previous AFL appearance, he kept Crows’ gun forward Taylor Walker goalless in Round 5 last year.
Hamstring issues kept the defender off the national stage until returning this weekend and he went straight to Walker, leading the Coleman Medal after a stunning start to the season.
And the challenge facing Logue was immediate with Walker taking a screamer, the equal of any in his lengthy career, just two minutes into the contest.
Walker hit the post, but made amends 10 minutes later when he took advantage of a free kick. Late in the first term, Walker pulled down another strong mark and was then unselfish in handballing to Shane McAdam for the goal.
TAYLOR WALKER 😵
— AFL (@AFL) April 18, 2021
He keeps getting better!#AFLCrowsFreopic.twitter.com/RAvXEas1bm
Desperate leadership
The desperation of Tom Doedee in the first quarter was evidence of why he was acting captain in the absence of Rory Sloane.
Midway through the term he threw himself across the boot of Nat Fyfe to prevent the Dockers champion from bombing the ball into the 40.
Two minutes later he repeated the effort to deny Fyfe a shot at goal.
Then he stopped a shot at goal from Travis Colyer when the ball cannoned into his head.
Early injury
The Dockers were forced to throw medical emergency Mitch Crowden early in the contest after Adam Cerra was forced from the ground due to an ankle issue.
There were further concerns for the visitors when Sean Darcy retreated to the bench for treatment on his left leg.
He was able to return to the game though and had an impact.
Class acts
After a scrappy first half in which the highlights footage would have been short viewing, the trend stretched into the third quarter.
However, there were moments when the class acts showed off their skills.
Such as the lead up to Docker Lachie Schultz’s goal 12 minutes into the second half.
Fyfe used the ball effectively to hit Michael Walters, who kept running before kicking the ball perfectly to Schultz 35m in front of goal.
The accurate set shot enabled the Dockers to level the scores.
The Dockers bagged five goals for the third term with Matt Taberner having an influence as the go-to forward.
Schultz had his own significant moments in the final quarter.
SCOREBOARD
FREMANTLE 2.1 3.5 8.7 12.12 (84)
ADELAIDE 2.15.5 8.611.6 (72)
BEST
Dockers: Mundy, Ryan, Brayshaw, Darcy, Fyfe, Aish, Taberner.
Crows: Laird, Doedee, Keays, Smith, Walker, Seedsman.
GOALS
Dockers: Taberner 4, Schultz, Colyer 2, Darcy, Aish, Mundy, Frederick.
Crows: Walker, Rowe 2, Murphy, Seedsman, McAdam, McHenry, Lynch, Fogarty, Sholl.
INJURIES
Dockers: Cerra (ankle)
UMPIRES
Rosebury, Nicholls, Heffernan
VENUE
Adelaide Oval
VOTES
3 David Mundy (Dockers)
2 Luke Ryan (Dockers)
1 Rory Laird (Crows)
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