Mid-season review: After a troubled 1-3 start, the Crows are making a strong case to be considered an AFL premiership threat
Adelaide started the year among the premiership favourites. And at 8-5 after a rocky start, the Crows are well placed to push for a top-four finish and much more in September.
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Adelaide is putting the AFL world on notice. The pre-season forecasts of the Crows rebounding after a disastrous 2018 season are valid again.
At 8-5 — and with a favourable draw after the mid-season break — Adelaide is a definite top-eight finalist for September. All that is left to learn is where the Crows will fit in that top eight … and how far they can go in September.
Port Adelaide mid-season review: Power needs to surge in second half
Not in question is how coach Don Pyke has changed Adelaide from the AFL’s most-attacking team to one of the toughest to crack with a grinding defensive game.
“We’re back in the hunt,” says Pyke.
“But the reality is we have to keep winning.”
Adelaide should win seven of the remaining nine home-and-away games to finish the preliminaries at 15-7, possibly 16-6 if the Crows overcome top-four rival West Coast in the teams’ first meeting at the new Perth Stadium in Round 21.
The Crows are definitely back in the conversation as a top-four contender — and perhaps a premiership fancy.
“Still not sure … still not sure,” said North Melbourne premiership great Wayne Carey last week when, as the Crows were pushing away an undermanned Richmond, he was asked the question of where Adelaide fits in the race to September.
The answer might not be there — yet. But at least the Crows have rebounded after a concerning opening month to have the question back in play.
With a relatively healthy player list — just young defender Tom Doedee (knee) out of contention at selection — Adelaide is rich with advantages on how to handle the build-up to September.
Lead ruckman — or is he still? — Sam Jacobs is ready to return after recovering from a knee injury that put him on the sidelines after Round 2. And what is to be seen of high-priced Carlton midfielder Bryce Gibbs once he — like key forward Josh Jenkins — finishes being “reprogrammed” in the SANFL?
For the question of where Adelaide sits in the premiership race now, there is no doubt Pyke has created a tougher team to crack — and the spirit of the Crows team is ominous to all those who misread the players’ intent.
The standout notes from Adelaide’s first half are:
BRAD CROUCH — What a comeback! All the frustration of Season 2018 — that was wiped out by groin issues and then surgery — has been directed to making up for lost time this season. The eager midfielder leads Adelaide in handling the ball — his average is at 30, his season high is 43 (against Richmond at the last start) and his game count has never been less than 24 this season.
REILLY O’BRIEN — Ambition and opportunity have collided perfectly for the novice ruckman. He started the season with just two AFL games to his record — and the bold declaration he wanted to take the No. 1 mantle from the Crows’ most valuable (and important) player, Jacobs.
O’Brien has taken his chance — after Jacobs was sidelined with a knee injury in Round 2 — to dismiss the pre-season concerns created when he was overwhelmed by Port Adelaide rival Patrick Dangerfield in the country summer Showdown. He now has Jacobs wondering who holds Pyke’s favour.
ALEX KEATH — It is always good to be wanted beyond your own club when a contract has to be renewed. Every concern Adelaide had after losing Doedee to a year-ending knee injury in the season-opening game against Hawthorn has been covered by Keath emerging as a roadblock to opposition forward sorties with his intercept marking.
Keath, a former first-class cricketer, has been creating blocks with his team-leading 84 marks this season. To be mentioned as an All-Australian contender would have his manager busy fielding calls from rival clubs. It is all about timing.
At 8-5 — and with just three of the remaining nine home-and-away games against top-four rivals (Geelong in Round 15, West Coast in Round 21 and Collingwood in Round 22) — Adelaide should be expecting to rank between fourth and sixth before the next in-season break.
This is marginally off the pre-season forecasts from outside the clubhouse of a top-two finish. But Adelaide, as it proved with its triumphs in 1997 and 1998, does not need to be the best team from March to late August to win the flag.
And there is certainly a strong spirit in Pyke’s crew to make Adelaide an ominous contender, even from outside the top-four — as the Western Bulldogs were in 2016. Remaining healthy with a minimal injury list at West Lakes and hard to crack with its defensive game will make the Crows a team many will fear in September, regardless of where Adelaide ranks at the end of the preliminaries in late August.
QUOTE, UNQUOTE
At that stage (1-3) we had some things we needed to change in our game. To the players’ credit, to the coaches’ credit, we’ve been able to go away and (ask): ‘What do we want to be about? What will create winning for us?’
Crows coach DON PYKE
GAME PLAN
ADELAIDE’S playbook has changed, more out of reaction to the poor finish in 2017 rather than to any reaction to the collapse from minor premier to 12th in 2018 or to the nine rule changes delivered by the AFL in December.
In 2017, Adelaide charged to the minor premiership with an attacking-minded game that delivered an average score of 108 points (but only 60 on grand final day). In 2019, the Crows’ scoring average is 82 points — the team’s lowest since Neil Craig’s final season in 2011.
