Gary Buckenara rates Adelaide’s list at the end of the 2021 season

The Crows made the right call to invest in youth but are the kids any good? Gary Buckenara rates every player on the list and priorities for this year’s trade period.

This season has been better for Adelaide than I thought it would be after last year’s wooden spoon.

The Crows’ forward line was a major concern in 2020 and I called for Taylor Walker to retire.

Walker proved me wrong this year with his form, kicking 48 goals.

Clearly, Walker now has bigger issues concerning him off the field as he deals with the fallout and his suspension for a racial slur.

While he is contracted for next year, Walker’s future remains unclear. It seems the Crows are now warming to him coming back in 2020 after he attended their best-and-fairest night.

So, with such a key club figure under a slight cloud, how does the rest of the list look?

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Riley Thilthorpe of the Crows celebrates a goal. (Photo by Albert Perez/AFL Photos/via Getty Images)

The Crows have only 11 A and B-graders on the list, so patience will be needed with so many developing players.

But with eight “future AB players” – and many of them genuine talents such as Chayce Jones, Fischer McAsey, and Riley Thilthorpe – they need to invest in them with games, development and patience.

They will also hope some of those of the 14 players rated in the next development category – “need more time” such as Jackson Hately and Luke Pedlar — can also flourish in coming years to become A and B graders.

Crows supporters should be excited by the future but a potential top-eight tilt will be two to three years away as yet.

But enjoy the ride as I think they are on the right track now after the turbulent time under Don Pyke and some poor football and board decisions.

LIST NEEDS

The Crows still need some more pace and skill in the midfield but with 22 development players – nine of them being future AB graders – it is a promising sign and hopefully they can take the next step soon.

But they are thin at the top for talent with a lot of the current A and B-graders getting on in age.

So, there is a lot riding on these younger players developing and balancing out the list as 22 players in that development category is probably too many in an ideal world.

But it is better having young developing players than ageing B or C-grade players clogging up the list.

TRADE TARGETS

If there was a top-line player under 25 then you would look at a trade for that type of player or a high-quality free agent wanting to come to the club.

They should reach out to Adam Cerra and see if they could convince him to move to Adelaide rather than back to Victoria.

But only target A and B graders as this is the area in which they need to improve the list. It is a balancing act so the next few years are important for the Crows

Adam Cerra of the Dockers. (Photo by Daniel Carson/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

UNTOUCHABLES

The Crows A and B graders as well as the “future AB players” such as Harry Schoenberg and Darcy Fogarty should be off limits because the list needs top-end talent and needs to add top end talent through developing the younger players, or adding some talent through the draft, targeted trades or free agency.

UNDER THE PUMP

Most of the C-graders, aside from Paul Seedsman, Wayne Milera and Lachlan Murphy, will come under scrutiny to make may for list changes.

I would be loath to delist any of the development-ranked players unless there was reason to do so because they need to balance the list out a bit with so many of them.

TRADE BAIT

I really can’t see the Crows looking to trade any top talent at all because of the limited supply of A and B-grade talent, so I think they will be fairly quiet in this year’s trade period.

Tom Doedee of the Crows. Pic: Michael Klein

RATING THE LIST

WHAT THE RATINGS MEAN

List management is one of the most important jobs at an AFL club.

Poor decisions can be catastrophic — and Collingwood proved that last year.

Far too many clubs can often hold an overly-optimistic view when ranking their own lists and this can lead to years of mediocrity and has Carlton done this recently?

When clubs are rating their lists, they should rank players as: A+, A, B+, B, C+, C and Development.

In this list analysis, I have just done A, B, C and two tiers of development (“future AB players” and “need more time”) because with the younger players it is important to see who is coming through and those that need more time.

The important area for clubs to look at is how many A and B ranked players they have as well as future consistent AB players.

These rankings are my opinions, but they should give supporters a reasonable snapshot as to where their playing list sits now — and how they might look in a few years’ time.

Players 22 and over

A-grade: Elite players on any AFL list

B: Top 10-18 player on most lists

C: An 19-30 player on a list

Developing: Aged 21 or under

Future AB players: These are players that will hopefully develop into an A or B ranked player once they turn 22. They might be playing to this level now, but it takes sustained years.

Need more time: These players would be a player recently drafted that is still developing and therefore will need more time to see if he is likely to develop into an A or B grade player.

THE RATINGS

A-grade: Rory Sloane, Rory Laird, Tom Doedee.

B-grade: Ben Keays, Matt Crouch, Jake Kelly, Daniel Talia (delisted), Taylor Walker, Brodie Smith, Elliott Himmelberg, Reilly O’Brien.

C-grade: Lachlan Murphy, Paul Seedsman, David Mackay, Luke Brown, Tyson Stengle (delisted), Mitch Hinge, Billy Frampton, Shane McAdam, Tom Lynch (delisted), Wayne Milera, Ben Davis, Kieran Strachan.

Gary Buckenara as faith in high draft pick Chayce Jones.

DEVELOPMENT

Future AB players: Chayce Jones, Fischer McAsey, Riley Thilthorpe, Josh Worrell, Ned McHenry, Harry Schoenberg, Darcy Fogarty, Lachlan Sholl, Jordan Butts.

Need more time: Jackson Hately, Luke Pedlar, Brayden Cook, William Hamill, Sam Berry, Nick Murray, James Rowe, James Borlase, Andrew McPherson, Ronin O’Connor, Tariek Newchurch, Lachlan Gollant, Patrick Parnell.

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LIST BREAKDOWN

A-grade = 3

B Grade = 8

C Grade = 12

Developing

Future AB player = 9

Need more time = 13

CRYSTAL BALL

Clearly the highlight here is the 22 development players, which represents half of their list.

To be honest, that is probably far too many to have but, having said that, when a club is rebuilding I would rather have more developing players than having too many list-clogging C-graders at the end of their careers.

Of the Crows’ nine higher-ranked development players in Thilthorpe, Sholl, Fogarty, Schoenberg, McHenry, Worrell, McAsey, Butts and Jones, I think all of these young players have a future and will be leaders and drivers of the group – but time and patience will be needed.

I like the direction the Crows have taken since the disruption a few years ago and Matthew Nicks has done a good job in getting the group to buy into his game plan and come together as a team.

With some more sharp list management and recruiting decisions over the next few years to get a slightly better balance to the list – so there is more depth by investing in those development players – the Crows can become a finals contender in a couple of years.

Originally published as Gary Buckenara rates Adelaide’s list at the end of the 2021 season