AFL round 4: Crows easily account for Dockers, set up Thursday blockbuster against Carlton
Eyebrows were raised across the AFL when Riley Thilthorpe started the season in the SANFL. But the Crows wouldn’t change a thing.
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Chayce Jones and Ned McHenry are indicative of Adelaide’s new-found depth.
The highly scrutinised first-round selections in the 2018 national draft have remained in the team while in questionable form at times in previous seasons.
They started this campaign in the SANFL side, before earning their AFL spots after strong performances.
Overlooked for the opening two rounds, Jones was the substitute in the Showdown and capped an impressive second-half cameo with a desperate late smother and goal.
McHenry was promoted after kicking two majors from 21 disposals in the club’s 78-point reserves victory against Port Adelaide.
Both were exceptional in Saturday’s 39-point home triumph over Fremantle.
Jones told News Corp he was disappointed to start the season out of the AFL team but he needed to work on his confidence and build form.
The 60-gamer said there was more competition for spots than in any other time since he began at the club in 2019.
“We’ve got a lot of depth at the moment,” Jones said.
“You’ve seen the guys that have come in be able to play good footy at AFL level.
“We’ve had five or six that have come in and played their role.
“And there’s still blokes that are knocking the door down at SANFL level.
“As much as sometimes you are on the wrong side of it, you’ve got to love it as a footy club because it means we’re heading in the right direction.
“Competition for spots is what the good teams have.”
Jones is 22 years old.
He played eight AFL games in his first season, 15 in both his second and third, then all bar two last year.
The Tasmanian featured in just one winning side from his first 19 matches at the top level.
He has also dealt with constant comparisons to fellow draftees from the strong 2018 crop, including Port Adelaide’s Zak Butters, taken three spots later after him at pick 12.
Jones has been shifted across various roles, including inside midfielder and half-back, but has found a home on a wing.
He had 21 disposals, three clearances, four inside 50s and put on strong defensive pressure against the Dockers, calling it one of his best games for the club.
“I’m getting a bit older now so you realise you can play at this level,” Jones said.
“Hopefully I can keep building on that and show the club what I’m able to do.”
McHenry hit contests hard and registered a match-high three goal assists, as well as 22 disposals, on Saturday.
Coach Matthew Nicks said McHenry gave the team exactly what it wanted: “100 per cent effort – I thought he was ferocious early”.
Jones said the Victorian “just works hard”.
“He doesn’t complain that he didn’t get in the team,” he said.
“He’s obviously disappointed but he worked on what he needed to.”
It is not only Jones and McHenry who have shone since being promoted from the second tier.
Key forward/ruckman Riley Thilthorpe backed up his five-goal Showdown haul with another encouraging showing, grabbing a game-high five contested marks and booting one major.
Stars Jordan Dawson (14) and Rory Laird (13) were the only Crows with more contested possessions than Thilthorpe’s 11 on Saturday.
He is playing aggressively and with a lot of confidence.
Adelaide is adamant his time in the SANFL team to start this year – in the last pre-season match and after not being picked for round 1 – has been crucial to his turnaround.
The Crows were criticised for leaving the 2020 No. 2 draft pick out of the side.
Outsiders said the team had to choose him every week, to keep getting games into such a talented prospect.
Thilthorpe was the substitute against Richmond and kicked a goal, then came into the 22 for the Showdown.
“Sometimes the selection doesn’t go your way and you’ve got to put your head down and it’s shown the last two weeks,” Jones said.
“He’s a ripper, a workhorse, he got to work … and he’s showing the fruits.”
Nicks also gave a shout-out to Lachie Sholl (14 disposals, three clearances) for “putting three strong games together” since being overlooked for the season-opening loss to GWS.
Athletic forward Lachlan Gollant, who was called up for the Showdown and held his spot, kicked two goals on Saturday.
The performances of the Crows who have come into the AFL line-up will ensure difficult decisions for the exciting Gather Round match against unbeaten Carlton on Thursday night.
