Members of the Crows Supporters Group have their say on some of the big issues facing the Adelaide Football Club
Where did it all go wrong for the Adelaide Football Club? The Sunday Mail surveyed members of the Crows Supporters Group to discuss external reviews, disappointments and fixes.
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The Questions:
1. What was the highlight of 2019?
2. What’s the biggest disappointment of 2019?
3. How would you fix the club?
4. What do you think about an external review?
5. Do you think the right people are in charge?
Danni Gower, 68:
1. Me going for the first time on the MCG and in the guard of honour as the players ran out (against Carlton on July 27). I absolutely loved it.
2. The last couple of games where they didn’t play like a team. But I know they can it. I don’t know why this happened, you can’t just blame one person.
3. All of the board and coaching staff need to be reviewed. I don’t want Pykey to go, I still like him as a coach, but he needs better support around him. I like him because I’ve never seen him getting really upset and I don’t believe in coaches yelling at their players. He doesn’t yell and to his credit he’s trying very hard to get through to the boys.
4. I’m not too sure what will happen with it. Why do we need something done? I thought it would have been done internally, not externally.
5. Not on the board and I think a couple of the assistant coaches might not be right. I would change Brett Burton for one. I think he’s not the right person for the job. I have nothing against him, I really like him as a person, but I’m not sure he’s the right person for that job.
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Julie Elliott, 55, CSG secretary:
1. The Sydney game in round two — beating them at the SCG by 26 points. And also going to the Gold Coast game at Metricon Stadium in round 17, beating them by 95 points. That game, I was able to take my 16-year-old nephew to his first AFL game and we were able to chat to Mark Ricciuto there. And there have been so many milestones to celebrate this week (Eddie Betts’ 300th, Sam Jacobs’ 200th among them).
2. The Carlton game at the MCG in round 19. That was so disappointing; Eddie Betts had been dropped and wasn’t playing, and after that game was the point where we started to think that we wouldn’t make finals this year.
3. I wouldn’t or couldn’t answer this one. I would just like to see them go through the motions and figure out what’s gone wrong for themselves. The club is hearing us fans and are now doing things, but we’ve got to trust that they’re the experts and can figure out what’s gone wrong and then can fix it.
4. What really needs an external review are the umpires. I’d like to see an external company go through a random selection of games and see what’s been good, what’s bad and go over how they’ve performed this year.
5. Personally, I don’t have an opinion on this one, but I have spoken with lots of fans and members and the general consensus from them is that some things need to chance in the leadership, from the players to the staff.
Annie Green, 63:
1. The AFLW grand final win was amazing and also the first Showdown win this year. That was an amazing game.
2. Not getting into the finals.
3. I trust the club to do their review and move forward from there.
4. I just trust the process that they’re going through. Things didn’t work out for us this year, so it would be good if we could turn that around next season and get back to playing the brand of footy that gave us success in previous years. If an external review helps that to bring that about then that would be a positive outcome.
5. There are more qualified people to make those decisions than me.
Dylan Clark, 35, banner co-ordinator:
1. The AFLW Crows second premiership win.
2. No plan B (or whatever you want to call it) when we are losing. No changes are made we just kept losing.
3. Over the years the connection between the club and its members has declined. Members don’t feel part of the club anymore. Hopefully a new home base, members can be at the club even if just for lunch or dinner to again “feel” part of the club.
4. I think it’s needed more so in the football department.
5. Honestly over the years I’ve seen some amazing staff leave. Any organisation should look at themselves and say why are good people leaving. I believe you can be business orientated and still football orientated. Simple put, have the right people focused on the business side and the right people focused on the football side.
Heather Hill, 59:
1. Going to the games whether they win or lose, of course the wins are more a highlight.
2. Whenever they get slaughtered. The Bulldogs game — the last game of the season — was really disappointing, especially their effort in the first quarter.
3. It’s really hard to judge because we don’t know what goes on behind closed doors. According to comments on social media, the coaching staff needs changing. And if you look at the ways the players played over the last month, they played without passion, it was obvious that something is not quite right.
4. Something needs to be done if the boys aren’t happy … so clearly something needs to happen.
5. I’m going to say no. You can tell just by looking at the players that something’s not quite right, and they’re not playing with the passion that they once had, which is just really sad. So perhaps some changes are needed, whether it’s game plan or coaches and that’s what the external review will hopefully find out. But, for my mind, you support your club whether they win, lose or draw.
Peter Kauschke, 54, CSG president:
1. As a supporter, you take the good with the bad. I like that we had a core group of players this year who had stuck together and we will follow them no matter what.
2. That we haven’t been able to play to the level that we are capable of. We know these players are capable, but for whatever reason we didn’t get there this season.
3. I think they need to get back in touch with members and listen to them. We don’t know what really goes on inside those four walls, But I think that being a two-club town you’ll get crucified no matter what you do.
4. I think the external review needs to be done with people with football mindsets, not corporate mindsets. For me, we’re a football club and so the review should be done by football personnel.
5. It’s hard to answer. I think, generally, the right people are there it’s just they’ve made some mistakes this year.