The Phantom’s Trade Talk: Adelaide midfielder Matt Crouch has failed to recapture his 2017 form but calls to put him on the SuperCoach ‘never again’ list are an overreaction

Matt Crouch’s midfield numbers are only slightly down on his career-best year in 2017 but it’s been enough to see his SuperCoach average fall. But history suggests there’s hope for owners.

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More than 25,000 SuperCoaches started with Adelaide midfielder Matt Crouch.

And, at $551k, rightly so.

The ball magnet battled injury — and the inconsistent form of his side — last year but Crouch still managed to post SuperCoach tons in seven of his final nine matches, with three of them in excess of 125.

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But it was Crouch’s 2017 season which SuperCoaches couldn’t get out of their mind.

After a slow start, the 24-year-old exploded in the second half of the year as Adelaide stormed into a grand final.

With eight scores of 120 or more, Crouch averaged 121 SuperCoach points per game from Round 10 onwards.

By overall points, Crouch finished the season as the third-ranked SuperCoach player in the competition.

Matt Crouch talks to his coach Don Pyke at Crows training. Picture SARAH REED

If you include the finals, Crouch ranked first in the AFL for disposals, second for effective disposals and handballs, third for uncontested possessions, fourth for contested possessions and sixth for score involvements.

In 2019, Crouch is still finding the football, averaging 31 disposals per game — ranked sixth in the competition — but that figure is still two less than in 2017.

And it’s a similar story in a number of other key areas with Crouch’s inability to hurt the opposition this year a contributing factor.

Matt Crouch 2017-2019

	2017	2018	2019
Contested possessions	13.4	12.7	11.2
Clearances	5.8	5.3	4.8
Score involvements	7.2	5.8	5.7
Tackles	4.8	3.9	3.5
Metres gained	369	319	277
Disposals	33	32.2	31.4

They are not huge differentials but it’s been enough to see Crouch’s SuperCoach average drop from 110 to 100 this year.

But those SuperCoaches who have already put Crouch on the ‘never again’ might be overreacting.

Putting the injury-affected performance against the Power in Round 8 aside, Crouch has only one score less than 90 this season — a 77-point score in the disappointing loss to the Blues last Saturday.

Matt Crouch battled injury early in 2019. Picture SARAH REED

He wasn’t the only Crow down in Round 19, however, with Adelaide’s midfield convincingly beaten at the MCG.

It’s been a similar story for most of the past month.

But there is hope for owners — and there’s still more than 21,000 of them.

Since 2016, between Rounds 20 and 23, Crouch ranks third for points scored behind Tom Mitchell and Patrick Dangerfield.

CROUCH ROUNDS 20-23

2016: 100, 95, 126, 120

2017: 139, 139, 91, 146

2018: 127, 107, 131, 88

And the prolific on-baller has scored 100 points or more in his last meeting with each of Adelaide’s next three opponents — St Kilda, West Coast and Collingwood.

Can Crouch — and Adelaide as a whole — respond on Saturday night?

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