Adelaide v Fremantle: Why did the Crows play Jordan Dawson out of position?

Why was the one player in the Crows side who could provide them with composure sent forward where he could only watch on as his teammates butchered the ball?

Jason Phelan and Simeon Thomas-Wilson

8 min read

March 21, 2022 - 8:51AM

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Matthew Nicks described Adelaide’s execution, especially in defence, as “atrocious” in the first half in the Crows’ season opener against Fremantle.

So why was arguably the one player in the Crows side who could provide them with the composure so desperately needed sent forward where he could only watch on as his teammates butchered the ball.

After starting the game on the wing, one of those watching on from the forward line for large periods of the first half was surprisingly Jordan Dawson.

Potentially the best kick in the Crows side, and having played halfback for previous side Sydney, many Adelaide fans would have expected Dawson to play in the midfield in his first outing in the tri-colours.

And while he did spend some time around the ball, he was noticeably spending time forward of the footy in the first half.

Nicks and his coaching staff discussed returning Dawson to a halfback role in the second quarter, and at half-time they made the switch.

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Jordan Dawson of the Crows tackled by Michael Walters of the Dockers

It’s amazing what playing your gun recruit in a far more natural position can do.

After going into the half-time break 25-points down, the Crows came out firing in the third.

With Dawson down back, they were more composed and the rest of the defence looked a lot more confident with the ball.

“We are rapt to have him and he went back to half back at half time, he was beautiful with the ball in hand. Was able to take some really big marks and use his left foot,” Schoenberg said.

“He’s a great asset for the team, when he has the ball in hand a lot of things happen. We want to utilise that as much as possible.”

Dawson showed just how damaging he can be with his kicking, with just over eight minutes to go in the third quarter.

Taking the kick-in, he produced a kick few in the Crows team could do to find Reilly O’Brien in the middle of the ground, just out of reach of a Fremantle defender.

O’Brien handballed it off to Schoenberg, who flicked it to Ben Keays, who then dished it off to Matt Crouch who kicked it to Wayne Milera.

Milera ultimately missed the set-shot, but it showed how damaging the Crows can be.

“That passage of play doesn’t get anywhere near where it was without Dawson taking the kick in,” St Kilda champion Nick Dal Santo said.

“It’s aggressive, straight down the middle and they are off to the races.”

So why for two quarters was Adelaide’s most damaging player by foot deployed forward of the ball.

Nicks said part of this was Dawson’s interrupted pre-season, having not played either of the pre-season matches.

“Our plan going in was for Jordy to spend a bit of time forward because we’ve seen his impact and he is confident when he does go forward, he is very good overhead,” Nicks said.

“And we didn’t see a lot of it in that first half, so when we looked at it at half time it wasn’t really around what Jordan wasn’t doing it was around how can we change this game to find us an advantage.

“And for him to go behind the ball and what he can bring and he has played the majority of his footy behind the ball we felt like it would help us as a team.

“And it did, he was able to go back there and bring that composure and ball use that we were after.

“So forward of the ball it won’t be something that we write off. Today was more about it’s his first game back it’s an opportunity for him to go and impact the scoreboard.

Jordan Dawson of the Crows marks over Chayce Jones

“It is pretty tough to run around midfield for the entire game when you haven’t played that much footy.”

Dawson finished the day with 17 disposals, six marks and a goal.

The majority of these disposals, and all but one mark, came in the second half when he was back in defence.

Nicks said Dawson’s lack of impact in the first two quarters was more about the Crows not turning up.

“I think if you look at it on the back of us not playing the way we want to play we weren’t predictable to each other,” he said.

“We will sit down and talk about how that game was playing out but we didn’t execute with the ball.

“We were slow in the first half, a little bit kick mark, kick mark and that can be attributed to a few things.

“We were playing from deep in our back third, the opposition had us under pressure and sometimes you go away from what you are.”

Crows figures have mentioned that Dawson could feature forward of the ball at times.

But, and while it’s just one game, it seems like a waste of his skills if they go down this route.

The Crows midfield has a lot of hard workers, but not really the polish that the top sides have.

Keays had 37 disposals but went at 68 per cent efficiency, Sloane had 20 at 55 per cent, while the usually accurate Schoenberg had 23 at 52 per cent.

Crouch had 30 at 77 per cent, but 21 of his possessions were handballs.

Reilly O'Brien of the Crows and Elliott Himmelberg

In comparison Dawson went at 82 per cent efficiency for his 17 disposals and looms as a big point of difference for the Crows engine room.

