AFL round 9: Adelaide Crows defeat St Kilda by 52-points as Taylor Walker kicks five
He’s impressed as a forward – but is Riley Thilthorpe the answer to a bigger question further up the ground? The young big man and coach Matthew Nicks open up on his future.
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Adelaide fans will be revelling in a convincing win over St Kilda that has put the Crows right in the finals mix in 2023.
But did Matthew Nicks also give a couple of glimpses of how he wants his side to look in the future as well?
It was the Crows elder statesman who played a huge part in the big 52-point win over the Saints.
Taylor Walker, 33, kicked five.
Brodie Smith, 31, had 32 touches and a goal himself.
But Nicks might have just given the Crows fans some big hints as how he might want his sides of the future to look like.
After speaking about how he was expecting former coach at Sydney Ross Lyon to have a few tricks up his sleeve, Nicks pulled one of his own out to begin the match.
For the first time Riley Thilthorpe attended the first ruck contest of the game, with leadership group member Reilly O’Brien starting on the interchange.
The 20-year-old former No. 2 pick has gone into the ruck for the Crows to chop out O’Brien, but never had he been the man at the first centre bounce of the game.
Thilthorpe revealed the motives behind the plan post game.
“Ahh about Wednesday, they just wanted me to get my hands around the footy a bit earlier and a bit more,” he told The Advertiser.
“It was a nice change up.”
While a knock to Thilthorpe’s knee just seven minutes in threatened to stop Nicks’ plan in its tracks just seven minutes into the game, the young gun was able to get strapped up and played out the game.
Nicks said he was happy with how it played out.
“That’s where we have elite leaders, so we had a conversation during the week with Riley and his ability to start a game off, impact the game early and I sat down with Reilly O’Brien and asked how do you feel about this and ROB was a massive supporter of it,” he said.
“So really pleasing that we were able to execute that today. I thought Riley Thilthorpe was great early, I thought it gave him a chance to settle himself in the game early.
“When you saw the game play out coming to that second half and that fourth quarter that’s where I thought ROB probably looked a bit fresher than most.
“Not something we will always lock in but we have that flexibility.”
Getting Thilthorpe more involved in the game earlier after going goalless in his last four games might have been the motivation behind the Crows putting him in the ruck from the start on Sunday against St Kilda.
But could this be something the Crows look at more in the future?
Thilthorpe’s versatility as both a forward and a ruck, especially his ability to cover the ground, had recruiters impressed and was enough for the Crows to make him their highest ever draft pick.
There is a school of thought that Thilthorpe could even be a No. 1 ruck option for the Crows, right when they should be in their sweet spot for contention if they continue on this trajectory.
Nicks said he didn’t know whether Thilthorpe would end up as a key forward or as a ruck.
“We don’t know yet, that is the best part about it. He is extremely flexible about where he ends up,” he said.
“He is just working on his game at the moment and what we are finding with Riley is getting him in the game early gets him up and about and builds his momentum.
“Being around the ball makes it a bit easier than having to rely on it coming in and trying to beat your opponent.
“We will keep looking at that going forward.”
Thilthorpe himself was also unsure.
“It is a good question and one that I don’t really have an answer to,” he said.
“I love to do both and wherever the team needs me I’ll play there and hopefully just do my best.”
O’Brien, 27, has been impressive this season for the Crows.
But did we get a glimpse into the Crows future plans for Thilthorpe?
There was another role change for a young gun that stood out against the Saints on Sunday.
Pedlar is in the midst of a breakout season in his third year at the Crows, after injuries prevented him from really playing at AFL level for the last two years.
This has been as a forward, but for the first time the 20-year-old was sent to centre bounces by the Crows and spent time around the ball.
Nicks said it could be something the Crows look at more this season.
“I hope so, we really enjoyed that giving him a bit of a sniff in there,” he said.
“He is a power athlete, he still has some stuff he is working through but really pleasing to see the way he went about that off limited work.
“We have been doing a lot of work with him forward of the ball, he is a really important part for us there with some of the roles he plays.