Adelaide has only won consecutive matches seven times in Nicks’s 64 games in charge and this time it has done so without two players from the first seven of its best-and-fairest last year, Darcy Fogarty and Shane McAdam.
Another top-10 finisher in 2022, midfielder Sam Berry, was managed against the Dockers.
Defenders Paddy Parnell and Josh Worrell, who were AFL regulars to end last season, were also sidelined on Saturday, as was emerging small forward Luke Pedlar.
McAdam, Pedlar, Berry and Parnell will be available to face the Blues, while Fogarty is a chance to also be in the mix.
Add to that, the Crows’ SANFL side’s hot start – they are 2-0 after being a preliminary finalist last year – and it is safe to assume selection committee meetings are going much longer at West Lakes these days.
“A strong squad is what keeps people at the level, that pressure from underneath,” Nicks said.
Only twice in the coach’s time at the club has Adelaide won three matches in a row – from rounds 20 to 22 last year and 15 to 17 in 2020.
Coincidentally, both those streaks included victories over Carlton.
Thursday night looms as a much tougher test.
If the Crows beat the red-hot Blues in prime time, it will be a huge boost for their top-eight ambitions.
Adelaide was 3-3 last year and 3-1 in 2021, but with the improved depth and quality of this year’s squad, it might not waste a promising start this season.
BRING IT ON: IN-FORM CROWS PRIMED FOR GATHER ROUND BLOCKBUSTER
In-form Adelaide is relishing the chance to test itself against Carlton in what is shaping as a scintillating Thursday night match to open the inaugural Gather Round.
Speaking on the back of his side’s second consecutive victory, a 39-point home win over Fremantle on Saturday, Crows coach Matthew Nicks said there was no bigger challenge in the competition right now than taking on the unbeaten Blues.
It will be Adelaide’s first ever Thursday night clash, having been left out of prime time during Nicks’s tenure, featuring in just three Friday matches.
“From our timing point of view, we feel like our guys are playing some really connected footy,” Nicks said.
“They’re confident in what we’re doing but you’ve got to stick to that.”
“Carlton are up and going.
“Our guys are looking forward to it.
“We’ll have some work to do behind the ball because they’ve got some twin towers down there that are hard to stop.”
Nicks was most pleased with the Crows’ mindset against the Dockers.
The team viewed the match as significant, given it was against a 2022 semi-finalist, off the back of a Showdown win and ahead of a five-day turnaround for a crunch clash.
“This was a big round for us,” said Nicks, after what was just the seven consecutive win of his 64-game tenure.
“There was a feeling of ‘you want to get this one right’.
“It’s all about momentum, all about consistently performing.
“That word that we haven’t been able to back up at this point but today, when you’re able to get to half-time and talk about things we’re doing really well, that was so pleasing for our group to do that.
“Our mindset was there to get the job done and they did that.
“Our mindset was to limit the opposition’s score as the priority but we still kicked 111 points.”
Nicks heaped praise on fourth-game defender Max Michalanney, describing his performance as unbelievable.
After standing Shai Bolton and Junior Rioli over the past fortnight, Michalanney blanketed small forward Michael Walters (nine disposals, 0.2) on Saturday.
“He asks for them (tough jobs), he’s rare for a young player,” Nicks said.
“He’s ruthless, he just doesn’t like losing and he’s got incredible method for such a young player.
“He showed at Norwood, where he was rock solid in defence but … he’s also so composed with the ball.
“If he doesn’t get a Rising Star nomination at some point …”
Forwards Shane McAdam and Luke Pedlar (suspension) will be available to face the Blues, while midfielder Sam Berry (rested) will also be in the mix.
Nicks said spearhead Darcy Fogarty would continue to be monitored this week as he pressed his case to return from a medial strain.
