Adelaide’s external review will only have a positive outcome if everyone involved has a selfless attitude
Taylor Walker, with his decision to step down as co-captain, has shown the team-first attitude the rest of the Crows team and staff must embrace for the external review to succeed, writes Graham Cornes.
Graham Cornes
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So, Taylor Walker becomes the first victim.
Before it has even started the “review” has impelled the Crows skipper to make the selfless decision to stand down from one of the most prestigious positions in modern football.
No one tapped him on the shoulder. He simply did the team thing.
His team has underperformed and his own form, which has been under constant scrutiny, has not been compelling, so he stood down.
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From the moment his first coach, Neil Craig let him languish at Norwood in the SANFL, he has evoked conflicting opinions of his on-field performances.
His potential was undoubted and his best has been overwhelming but even the Crows own assessment of him in the 2012 AFL Season Guide — four years after he had been drafted — described him as “enigmatic”.
However, football history should judge him as the man who held his team together in its darkest moments and help to guide it from the devastation of a coach’s murder to a grand final on the MCG.
Very few appreciate the effort and talent required to reach a grand final. It’s lost in the aftermath of defeat with the losers bearing the brunt of criticism and ridicule.
Some of that criticism has been fair and informed because to a degree the Crows poor performances have been self-inflicted, but too many constant, carping critics have either been totally wrong or commentating with mischievous intent.
Have a rest Tex, and try and enjoy your footy again. You hold a special place in the hearts of true Crows fans and those who really know you appreciate you for the leader you are.
There will be more casualties from the Dunstall review.
There simply has to be. While it’s cruel to speculate about the futures of people in the Crows football department, the reality of modern, professional football demands remedial action if performances fail.
Invariably that means people will be replaced. A club that is so professionally run off the field cannot tolerate mediocre on-field performances.
But already the composition of the review panel has attracted criticism from the social media trolls and, as usual, other Victorian journalists have thrown wildly speculative comments into the debate.
Even more ridiculous is the repeated comment that it’s another Mark Ricciuto “boy’s club” gathering intended to whitewash the true predicament of the team.
Realising that Ricciuto, Jason Dunstall and Matthew Pavlich are all employed casually by Fox Footy the nay-sayers were quick to criticise.
They overlook the football qualifications of both Dunstall and Pavlich and the professional qualifications of the other two members of the panel, Tim Gabbett and Jonah Oliver.
Why not Malcolm Blight or why not Leigh Matthews, they ask?
Indeed, both of those names are appealing but Dunstall and Pavlich bring qualities that Matthews and Blighty can’t.
Dunstall has run a successful AFL club and football program, while Pavlich, as a former president of the AFL Players Association, has a greater appreciation of the needs and emotions of the modern footballer.
Anyone who listens to Blighty and Matthews loves their commentary but will admit their successes were built on decidedly “old-school” attitudes.
Old-school, with all its psychological brutality, fails miserably when applied to millennial footballers.
No, the Dunstall review will get the job done. It will reveal the failings that seem obvious from the outside but may run deeper.
I wonder, however, will it expose the corrosive attitudes of those who are too quick to blame others for their own failings?
Will it reveal who leaks information that should really stay in-house to the press?
Which journalists have open lines to family and friends of players? It’s hard to see how this review can fix the leaks but someone has to.
Will this external review prove to be the magic solution to the Crows woes?
That seems highly unlikely.
It will talk to the relationships between coaches and players. Selection policies have to be assessed. The high performance program will be scrutinised.
The game plan will be reviewed. However, there will be reasons (or are they excuses) why they continually failed.
How it deals with other Crows inadequacies will be fascinating to observe. Why were the skills so poor?
Why did so many Crows players seem so uncertain with ball in hand?
Is the list management as controversial as it seems to the uniformed outsider? For instance: why is it taking so long to re-sign Alex Keath and Hugh Greenwood?
Why is it no secret among family friends that Eddie Betts is moving back to Carlton?
Why does Brad Crouch, a contracted player, seem so vulnerable to approaches from other clubs? Will Josh Jenkins leave?
The review does not have the mandate to make dramatic changes. It will collate information, report and, assumedly, make recommendations.
If the history of reviews by other strong clubs are any indication, it will see the coach stay and be bolstered by outside football intelligence.
Geelong, Richmond and Collingwood all revitalised their football departments after confronting the reality of their situations.
None of us like to have our performance reviewed and, in effect, criticised. However, none of us are perfect. To the contrary, the Crows were woeful this season.
Criticism, either informed or destructive, has been ever present since the grand final loss of 2017.
If the football department of the Adelaide Football Club, the coaches and players are serious about restoring the reputation of the club and team they must embrace the Dunstall review and not look for ways to discredit it. Taylor Walker’s done the team thing and sacrificed his position in the quest for a better outcome.
Will the other players and football staff be so team-oriented?
Graham Cornes will be part of The Advertiser Foundation AFL Grand Final Lunch on Wednesday, September 25 at Adelaide Oval. For tickets contact Angela Condous on 8206 2344 or angela.condous@news.com.au