Graham Cornes names his greatest ever Adelaide side as we invite fans to build their own Crows Dream Team of the past 30 years

Inaugural Crows coach Graham Cornes has named his top side of the club’s first 30 years. And some picks could be controversial. Use our handy tool to build your ultimate Crows Dream Team.

He put together the first ever Adelaide Crows squad but which club champions have made it to Graham Cornes’s ultimate team of the club’s first 30 years?

As Adelaide prepares for its 31st AFL season The Advertiser is asking club doyens - and rusted-on fans - to name their ultimate Crows team from Adelaide’s first 30 years.

We’ve launched a simple interactive team-builder to let you build your side, selecting from a long list of former champions that you can lock into key positions before submitting your finished squad. We’ll reveal the results of our poll in the days ahead.

To help get the creative juices flowing, The Advertiser’s Simeon Thomas-Wilson sat down with Cornesy to discuss how they constructed their respective teams, listed below.

Simeon Thomas-Wilson: So Graham, right off the bat we have a big and interesting inclusion in your side — Wayne Carey over Taylor Walker at centre-half forward.

Graham Cornes: Well, Wayne Carey is one of the all-time greats. He only had two seasons (at Adelaide) but he is one of the all time greats of the game. The alternative for centre-half forward was Matthew Robran but I’m using him as a back-up ruckman. I can’t put Taylor Walker in front of Carey or Matthew Robran, who is a two-time premiership-winning centre-half forward.

(Note: Under the strict condition of performances for Adelaide, Carey did not qualify for The Advertiser’s shortlist of forwards and is unavailable for selection)

STW: An interesting talking point straight away. I’ve also got the two-time flag winning captain Mark Bickley on the interchange and you have him on field. Is that a bit rough from me?

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GC: I don’t think it is rough, in terms of talent that is probably where he goes but he is a dual-premiership captain so out of respect I can put him there and there was no obvious back-pocket player. Graham Johncock came into some consideration but I think Mark Bickley has to be on the ground.

STW: But we both have Mark Ricciuto as captain over the two-time premiership winning captain.

GC: Well, Roo’s leadership came later and I think given Mark Ricciuto’s eventual record, it is outstanding, he has to lead the team. Eight-time All-Australian, three best and fairests. But anyway, we have leadership groups these days – they could share the captaincy. Let’s do that, they can be co-captains.

STW: Yep let’s do it, they can be co-captains. Another difference between our sides, I have Daniel Talia and you don’t.

GC: Yeah, well, I’m always going to have Nigel Smart in mine.

STW: One thing we do have in common in our teams — and Crows fans may not like the sight of this — we both have Dangerfield in our teams.

GC: Well, he is one of the greatest ever players the club has had. He played well over a 100 (154) games and won a club best and fairest in his last year. He will be one of the greats and, like Carey, you can’t not have them in if they played for your team. They have to be in it.

STW: We also agree on the forward line, Eddie Betts, Tony Modra and Darren Jarman. That would be a pretty good forward line.

GC: That would be very hard to match up on, that would be a defensive coaches’ nightmare.

STW: Some will say it is a bit harsh on Taylor Walker not being in there given he surpassed Modra as the club’s record goalkicker but you have to have Modra in there – didn’t you say he was bigger than Bradman?

GC: No, I almost said it. I was doing a press conference and he had just kicked his 100th goal at Princes Park (in 1993) and everyone is gathered round and it is quite exciting. You have no idea what 1993 was like, Sim. It was still up and down, we didn’t consolidate our spot in the final six until the last game, but Modra — it was just so exciting. There was so much media excitement in Melbourne. So they started the press conference and I stopped myself and said “oh gosh, I almost said he was bigger than Bradman” and the Melbourne media picked it up and said “Graham Cornes said he was bigger than Bradman”. But he actually was for a brief time in Adelaide, he was just the biggest thing that we’ve ever seen and you just look at his record. Taylor might have his goalkicking record but that is over a hell of a lot more games and I can’t put him in ahead of Modra or Carey or Darren Jarman.

STW: We both have Shaun Rehn as our No. 1 ruckman but I have Sam Jacobs on the interchange as my second ruck, while you have Robran as your back-up ruck.

GC: Robran is my second ruck/centre-half forward and that’s how Blighty (Malcolm Blight) would have played him. Sam Jacobs just didn’t do enough for me, we all love him and his form was pretty good but he can’t go in front of Shaun Rehn or Matty Robran’s flexibility.

STW: The rest of the interchange, you have Rory Laird, Kane Johnson and Scott Thompson. I have Thompson on my ground while I’ve gone for Bernie Vince and Chris McDermott to round out mine.

GC: As you can see, I have weighted heavily premiership players and that’s why Kane Johnson gets in. I know he left the club after 100-odd games but, gee, he was a good player and he was a premiership player. I’ve weighted the team heavily with premiership players and champions of the game.

Results from the readers’ choice Crows Dream Team of the past 30 years will be published in this weekend’s Sunday Mail and on Advertiser.com.au