AFL Round 21 Adelaide v Gold Coast: All the news, action and fallout as Crows keep finals hopes alive
Adelaide’s first-quarter scoring blitz against Gold Coast was something – but what’s happening at the other end of the ground is even more remarkable. Here’s why.
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It was a first-quarter blitz that set the foundations of a crucial Adelaide win over Gold Coast.
But as impressive as the Crows were offensively, with their five-goal-to-none term, it was perhaps more remarkable what was happening down the other end of the ground at Adelaide Oval.
The Suns actually had more inside 50s than the Crows for the first 20 minutes of the match, 11-10, but were goalless.
This was despite the Crows coming into the game with a backline featuring debutant James Borlase, seventh gamer Mark Keane, third gamer Luke Nankervis, 14th gamer Josh Worrell and 19th gamer Max Michalanney.
Yet, despite their lack of experience, they held at bay a Suns forward line featuring high draft picks Jack Lukosius and Ben King – second and sixth in the 2018 draft - and 191-game veteran Levi Casboult.
The Suns were disconnected going forward as they couldn’t make their forward 50 entries count.
“Adelaide are going forward and either getting the mark or getting on the scoreboard,” Port Adelaide and Hawthorn premiership winner Shaun Burgoyne said on Triple M.
“Gold Coast are going in and having shallow entries, it is a complete opposite to what the Crows are doing.”
But that is selling the Crows backline short.
For the second week in a row, the no-names in Adelaide’s defence helped the Crows keep their finals chances alive.
Injuries might be decimating the Crows backline, with Tom Doedee, Nick Murray and Jordan Butts all on the sidelines, but when the reinforcements are called upon, they are stepping up.
“We’ve obviously had some unfortunate injuries and while we have had them at the other end it has created opportunities for those boys who have been grinding away and working hard in the SANFL,” Crows defender Mitch Hinge said.
“You see your blokes like Joshy Worrell, Luke Nankervis, Jimmy Borlase with his first game and Keaney as well.
“Obviously they aren’t the most experienced but the way they have fronted up at AFL level has just been unbelievable and it shows the group mentality that we go with and it shows the talent that we have beneath and how they have been putting the pressure on and it is good to see that when these boys do get their opportunity they have just been unbelievable.”
Crows senior coach Matthew Nicks said the performance of his inexperienced defence was part of it being a “massive win”.
“When you start to look at our squad depth and where we have quickly gone to as a club, we have been forced into that through injury but sometimes you sit and think geez I’m glad we were forced into that,” he said.
“Not because you have guys injured, you don’t wish that upon anyone but you get to see the depth that you have.
“I thought Borlase was huge, similar to Keane a week prior and we are still seeing some really strong stuff from Nankervis and these are guys who have played one, two, three, four games.
“It is team defence, I am not taking anything away from our young backline I thought they were great.
“But when we are playing the game on our terms it makes it easier on our back six.”
For the second week in a row, the Crows were featuring a debutant at the heart of their backline.
Borlase’s parents, former Port Adelaide star Darryl and Australian netball representative Jenny, had to cut short their stay in Europe to watch his AFL debut on Saturday.
They saw a young key defender who former Power captain Dom Cassisi said “looks like he has played 100 games”.
Borlase finished with 18 disposals – at 100 per cent efficiency – nine marks, four tackles and some important intercepts for the Crows.
“He has a lot of experience in developing himself at the SANFL level,” Nicks said of Borlase.
“We had a discussion after the game about how pleasing it is to see these guys step up to this level because it is a large jump.
“To see two guys step up and show they can play at the level, Mark Keane has played at the level before but not for a fair period of time, but for James today it was really pleasing.”
While the inexperienced defenders were able to stop the Suns, the more experienced Crows backmen were able to do damage.
Mitch Hinge had a career game with 31 disposals, seven marks, four tackles and 14 intercept possessions.
It continued his strong run of recent form.
“Mitch is in some rare form, has been throughout the year,” Nicks said.
“He had a fantastic pre-season, he is as fit as he has ever been and confident in his ability.
