AFL captains tip Adelaide to bounce back in a big way this year

The pre-season buzz about Adelaide has been supported by the AFL captains, with nearly 90 per cent of them tipping the Crows to bounce back from a horror 2018 and make this year’s finals.

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The pre-season buzz about Adelaide has been supported by the AFL captains, with nearly 90 per cent of them tipping the Crows to bounce back from a horror 2018 and make this year’s finals.

With captains unable to vote for their own teams, 15 of 2017 grand finalist Adelaide’s rivals picked it to storm back from 12th and into the top eight this season.

Only premier West Coast, Melbourne, Richmond and Collingwood had more love, gaining the nod from all 17 rival skippers in the annual captain’s survey.

In contrast, the Crows’ hometown rival Port Adelaide, which finished 10th last season, has not convinced opposition teams that it can quickly turn things around, despite signing Scott Lycett from the Eagles and Ryan Burton from Hawthorn.

Only four captains have picked the Power to make the finals.

“We’re going into the season in a confident space,’’ said Adelaide forward Tom Lynch.

“We’re really healthy, we’ve put in a lot of hard work over summer and we’ve got some real pressure for spots.’’

Port coach Ken Hinkley says his club expects to feature in September.

“It’s pretty obvious that we’ve made some tough (list management) decisions, we’ve made some really strong calls on what we believe is an ability to take our group forward,’’ he said.

“We messed it up and blew it last year. We expect to play finals this year.’’

Richmond — the 2017 premier — is favoured to return to the summit this year, with eight captains picking it as the other club most likely to make the grand final.

Collingwood (five) was the next-ranked team, while the Eagles had two votes.

The Crows, Giants and Demons all received one vote.

Crows co-captain Rory Sloane gets past Port’s Sam Gray during the JLT Series. Picture SARAH REED

While the Tigers are seen as the most likely to taste team success, former Crow and now Cat Patrick Dangerfield is favourite to win the Brownlow Medal.

He received four votes from the captains, ahead of Fremantle’s Nathan Fyfe and Carlton’s Patrick Cripps (three).

Dangerfield won the Brownlow in 2016 and Fyfe the year before.

2017 winner Dustin Martin (Richmond) and Hawthorn’s Jaeger O’Meara (Hawthorn) have been tipped by two captains to win football’s highest individual accolade while Adelaide’s Rory Sloane, Collingwood’s Steele Sidebottom, the Western Bulldogs’ Marcus Bontempelli and Melbourne’s Max Gawn each have one admirer.

Captains believe West Coast spearhead Josh Kennedy will edge past Tiger Jack Riewoldt for the Coleman Medal.

Kennedy received seven votes to claim his third Coleman, with reigning Coleman Medallist Riewoldt getting one nomination.

Carlton No. 1 draft pick Sam Walsh (11 votes) was the overwhelming choice to win the Rising Star after a standout pre-season campaign.

Port’s Zak Butters and Adelaide’s Chase Jones both received a vote, along with South Australians Jack Lukosius (Gold Coast) and Luke Valente (Fremantle), who were selected in last year’s draft.

The full voting

Which seven other clubs do you think can make this year’s top eight?

17 — Melbourne, West Coast, Richmond, Collingwood.

15 — Adelaide.

12 — GWS.

7 — Geelong.

6 — Sydney.

5 — Essendon.

4 — Hawthorn, Port Adelaide.

3 — Brisbane.

2 — North Melbourne.

Which other club is most likely to reach the grand final?

8 — Richmond.

5 — Collingwood.

2 — West Coast.

1 — GWS, Adelaide, Melbourne.

Geelong gun Patrick Dangerfield during the JLT Series. Picture: Scott Barbour/Getty Images

Who do you think will win the 2019 Brownlow Medal?

4 — Patrick Dangerfield (Geelong).

3 — Nathan Fyfe (Fremantle), Patrick Cripps (Carlton).

2 — Dustin Martin (Richmond), Jaeger O’Meara (Hawthorn).

1 — Rory Sloane (Adelaide), Steele Sidebottom (Collingwood), Marcus Bontempelli (Western Bulldogs), Max Gawn (Melbourne).

Who do you think will win the 2019 Coleman Medal?

7 — Josh Kennedy (West Coast).

4 — Jack Riewoldt (Richmond).

1 — Ben Brown (North Melbourne), Joe Daniher (Essendon), Tom Hawkins (Geelong), Tom McDonald (Melbourne), Lance Franklin (Sydney), Jeremy Cameron (GWS), Jack Gunston (Hawthorn).

Who do you think will win the 2019 AFL Rising Star?

11 — Sam Walsh (Carlton).

1 — Jack Lukosius (Gold Coast), Zak Butters (Port), Jye Caldwell (GWS), Luke Valente (Fremantle), Bailey Smith (Western Bulldogs), Chase Jones (Adelaide), Matt Walker (Hawthorn).