AFL 2021: Follow the latest Adelaide Crows news ahead of Round 19 clash against Hawthorn
A matchwinner, Rising Star nominee and lifelong Crows supporter. Adelaide have re-signed exciting young gun Riley Thilthorpe for another three years.
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Adelaide has locked away young gun Riley Thilthorpe for another three years.
Thilthorpe, the Crows’ highest ever draft pick after being taken at No. 2 in December, was already under contract until 2022 but on Friday the club re-signed him to the end of 2025.
The 18-year-old key forward has played 11 games in his debut season, kicking 17.8 and averaging 10.64 disposals.
He booted the matchwinning major against St Kilda in Cairns in Round 13 and was named as the AFL’s Rising Star that week.
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Thilthorpe, a lifelong Crows supporter, was excited to recommit to the club.
“I’ve really enjoyed my first season in the AFL system and being given the opportunity to play for the club I grew up barracking for,” Thilthorpe said.
“It’s been great to work closely with all of my coaches but also the experience of someone like Taylor Walker in the forward line helping my development.
“I’m excited about the future of the club and am happy to know I’ll be here for the next four years, which will allow me to continue to focus on my footy.”
Thilthorpe played two seasons of league football for West Adelaide before being drafted.
Crows list manager Justin Reid said Thilthorpe was a big part of the club’s future and it was delighted to keep him at West Lakes.
“We know how talented he is but what makes him a special player is his work ethic and appetite to get better,” Reid said.
“He is constantly working on his game with his coaches and doing extra sessions which is a great sign for the future.
“He has made a terrific start to his AFL career and he is a very important part of where we are heading with this young group.”
Thilthorpe kicked five goals on debut against Hawthorn in Tasmania in Round 6 then went on to play every game until being managed last week.
He joins a host of Crows in re-signing this season, including Taylor Walker (2022), Tom Doedee (2023), Rory Laird (2026), Reilly O’Brien (2025), Brodie Smith (2024), Darcy Fogarty (2023) and Shane McAdam (2023).
Thilthorpe has been named as an emergency for Adelaide’s clash with Hawthorn at Marvel Stadium on Saturday night.
CROWS STARS TO JOIN RIVALS IN BID FOR MATCH PRACTICE
Adelaide’s reserve players will join Richmond and Geelong in a Sunday scratch match after the Crows secured a run out for their chargers outside of the AFL team.
In a scenario that was constant in the Queensland hub in 2020, the Crows players will join in with their Tigers and Cats counterparts on Sunday at Punt Road.
With the Crows list in Melbourne and the SANFL postponed this weekend it will be an opportunity for gun Adelaide midfielder Matt Crouch to ramp up his return to footy, after playing on limited minutes in the state league last weekend.
No.2 draft pick Riley Thilthorpe could also feature with the young key forward left out of the Crows side for the second week running – although he could be the medical sub for Adelaide on Saturday night.
Crows players taking part in the scratch match will likely be donning a Tigers or Cats guernsey with Adelaide midfield coach Nathan van Berlo revealing they were helping Richmond and Geelong make up the numbers in the 18 v 18 match.
“I believe at this stage we are playing a game at 11am at Punt Road on Sunday which will be a combination of the Adelaide footy club, Geelong footy club and Richmond footy clubs,” he said on SEN SA.
“So we will play a bit of a hybrid 18 v 18 game there with mixed teams … it means our guys who would be playing in the SANFL can keep their match fitness up and press for selection.
“That’s a win for us, the boys can keep training and playing.”
The Crows will train at Essendon’s training ground on Friday ahead of their clash against Hawthorn on Saturday night.
Van Berlo said the partners of some players had come over to be in Melbourne, while there is the prospect families could also fly over to join them.
Frampton earns Crows recall
Billy Frampton’s late season change from forward to defence will continue with the tall earning a recall to Adelaide’s side to take on Hawthorn.
The key forward played down back in the second half of Adelaide’s horror show against Essendon two weeks ago, and then followed that up with a 31 disposal and 13 mark game as a defender in the SANFL.
With the Crows looking to snap a form slide that now has them in the mix for a second-straight wooden spoon, Adelaide midfielder Rory Laird said this might involve some players trying some new roles.
“You might see some players try some different things or people are playing well and they come into the side Nicksy (Matthew Nicks) has been really happy for guys to come into the side and play a role for us in the team,” he said.
After being ruled out of the loss to West Coast by the AFL, despite the Crows feeling he didn’t suffer concussion, Tom Doedee also returns to the side along with medical sub last week Lachie Sholl.
Key defender Nick Murray misses through concussion suffered in the Eagles loss, while James Rowe is being managed and David Mackay dropped.
After being rested last week No. 2 Draft pick Riley Thilthorpe remains out of the 22, although he could be the medical sub.
Laird said the Crows had looked at some aspects of their game to snap the losing streak.
“I think for a long period of time during the season we had quality performances,” he said.
“It was only the GWS game that was a bit of a blowout and you could argue that we were in every game.
“The last couple of weeks and even up to a month we have dropped away from that and it’s not just one area of the game, it starts at the contest and when we give up field position in the middle it is hard for us to move the football all the way down the field.