“But today I thought he added something else to his game and showed what he can do around the ball.
“Long term when we drafted Luke we drafted him as a midfielder from a long term point of view.
“We don’t want to rush him but today was a step in the right direction.”
The Crows lack of size in the midfield has been a talking point over the past couple of years, with the move of captain Jordan Dawson to on the ball addressing this in a big way.
But Pedlar looms as a player who could seriously add something to the Crows midfield in the coming years.
Listed as 183cm and 84kg, he seemingly plays bigger than this.
It caught the attention of former St Kilda champion midfielder Nick Dal Santo.
“I really like the early signs of him, he has a the body size to be a really solid inside midfielder he is a bull but we have also seen some flair from him,” he said on Fox Footy.
Crows football director Mark Ricciuto said Pedlar in the midfield could be a big weapon for the Crows.
“He is going to be a 50/50 mid isn’t he,” he said.
“Go in there. Win the ball, run it out and then he can go forward and do what he has done in his short career.
“He has been really hard to stand when he is forward.
“He is the full package.”
Thilthorpe said he hoped to see Pedlar around the ball more often, saying him, Izak Rankine and Josh Rachele would give the Crows a big threat.
“He was electric, I loved seeing him around the ball he is a powerful athlete and a great user so he is great to have in there,” he said.
“We have Rach, Ranks and him who can go through the mid and forward and be that hybrid, it is a real strength of us.”
The Crows might have shown two of the strengths they hope to have if not this season then soon.
NICKS SHEDS LIGHT ON SUBBED CROWS STAR’S INJURY SCARE
Adelaide senior coach Matthew Nicks says star midfielder Rory Laird was subbed out of the Crows win over St Kilda through “management” as he hailed a victory that resulted in his side jumping into the top eight.
The Crows’ best and fairest for the last two years was subbed out of the ultimately comfortable win over the Saints in the fourth quarter.
It came after Laird was on the end of a heavy tackle, with it looking like he copped a blow to the ribs.
He was soon subbed out of the match, with Ned McHenry entering the game for the last quarter.
Post-game Nicks said his prolific onballer was OK.
“Lairdy is fine, as far as I’m aware,” he said.
“That was more a management thing, we wanted to get Neddy in and to have that impact and I thought he stood up.
“It is a tough gig coming on as a sub and I thought Neddy was great.
“The reason we took Lairdy off was management.”
Despite the Saints coming into the match as the best defensive unit in the league, the Crows blew them away in the first quarter – kicking six goals to St Kilda’s one.
The Saints did fight back in the second quarter, but the Crows were able to lift their game in the third and fourth terms to run out 52-point winners.
Nicks said it was a “complete game” by his team.
Ned McHenry comes on as the tactical sub for Rory Laird.#weflyasone
— Adelaide Crows (@Adelaide_FC) May 14, 2023
“It was a really great win for a lot of reasons, we got a lot of things right,” he said.
“We had a plan coming in and we executed it, we played against a side that has been really strong this year defensively so we knew it would be a challenge for us.
“I thought our players were really brave in the way we played … a really complete game for us.”
It was the Crows first win in three matches after going down to Collingwood and Geelong in their last two.
It also has the Crows now in the top eight, replacing Carlton.
Nicks said it was a big win for his side who he said still had plenty of improvement in them despite now looking like a finals contender.
“We are not getting ahead of ourselves, we are a young group and working out how we become a really consistent team,” he said.
“We’ve had great belief for a couple of years in where we are going and what we are doing.
“People are quick to talk about finals, we are just going again and going again.
“Today was a big stage for us, we made it that, we played a team that is fighting for top four and if we lost we were going to lose touch with that top eight.
“Now we find ourselves in it so we can keep fighting.”
Crows inflict Mother’s Day mauling as Tex stars
Taylor Walker starred with five goals on Sunday, as red-hot Adelaide bounced back onto the winner’s list with a 52-point Mother’s Day mauling of St Kilda.
Coming off back-to-back losses, the resurgent Crows rumbled to a 19.7 (121) to 10.9 (69) win at Adelaide Oval to move back into the top eight.
