High five: The players who’ve made Adelaide better in the 2022 AFLW season
Adelaide plays in the AFLW preliminary final against Freo on Saturday, hoping to make the club’s fourth grand final. Insiders at Crows HQ, give insights into the club’s most improved players.
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On Saturday afternoon, the Crows will run out onto Adelaide Oval to contest the AFLW preliminary final against Fremantle.
If Adelaide wins, they’ll face either Melbourne or Brisbane in their fourth Grand Final appearance in six seasons of the competition — nothing short of a remarkable achievement.
The Crows won the 2017 and 2019 premierships, but lost to Brisbane last year by three goals.
Arguably, though, Adelaide is a better side than it was last season, having lost only one game from 10 home-and-away matches (a one-point loss to the Western Bulldogs in Round 6) and duly claimed the 2022 minor premiership.
Sure, the Crows’ success continues to be built around its multiskilled talent of its prolific midfield ballwinners in club champions Ebony Marinoff (averaging a career-best 24.8 touches a game) and Anne Hatchard (24.5 disposals a game), alongside forward and two-time AFLW best and fairest winner Erin Phillips and All-Australian defenders Chelsea Randall and Sarah Allan.
But where the Crows have seen a marked improvement this year is from its younger brigade, the players who have joined the team from the 2020 season onwards, and have two or three seasons under their belts now where they’ve honed their crafts, worked on their skills and emerged as important cogs in the team’s success this season.
Here are the five players who have made the Crows better in 2022:
1. Caitlin Gould
Age: 22
Height: 182cm
Position: Ruck
AFLW games: 20
Debut: 2020
2022 season: Goals: 4. Averages: 9.4 disposals, 3.0 marks, 2.4 tackles, 9.7 hit-outs, 2.0 inside-50s
Such was Gould’s talent, the former volleyballer was drafted by the Crows in late 2019 off the back of only a handful of games she’d played for Glenelg in the SANFLW.
Coach Matthew Clarke said her qualities stood out.
“We saw lots of elements which we thought would translate really well at the next level up and it’s taken a couple of years to fulfil some of that promise,” Clarke said.
“She’s still very much a developing player, but she’s starting to make her mark at the level.”
Having started much of 2021 on the bench, Gould has this season stepped into the team’s No. 1 ruck role vacated by Rhiannon Metcalfe.
She may have averaged more hit-outs from her seven games in 2021 (12), but it’s been her aerial work and contested marking ability that’s made a tangible difference to Adelaide, with Clarke says she’s been unlucky to not win any “Mark of the Week” recognition.
“She’s taken some crackers,” he said.
“She naturally jumps to the ball really well … but it’s her aerial presence, her ability to play ruck and forward that has given us some flexibility and she’s been an important cog.”
Gould is now widely regarded as the best mark in the side.
2. Teah Charlton
Age: 19
Height: 170cm
Position: Mid-forward
AFLW games: 20
Debut: 2021
2022 season: Averages: 12.4 disposals, 2.1 marks, 4.7 tackles, 1.4 inside-50s
The Crows’ first pick in the 2020 draft, Charlton debuted last year in a forward-line role and played every game, but a strong pre-season has now seen her progress her game so that she can roll through the midfield.
Charlton’s stats in 2022 – including disposals, marks, tackles, inside-50s – are all in career-best territory and her 12.4 average touches per game, ranks her sixth in this star-studded team, behind Marinoff (24.8), Hatchard (24.5), Phillips (17.7), Eloise Jones (14.8) and Stevie-Lee Thompson (12.8).
Crows assistant coach Courtney Cramey said Charlton’s consistent improvement had rightly seen her nominated for a Rising Star nod this year.
“Teah mostly played as a forward last year but another pre-season has seen her impress through the midfield,” she said.
“She’s such a natural footballer who can read the play so well.”
3. Rachelle Martin
Age: 23
Height: 153cm
Position: Midfield
AFLW games: 18
Debut: 2020
2022 season: Goals: 3. Averages: 10.2 disposals, 1.1 marks, 5.2 tackles, 1.1 inside 50s
Martin joined the Crows in 2020 as an injury top-up player and played one game, before being officially drafted to the side for the 2021 season.
