The big movers among South Australia’s football powerbrokers
IT has hasn’t been a standout season for South Australia’s two AFL football teams in 2018 but there has been some exceptional performers through the year. In the first instalment of the Rucci’s Roast newsletter, Michelangelo reveals his Top 10.
IT wasn’t the football season anyone expected, certainly not the commanders at the Adelaide and Port Adelaide football clubs. No finals for both SA-based AFL clubs for the first time since 2011 is a major fail for the Crows and Power, putting both teams as the most-disappointing - along with Essendon - in Season 2018.
Each year there are those who rise to greater power in SA football and those who fall to failure or irrelevance. Season 2019 is no different. Some have had their stars shine brighter; some have been pushed off the big stage. They are the movers and shakers of 2018.
This week, The Roast looks at the top-10 movers of the year - those who positioned themselves to greater relevance, attention or power in SA football.
1. KANE CORNES
PORT Adelaide’s 2004 AFL premiership midfielder - and four-time club champion - became “Kane Everywhere” this year. The Advertiser, radio FIVEaa in Adelaide and Crocmedia nationally and Channel Nine, both locally and nationally with Footy Classified. And let’s not forget his robo-Twitter account. If there is a comment to be made in sport, particularly in the AFL, Cornes is not holding back. He certainly will not be on Crows captain Taylor Walker’s Christmas card mailing list, but then does it matter? It is a remarkable transformation for a player who would bristle at media commentary during his 300-game career at Alberton. And there will be many more AFL players joining Walker in not sending best wishes at Christmas to Cornes. But if you have to compromise your views to be getting Christmas cards, you don’t belong in the Fourth Estate.
2. MALCOLM BLIGHT
WOW. What a return to the big stage - and Adelaide - by Malcolm Blight in his 50th year in league football. The Australian Football Hall of Fame Legend has moved from Gold Coast to live again in Adelaide and to the pages of The Advertiser with a must-read weekly column, the radio studio with Crocmedia on FIVEaa - and, tellingly, to the think-tank of Australian football masterminds assembled by new AFL football boss Steve Hocking to decide a new direction for the game. He also has taken on Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley without fear. And when “Blighty” lets rip, the echo carries far and wide. He remains a valued confidant to many would-be messiahs in AFL coaching.
3. ANDREW FAGAN
GEORGE Steinbrenner, the infamous owner of the New York Yankees, would have loved Andrew Fagan on his payroll. The Adelaide Football Club chief executive - now in his fourth year as the Crows front-office boss - has had a big year. He was at No. 45 in the AFL’s annual top-50 list of influential players in the game - and that ranking will most probably rise in 2019 to reflect Fagan’s positioning on stragetic committees at AFL House, such as Steve Hocking’s competitions committee. He is building Adelaide’s version of FC Barcelona by taking over other sporting franchises, such as baseball’s Adelaide Bite and almost basketball’s Adelaide 36ers. He has created a media empire at West Lakes with the Crows now producing more and more television programs - and taking that agenda beyond sport to lifestyle. And, as Steinbrenner would admire, Fagan has worked a successful power play in “marginalising” his critics.
4. MATTHEW CLARKE
AFTER a decade as the ruck coach at the Adelaide Football Club, Matthew Clarke has emerged as the new Crows AFLW coach replacing premiership winner Bec Goddard.
It is one of the meteoric rises in the football department at West Lakes where many had expected Norm Smith Medallist Andrew McLeod to pick up Goddard’s clipboard after being an assistant coach this year. Clarke, who has an appealing sense of humour, also has a practical way of thinking through Australian football’s maze of problems. His new stage with the AFLW as it expands to 10 teams - and has many critics ready to pounce - will give Clarke a superb opportunity to increase his profile ... and test his patience.
5. RORY SLOANE
HUGE season for the Crows vice-captain - even with his news cycle including (1) moving to a Victorian-based AFL club by free agency; (2) being on the verge of forced retirement with a foot injury; and (3) replacing Taylor “Tex” Walker as Adelaide captain. The reaction - both in the locker room and from the fans at Adelaide Oval - in the week that Rory signed for “five more years” told of the power of Sloane that might just have surpassed Walker’s status as the Crows’ most-admired footballer. Does he command the captaincy next season?
6. TOM JONAS
PORT Adelaide’s “give-it-all” defender has crafted his best AFL season, making Tom Jonas an interesting nominee for the Power captaincy should there not be a direct transition from Travis Boak to Ollie Wines. Jonas was in All-Australian form as he was the commander of Port Adelaide’s defence during the Power’s 11-4 start. Missing four games - Rounds 13, 15, 17 and 18 - with a hamstring concern and kneecap surgery will most probably deny Jonas that much-deserved All-Australian honour. But the admiration Jonas commands today - after being smashed for his suspensions in 2016 and 2017 - is a tribute to one of the AFL’s most-dedicated players who understands the challenge of making the most of his opportunities.
7. ROBBIE GRAY
IT is the best story in SA sport this year. After fighting - and winning the battle - against cancer in the summer, Robbie Gray has continued to prove himself as one of the best AFL players of his time. To win both Showdown Medals as the best-afield in the two dramatic Crows-Power derbies this season highlights how the Port Adelaide midfielder-forward thrives in the big-occasion games. His five goals in the third term of Showdown 44 at Adelaide Oval changed a derby to Port Adelaide’s favour. He remains one of the smartest Australian footballers of his age with a highlights reel that is filled with remarkable one-touch plays that prove he can read the play better than most.
8. JARED POLEC
WHO else has moved faster in the pay rankings in SA football this season? From a $500,000-a-season player at Port Adelaide, wingman Jared Polec has moved to a $750,000-a-year contract with North Melbourne. And the 25-year-old South Australian has reaffirmed just how eager mid-range football clubs - with heaps of salary cap space - can become when looking for instant transformation of their player lists. It has been a good year for Jared Polec on the field - and even better off the park for setting up his future beyond football. The big question is: Does big money ease the prospect of homesickness for a player who left Brisbane to be at home and at the “club he loves”?
9. TOM DOEDEE
CROWS recruiting boss Hamish Ogilvie will be relieved. He put his reputation on the line when he called Tom Doedee at pick No. 17 in the 2015 AFL national draft while other clubs were reluctant to sign the Victorian teenager, be it from injury concerns or doubts about his kicking. But after waiting two years for his chance, Doedee has taken to AFL football in the Adelaide defence with the natural aplomb that gave Ogilvie the conviction to draft him while others played safe. Doedee’s status on the Rising Star leaderboard has saved Ogilvie from some uneasy moments at list-management meetings at West Lakes and beyond.
10. BRODIE SMITH
HERE is the other feel-good story of the year. And the Crows running half-back’s sound and quick return to AFL action within 11 months of suffering a serious knee injury says much of Brodie Smith’s professionalism and commitment to his craft. Not may well-established AFL players can lift their status in the game by playing just two games in the national league ... but the 26-year-old South Australian certainly has done just this in Season 2019. It is an encouraging pointer for next season when Adelaide must rebound from also ran to pacesetter again.
NEXT WEEK: The top-10 shakers who tumbled in 2018
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