Adelaide Crows vice-captain Ange Foley predicts boost from Darwin time

The nucleus of the Crows AFLW side stuck together during the off-season, playing for NT Thunder in the VFLW, and vice-captain Angela Foley believes it will give them a boost this season. Plus, get to know your Crows squad in our special interactive.

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Adelaide vice-captain Angela Foley is confident the Crows will reap the rewards of spending the off-season together playing for the NT Thunder as they open their AFLW season on Saturday night against the Western Bulldogs at Norwood Oval.

Around 15 of the Crows players stuck together over summer to play for the Darwin-based club in the Victorian women’s league and it had benefits on two fronts.

Angela Foley playing for NT Thunder against Hawthorn at TIO Stadium in August. Picture: Felicity Elliott

One, they played in what is considered the strongest winter women’s competition in the country and two, they spent invaluable time alongside their Crows teammates as the team made the finals.

Foley, who was the NT Thunder captain, said the experience had been invaluable.

“It was fantastic,” Foley said. “It was good to have an off-season to go away and focus on the things we’d been told that we needed to improve on.

“But also to go into a season and play.

“Before we’ve been separated — some people went to the SANFL, some people went into the VFL and some people didn’t play at all.

“I didn’t play at all (before the winter season just gone).

“It gave us an opportunity to play together as well as have a crack and have a bit of a season.

“It was 15 rounds and then we got knocked out in the first final.

“It was really good.

“If anything, it’s improved us and we’ll do it again next year.”

Foley and the players have noticed a difference under coach Matthew Clarke.

With premiership coach Bec Goddard having already established a strong foundation and culture Clarke has been freed up to spend more time on skills and strategy.

But his key message — realising how little time he has with the players compared to when he’s an assistant coach with the men’s team — had been to keep it simple.

NT Thunder’s Jasmyn Hewett, who will line up for the Crows on Saturday, competes with Geelong’s Madaleine McMahon in a VFLW match in Darwin. Picture: Justin Kennedy

“There’s been a big emphasis on running, transition and making sure that we’re running both ways, which is football, really,” Foley said. “He’s taught us a lot about our running patterns and how he wants us to play.”

The Bulldogs, who won the second edition of the AFLW, present a sizeable challenge and will give the Crows an early read on how they are positioned to challenge for a second flag.

Foley felt the season with the Thunder and a ramped-up program over summer would have the Crows well placed.

“I think fitness is a big one,” Foley said. “I think in the first year we were probably one of the fittest teams and whether that got us over the line or not … but then everyone kind of caught up with us last year.

“And we’ve been training at an elite level for three years so the skill level is obviously going to go up as well.”