Adelaide Crows have plenty to be concerned about after lacklustre opening Marsh Series match against Melbourne
If the underwhelming performance against Melbourne is anything to go by, the Adelaide Crows – and their first-year coach Matthew Nicks – could be in for a long season, writes Graham Cornes.
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After a summer of positivity, re-establishing coach/player relationships and building morale, Adelaide Crows fans would be excused for having high expectations.
Indeed, without high expectations, a team is consigned to mediocrity.
However, who, after last Sunday’s Marsh Series match against Melbourne, hasn’t revised their 2020 expectations for the Crows?
They say that first impressions can be misleading.
One can only hope that is the case because the impression that we were left with after Adelaide’s first serious hitout is that it will be a long, difficult season.
It is true that they were missing key players in Taylor Walker and Brodie Smith, as well as Darcy Fogarty whose potential continues to excite, but we at least needed to see glimpses of improvement.
Unfortunately, we didn’t.
The midfield still looked slow.
The defence looked brittle and failed to provide the run and attack so vital in today’s football, and none of the tall forwards stood up.
Whether it was poor supply or not, the Crows forwards failed to command the ball and never threatened to kick a winning score.
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Additionally, the game style did little to excite.
Matthew Nicks has spent his first summer with the Crows emphasising team defence.
It was the foundation of any success the Sydney Swans had, but it can be terribly boring and static at times.
Besides, the Swans had Lance Franklin, one of the game’s most exciting and dangerous forwards.
Adelaide’s does not appear to have an emerging Buddy Franklin.
There are other circumstances, however, that might partly explain its opening pre-season performance.
The Crows were playing Melbourne – a team that is on a mission after last season’s disappointment.
The Demons have invested in one of the best high-performance managers in Darren Burgess who has them fitter than they have ever been.
In addition, they have primed themselves since the end of their last season to be in the best possible shape to start this season.
It might explain why they looked sharper and cleaner with their ball use.
After a scrappy first quarter, Melbourne definitely looked a class above the Crows.
However, there are some football skills that have absolutely nothing to do with class.
The first thing a team has to do is win the ball.
The ugliest looking footballer can win a contested ball if he is so motivated.
It is an area in which Matthew Nicks must demand improvement.
Adelaide’s midfield bulls are capable, but not consistent.
Ominously, Champion Data’s 2020 AFL Prospectus, the statistical Bible of rankings, rates the Adelaide midfield as 17th of the 18 teams in the competition.
They don’t always get it right at Champion Data, for last year they ranked Melbourne as the second-best team in the AFL.
Nevertheless, it’s obvious the “experts” don’t rate Adelaide highly.
For years now the fans have been concerned about the Crows lack of pace through the midfield.
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It goes back as far as Neil Craig’s days.
He defended the criticism by emphasising one of football’s oldest truism.
“If the brain and the hands are quick, leg-speed is not so important,” Craig said.
Unfortunately, the thing about that particular truism is there is only an element of truth within. Leg-speed is vital in today’s game.
The champion teams not only think and move the ball quickly, they have the leg-speed to get to the contest, to carry the ball, to break the lines and penetrate deep into their forward half. It’s been a constant problem for the Crows.
Chayce Jones, in his second year at the Crows, promises to be that quick, tearaway midfielder and for brief moments in his eight-game career he has displayed that potential.
However, in the past he has either been deprived of opportunity or failed to earn it.
It’s a vital year for the young Tasmanian.
Champion Data does not rate Adelaide’s forward line either, ranking them 16th of the 18 teams.
Josh Jenkins and Eddie Betts have gone.
As maligned as Jenkins was, he did kick goals and Eddie Betts? Well, there was only one Eddie Betts.
The Crows’ forward line will be built around Walker and Fogarty.
Does the popular Walker still have a winning season left in that big football body?
He’s been at the club since 2007 for 189 games, been in a pre-season premiership team, taken the Crows to a grand final as captain and led the team through its darkest moments.
This may be his last chance to experience football’s ultimate success.
Talk of him playing on the wing surely is nonsense.
His best football is played closer to goal.
So, Fogarty becomes the key.
We’ve seen his football talent and what he is capable of.
We just need to see it more consistently.
However, it’s Adelaide’s small forwards that present a challenge.
Since Richmond’s bewildering emergence as an AFL power, frenetic ground level forward line pressure has become a vital requirement for AFL success.
Murphy and Stengle can bring that quality, but they will have to impact the scoreboard if the Crows are to kick winning scores.
It’s a popular theory that AFL success is built on defence, and while this summer has been spent working on team defence, Adelaide needs more from its defenders.
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Daniel Talia is the elite tall defender and Brodie Smith, Rory Laird and now Wayne Milera can be as good as any running defenders in the competition.
But it’s the lack of run and poor use of the ball that is most concerning about the Crows defenders.
Adelaide selected Fischer McAsey with its first pick in last year’s national draft.
So impressive has the young man been, and such is the Crows’ need, that he is likely to get his opportunity sooner rather than later.
Amid the gloom of last week there were positives.
Reilly O’Brien showed his growing importance as a ruckman.
Rory Atkins and Wayne Milera continued to show their class.
And there were brief, flickering glimpses of new talent in Ben Keays and Shane McAdam.
They’ve had their chances before, but there was definitely something to like about both players.
In any of life’s endeavours – in this case a football team’s performance – there is a scale of expectation.
At one end of that spectrum is optimism.
At the other end is pessimism.
Somewhere in between those two extremes is reality.
After last weekend, the pessimist saw a season of hardship for the Crows.
We can only hope those first impressions were indeed misleading and the optimist will eventually prevail.
Originally published as Adelaide Crows have plenty to be concerned about after lacklustre opening Marsh Series match against Melbourne