The Moment on Monday: Tom Lynch lands Adelaide Crows’ knockout blow against his old side St Kilda
If Adelaide is back then Tom Lynch is the face of the fightback after delivering the knockout punch to former club St Kilda on Saturday. Plus Crows and Power game notes, Mr One Per Center, Round 6 power rankings and more.
Reece Homfray
Don't miss out on the headlines from Reece Homfray. Followed categories will be added to My News.
- ‘Best I’ve seen’: Crows captain’s flowery praise for Port rookie
- Hand break brings Port star’s season to a standstill
- Power eager to bury horror Pies hoodoo
- Will axed Jenkins win a recall against Dockers?
- Port’s future is bright, Port’s future is now
The man who delivered the knockout punch to St Kilda on Saturday night spent the previous three quarters softening them up. If the Crows are back then Tom Lynch is the face of the fightback.
The man many saw as the most crucial cog in Adelaide’s free-flowing, high-scoring game style in 2017 underpinned the win over the Saints not by quantity of possession but by quality.
The finishing touch came with 11 minutes to go when Adelaide had St Kilda on the ropes leading by three goals and Lynch had a set shot from a tight angle on the boundary.
Lynch confidently opted for the drop punt, put it through, pumped both fists and screamed “come on” which was as animated as we’ve seen him for a while and that was the cue for commentators to make comparisons with the Crows of two years ago.
Lynch’s game was so much more than that one moment however, and it was no surprise that when he barely touched it in the first quarter (just one handball), the Crows went to the first break trailing St Kilda by a goal.
But when Lynch got going, so did his team.
In the first minute of the second quarter he was involved in a chain of play when he took a mark at half-back on the lead, then worked forward and took a contested mark at half-forward. He found a teammate who hit Taylor Walker inside 50m and the Crows kicked a goal.
He repeatedly presented and marked across half-forward as the Crows came away from the centre, and lowered his eyes to find Riley Knight, Hugh Greenwood and Lachlan Murphy for goals.
In the third quarter he also put his head over the ball and took a big hit on the wing which sent the footy back inside 50m.
At first glance the raw numbers of his game don’t tell the full story of his impact.
In fairness to Lynch he has been one of the few consistent performers for the Crows this season and is currently ranked first for score assists and score involvements at the club. In the first five games of Adelaide’s spluttering start this season he has averaged 21 disposals, 5 marks, 0.6 goals, 3.6 inside 50s and 8.2 score involvements.
Against St Kilda on the weekend he had 15 disposals, 9 marks, 1 goal, 2 inside 50s and 7 score involvements.
But it was how he used the footy not how often he got it.
Lynch’s kicking and overall disposal efficiency has been down this season and he uncharacteristically turned it over with simple kicks under minimal pressure against Gold Coast last week with five clangers.
In the first five games his disposal efficiency was 70 per cent, 77, 57, 65 and 63. On Saturday night it was a team-high 93 per cent.
In the first five games his clanger count was 2, 1, 2, 4 and 5. On Saturday night it was 0.
When the Crows were flying in 2017, Lynch was seen as the connector between defence and attack. He ranked first at the club for marks and uncontested marks, second for marks on the lead and score involvements, and third for score assists which also ranked him ninth in the competition.
“This forward line that has coughed and spluttered a little bit, is starting to get that look about it from 2017 when we lauded Walker, and Betts and Jenkins, and Lynch was the conduit of it all,” Garry Lyon said on Fox Footy.
“Just today it’s got a bit of a more familiar look — Walker hitting up at the footy and Lynch playing dangerously.”
In the past two weeks with wins over Gold Coast and St Kilda, Adelaide has scored a combined 216 points which is the first time it’s broken the 200-point barrier with consecutive games since Round 22 and 23 last year.
Post-game on Saturday night coach Don Pyke pointed to contested ball rather than ball movement as the key to the win over the Saints.
The Crows were plus 21 in contested ball after they were plus 18 against the Suns the week before.
But tellingly they also took 17 marks inside 50m and it was in no small part due to the workrate of Lynch and his execution with the footy.
That was a season-high for marks inside 50m by five after they managed 11, 9, 12, 7 and 8 in the five weeks prior.
So the Crows, who a fortnight ago were 1-3 and according to some in the media had lost belief in Pyke after an insipid loss to North Melbourne, have scrapped their way back to be 3-3 ahead of hosting Fremantle next weekend.
“It felt like we’re back to playing our way and our brand and probably the last two weeks especially we’ve got that back,” Lynch said post-match.
“Certainly, we weren’t playing the way we wanted to and we were getting beaten quite convincingly in the contest in those losses.
“We’ve got some great contested players all over the ground and we’ve got back to training that.