A few injury niggles held back her full debut season, but she’s shrugged those off in 2022 and is now ranked equal fourth in the team alongside Teah Charlton for average contested possessions, with 5.9 per game.
Martin says it’s the Crows’ tight-knit culture that has allowed her to thrive on field.
“Our girls and our culture have been amazing to be honest for this year, and I think it’s brought us closer together,” she said.
“Of course, there’s been ups and downs, but everyone is on the same page and for me personally, playing a bit more in the midfield compared with other season has been a good opportunity.
“Just being with the girls, especially playing with my sister (Hannah Button) as well, is what makes this pretty fun and obviously winning games together.”
Crows assistant coach Courtney Cramey said: “Rachelle has gone to another level as a small pressure forward who also runs through the midfield. Her pressure around contest has always been a weapon, but she continues to get better and better in this space.”
While Crows head of women’s football, Phil Harper, said what was best about Martin was that she “gave 100 per cent, 100 per cent of the time”, making her a well-respected and well-loved member of the team.
4. Chelsea Biddell
Age: 23
Height: 178cm
Position: Key defender
AFLW games: 20
Debut: 2020
2022 season: Averages: 9.4 disposals, 1.6 marks, 0.8 tackles, 3.2 rebound-50s
Biddell has flourished in 2022 thanks to a new-found confidence built firstly off her best pre-season to date and secondly a new home in the Crows back lines.
Working alongside the likes of All-Australian defender Sarah Allan and veteran Marijana Rajcic, Biddell – who was drafted in 2019 as a forward – now ranks second in the team for intercept possessions (averaging 5.3 a game).
Allan said the Crows defenders had welcomed Biddell’s height and strong aerial work.
“It’s been amazing to have her down there,” Allan said.
“To have another tall down there is something that we haven’t really had (before), so to have her come down there and play her role every week, her aerial work is amazing, so to have her down as the last line of defence and to have her saving goals alongside all of us, is just great.
“And if I use my own experience as well, I sort of struggled a bit with positions in my first year (in 2017) and it took me to play defence and have that task-oriented position to really find my role in the team.
“So I could imagine that it’s pretty similar for her.
“She’s been given a task-oriented job every week and I think sometimes that can help with your performance and just playing a role … but she could easily be chucked down in the forward line and kick a few goals as well.
“So she’s a great utility to have and it’s been amazing play alongside her.”
5. Ashleigh Woodland
Age: 23
Height: 176cm
Position: Key forward
AFLW games: 25
Debut: 2019 (with Melbourne)
2022 season: Goals: 19. Av`erages: 8.9 disposals, 2.0 marks, 2.9 tackles, 1.1 inside-50s
Woodland has been something of a revelation in 2022.
It wasn’t that her season last year – her first in Crows colours after coming across from Melbourne – was bad, it’s just that she didn’t have the polish she’s applied this year.
In 2021 Woodland kicked 9.10 for the season (and 0.0 in last year’s grand final loss to Brisbane, the only game in 2021 when she was held scoreless).
But this season Woodland has kicked 19.8, including two bags of four and she’ll be officially crowned the AFLW’s 2022 leading goal scorer at the W Awards next week.
Crows head of AFLW Phil Harper said what’s been crucial to Woodland’s improvement has been her set shot goalkicking routine.
“There’s value in forwards being able to finish their work,” Harper said.
“She’s the epitome of that. She probably had just as many shots on goal last year, but it’s only this year that she’s been able to make them count a lot more.
“And it takes you from a good player to an excellent player.
“She’s come up with a set shot routine that she’s stuck with the whole year through and she’s practised it and practised it and practised it and now is really confident.”
Woodland has also improved on the stats sheet, posting career-best average disposals (8.9, up from 6.8 last year), marks (2.0 up from 1.7 last year) and tackles (2.9 up from 2.5 last year).
* Adelaide v Fremantle, Saturday, April 2, Adelaide Oval, 2.10pm, entry is non-ticketed and free.
Originally published as High five: The players who’ve made Adelaide better in the 2022 AFLW season
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