Taylor Walker says Paul Seedsman and Tom Doedee are bright lights in Adelaide’s season
ADELAIDE skipper Taylor Walker on the surprise packets powering Crows fightback and his feud with Kane Cornes.
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HIS feud with Kane Cornes won’t be going away anytime soon but Adelaide is back on track says skipper Taylor Walker.
Adelaide pursued plenty of soul searching after a disappointing home loss to Collingwood where Walker was singled out for criticism by commentators including Cornes.
Walker’s four-goal spree set up Adelaide’s 10-point upset of Sydney at the SCG last Friday despite the absence of linchpins Eddie Betts and Rory Sloane.
“It was a very good win for us,” said Walker of Adelaide, in seventh spot with a 3-2 win-loss record.
“We had to review the Collingwood game and change our mindset a bit. It was a fair bit off where we wanted it to be.
“We had to tweak a few things. It might sound silly but weren’t too far off, we were able to set the standard and that is what we will play with for the rest of the year.”
Walker said he wasn’t motivated by comments from The Advertiser columnist Kane Cornes citing his “lack of presence and mediocre effort” in a display that was “not conducive to a captain’s game” against Collingwood.
“We realise where we are at and didn’t need too much firing up,” Walker told Triple M.
However, Walker said he ‘probably’ wouldn’t say hello to Power 2004 premiership on-baller Cornes in a public setting.
“I suppose that’s what he gets paid to do, make headlines but I suppose week in, week out it gets a bit long in the tooth,” said Walker of Cornes in a sign of the friction between the pair who trade barbs on social media.
Walker believes Collingwood’s defeat of Adelaide and a ladder that has West Coast and North Melbourne in the top three showed how the AFL’s equalisation policy was working.
“You have to rock up every week to win. It is what the AFL has wanted for years and finally getting it. You have to be fully alert the whole time,” said Walker, voted the best skipper in the AFL by 59 per cent of 1500 respondents in an online poll for The Advertiser on Monday.
Walker noted the positives in Adelaide’s mixed season where Paul Seedsman and rookie Tom Doedee have stood up in the absence of injured Brodie Smith and Melbourne defector Jake Lever.
Former Magpie Seedsman was exceptional with a goal and 26 touches (12 contested) against Sydney, providing all the rebound that halfback Brodie Smith delivered before tearing an anterior cruciate ligament last September.
“He is playing some really good footy for us Seedo, I suppose it for us it has been about getting his body right to play consistently and is reaping the rewards now,” said Walker of Seedsman.
Doedee waited three years for his AFL debut but is making up for lost time. Doedee held the Crows defence together with Daniel Talia and Rory Laird after a first quarter hamstring injury to key tall Kyle Hartigan.
“He has created an opportunity for himself to play at AFL level, doing it quite comfortably and when he has the footy is quite composed, defends really well and helps his other defenders out,” said Walker.