Josh Jenkins says Adelaide will not give up on its season despite big loss to Richmond
JOSH Jenkins has declared Adelaide will not give up its chase of a fourth consecutive finals appearance, despite having to likely win six of its last seven games to feature in September.
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JOSH Jenkins has declared Adelaide will not give up its chase of a fourth consecutive finals appearance, despite having to likely win six of its last seven games to feature in September.
The Crows’ 47-point loss to premier Richmond at the MCG on Friday night left them facing a mountain to climb just to play finals in a year where 13 wins looks the magic number to make the eight.
Key forward Jenkins, one of Adelaide’s best against the Tigers with three of his team’s eight goals and nine contested possessions, said the players were focused on beating Geelong in Thursday night’s blockbuster at Adelaide Oval before tackling the rest of the season.
“We’ve got plenty to play for,’’ he said.
“If we make it (the finals) great, if we don’t, we don’t. But to me looking at that is almost half-irrelevant.
“As far as I am concerned the most important thing is for us to rally together and get back to being that strong and unified footy club that we have been in the past three or four years.
“If that takes us into a finals series then we will be ready to rock ‘n’ roll and I don’t think there would be too many teams that would be keen to face us.
“If we don't then we just reload, rebuild, have a strong summer and go again.
“Our form next week (against Geelong) will dictate a lot of that so that’s got to be our only concern at the moment.’’
While Richmond, which trounced the Crows by eight goals in last year’s grand final, was again too good at the MCG, winning by a similar margin, Jenkins said much of 7-8 Adelaide’s problems this year was down to injuries.
“We just haven’t been able to get anywhere near our best personnel on the park,’’ he said.
“But we’re getting players back weekly now so we should be able to finish the season strongly.’’
Jenkins, meanwhile, will swap the football boots for the microphone this week when he represents the Crows in Fox Footy’s Player Takeover Round.
He will join about 40 AFL and AFLW players in hosting some of Fox Footy’s entertainment shows, which include AFL 360, On The Couch, Bob, The Weekend Lowdown and Bounce, along with providing commentary and boundary duties at AFL games.
Among the high-profile names to replace the regular hosts this week are Port Adelaide’s Hamish Hartlett, Geelong’s Joel Selwood, Richmond’s Alex Rance and Jack Riewoldt, Carlton’s Patrick Cripps, Hawthorn’s Shaun Burgoyne, GWS’s Phil Davis and the Western Bulldogs’ Marcus Bontempelli and Katie Brennan.
North Melbourne’s Ben Brown will interview veteran journalist Mike Sheahan on Sheahan’s regular Open Mike program.
Jenkins will be a member of a three-player panel, along with former Crows teammate and current Geelong star Patrick Dangerfield, and Brown for Friday night’s match between St Kilda and Carlton at Etihad Stadium.
“We’ll do the pre-game, half-time and post-game reports and I think it will be pretty cool for viewers to hear the views of current players about the game, the intricacies of it and how modern football is evolving,’’ he said.
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