Kane Cornes: Adelaide Crows AFL leaders are failing to stand up in the big moments

LEADERSHIP is crucial in football and it’s an area the Crows are failing dismally in, writes Kane Cornes.

Crows captain Taylor Walker is spoiled by Collingwood’s Lynden Dunn during Friday night’s thrashing at Adelaide Oval. Picture: AAP Image

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COLLECTIVE Mind is the company in charge of the Adelaide leadership program.

Now in their second year working with the club, they masterminded the cult-like Gold Coast-based 2018 pre-season training camp.

The Mind Performance Experts claim to “lift performance through the mind, enabling leaders and teams to excel in high pressure, high stake moments”.

Adelaide should ask for a refund. The program isn’t working.

Yet again the Adelaide leadership group went missing on Friday night, failing to perform on the big stage when it wasn’t going their way.

The leadership program has included the emotionally-distressing camp, the national anthem power-stance and mindfulness training.

It should be replaced with a day trip for the team to watch Geelong captain Joel Selwood play live.

Regardless of Selwood’s individual form or what the scoreboard says, he always makes a statement with his physicality. He demands more of his teammates than any other captain in the AFL and they respond.

Selwood has a legendary ability to sense the big moment in a game and rise to the occasion.

He lifts when his team needs it most.

This quality is sorely missing in Crows captain Taylor Walker.

Walker was hardly sighted in the first half of the upset defeat at the hands of Collingwood on Friday night. His lack of presence and mediocre effort at ground level in the second quarter was obvious and not conducive to a captain’s game.

Walker may not be capable of continuing the legacy of former captain Mark Ricciuto who was one of the great imposers in the game’s history but he should at least sound out Ricciuto for some advice.

At an intimidating 193cm tall and 102kg, Walker could run-off the line at a centre bounce and lay a tackle or a bump to get himself involved, just as the smaller bodied Ricciuto did countless times for Adelaide.

It’s not even unrealistic for Walker to put himself in the middle for a centre bounce, just as Brisbane skipper Jonathon Brown and Fremantle captain Matthew Pavlich have done in the past.

Aside from some harmless push and shove off the ball Walker tried nothing.

Rory Sloane is tackled by Steele Sidebottom during Friday night’s loss at Adelaide Oval.

Adelaide vice-captain and the usually reliable Rory Sloane was also thrashed in his dual with Collingwood star Steel Sidebottom.

Sidebottom targeted Sloane in a defensive role and restricted the him to just one kick at half time.

Sloane has been linked to a foot injury, but has rejected concerns for his fitness, offering no excuses for his lack of accountability on his direct opponent, which saw the Pie’s midfielder gather a career best 43 disposals.

Sloane failed to lay a tackle for only the second time in his 168 game career.

The Crows have a four-man leadership group in 2018, made up of the injured Matt Crouch (hamstring), Tom Lynch, Walker and Sloane. There is a belief among opposition clubs that if you shutdown Sloane and Lynch and physically target Walker you have the blue print for beating Adelaide.

So far, the Crow’s so called competitive advantage — the mind — is not their secret weapon.

Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley has the simplest view on leadership. He believes 95 per cent of being an effective leader is standing up on game day. He judges his leaders and gives them feedback at their weekly Monday meeting on that alone. Did you stand up or game day or not? There is no grey area.

If the Crows leaders were asked the same question today the overwhelming response would be a resounding no.

Time to shelve the expensive leadership program and get back to basics.

Dustin Martin was a standout in Round 4 with six goals.

ROUND 4 WINNERS

1. Dusty’s haul

Despite playing predominantly through the midfield in his career Dustin Martin is now the second most damaging forward in the game behind Lance Franklin. Martin contested most centre bounces on Saturday but then drifted forward and played out of the goal square. It was reminiscent of 1990s football with a genuine full forward, with six goals and another best on ground performance his reward.

2. Surprise Eagles

Tipped by many to slide outside of the top eight the Eagles have started beautifully. Their top end talent like Luke Shuey, Andrew Gaff, Jeremy McGovern, Nic Naitanui, Jack Darling and the retuning Josh Kennedy who booted five goals on the weekend have the Eagles flying.

3. Gruelling

South Australia’s own Jess Trengove had to dig deep as she dropped back into fourth at the 36km mark in a brutal women’s marathon at the Commonwealth Games yesterday. Known for her determination she managed to pass Kenyan Sheila Jerotich late in the race and crossed the line in third. Despite her obvious exhaustion at the finish she still managed her trademark smile. What a star.

4. Finally

After managing only six games in the previous three seasons former number one draft pick Jaeger O’Meara may have finally put his injury worries to bed. His 26 disposals, eight tackles and two goals against Melbourne yesterday was his best game for Hawthorn.

5. “That is the best thing I’ve ever seen”

The vision of legendary sports broadcaster Bruce McAvaney cheering Winx home for her 25th consecutive victory went viral on the internet on Saturday. His infectious attitude and passion for sport remains unrivalled.

ROUND 4 LOSERS

1. Rocky Rockliff

I have been convinced Tom Rockliff would turn his form around after a very slow start to 2018. After another disappointing outing against Essendon where he had eight possessions and no impact he looks a shadow of the player he was at Brisbane. Pressure is building on the high-profile recruit.

3. Pepper spray

Regardless of what took place on Sunday night between Port Adelaide’s Sam Powell-Pepper and the female accusing him of sexual assault, if you are an AFL player who is out past 2am, heavily intoxicated during the season, you need to have a really good look at yourself.

4. Bizarre Selection

In the most bizarre selection move so far in 2018, Crows coach Don Pyke’s decided to play five forwards above the height of 191cm on a wet and windy night. Despite having 49 inside 50s the five players in questioned combined for four goals. The forward mix is sure to look vastly different when the side lines up against Sydney on Friday night.

5. Bizarre selection x 2

Last week we urged Ken Hinkley to play back-up ruckman Billy Frampton. Stubbornly Hinkley backed in the same structure that saw them dominated by Brisbane in Round 3, only to have makeshift ruckmen Dougal Howard and Justin Westhoff get smashed again yesterday. Essendon had eight more hit-outs and kicked seven goals from stoppage while Frampton watched from his couch at home

6. Got the Blues?

It has now been 35 games since Carlton has kicked over 100 points in a game. After the season started so promisingly with five unanswered goals against Richmond in round one the Blues are back to their old ways. It’s hard to find a positive so far in 2018.