In 2019, Adelaide has built its new challenge for the more meaningful premiership — the one decided in September — while conceding just 72 points in a match. This is the meanest Crows defence since the minor premiership season in 2005 (69-point average in conceding).
It is a major shift from coach Don Pyke. In 2017, the playbook appeared to be written to emphasise the Crows’ players skills; in 2019, the game plan would seem to be based on putting an emphasis on a team game that will win in September.
It is brutally grinding on opposition teams. And when the cracks appear — as noted late against Greater Western Sydney and Richmond in the two games before the mid-season break — the Crows can turn up the attacking heat to scorch opponents.
The balance between defensive strategies and attacking plays makes for a “must watch” theme with the Crows in the second half of the season.
CO-CAPTAINS
ADELAIDE — after being strongly against the growing trend in the AFL for co-captains — followed its women’s team format with co-captains for this season. Midfielder Rory Sloane took up the captaincy for the first time since 2014 when he and Patrick Dangerfield shared the responsibilities as skipper Nathan van Berlo was put on the sidelines by a pre-season training accident (Achilles damage).
Key forward Taylor Walker, who replaced van Berlo as captain in 2015, is co-captain for the first time.
It has been a first half of contrasting achievements as players — let alone captains — for Sloane and Walker.
Sloane has made a strong impression in the midfield, repeatedly carrying the Adelaide team on his shoulders. Responsibility certainly does not weight down the soul of this Crows team.
Walker has responded to many critics — some of whom were great players in their era — with stand-out moments in Adelaide’s wins against Greater Western Sydney and Richmond in the two games before the mid-season break.
The old school that prefers teams to have one captain will struggle to see any damage done to Adelaide’s on-field work by the Sloane-Walker partnership.
RECRUITS
TYSON STENGLE (Richmond) — Has not played AFL this season.
SHANE McADAM (Sturt) — Has not played AFL this season.
DRAFTEES
CHAYCE JONES — Adelaide’s No. 9 draftee from the November player lottery has featured in six games (for a 1-5 count), including the first four of the season. The Tasmanian recruit has shown the pace Adelaide needs to inject to its line-up — and a serious appetite for tackling when he has played as a small forward applying “forward pressure” inside-50.
COACH
DON Pyke’s win-draw-loss record is 54-1-29 (a commanding 65 per cent winning rate) in his four seasons at Adelaide.
Pyke now, after a concerning start to the season with a 1-3 count, is certainly on path to avoid repetitive absences from September — and a difficult review at West Lakes.
While there is still the jibe about Pyke’s stubborn approach on match day, the same critics of his work need to acknowledge how Pyke has successfully adjusted his playbook — even in season — to make the Crows a tougher unit that can compete for longer and with greater chance of winning.
Pyke’s tough approach with key forward Josh Jenkins, forcing a “re-program” in the SANFL, has been another success story. To be seen in the second half of the season is whether the same success will come with 2006 No. 1 draftee Bryce Gibbs who came to Adelaide from Carlton at the end of the 2017 season at a high cost (two first-round draft picks).
On contract to the end of 2021.
CLUB CHAMPION
Rory Sloane
IT is a match race in the Adelaide midfield — with Rory Sloane and the “comeback kid” Brad Crouch — and an intriguing challenge from the Crows defence with Alex Keath in the race for the gold jacket that comes with the Malcolm Blight Medal in the Crows club champion count.
Crouch’s comeback from groin issues that wiped out all of his football in Season 2018 is extraordinary as he leads the Crows counters for disposals. Keath’s work in defence — where he has taken a team-high 84 marks — has the former cricketer in discussion for All-Australian nomination and a rich new contract.
But there is so much to admire in Sloane’s work, even when he is heavily tagged, to make a difference for his team in the blue-collar categories, as highlighted with his team-leading 83 tackles. A third gold jacket (to add to the 2013 and 2016 titles) would put Sloane in elite company at West Lakes.
GRADING
B
TO sit in the top four, albeit on a premiership table that is distorted during the mid-season byes, tells much of how much Adelaide has adjusted on the run after a disturbing 1-3 start.
“We asked, ‘What do we want to be about? What will create winning for us?’,” noted Crows coach Don Pyke of the tough discussions the Adelaide players and coaches had after the 12-point loss to North Melbourne in Round 4.
The answers to these questions appear to be: (a) a team that will not be easily pushed around; (b) defence is the foundation for victory; (c) the Crows will — as highlighted against Melbourne, GWS and Richmond — be fighting to “red time” in the last quarter.
As in 1997-98, the Crows will not be the best team from March to late August. But they will have the spirit to be among the best contenders in September.
COMING UP
IT has been a season of shifting projections for Adelaide. Pre-season: Definite top-two finisher after clearing away all the side shows from 2018. First month: At 1-3, will the Crows even make the top eight? Mid-season break: Can Adelaide push for a top-four finish?
