The optimism evident at Adelaide’s best-and-fairest has been eroded by Brad Crouch and Tyson Stengle’s alleged cocaine bust
The optimism surrounding Adelaide going into the off-season lasted all of two days. Now, the club is dealing with another crisis as its bitter cross-town rival Port Adelaide returns to finals as minor premier.
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Considering they won the wooden spoon in the year from hell, there was a strange sense of optimism surrounding Adelaide as its players went into their off-season, and it lasted all of two days.
After an encouraging final month in which a 0-13 start became a 3-14 finish, two high-profile coach signings in Scott Burns and Nathan van Berlo and a night of backslapping at its best-and-fairest on Friday, Adelaide has descended back into crisis after two players were caught by police with drugs on Monday.
And not just any two players – marquee free agent Brad Crouch who is seeking a lucrative, long-term deal to stay and Tyson Stengle who was charged with drink driving in April and handed a two-year contract extension in August.
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The tone of football manager Adam Kelly’s voice on Monday and his words suggested neither player should think themselves safe for next year.
It could not have come at a worse time for the players and the club which must have thought it was done with controversy after an external review led to a mass clean-out last year and the hope that they could move on from the infamous 2018 pre-season camp which had dogged them mercilessly.
Yet for all the optimism that came with new coach Matthew Nicks this year they’ve dealt with the worst record in club history, a Barossa Valley covid-breach and very public criticism from adored club legend Andrew McLeod.
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Nicks’ modus operandi since arriving at the club 12 months ago was to rebuild a culture that from the outside at least was seen as broken.
At 0-13 the spotlight could not have been more intense yet all the messaging coming out of West Lakes was the team was driven, determined, happy and united.
They were rightly praised for sticking fat when as captain Rory Sloane said they could have “fallen off the cliff” but instead rallied to challenge Geelong, then beat Hawthorn, GWS and Carlton on the way home.
They were lauded for playing the kids, Lachlan Sholl got a rising star nomination, Will Hamill, Andrew McPherson and Harry Schoenberg were cementing their spots, emerging big-man Elliott Himmelberg re-signed and ruckman Reilly O’Brien was crowned club champion after just 37 games.
The wheel was turning for the Crows and this latest crisis won’t change the way they finished the season or impact whether they win Round 1 next year, but as Kelly put it on Monday it is deflating for everyone in every sense.
“We’ve discussed a lot throughout this season what we are trying to build here as a club, and prioritising others,” Kelly said.
“We’d be disappointed in any regard but everyone has been working so hard to turn it around at the club and we felt like we were really getting some momentum and that’s why it’s so gutting that this has happened.
“We didn’t need it, it’s hard because I know people will look at this and say that reflects on the club and the playing group but our players have been working so hard and I’m just really disappointed for everyone at the club for what was a reasonable end to the season, we headed into the off-season in a positive frame of mind about the way in which we were able to turn things around, and for this to happen is really disappointing.”
As Adelaide deals with this latest crisis in a year it must wish would just hurry up and end, all the while cross-town rival Port Adelaide has sat on top of the ladder and is heading full steam into a home qualifying final on a journey to who knows where.
WHERE DOES LATEST INCIDENT LEAVE STENGLE?
Simeon Thomas-Wilson
When Adelaide announced Tyson Stengle would receive a two-year contract extension last month one quote from Crows list manager Justin Reid in particular stood out.
“Tyson has showed he has the talent to play at the highest level,” Reid said about the small forward.
After Monday morning’s incident Reid and the rest of the Crows heavy hitters will be seriously questioning whether the 21-year-old has the temperament or commitment to be in the AFL.
Stengle has already been banned for four-games for a drink driving incident in April, which he didn’t tell the club about for days after, and further punishment is expected to come his way once a court case into the matter is finalised.
So to be stopped by police along with Crouch and found to be allegedly in possession of an illicit substance surely puts Stengle’s career as a Crow at risk.
Last week the Crows head of football Adam Kelly said more Adelaide players would be departing the club once they found out just what list sizes for next season would be.
Stengle would have been safe given his contract status, but this latest brush with the law could significantly change things.
He responded well on the field to having to sit out four games of the season, really coming into his own in the back-half of the year when he kicked six goals in five games - including two good performances in the Crows’ wins over Hawthorn and GWS.
Those at the club were impressed by the way he looked to have responded from that April misdemeanour as he proved Reid’s words.
When Stengle did not show up in court last month on the charge, to stay in training and the club’s COVID-19 bubble so he could play games, Adelaide senior coach Matthew Nicks said the club would continue to support the young forward.
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“Part of our job is to help Tyson through it,” Nicks said.
“We’re going to work through it with him, he’s a fantastic person, he made a mistake and he will learn from it.”
But on the day where Harley Bennell - who showed just how multiple unwanted incidents can ruin a promising career - retired it appears Stengle has not learnt from this earlier “mistake”.
There is no doubt Stengle will cop more punishment from the club for this incident, Kelly said on Monday a sanction “is inevitable” once the Crows leaders get all the information.
“Tyson has had a very disappointing six months and that will come into our thinking,” he said.
Stengle will be hoping he gets another chance at West Lakes, and his talent may well secure him one, but he can have no complaints if Adelaide decide enough is enough.