“(To) the coach’s credit too that he’s certainly shown some belief in us.”
GAME NOTES
POWER V KANGAROOS
THE last player Ken Hinkley went to before making his way to the boundary on Friday night was Tom Clurey. With Tom Jonas out of the side Clurey was given the job on Ben Brown and was outstanding. In the first minute he out-marked Brown one-handed on the wing and got terrific support from Dougal Howard all night who racked up 11 one per centers (most of them spoils). Hinkley mentioned the age of his backline on Friday night and it’s worth noting — Howard (23), Clurey (25), Bonner (23), Byrne-Jones (23), Burton (22) and Houston (21).
STILL on defenders and Burton hasn’t made headlines but he’s made a very good start to his time at Port Adelaide. And if you want to win over your teammates he’s going the right way about it by going back with the flight of the ball 26 minutes into the second quarter on Friday night. Burton got crunched and was on all fours and it’s infectious with Brad Ebert doing exactly the same thing just minutes later.
AFTER 19 games last year and all six so far in 2019, Riley Bonner is looking very much at home in Port Adelaide’s defence. He had 17 disposals at 94 per cent efficiency against the Roos and there were none better than his kick to find Ebert in between three North Melbourne forwards at half-back early in the final quarter. In the previous two games he used the ball at 80 and 88 per cent efficiency The squeeze could come when Hamish Hartlett returns from injury but right now Bonner is making a compelling case.
ROBBIE Gray is out for a month with a broken hand but the positive is Port has made it to 4-2 without him having his usual impact so far. His goal-kicking was off at the Gabba, he was quiet in Perth and on Friday night did some very un-Gray like things which could well be explained by his broken hand early. He had a set shot from the boundary and didn’t make the distance from 30m, gave another off to Sam Gray when he was within range and handballed out of bounds when under perceived pressure. If Port can keep rolling without him then imagine the upside when he returns and fires again.
IT DOES beg the question of who comes in? Jack Trengove has been racking them up, Aidyn Johnson was travelling emergency in Perth but quiet on the weekend, Karl Amon is back and Steven Motlop has now played two games in the twos.
CROWS V SAINTS
THERE are flashy goals and pack marks to lift a team and then there are courageous acts like what Jordan Gallucci did just before half-time to help inspire the Crows. Gallucci was under the ball when he was crunched by Ben Long with a bump that even made Jonathon Brown wince from the commentary box. But he didn’t lose control of the ball, kept it in play on the boundary, released a handball and it resulted in a goal to Riley Knight. Talk about wanting to keep your spot.
NO SURPRISE that in the two weeks since Hugh Greenwood has been back in Adelaide’s team the Crows have dramatically improved their contested ball and marks inside 50m. In the first quarter against the Saints Greenwood took a pack mark and kicked the goal which was a carbon copy of his second-quarter effort against Gold Coast the week before. In two games Greenwood has had 26 contested possessions and eight uncontested. And his hands above his head are elite, if not for marking then to release a handball from congestion which led to a Taylor Walker goal.
AFTER Round 1 this season Alex Keath said “I’ve got a long way to go” and was just happy to be picked. After Round 6 he’s leading the competition for intercept marks and is probably leading Adelaide’s best-and-fairest as well. The Victorian media is starting to wake up to him as well.
ELLIOTT Himmelberg deserves to keep his spot to play Fremantle. He puts himself in the right spot at the right times and if he doesn’t mark then he brings the ball to ground — like for Eddie Betts and Jordan Gallucci to both kick goals on Saturday afternoon.
TWO weeks ago Don Pyke was asked at a press conference whether Taylor Walker was close to being dropped. “No”, Pyke replied and looked away as if to also say ‘next question’. Walker’s four goals against the Saints was his best return since Round 5 last year, but he also did all the little things that he’d been doing all season to play himself into form. His field kick to Eddie Betts in the third quarter was elite and his tackle on Jimmy Webster in Adelaide’s forward 50m in the final quarter even better.
MR ONE PER CENTER
Who are the unsung heroes of SA footy? The players who have an impact on their team without hitting the stats sheet? Champion Data records on per centers by tallying spoils, knock-ons, shepherds and smothers from every game. Here’s the leaderboard from Port Adelaide and Adelaide after Round 6 (and we have a new leader):
43: Dougal Howard (Port)
42: Daniel Talia (Crows), Tom Jonas (Port)
38: Jake Kelly (Crows)
31: Tom Clurey (Port)
30: Alex Keath (Crows)
23: Paddy Ryder, Scott Lycett (Port)
18: Kyle Hartigan, Wayne Milera (Crows), Dan Houston (Port).
QUOTED
“Didn’t Jasper say that they booed him here anyway when he played for Port?”
— North Melbourne coach Brad Scott.