“We’ve addressed a few things in terms of how we have moved the ball and some of our contest stuff that will take us back to earlier in the season and hopefully take us back to some of the form that we showed against Melbourne and Geelong.
“There’s no why we can’t do that for the rest of the season, some of the last couple of weeks have been pretty disappointing but it won’t surprise me if we turn that around pretty quick.”
ADELAIDE CROWS v HAWTHORN
Saturday July 24, 7:40pm at Marvel Stadium
CROWS
B: Hamill, Butts, Kelly
HB: Smith, Doedee, Jones
C: Sholl, Keays, Seedsman
HF: McHenry, Fogarty, Murphy
F: Lynch, Himmelberg, Walker
FOLL: O’Brien, Laird, Sloane
I/C: Berry, Schoenberg, McPherson, Frampton
EMG: Mackay, Thilthorpe, O’Connor, Rowe
IN: Doedee, Frampton
OUT: Rowe (managed), Murray (injured), Mackay (omitted)
HAWKS
B: Grainger-Barras, Hartigan, Howe
HB: Hardwick, Frost, Scrimshaw
C: Moore, Worpel, Bramble
HF: Wingard, Breust, O’Meara
F: Koschitzke, O’Brien, Lewis
FOLL: McEvoy, Mitchell, Shiels
I/C: Reeves, Cousins, Phillips, Brockman
EMG: Greaves, Nash, Burgoyne, Jeka
IN: Hardwick, Scrimshaw, Wingard
OUT: Jeka, Greaves (both omitted), Burgoyne (managed), Newcombe (sub)
Homeless Crows’ MCG training deal
Adelaide and Port Adelaide have had their first training sessions in Melbourne after a tumultuous Tuesday saw them evacuated from a locked-down South Australia.
Both Crows and Power players underwent Covid tests on Wednesday morning before they were cleared to leave their hotels to train ahead of their Round 19 clashes against Hawthorn and Collingwood respectively.
They checked into their Melbourne hotels around midnight.
Adelaide’s squad piled into buses and headed to a training session on the MCG, while Port ventured to Marvel Stadium under lights for their first hitout since they beat the Saints last Saturday night.
Crows assistant coach James Rahilly said the team was excited to train on the MCG.
“For our young group, a lot of players haven’t played on the MCG yet, so just to have a run around there will be exciting,” he said.
“It’s a different sized ground to Adelaide Oval so it will be great to get the whole squad out there.”
The Crows are camped at the Como Hotel in Melbourne’s South Yarra, while Port are staying across the river at the Pullman Hotel in East Melbourne in the shadows of the MCG.
Port has taken 40 players from their squad of 44 to Melbourne, while the Crows also have 40 players in Melbourne.
Rahilly said the Crows had been prepared to allow any of their players to remain in Adelaide if they wanted to.
“It was definitely put to the guys that if they weren’t keen to go, especially with family reasons or whatnot that they didn’t have to go, but everyone put their hand up and everyone’s come over,” he said.
“The group have been fantastic, the club has been great at getting everyone together, we’ve got no choice to be together at the moment, because we can’t go anywhere.”
Similar to last year, it looks likely the two SA clubs will be able to form sides comprising their non-selected players to play against composite VFL teams.
“Whether it’s two or three teams mixed together … they’re working through that at the moment,” Rahilly said.
“It would be great for our guys that aren’t selected to still be able to run around and get some match fitness, so that’s the focus at the moment.”
Both clubs are unsure how long they will be camped in Melbourne and unsure whether they’ll be able to return home for Showdown 50, which is currently fixtured to take place in Round 21.
“We’ve packed for a little while, we’d love to go back to Adelaide sooner rather than later, but we’re prepared for anything,” Rahilly said.
Meanwhile, Crows board member Mark Ricciuto has revealed the financial cost of the Covid pandemic on the AFL, saying it’s already cost the league tens of millions of dollars.
He said both the league and its 18 clubs were being “decimated financially” and that clubs would again need to call on the support of their members to help pull them through.
“(The clubs and players) all know and they all agree, they’re lucky enough to be playing, full stop, but this is going to come at a huge financial cost,” Ricciuto said on his Triple M breakfast show Roo and Ditts.
“There’s every chance there will be no more home games for the rest of the season.”
Prior to the South Australian government’s Covid-19 lockdown, the Crows had talked about giving Crouch two games in the seconds to regain his match fitness, but Rahilly said coaches would be tempted to recall him a week early against the Hawks.
“We’ll have a chat about Matt, he’s obviously very important and we’re very keen to get him back in the side, we’ll have a conversation about that, for sure,” he said.
The Crows have lost their past four games by 42 points (to West Coast), 63 points (to Essendon), 52 points (to Brisbane) and 10 points (to Carlton), and Rahilly said the focus was now on team connection and player development as well as having an expectation to win the final five games of the 2021 season.
“We want a big focus on winning all our games, we also have the process of developing our players and developing our game style as well, so we’ll be putting a team out to win a game on the weekend and keep focusing on improving as a team each week,” he said.
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