RARE JORDAN: INSPIRATIONAL SKIPPER LEADS CROWS BLITZ
On the eve of his 26th birthday, star skipper Jordan Dawson gifted Adelaide a masterful midfield performance that drove the Crows to an impressive 39-point win against Fremantle on Saturday.
There was no post-Showdown hangover for Adelaide, who jumped the Dockers early then stormed home late to make it back-to-back wins with a 17.9 (111) to 10.12 (72) victory at Adelaide Oval.
Pitted against a mid-ladder opponent with the same win-loss record on home turf, it was the sort of game that Matthew Nicks’ men needed to win to prove to fans that their finals ambitions are legitimate.
And they passed the early-season test in fine style.
There were queries about the judges’ decision to award the Showdown Medal to Dawson last week, but there was no doubting his impact against Fremantle with 28 classy disposals and a goal, while Taylor Walker helped himself to four majors.
It was a disjointed performance by the disappointing Dockers, who slipped to a 1-3 record, with Caleb Serong their best player.
ROCKY RACHELE
The last time the Dockers played the Crows at Adelaide Oval Josh Rachele kicked five goals in a stunning AFL debut and the star youngster hit the scoreboard early as the Crows got off to a flyer.
Rachele deftly converted a running shot then pulled out a shadow boxing celebration, while the famous Rocky tune echoed around the ground.
Both sides had 12 inside 50s in the first term, but Adelaide’s superior efficiency in attack was the difference.
Walker, goalless in last week’s Showdown stunner, Izak Rankine, Lachie Gollant and Rachele combined to give the Crows’ attack impressive potency.
FREO FALTER
Fremantle’s ability to move the ball with any fluency was severely hampered by Adelaide’s pressure after quarter-time.
In contrast, when the Crows won possession, they looked to move the ball with speed, skill and dare.
Rachele’s second goal was a product of that slick ball movement, Riley Thilthorpe marking strongly on the wing then quickly taking a risky kick inside that paid off with a Rachele set shot.
Justin Longmuir demanded a lift from his charges at the contest when he spoke to Fox Footy at halftime and they responded after the break, Lachie Schultz with two goals in the third term.
CAPTAIN CLASSY
The Crows’ scoring dried up as the Dockers clawed their way back into the contest and it took a trademark bit of class from Dawson to spark the home side.
The skipper received the ball just outside 50 and stroked home a superb goal.
A goal-saving scorpion kick from @TDoedee31 😅#AFLCrowsFreopic.twitter.com/hBXySrhAyD
— AFL (@AFL) April 8, 2023
SCORPION SAVE
The Dockers flew home with a wet sail when the sides met in Round 1 last year and threatened to do the same with two goals early in the final term.
The margin would have been 20 points had Liam Henry not been denied by a piece of Tom Doedee brilliance on the goal line.
The defender was wrestling with his opponent as Henry’s shot headed for goal, so he threw out a scorpion-style backheel kick that intercepted the ball in mid-air.
It was a telling moment, with Jake Soligo booting his second goal soon after.
It was party time Rankine laid claim to Eddie Betts’ pocket with his third from a tight angle.
CROWS 6.1 10.4 11.8 17.9 (111)
DOCKERS 3.2 4.4 6.6 10.12 (72)
PHELAN’S BEST
CROWS: Dawson, Laird, Rachele, Rankine, Walker, Soligo, Thilthorpe, Smith.
DOCKERS: Serong, Brayshaw, Ryan, Schultz, Darcy.
GOALS
CROWS: Walker 4, Rankine 3, Rachele 3, Gollant 2, Soligo 2, Milera, Thilthorpe, Dawson. DOCKERS: Banfield 2, Schultz 2, Taberner 2, Amiss, Jackson, Hughes, Henry.
INJURIES CROWS: Nil. DOCKERS: Nil.
UMPIRES: Foot, Haussen, Whetton, Fleer.
ADELAIDE OVAL
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
JASON PHELAN’S VOTES
3 Dawson (Adel)
2 Serong (Fre)
1 Laird (Adel)
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