Can the Crows live a miracle, who is Adelaide’s captain for next season and what happens to Port Adelaide without Patrick Ryder?
OUR Odd Couple - Chris “Bone” McDermott and Michelangelo “Rooch” Rucci - look at the big questions in the AFL ahead of Round 18.
- Bickley: Dixon the man to ruck for Power
- Tredrea: Power’s single shade of Gray
- Russell: Watts finally has his motivation
DO we believe in miracles? Can Adelaide make the late charge to September - and do some damage?
BONE: I don’t want to be a wet blanket Rooch, but for the Crows - with that sub-100 percentage - to make the top eight, they will need to win all of their last six home-and-away games. Do the ladder predictor - they fall short. But they can make a statement in the last part of the season by the way they play. They just need to live to some freedom and generate the enjoyment they showed last Thursday night against Geelong. Ignore the scoreboard and the premiership table; focus on the process, not the result.
ROOCH: Win against Brisbane. Fair chance against Melbourne at Adelaide Oval. Truly a 50-50 in Showdown 45 with Port Adelaide. Interesting against the Giants in Canberra. North Melbourne at Adelaide Oval is a big chance. Carlton anywhere is a certainty. The door is open - and opportunity is building. We might even have a Showdown elimination final on the cards again.
2. NO Patrick Ryder? No Port Adelaide?
BONE: No kidding. I didn’t like what I saw on Sunday after ‘Paddy’ went off and what was a problem in round two when Ryder tumbled to his Achilles problem is still a problem in round 17.
Dougal Howard might have to be the sacrificial lamb from defence. He has been so good in the Power’s back six, but he is needed in ruck to keep Charlie Dixon in attack. Port Adelaide can cover the back half well enough with Tom Clurey and Jack Hombsch, but if it cannot find an answer in ruck without readjusting the forward line in tact they will certainly have a problem.
ROOCH: No, no, no Christopher. Leave Dougal Howard in defence, more so while Tom Jonas is absent with injury. Concede Charlie Dixon from attack to compete in ruck so that the Power midfielders can influence the game - and have others finish the work inside forward 50. Jack Watts has been here before. Justin Westhoff is more influential in many roles rather than as the lead ruckman.
3. WHO should be captain at Adelaide next season - Taylor Walker or Rory Sloane?
BONE: Taylor Walker. He is the chosen one and should remain in that role. Need I remind you he was named the AFL’s best captain two years in a row. I’ve always thought defender Daniel Talia was the obvious and best choice three years ago, but he was ignored. The captain is not the problem at West Lakes. Leadership around the captain might be more relevant.
ROOCH: So if the AFL Players’ Association votes comes up with a new “best captain” across the league, Walker should abdicate to Rory Sloane? That players’ vote is far from the grand closer to the debate, more so when the voting base at Gold Coast would have no clue as to what leadership qualities exist at West Lakes from Monday to Friday. But your point Christopher about leadership beyond the captaincy is far more relevant.
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4. IF it is unacceptable for a player to make contact with an umpire, is it appropriate for an umpire to accept contact from a player as Ray Chamberlain did with the “low five” tap from Angus Brayshaw?
BONE: Are we still talking about player contact with umpires? Let’s be clear on this one: Don’t touch! That goes for umpires towards players too. If the AFL allow this to go unpunished, then don’t complain when it becomes the norm. It is another indication of the weakness at AFL House. Don’t touch umpires. Full stop. It means don’t touch umpires in any way or you will suffer the consequences. The game needs clarity. And it is crystal clear with a don’t touch edict from AFL House.
ROOCH: Amen Christopher. As much as some argue that the Brayshaw-Chamberlain moment showed some element of respect between player and umpire, it creates a grey zone that serves no good to anyone. Should the AFL fine Chamberlain for unnecessary contact to a player?
5. WHY do the Crows fans still jeer Patrick Dangerfield?
BONE: Because it’s Patty! Because they love him for what he did and what he was at the Adelaide Football Club and wish he was still there. Now, I’m not a boo-er nor a jeerer but with Patty, it’s football theatre. Nothing more. Nothing less. What’s next? No booing the umpires? We are at the footy aren’t we, not the ballet.
ROOCH: Time to defer to the great Ryan Fitzgerald who says: “I bleed red, yellow and blue, but even I’m over the booing of Dangerfield. As a club, we are way better than that. He left three years ago, let it go guys.”
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