Both SA clubs failed to meet the expectations and are yet to admit their mistakes this season
Adelaide and Port Adelaide were excited about their prospects in 2018 with previous form and recruits expected to take the two clubs back to the promised land but unfortunately the wheels fell off on the road to the finals.
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DEPENDING on the weekend results, Port Adelaide and the Crows can finish this minor round season with 13 and 12 wins respectively.
By some standards that is a respectable result. In most years - 2017 for example - 12 wins were enough to ensure September finals action.
However, success or failure is always measured against expectation. By that measure, both teams have failed, and failed miserably.
The Crows were expected to learn from the grand final disaster of last year and atone for that capitulation; unfortunately failure can manifest itself in one of three different ways.
You can learn from the experience and return better prepared and more determined; you can cruise along, doing what you’ve always done and just expect things will be better the next time; or you can be crushed by that failure.
The Crows cruised into this season doing what they always had done and simply expected it to happen again.
When injuries struck, they weren’t prepared to handle them as Collingwood or GWS similarly had to.
Psychologically and physically, 2018 has been an unmitigated disaster for the Crows. They learned nothing from the disappointment of 2017 and for some reason the club now seems reluctant to initiate an external review of this 2018 train wreck.
The secrecy only invites further criticism. Don’t blame a pre-season camp like some are willing to do.
Sure, Richard Douglas recently used the word “disaster” to describe the camp which added further fuel to that particular fire, but he was using the word in the context of the fallout from the camp and the PR “disaster” that it had become.
Douglas’s slip of the tongue was of course seized upon by some headline seeking media. The real disaster is the distraction that this non-issue became, which was made worse by the club’s perceived lack of clarity and accountability.
The perception that it was too secretive and treated the media, and therefore its members, with disdain eventually became a reality which that poorly handled press conference further compounded.
But Adelaide’s real failure was on the field. Injuries of course impacted - none more so than Rory Sloane’s, a spiritual leader - but all teams, except perhaps Richmond, have had to deal with a mounting injury toll this season. They tried hard enough - only the emerging
Melbourne average more contested possessions than the Crows - but their skills were woeful.
In fact, it will surprise many that only the woeful Gold Coast Suns turned the ball over more than the Crows.
And, as in the grand final, Don Pyke struggled with the concept of structure and team balance, particularly in his forward half. Late in the season the balance of tall and small forwards looked much better but by then it was too late.
Overall, the Crows players were not consistent enough. Ten players have had satisfactory seasons: Brown, Matt Crouch, Doedee, Douglas, Gibbs, Greenwood, Jenkins, Laird, Milera, and Seedsman.
Youngsters Lachlan Murphy and Jordan Gallucci get honorable mentions. Clearly the club needs more from the rest. It now has the extra month of September to prepare for 2019.
There can be no excuses next year.
At Alberton, it has been just as disastrous. The much-acclaimed recruiting coup became a flop, with none of those high profile newcomers living up to their expectations.
The big names - Watts, Rockliff and Motlop – all came with baggage. The potential was there but Ken Hinkley could not release it.
But undoubtedly Hinkley’s players play for him. Port lead the competition in the gut-busting statistic of “one percenters”, were second in clearances and were seventh in the league for contested possessions.
However, the way they moved the ball and the transition into the forward lines was terrible. Gone was the instinct, the confidence and flair of 2017 which only a kick after the siren in extra time in that elimination final against West Coast, eventually extinguished.
The Port players have to deal with the very real criticism that they “choked” at critical times of the season, particularly in the later games against, Fremantle, Adelaide and West Coast. They should be playing finals but now must spend the summer working on their mental weaknesses (not to mention their disposal skills).
Like the Crows, Port did not have enough good players. Nine players get a pass mark. Boak, (despite the mysterious way the coach now uses him), Dixon, Ebert, Gray, Howard, Jonas, Polec, Ryder and Westhoff, had satisfactory years. Sam Powell-Pepper continued his impressive form of 2017 but Hinkley obviously wants something more from him that is not immediately obvious to those of us outside the locker-room. Kane Farrell and Jarrod Lienert also impressed with limited opportunities.
So that’s it. Barring a miracle at Geelong this afternoon, the season is over – a failed season for both AFL clubs.
There is no disgrace in failure as long as two things happen. Firstly they must admit that they failed; secondly they must learn from that failure. In 2018, neither club has yet done that.