My Two Cents: Historic SANFL double in Adelaide’s sights
SANFL traditionalists won’t like it but the Crows are on track to win their first state league flag, writes Andrew Capel.
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The Crows are coming.
Traditional SANFL fans won’t like it but Adelaide is in line for a historic state league double this season.
The Crows' convincing win against top-of-the-table Glenelg at the Bay last Saturday, which snapped the Tigers’ 11-game winning streak, was a warning shot to the rest of the competition that it means serious business this year as it zeros in on a first SANFL premiership.
And dynamic midfielder Harry Schoenberg produced another best afield performance – his fourth of the season according to The Advertiser’s panel of experts – to enhance his claims of becoming Adelaide’s inaugural Magarey Medallist.
The Crows have never made a SANFL grand final, nevertheless won one.
Three times they have made a preliminary final – in 2016, 2019 and 2022 – but fallen short of the big dance, losing to Sturt, Glenelg and Norwood respectively.
They might have been within a Luke Pedlar injury of making last year’s grand final after the star midfielder/forward was a late withdrawal against the Redlegs and they lost by 11 points after leading at three-quarter time.
This year – Adelaide’s ninth in the SANFL after it was forced to withdraw from the competition for a season in 2020 because of Covid restrictions – could be different.
With few injuries to their AFL-listed players, the Crows are the form team of the competition and looming large with the finals fast approaching.
They dismantled Glenelg, which hadn’t lost since round one on April 1, on its home deck on Saturday, snapping the club’s fifth-longest winning streak on record.
The final margin of 20 points did not do justice to Adelaide’s dominance after it led by a commanding 46 points at the final change.
“They outplayed us for the first three quarters and, as was the case in our first contest a few weeks back (in Round 8 when the Bays won a thriller by two points after a late Matthew Allen goal), they can move the ball quickly and apply scoreboard pressure on you in a short space of time,’’ Tigers coach Darren Reeves noted.
The previous week, the Crows torched finals-chasing Central District at Nuriootpa Oval by 11 goals, leaving Bulldogs coach and former Adelaide AFL assistant Paul Thomas scratching his head.
“Adelaide’s ability, with their seasoned AFL bodies, to go out of the contest with their handball was the remarkable difference in the game,’’ he said.
“They were so clean with their ball take and movement and we just couldn’t control the ball in the same manner.’’
The Crows sit third on the SANFL ladder with a 9-4 win-loss record and competition-best percentage of 60.2.
They are two wins plus percentage clear of fourth-placed Port Adelaide and are almost certain to finish in the top three and seal the coveted double chance in the finals.
Their four losses – to Central, Sturt, Glenelg and North Adelaide – have been by a combined 25 points.
The only SANFL team that doesn’t have a suburban home ground and plays in front of only a handful of fans each week, the Crows’ form at Adelaide Oval, where the finals are played, is spectacular.
They have won all three games they have played at the famous ground this season – against the Magpies, Panthers and Eagles – by an average of 61 points.
Adelaide SANFL coach Michael Godden, who coached the Eagles to a premiership in 2011, is making no secret of the fact the Crows want to break their SANFL flag drought.
“We are definitely in it to win it,’’ he said.
“It would be a nice reward for the boys if they could, with all the things they have to put up with (no home ground or crowd support).’’
Adelaide, which has only one AFL-listed player ruled out for the year through injury – key defender Tom Doedee (knee) – fielded a modest 15 AFL-listed players against Glenelg and still won convincingly.
It fielded 18 against the Eagles in Round 9, along with SANFL marquee player Jack Magden and captain and former Crows and Carlton forward Matthew Wright.
Under SANFL rules, Adelaide – and Port – can field 17 AFL-listed players in finals or 16 plus their marquee signing.
All AFL-listed players are eligible for selection if their AFL team is also playing finals.
If their AFL team is eliminated, strict qualification rules apply.
Under these rules, a player must have played a higher percentage of SANFL minor round games than AFL matches and at least three SANFL games after the halfway mark of the season.
Right now, the Crows’ SANFL on-ball brigade is looking frightening, with gun ruckman Kieran Strachan and midfielders Schoenberg, Crows’ 2017 All-Australian and AFL club champion Matt Crouch, Sam Berry, Jackson Hately and former Collingwood Magpie Tyler Brown on track to qualify.
That is a scary proposition for rival clubs.
Schoenberg is on track to become the first Crow to claim the SANFL’s highest individual honour, the Magarey Medal.
He leads The Advertiser SANFL Player of the Year voting with 17 votes – three more than second-placed Tom Lewis from Sturt.
Schoenberg has polled votes (awarded like the Magarey Medal on a 3, 2, 1 basis) from The Advertiser writers in seven of the 10 games he has played at state league level this season.
It could be the year of the Crow.
NUMBERS GAME
17
Points that Adelaide led GWS by at three-quarter time before losing by 14.
29
Disposals for Melbourne ruckman Max Gawn against Brisbane after sidekick Brodie Grundy’s demotion.
QUOTES OF THE WEEK
“It wasn’t personnel, it was the way we played – and the way we played was not good enough.’’
Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley after his team’s 13-game winning streak was ended by Carlton.
“Port better bring their A-game because we are coming over there and we are going to give it our best.’’
Collingwood defender Brayden Maynard on this week’s blockbuster clash against the Power.
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