AFL Round 1 Gold Coast v Adelaide: All the news, analysis and fallout from the Suns’ win over the Crows

Adelaide coach Matthew Nicks will look for positives after the Crows’ wipe-out on the Gold Coast, with the Crows unable to make a dint in the Suns’ star-studded midfield.

Callum Dick and Jake Garland

5 min read

March 17, 2024 - 8:21AM

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Matthew Nicks’ Crows will focus on the positives in their six point loss to Gold Coast on Saturday night.

Adelaide trailed by a game high 36 points midway through the third quarter to pull the game back to just one straight kick with 90 seconds to go at People First Stadium.

Nicks said the first half is not the brand of footy the Crows want to be playing.

“We always believe. We had our chances but the first half we just didn’t look like scoring, which was disappointing,” Nicks said.

“Makes it hard when you put a goal on the board at half time.”

The Suns stopped the Crows run that we saw last year win them games and break away teams building momentum throughout them.

The Crows did it late in the game, piling on the last five goals but failed to look even remotely close to the team we expect to be pushing for finals in 2024.

“It was two things, probably more their work rate, their ability to get back, they’re as good as I have seen for a while in that space,” Nicks said.

“They work so hard, we watched last week in the first half against Richmond.

“They were so strong in working off ball back into the back half to help out and they won it back there.

“Think we lost the ground ball 7-10 in the first half and then flipped that on its head in the second half.

“So we adjusted a couple of things which we weren’t quite getting right in the first half and changed the game but we’ve got to be better than that.

“We’ve gotta find a way to get back in and even those numbers up so we can compete ahead of the ball.”

Izak Rankine, being tackled by Sam Collins of the Suns, was one of Adelaide’s best on a sorry night for the club where they only kicked one goal in the first half. Picture: Chris Hyde/Getty Images.

Izak Rankine had a night out in his first return to the Gold Coast.

Nicks was full of praise for the crafty midfield-forward.

“If you talk about some positives out of the day, I think Izak (Rankine) showed what Izak can do,” Nicks said.

“He was forward a little more, probably a little deeper forward in the second half.

“But we also had a few more down there with him who were forced to play a different style in the second half.

“Conditions probably changed that as well.”

The Crows did miss the experience of Taylor Walker in their opening game of the season.

Walker’s presence up forward but his leadership skills on the field is something that seemed to have been missing and was noticeable early in the clash.

“Did we miss Taylor Walker? Yeah of course we missed (Taylor), any team is going to miss a Taylor Walker,” Nicks said.

“He is one of those players, he’s been in the game long enough, he’s important, he is a leader.

“So of course we miss our experienced players

“But there were other areas today that we didn’t get right and our opposition did, to their credit.”

DIMMA’S POWER EVIDENT AFTER CROWS’ FIRST-HALF HORROR SHOW

Adelaide’s makeshift forward line was expected to struggle on the road to a red-hot Gold Coast but Saturday’s display was close to an unmitigated disaster until it was too late.

When the rain started hammering down in the first term, it should have been the helping hand from the heavens a smaller Crows forward line needed to make an impact.

Instead, aside from Izak Rankine – who was peerless in the tricolours against his former club – the Crows were horrific forward of centre for the first three quarters.

Rankine was arguably best on ground at quarter-time but the visitors needed two of him if anything was going to happen on the scoreboard.

Adelaide’s only goal to halftime was gifted to Ben Keays when he was hit lace-out by an Alex Sexton spoil running back with the flight.

Rankine decided to do it himself when he went forward to open the scoring in the second half and Josh Rachele needed two shots from outside 50 to make one count on the three-quarter-time siren.

Izak Rankine played a lone hand for the Crows early on Saturday night. Picture: Chris Hyde/Getty Images

The Crows trailed by 29 points at the final change despite leading the inside 50 count 40-38.

The entries where shallow, wide and woeful.

A quick glance at the stat sheet would make you think the game was in the Crows’ keeping – it wasn’t.

All eyes were on Matt Rowell after his 20-clearance master class against the Tigers and a team effort at stoppage helped the Crows stifle his influence early in the match.

But in space, the likes of Noah Anderson, Sam Flanders, Touk Miller and Brayden Fiorini put their Crows counterparts to shame with their run and spread.

When Rowell began accumulating clearances after quarter-time, the writing was on the wall.

Even a passing grade in the first three quarters would have been enough to get the Crows over the line. As soon as the scoreboard pressure started to mount, the Suns fell in a heap.

Anyone who watched their nervous third term against the Tigers last week would have known it was a possibility.

The positive? Somehow, some way, the four points nearly went to South Australia on a night where everything else went wrong and the Crows were without their spearhead.

Nicks will demand much more of his side next Friday night against Geelong. As will the many fans and pundits who queued up to declare the Crows a top-four hopeful this season.

Matt Rowell was far too good for Adelaide’s midfield. Picture: Russell Freeman/AFL Photos

DIMMA’S BIT-PART BOYS

Tom Berry walked off the ground against Richmond last week and declared to no one in particular: “I never want to play VFL again.”

If he consistently puts in the kind of shift he did against the Crows on Saturday night, that wish might just come true.

Berry didn’t stuff the stat sheet with double-digit tackles or a massive goal haul, but the unsung small-forward ticked his boxes on a career-best night.

Alex Sexton’s swap to defence has become the face of Damien Hardwick’s Suns shake-up but Berry is another former VFL regular already benefiting from the new coach’s priorities.

Hardwick loves his role players and realised early on how to harness the forgotten 22-year-old.

The highlight moment came late in the first quarter when Berry hunted down Crows winger Lachie Sholl deep in the forward pocket to earn a free kick, which he subsequently – and almost nonchalantly – converted with a check-side snap in the pouring rain.

Tom Berry gets a kick away on a wet night against the Crows. Picture: Chris Hyde/Getty Images

Rewind the tape to see him making the same chase deep in defensive 50 only moments earlier.

That want and will to win the footy from a man who played just one game in 2023 and six a year earlier – a man who has seen his chance under Hardwick and run with it.

Berry’s 17 disposals eclipsed his previous career-best of 11 – a mark that was under threat at quarter-time when he walked off with a game-high 9 to his name.

The touches and goal were bonuses as far as Hardwick was concerned.

Berry is in his team for his tackle pressure and when the game was there to be won in the first quarter, he was exactly what the Suns needed.

Like Sexton, if Berry had not been contracted beyond the end of last season he might not have made it to pre-season.

Instead here he is, the role player playing his role.

That is the power of Hardwick.