“I think he is helped by playing alongside Wayne Milera there.
“He is having a really strong year, he attacks the footy, backs himself in.
“I think he and Wayne have set up a nice little duo back there and we would like to see that keep going.”
Hinge, who arrived at the Crows as a delisted free agent at the end of 2020 after three games in two seasons for Brisbane, said a big part of this was having his body in good shape after dislocating his shoulder in his Crows debut in 2021 and then having groin issues last year.
“It has been pleasing to get a bit more of the ball in the back-end of the year after the bye,” he said.
“But I think to be fair it has just been consistency over the past 18 months, I have high aspirations of where I want to get to and it just comes with consistently training.
“My body is feeling really good, probably for the first time in that period too.
“I’m really happy with how my body is feeling.”
The success of some of the inexperienced Crows in defence is allowing Nicks to trial one of his older heads in a different position.
For the second straight week, Brodie Smith was deployed on a wing.
He finished with 26 disposals, eight marks and had 644m gained.
Smith previously held dreams of playing on the ball, and Nicks said, while he is 31, it still could happen.
“It’s a combination of things,” the Adelaide coach said.
“We wanted to get a look at Nank (Nankervis) but we feel that Brodie although it is late in his career we feel that he has the game to play through the midfield.
“He is a really good player when it comes to that one metre test, the ability to win his own ball.
“He has had a few looks at it over his career and maybe he has been at half-back because he is so good there.
“But we have guys who are ready to play half-back, we are looking for that third winger and I think Brodie has shown two in a row that he can impact the game.”
Hinge said the Crows defenders were willing to play different roles when required.
“Just purely with injuries and that stuff over the year we have all had to be pretty versatile with different roles and that,” he said.
“I’ve had to play as a hybrid at times and give a chop out to our key backs and play on the boys who are a bit taller.”
Debutant, forgotten man star as Crows keep season alive
- Jason Phelan
Adelaide’s finals hopes are alive and well, with a career-best effort from Mitch Hinge and another prolific performance by Matt Crouch highlights after the Crows dug deep to see off a dogged Gold Coast on Saturday.
Matthew Nicks’ men have recorded far prettier wins this season, but the aesthetics of the victory will matter not in the aftermath of the gutsy effort that keeps their finals destiny in their own hands.
Adelaide’s nerve was tested when the brave Suns sliced the margin to just 10 points in a tense last quarter, but the home side was equal to the task, improving its record to 10-10 with the 13.11 (89) to 9.7 (61) win.
A pivotal clash against Brisbane at the Gabba looms, with Nicks’ men needing to add to their one win away from Adelaide Oval this season to remain in the finals mix.
“We don’t hide from it,” Nicks said of his side’s away record.
“There’s a reason why you lose a number of away games because they’re tough.
“We’re up against a team that’s fighting, not to play finals, but fighting for top two, top four.
“We’ll go up there to take Brisbane on … it’s not necessarily that we’re playing away.
“I think our guys are really confident, we’ve played great footy away, but we haven’t put four quarters together and sometimes that can be the opposition doesn’t allow you to do that.
“But we’ve done that against Collingwood where we had a couple of opportunities but didn’t get across the line.
“We’ll have to get it done because we want to be in the fight in about three weeks’ time.
“That Brisbane game is going to be huge.”
Hinge and Crouch led the charge with a game-high 31 possessions apiece, while Darcy Fogarty and Shane McAdam booted three goals each.
The Suns, who were without suspended star co-captain Touk Miller, were brave after a slow start, with Sam Flanders, Jarrod Witts and former Crow Rory Atkins catching the eye.
Will Powell was one of his side’s best players with 20 possessions to three-quarter time, but the 23-year-old’s outstanding season looks over after he collapsed to the ground clutching his left leg in a marking contest in the last quarter.
He was administered the painkilling ‘green whistle’ and was taken from the field on the mini-ambulance.
Six of the best
A superb effort from Taylor Walker was the highlight of an opening blitz that saw Adelaide slam through the first six goals of the game to lead the goalless visitors by 29 points at the first break.
