Michelangelo Rucci’s Adelaide Crows’ mid-season report card: Season of promise has fallen away amid great mystery and injuries
ADELAIDE has many questions to answer on why so much promise with the Crows has delivered so little on the field. See how Michelangelo Rucci rates the season so far and give your own grade in our poll.
Crows
Don't miss out on the headlines from Crows. Followed categories will be added to My News.
- Tredrea: How Crows became a basket case
- Fagan breaks his silence on Crows losses
- Mooney’s Lynch advice for Crows
- Bickley: Crows’ scars of September 30, 2017
- Crows turn to family and friends
ADELAIDE is drawing attention for all the wrong reasons today — and the most unexpected, as well.
A grand finalist last season, the Crows have collapsed to an also-ran with a 6-7 win-loss count soured by four consecutive losses for the first time since 2011 and just one win in the six games before the mid-season bye.
Why did this happen? What has become of the AFL’s highest-scoring team in 2016 that produced its third-lowest score (32 points) at its last start in that second-half crash to Hawthorn at the MCG?
Port Adelaide’s mid-year report card: The best might be still to come from the Power
It is far too easy to say injuries, particularly when the Crows were so confident of the depth on their list and the “organic growth” development program at West Lakes. Injuries have hurt, but this does not explain the disappointing performances — and sudden vacuum of on-field leadership — from senior players who appear the shadow of their reputations this season.
There are critical questions to answer.
The pre-season training program that appears to have demanded too much in a shortened time span — and delivered an extraordinarily high count of soft-tissue injuries rather than a greater fitness base.
The pre-season camp at the Gold Coast with the gamble on the Collective Minds program to make the Crows players mentally tougher — after a grand final defeat — creating mental scars that appear even more damaging than the nightmare left on the MCG against Richmond on September 30.
Just look at Eddie Betts, who has become a concern for his lack of goalscoring potency after being the Crows’ leading goalkicker in each of his first four seasons at Adelaide.
The questions posed in the grand final — that can never be dismissed as a “bad day” to end a “great season” — clearly have lingered for far too long.
And what message is being sent to the player group — especially after it choses link forward Tom Lynch to stay in the leadership panel — when a devoted Crow finds it difficult (again) to secure a new contract after knocking on the club’s door in October?
There is no point in Crows fans taking issue with players choosing to leave the club when list management at West Lakes has taken this turn to seek opportunities — and homegrown talent — in the upcoming AFL national draft in November.
After 13 games last season, Adelaide had a 9-4 win-loss record with a league-high percentage of 136.8 that highlighted the perfect connect between a rebounding defence and high-scoring attack. Today, it is 6-7 with the defence holding firm (conceding 82 points compared with last year’s count of 80) but the attack failing to live-up to last season’s 108-point average as it delivers a game average of 83 points (down by four goals).
Coach Don Pyke inherited a finals team when he took charge at the end of 2015. He noted the resilience of a player group that had been battered by unprecedented off-field issues. He kept the side on the upward march to last year’s grand final.
And not even Pyke would ignore the big questions to lean on injuries to explain the crisis that will test everyone at West Lakes in the next month when Adelaide has a mini-final series against league leader West Coast (home), AFL premiers Richmond (MCG) and top-four contender Geelong (home).
“We’re not playing well, that’s the bigger issue,” Pyke said. “Yes, we’ve had some personnel out. What toll that’s taken on some guys … we’ve asked a fair load from some guys who have come in.
“But we’ve also got guys who are experienced players who are just not playing well and they’re not in great form. As a group, we look like it’s a bit hard at the moment.”
A resilient group that savoured big challenges now appears physically and mentally beaten.
This is a big test for Pyke and his coaching group. The ability to admit to mistakes, learn from them and adjust is being watched externally. Internally, the question of the players “spirit and morale” — a topic put on the agenda by premiership captain Mark Bickley at the weekend — will be answered by how the group performs on the return from a much-need pause with the mid-season bye.