Nicks and his fellow coaches deserve credit for shifting Dawson to defence at half-time, a chance that nearly helped the Crows win the game.

But you have to wonder why Dawson was deployed forward of the ball in the first place.

Instead of bringing the heat to kick off their 2022 campaign, in the first half in the fierce Adelaide afternoon sun the Crows wilted in the face of rampant Fremantle pressure.

Crows midfielder Harry Schoenberg told The Advertiser after the rollercoaster one-point loss that they didn’t handle Fremantle’s pressure.

“I think we just didn’t embrace the pressure, they pressured us really well and first game we were a bit sloppy at the start but I think that was the main thing they brought the pressure and we didn’t embrace it,” he said.

Rushed and harassed by the Dockers, the Crows had little to none polish with their ball movement.

At quarter time their kicking efficiency was just 55 per cent.

“That is way below industry average,” Crows football director Mark Ricciuto said on Fox Footy.

“If you burn the ball one in every two times you kick it you have no hope in getting it to your forward line.”

CROWS, SUPERSTAR DRAFTEE DENIED IN AGONISING FINISH

Fremantle soured a brilliant five-goal AFL debut by Adelaide’s Josh Rachele, a stunning save by Heath Chapman in the dying seconds at Adelaide Oval sealing a pulsating one-point thriller.

The Dockers led by as much as 26 points in the first half, trailed by 10 points at three-quarter time, then rattled home the last three goals of the match to score an 11.17 (83) to 12.10 (82) win on Sunday.

With just 16 seconds left in the match the ball was thrown in and Ben Keays sent a kick goalwards, but Chapman leapt high to tap the ball back into play to break Crows’ hearts.

Adelaide led by as much as 19 points in the final term, but Riley Thilthorpe turned the ball over with 3:37 left in the game and Lachie Schultz swooped and kicked what turned out to be the matchwinner.

Matt Crouch and Jordon Butts after the final siren. Picture: Sarah Reed/AFL Photos via Getty Images

“Our next step is learning how to win that … winning more of those than you lose,” Crows coach Matthew Nicks said.

“We had our chances and in the end it fell the other way.

“There were a number of little things that happened during that period that we’ll look back on … they’re (tough) moments but they’re not the reason we lost the game.

“It was the first half, unfortunately.”

Rachele was outstanding with goals in each quarter of a scintillating debut, while Keays gathered 37 possessions with comeback kid Matt Crouch finishing with 30.

High-profile recruit Jordan Dawson had a quiet first half playing further up the field, but his move to a more customary role across half-back was pivotal to Adelaide’s second-half fightback.

Andrew Brayshaw, Caleb Serong and David Mundy were all influential for the Dockers, with Schultz kicking three goals.

RACHELE ROCKS

It has taken Josh Rachele just one AFL game to become arguably Adelaide’s most exciting player to watch.

The No.6 draft pick came into the Crows’ Round 1 clash on the back of two three-goal hauls in Adelaide’s pre-season games.

And the excitement machine surpassed expectations even Adelaide fans would have had for his first taste of AFL football as he produced one of the great debuts by a Crow.

Before the game Adelaide football director Mark Ricciuto said on Fox Footy the Crows football department “reckon Josh Rachele could be a star”.

The 18-year-old showed exactly why with a performance that nearly won the Crows a thriller, with his two goal and five-disposal third quarter inspiring a Crows comeback.

Josh Rachele sends Crows fans wild. Picture: James Elsby/AFL Photos via Getty Images

His first goal was a nice snap over his shoulder, from his first kick at AFL level and he only got better from there to the delight of Crows fans.

He was able to show his full bag of tricks, with the Dockers defenders unable to handle the electric small forward.

While Rachele’s performance will give Crows fans hope for 2022, there was some bad news for Adelaide on the injury front.

Andrew McPherson was substituted out of the game in the second quarter.

McPherson injured his hamstring and the Crows activated medical sub Lachie Sholl almost immediately.

McPherson has had three years of soft-tissue injuries at the Crows and the club will be sweating on whether his latest one is significant or not.

FREDERICK FIRES

The Dockers were missing superstar skipper Nat Fyfe, lead ruckman Sean Darcy and last year’s leading goalkicker Matt Taberner, but Michael Frederick fired home a superb goal as they got off to a flyer.

The livewire forward tapped the bouncing ball with his left hand then his right under pressure from Andrew McPherson then fired home a right-foot volley from a tough angle that Cristiano Ronaldo would be proud of.

The red-hot Dockers were all over the errant Crows and should’ve been further in front that 17 points at the first break, with kicking for goal letting them down.