Pressure the key to Adelaide rediscovering scoring power against Gold Coast

After struggling to hit the scoreboard in the first four rounds of 2019, Adelaide returned to its attacking best against the Suns — and there is one key reason why, according to Mark Bickley.

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Adelaide’s average score for 2019 going into the clash against the Gold Coast Suns was 69 points.

That’s quite staggering when you think of the firepower at their disposal in the front half. Not to mention the new rules aimed at assisting scoring. So the best scoring team for the last four years (combined aggregate) was ranked 17th only ahead of the winless Carlton.

Something was terribly wrong.

Gold Coast’s Ben Ainsworth is tackled by Adeaide’s Lachlan Murphy. Picture: Sarah Reed

The weekend’s clash started very slowly for both teams with the first goal of the match scored by Lachie Murphy for Adelaide after the quarter-time siren.

Then the floodgates opened. The Crows kicked 17 goals in the next three quarters. So what changed?

First a quick lesson in the breakdown of how a team scores. Scores originate from three sources: Stoppage (centre bounce, ball up and boundary throw in), turnover (where you win it back from the opposition) and from a kick in.

Although these numbers differ from team to team a general rule of thumb is that around 60-65 per cent of scores are from turnover, 30-35 per cent from stoppages with kick ins rounding out the balance.

When you look at how the Crows scores have been made up this year the glaring deficiency has been their inability to create turnovers from which they can go forward and score.

The Crows goal return from turnover in the first four rounds has been four, four, three and six.

On the weekend it was 14 out of 18, a return to 2017-like numbers when they were the number one team in the competition, averaging 70 points per game from turnovers.

So what is it that drives turnovers and why did it improve so much on Sunday afternoon?

Quite simply Adelaide’s pressure was back. They got at the opposition, it was their best performance in this area for the year, and when they did win the ball back the urgency was far greater to want to get the ball moving forward.

Touk Miller of the Suns handballs under pressure against Adelaide. Picture: Daniel Kalisz/Getty Images

One play at the 21 minute mark of the second quarter summed it up best. David Mackay ran down from behind his Gold Coast opponent to win a free kick.

Even though their was risk Adelaide played on to advantage and Mackay ended up with the ball back in his hands streaming through the middle of the ground. He short passed, received the handball back then laced out Eddie Betts on the lead. Eddie went back and kicked the goal, his first of six for the night.

Let’s break the play down: First it’s the pressure that creates the turnover, the intent is next, playing on to advantage shows that intent and doesn’t let the opposition defence get set. Finally, the finish, Mackay’s execution perfect by foot, the forward leading into space and completed with an accurate shot on goal. Not often this year have all those elements worked in unison like that for Adelaide.

The pressure the Crows applied also impacted on the Suns kicking efficiency, running in the low 50s for most of the game. When a team kicks that poorly it’s not surprising that Adelaide had their best intercept marking game for the year. Alex Keath again was the leader in this area, relishing the opportunity to be more attacking.

While it was a much improved effort from the Crows they now need to reproduce it. Once the momentum swung Adelaide’s way in the second term the game was played on the Crows terms, with the Suns unable to make any impact.

The Saints this week will provide a greater challenge. They have defended Marvel Stadium well in their three wins at the venue this year and after luring Brett Ratten away from the Hawks, have someone with a clear insight into what it takes to slow and stifle the Crows.

For the first time this year we saw the speed of ball movement Adelaide is known for. All on the back of pressure, which created turnovers.

The irony is that it was the defensive pressure applied by Adelaide that unlocked its scoring potential: The 70 tackles against Suns is its best effort for the year.

The only time the Saints have been out-tackled this season coincided with their round three loss to Fremantle who had, you guessed it, 70 tackles. No prizes for guessing where the focus lies this week.

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