So many questions … so few answers. This is not where Adelaide thought it would be today.
ADELAIDE SNAPSHOT
POSITION: 11th
WINS: 6
LOSSES: 7
100.4%
LAST YEAR: 2nd
STORY SO FAR
R1 Essendon L12
R2 Richmond W36
R3 St Kilda W49
R4 Collingwood L48
R5 Sydney W10
R6 Gold Coast W48
R7 Carlton W55
R8 Port Adelaide L5
R9 W Bulldogs W37
R10 Melbourne L91
R11 GWS L16
R12 Fremantle L3
R13 Hawthorn L56
R14 bye
THE RUN HOME
R15 West Coast AO
R16 Richmond MCG
R17 Geelong AO
R18 Brisbane Gabba
R19 Melbourne AO
R20 Port Adelaide AO
R21 GWS Canberra
R22 N Melbourne AO
R23 Carlton Etihad Stadium
SURPRISE PACKET
TOM DOEDEE
CONSIDERING he took the longest — two years — from the first-round picks in the 2015 draft class to emerge in the AFL, there was a question mark on what the defender was to bring with his game. He has played all 13 matches this season since opportunity knocked with Jake Lever’s defection and Brodie Smith’s knee injury and has quickly asserted himself as a player with a long and promising career before him.
GONE BACKWARDS
EDDIE BETTS
ADELAIDE’S leading goalkicker for the past four years appears at a crossroad today. Betts has scored 19.13 in 11 games this season — with his average at its lowest since he left Carlton as a free agent in 2013. His past two games — with 3.7 — have left many question marks, including why Betts avoids long-range shots now and what did happen to him on that ill-fated Gold Coast camp. He is on contract for the next two seasons, but some expect Betts to change course if the goals continue to dry up.
FINALS ANALYSIS
ODDS from Ladbrokes for top eight $7
ODDS to win flag $67
FOR the first time since 2014 — the season that ended with coach Brenton Sanderson being sacked despite a two-year contract extension — Adelaide is in serious danger of missing the top-eight finals in September. The equation is clear: Seven wins from the remaining eight games. All will be decided in the next three games with battles against certain finalists West Coast, Richmond in the grand final rematch and Geelong. Premiership captain Mark Bickley says the verdict already is in: No finals for a “dispirited” Crows group.
UNKNOWN QUANTITY
EVERY question about Adelaide’s collapse from the 2017 minor premiership to a prospective 11th ranking at the end of the home-and-away series is sharp today. What happened at the Gold Coast pre-season training camp that was designed to make the Crows mentally stronger but has rattled the group? How did the pre-season training program leave the Crows players vulnerable to more soft-tissue injuries? Where is the “organic growth” that was supposed to strengthen the depth of the Adelaide squad to insure against injuries? Will vice-captain Rory Sloane ignore free agency? What has happened to the high-scoring Crows game? How much longer can lead ruckman Sam Jacobs carry such a heavy workload? The search for answers must begin soon.
MONEY MAN
DANIEL TALIA
REMARKABLY taken out of the Adelaide leadership group in a tough season when Daniel Talia has set the shining example for delivering by his reliable actions. The key defender has not had his colours lowered while playing impressive lockdown roles on the AFL’s big-time key forwards. Opposition coaches are now having to plan around Talia’s shutdown capabilities to find goals from other forwards. Should be in the All-Australian equation again.
michelangelo.rucci@news.com.au
Watch every match of every round of the 2018 Toyota AFL Premiership Season. SIGN UP NOW >
‘Potential All-Australian’: Former star backs Crow for huge year
A four-time AFL premiership great can see plenty of upside in a Crow that ‘has all the talent’ to become an All-Australian, if he stays fit.
SA footy fans miss out on Victorian ticket price perk
The 2025 AFL season is rapidly approaching, but don’t expect to get the same relief to the pocket that Victorian fans got when it comes to ticket prices at Adelaide Oval.