SUPERCOACH TOP 10
TRAVIS Boak won his third Peter Badcoe VC Medal with 129 ranking points against North Melbourne but the big SuperCoach mover this week was Adelaide’s Rory Laird.
The All-Australian defender had a team-high 124 points against the Saints which was his first score over 106 this season — long overdue for loyal SuperCoaches who have been waiting.
1. Travis Boak (Port) 129
2. Rory Laird (Adel) 124
3. Taylor Walker (Adel) 113
4. Matt Crouch (Adel) 104
5. Brodie Smith (Adel) 103
6. Sam Gray (Port) 103
7. Connor Rozee (Port) 102
8. Tom Rockliff (Port) 100
9. Alex Keath (Adel) 99
10. Brad Ebert (Port) 98
TIPS
An early look at Round 7 tips: COLLINGWOOD over Port Adelaide but with no certainty, HAWTHORN to heap more misery on the Dees, GWS over St Kilda and BRISBANE to beat Sydney at home. RICHMOND to beat the Dogs, EAGLES at home over the Suns, CARLTON over North, GEELONG over Essendon and ADELAIDE over Freo at home. Last week: 7. Running total: 31.
POWER RANKINGS
1. GEELONG (5-1)
Backed up their Easter Monday win by dismantling the Eagles in the first quarter. Form team of the competition.
2. RICHMOND (4-2)
Took whatever Melbourne could throw at them and then gave it back with interest including Sydney Stack’s bump on Jack Viney.
3. ST KILDA (4-2)
Surrender top spot on the rankings and a bit of a reality check for the Saints. Now a brutal three weeks coming up with GWS, West Coast and Collingwood.
4. COLLINGWOOD (4-2)
We got sidetracked by the controversial umpiring and booing of Scott Pendlebury but an impressive win over the Bombers.
5. PORT ADELAIDE (4-2)
Don’t stress about the last quarter, the real risk was being jumped early by a desperate Kangaroos but even coming off a big win in Perth they put the game to bed by half-time. We will learn an awful lot more about Port in the next two weeks.
6. GWS (4-2)
Were always going to respond after last week’s shock loss to Fremantle and took care of Sydney.
7. FREMANTLE (4-2)
Fremantle is in the top four and this Sunday’s game against the Crows at Adelaide Oval is huge.
8. HAWTHORN (3-3)
Got out of jail or courageous fightback? Either way that was a must-win game against the Blues.
9. WEST COAST (3-3)
Big slider on the rankings after two bad losses in a row.
10. ADELAIDE (3-3)
Turns out the Crows are back. But back to what? They won’t be the same team as 2017 because the opposition won’t let them but they can get back to winning contested footy, hitting targets inside 50m and Laird, Walker, Lynch and the Crouch brothers dominating and that happened on Saturday night.
11. BRISBANE (4-2)
Played a few back into form after a disappointing fortnight. Neale was never going to have two quiet games in a row and had good support from Jarryd Lyons who is proving an off-season steal.
12. ESSENDON (3-3)
Back with the pack after losing to the Magpies and have a tricky three weeks coming up with Geelong, Sydney and Fremantle.
13. GOLD COAST (3-3)
Four players with single figure disposals and collectively lost clearances by 11 to a Lachie Neale-inspired Lions.
14. CARLTON (1-5)
You feel the Blues should have more to show for their season than one win. A lot to like about yesterday’s loss to the Hawks.
15. SYDNEY (1-5)
I know they made it from 1-6 two years ago but surely that’s it for Sydney’s season now. Brisbane at the Gabba and then Essendon in the next fortnight so the slightest glimmer of hope.
16. WESTERN BULLDOGS (2-4)
Early season wins over Sydney and Hawthorn are now a distant memory for the Dogs who have lost four on the trot. Faded badly in the final quarter against the Dockers.
17. NORTH MELBOURNE (1-4)
The scoreboard flattered them after kicking five unanswered goals when the game was over in the final quarter against Port. The positive was Nick Larkey who looks a handy forward.
18. MELBOURNE (1-5)
Credit to Simon Goodwin for trying something — Melksham on the ball, McDonald back, Hibberd tagging Martin — but the intensity only lasted a quarter then totally lacked any sign of system.
10 games in four years: Why Power has faith in Drew
Port Adelaide’s unwavering faith in Willem Drew has continued with the midfielder signing a two-year deal after playing just 10 games in four years. He and Trent McKenzie, who has also re-signed, explain what a new deal means to them.
Measured Nicks ‘not always Mr Nice Guy’
If Matthew Nicks is feeling the pressure then he is certainly not showing it. Reece Homfray reveals how the Crows’ main man has remained so measured, as Brodie Smith explains how his coach is striking the right balance.