Brodie Smith and Jordan Dawson led the charge as the home side jumped out to an early lead, saw off a second-quarter fightback then cruised to their second-largest win of the season.
Smith finished with 32 possessions and a game-high 715m gained and Dawson a game-high 33 disposals, but Adelaide had winners everywhere in the polished display.
Matched up against in-form defender Callum Wilkie, Walker was a dominant force in a forward line that had 12 goalkickers and booted the club’s highest score since 2019 to inflict St Kilda’s heaviest loss of the season.
The Saints had only suffered two defeats going into the clash, losing to Collingwood by six points and Port Adelaide by seven, but they had few answers in the face of some irresistible football from Matthew Nicks’ men.
Rowan Marshall fell just short of a half-century of hit-outs, finishing with 49, and Brad Crouch had a team-high 30 touches, but the embattled Saints had 91 fewer disposals when the final siren sounded.
PADDY PROPULSION
In a first quarter filled with Crows highlights, Patrick Parnell wowed the crowd with a mark-of-the-year contender.
In his second game of the season, the 21-year-old propelled himself onto the shoulders of Jack Higgins in front of the Mark Ricciuto Stand and pulled down a spectacular grab.
Red-hot Adelaide jumped the Saints in an opening-term blitz where Ross Lyon’s men kicked their lowest first-quarter score for the season while conceding their highest.
Playing with an intoxicating mix of skill, composure, brave ball movement, hard work and brute strength, the Crows piled the pressure on the competition’s stingiest defence.
St Kilda has conceded an average of 59.25 points a game this season, but the Crows had 38 points by quarter-time.
Walker booted two and Luke Pedlar snapped a beauty after hitting a loose ball at pace in a superb piece of play described by Fox Footy’s Dermott Brereton as “football crumbing perfection”.
The home side led by 31 points at the first break after Riley Thilthorpe shook off a knee concern to boot the last goal of the term.
PATRICK PARNELL 🤯
— AFL (@AFL) May 14, 2023
Serious hangtime!#AFLCrowsSaintspic.twitter.com/JsUcee9OZ2
CONTESTED CRUNCH
Adelaide’s early dominance in contested possession was pivotal to the outstanding start, the home side leading the key stat 47-37 at quarter-time.
St Kilda was able to fight back in the second quarter off the back of a much better showing at the stoppages, former Crow Brad Crouch and skipper Jack Steele rolling up their sleeves to help the visitors gather seven more contested possessions for the term.
The revitalised visitors took it up to their hosts, but for all their improvement they only won the second term by four points to trail by 27 at the main break.
MEMBREY OUT
The margin was 29 points when Tim Membrey kicked a goal in the third quarter, but the Saints forward didn’t see out the game.
After taking a brave mark jumping backwards, Membrey had his legs taken from under him by Higgins and fell heavily on his back and head.
Clearly dazed, he was quickly subbed out of the match.
Tim Membrey has left the ground following a head knock.
— St Kilda FC (@stkildafc) May 14, 2023
We’ll provide an update when possible.
SCOREBOARD
CROWS 6.2 9.2 15.6 19.7 (121)
SAINTS 1.1 5.5 7.7 10.9 (69)
PHELAN’S BEST
CROWS: Smith, Walker, Dawson, Milera, Murphy, Sholl, Soligo, Parnell.
SAINTS: Marshall, Crouch, Wood, Higgins, Steele, Clark, Sinclair.
GOALS
CROWS: Walker 5, Rankine 2, Pedlar 2, Fogarty 2, Thilthorpe, Soligo, Smith, Rachele, Murphy, Keays, Jones, McHenry.
SAINTS: Higgins 3, Caminiti 2, Wood 2, Membrey, Byrnes, Butler.
INJURIES CROWS: Nil. SAINTS: Membrey (concussion), Steele (knee).
UMPIRES Foot, Stevic, O’Gorman, Heffernan
33,805 at ADELAIDE OVAL
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
JASON PHELAN’S VOTES
3 Smith (Adel)
2 Marshall (StK)
1 Walker (Adel)
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