At 8-5, a return to top-eight finals action in September seems a certainty. Will it be from fourth spot behind Geelong, Collingwood and Greater Western Sydney? Or fifth spot behind West Coast?
SAM JACOBS
WHO would have imagined Adelaide could hold up — and advance — its case in the premiership race without its lead ruckman Sam Jacobs, who was sidelined by a knee injury after the Round 2 win against Sydney at the SCG?
The Crows have managed a 7-4 win-loss record in the 11 games without Jacobs and now have a serious debate on how to usher him back into the side after watching novice ruckman Reilly O’Brien blossom, particularly in the past month.
Jacobs is the better craftsman as a ruckman. O’Brien has developed significant qualities to his groundball game. The question Adelaide has dismissed so often — Can the Crows play Jacobs and O’Brien in the same side? — has a new edge to it, particularly with the loss of key forward and ruck back-up Josh Jenkins (knee).
FIXTURE
ADELAIDE resumes from the mid-season break with the biggest challenge in the AFL today — playing top-ranked Geelong at Kardinia Park. The Crows have a 3-17 win-loss record at Geelong since 1991 — and no win in 10 games since 2004. It is some assignment — and some chance to make a statement as the AFL critics seek clarity on just where Adelaide sits in the premiership race.
After the Corio Bay trip, the Crows have a Showdown with Port Adelaide, then four consecutive matches with teams in the bottom 10 and a season-defining brace of tests against the 2017 grand finalists — West Coast in Perth and Collingwood at Adelaide Oval.
The home-and-away season ends in Ballarat against a Western Bulldogs unit that could be out of contention by Round 23.
June 28 v Geelong (Kardinia Park)
July 6 v Port Adelaide (Adelaide Oval)
July 13 v Gold Coast (Metricon Stadium)
July 19 v Essendon (Adelaide Oval)
July 27 v Carlton (MCG)
August 3 v St Kilda (Adelaide Oval)
August 11 v West Coast (Perth Stadium)
August 17 v Collingwood (Adelaide Oval)
R23 v Western Bulldogs (Ballarat)
MOST LIKELY — Win 7, lose 2
FINAL COUNT — 15-7, play finals
CRUNCH GAME
Round 21 v West Coast at Perth Stadium
This game could be a play-off for fourth spot — and the double chance. And it would say much of the Crows if they win on the road before a final series that could have Adelaide play three of four finals away from Adelaide Oval.
Adelaide has not played West Coast at the Perth Stadium. The Crows have won only one of the past four matches against the Eagles — and there is that last-half collapse against West Coast at Adelaide Oval in Round 10 to correct.
Who rucks in this match? Does Adelaide have Sam Jacobs restored as its No. 1 ruckman ahead of Reilly O’Brien? Does West Coast have Nic Naitanui holding up in his return from a serious knee injury?
BY THE NUMBERS
WIN-LOSS: 8-5 (6-7 in 2018; 9-4 in 2017).
HOME: 5-3
AWAY: 3-2
SCORED: Average 82 (down six points on 2018)
AGAINST: Average 72 (down 13 points on 2018)
PLAYERS USED: 31
LEADING GOLAKICKER: Eddie Betts (26)
TEAM RANKINGS
DISPOSALS … 3
KICKS .......... 4
HANDBALLS … 5
MARKS ....... 7
CONTESTED. 2
CLEARANCES. 6
TACKLES ... 2
INSIDE-50s ... 7
HIT-OUTS ... 7
HO to advantage . 8
PLAYER LEADERS
DISPOSALS
Brad Crouch … 413
KICKS
Brad Crouch … 211
HANDBALLS
Brad Crouch ... 202
MARKS
Alex Keath … 84
HIT-OUTS
Reilly O’Brien … 384
TACKLES
Rory Sloane … 83
BEST
R12 — defeated Greater Western Sydney, 12.10 (82) to 9.7 (61) at Adelaide Oval.
NEEDING a big scalp — after failing against established top-eight contenders such as West Coast at home a fortnight earlier — the Crows put themselves back in the conversation of being a premiership challenger by beating the second-ranked Giants with a manic defensive grind and a grand finish built on contrasting attacking plays. Co-captain Taylor Walker sparked the four-goal rush that sank GWS with a telling pack mark that silenced his critics.
WORST
R4 — lost to North Melbourne, 8.11 (59) to 9.17 (71) at Marvel Stadium.
NO surprise there was a frank 20-minute meeting between the Crows players and their coaches after this match. Despite playing on a ground that rewards fast-moving plays, particularly on the rebound from half-back, the Crows were stop-start delivering just 36 inside-50s — and far from creative in the second half when they scored 2.5 with key forwards Josh Jenkins and Taylor Walker struggling. Coach Don Pyke’s weekend was spent on a major review of his game plan.
michelangelo.rucci@news.com.au
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