Opposed to hulking ruckman Witts at a boundary throw-in, Walker showed outstanding strength to out-position his bigger opponent, take the ball out of the air, evade two defenders, and bounce through a brilliant goal of his non-preferred left.
He finished with two goals to equal his best season return of 63 majors with three games remaining.
Nicks was thrilled with his side’s ability to set up the result early.
“It was the difference in the game, really,” he said.
“I know we played well throughout, but the start was the difference.
“That first quarter was critical to us getting the win.
“It was really pleasing to get the result because it was a huge game … in the context of our season that was a massive win.
“It was a very strong opposition that wanted something that we want and we were able to get it done.”
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Here come the Suns
The Crows led by 21 points at quarter-time when the sides last met in Darwin in round 12, but were run down by the Suns, who went on to win by 25 points.
The home side led by as much as 35 points in the first half on Saturday and looked in danger of suffering the same fate as the visitors regrouped and rattled through four unanswered goals to slash the margin to just 13 points in the third quarter.
Jack Lukosius booted two of those majors, while Adelaide’s radar was suddenly off at the other end.
Riley Thilthorpe missed back-to-back set shots and Jordan Dawson escaped the clutches of tagger David Swallow long enough to hit the post as the Crows suddenly looked less assured with the ball in hand.
Adelaide was goalless and kicked seven behinds in the third quarter to hold a 17-point advantage into the final term.
The Suns made it five in a row when Levi Casboult got the better of debutant James Borlase to set up the grandstand finish.
Baby Crows
The Crows went in with an inexperienced back six with Nick Murray (knee), Tom Doedee (knee), and Jordon Butts (foot) all done for the season.
Four of the six defenders on the team sheet combined for a grand total of 37 AFL games heading into the clash, with Borlase making his debut alongside Max Michalanney (18 games), Josh Worrell (13) and Mark Keane (6).
Borlase was matched up on 191-game veteran Casboult, who enjoyed a significant height advantage on the first-gamer.
Borlase trailed behind the hard-leading Casboult, who marked strongly in the first 30 seconds of the match, but the defender was rarely outpointed from there in an impressive first outing.
The 21-year-old finished with nine marks and hit the target with every one of his 18 disposals.
Another blow
It’s not another tall but the Crows are likely to be without Chayce Jones next week, with the much-improved defender on crutches after the match
“It’s mid-foot so we’re fingers crossed, as we have been for the last six weeks with our defenders, but we won’t know until we get a scan,” Nicks said.
“I like to stay more positive around those things than negative, but we’ll see how that one comes up.”
Jones, who was subbed out in the third term after coming from the ground in pain, is set to join Murray, Doedee and Butts on the sidelines.
Ruck ‘n roll
The match pitted two of the form ruckmen of the competition against each other in Reilly O’Brien and Jarrod Witts.
O’Brien led the league in hitouts after 20 rounds, with 735 taps at an average of 38.7, with Witts second with 668 at an average of 39.3.
O’Brien shaded his opponent with 41 hitouts to 39, but Witts probably had the better of the engrossing duel with his work around the ground.
Scoreboard
CROWS 5.2 8.4 8.11 13.11 (89)
SUNS 0.3 3.6 6.6 9.7 (61)
PHELAN’S BEST CROWS: Hinge, Crouch, Laird, Smith, Fogarty, Borlase, O’Brien, Milera. SUNS: Flanders, Witts, Andrew, Atkins, Anderson, Collins, Powell.
GOALS CROWS: McAdam 3, Fogarty 3, Walker 2, Soligo, Murphy, Keays, Dawson, Crouch. SUNS: King 2, Lukosius 2, Casboult 2, Macpherson, Rowell, Ellis.
INJURIES CROWS: Jones (foot). SUNS: Powell (leg).
UMPIRES Deboy, Mollison, Haussen, Tee.
35,777 at ADELAIDE OVAL
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
JASON PHELAN’S VOTES
3 Hinge (Adel)
2 Crouch (Adel)
1 Flanders (GC)
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