Adelaide Crows desperate to break seven-year MCG hoodoo to stay in AFL finals hunt

The Adelaide Crows are desperate to defeat the Hawks this weekend to continue an unlikely push towards finals – but they’ll have to beat a seven-year hoodoo to do so.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA. May 18, 2024. AFL round 10É Collingwood vs. Adelaide at the MCG. Rory Laird of the Crows clears by hand during the 4th qtr. . Pic: Michael Klein

Adelaide senior coach Matthew Nicks says the Crows are desperate to claim their first win at the MCG since 2017 and “keep up” with the top group of the 2024 season.

After thumping West Coast last time out the Crows will take on Hawthorn at the MCG on Saturday.

Adelaide has not tasted victory at the MCG since Round 15 in 2017, when the Crows defeated Carlton.

Nicks said the Crows were desperate for that hoodoo to end.

“We are playing at a venue that we haven’t had the best record at,” Nicks said.

“We love playing there but we haven’t had an outcome that we are pleased with.

“We are really keen to go over there and give it our best crack.

“We have a lot of belief out of last week, we’ve had a block of around seven games where we feel our footy has been played at a pretty good standard, we again haven’t got the results that we are after throughout that.”

Rory Laird fires a handball clear the last time the Crows played at the MCG. Picture: Michael Klein

But of even more importance to the Crows will be keeping up with the other sides trying to make finals.

After their slow start, the Crows are now 10-points off the eighth-placed Blues.

Nicks said it made the Hawks clash an important one.

“I think we really want this one, we understand what a win will mean for us as far as our season shapes up,” he said.

“If you look at how the ladder is shaping up there is a bit of a gap between the top and what looks to be the bottom so we have to win to keep up with that top group.”

Hawthorn come into the game off the back of some excellent form of late.

“They are a very good contested side, it starts in their midfield, they are as good as any in there, they’ve got some real bulls that love attacking the footy,” Nicks said.

“If you look at data and statistics, the ground ball for them is extremely strong, we are going to have our work cut out for us, we know that.

“We are coming up against a team last week that was coming off some pretty good form against Melbourne, Hawthorn has a real block of form, so we are going to have a big challenge.”

Skipper Jordan Dawson walked laps at training on Wednesday but will be right to go after his massive game against the Eagles.

Key defender Nick Murray will play in the SANFL after his recovery from an ACL, while Josh Worrell is back in the gym after breaking his arm against Brisbane.

This followed on from Harry Schoenberg playing against West Coast following his Achilles injury last year, while Riley Thilthorpe is eyeing a return after the Crows’ mid-season bye from his knee injury suffered in pre-season.

Originally published as Adelaide Crows desperate to break seven-year MCG hoodoo to stay in AFL finals hunt