Adelaide will need to get very aggressive in the trade market to improve after woeful 2024 season | Graham Cornes
Inaugural Adelaide Crows coach Graham Cornes says the failures of the club have never been more exposed and big changes are needed this summer.
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The Adelaide Football Club came into existence in October, 1990.
It was a hasty arrival given the threat of Port Adelaide, the state’s most successful club, defecting to a newly formed AFL.
It was guided by an interim board, most of who had served in various capacities within the SANFL or its clubs. All were men. A couple were successful businessmen.
When the interim board was dissolved early in 1991 and a permanent board established, it had a similar composition.
The powerbrokers of the SANFL, namely president Max Basheer and chief executive Leigh Whicker, surrounded themselves with football people and trusted business associates. A fiefdom, if you like.
All were men. All were intent on preserving the history and the legacy of the South Australian National Football League.
After all, it was an institution that had served the state well. Now that was a “Boy’s Club”. It wouldn’t stand the scrutiny of today’s social mores, but that was then.
Those early years were the most exciting times in South Australia’s storied sporting history and when the magic of Malcolm Blight brought not one, but two, AFL premiership cups back to Adelaide, the morale and status of our state soared.
The AFL had made it hard for the Crows, imposed restrictions on drafting and recruiting, father-son rules, “fixed” the fixture and turned a blind eye to umpiring irregularities, but still Blight and his team prevailed.
It was exactly what the state needed after the devastation of the State Bank scandal and the ridicule Adelaide endured in the eyes of the eastern states.
When our netball and basketball teams had similar success it further elevated SA’s greatness.
But it was the Crows’ performances on whose success the state’s morale rose or fell.
Over the ensuing years, the club has established itself as the most visible and valuable state institution.
The value is not in the wealth of assets, inventory or mineral lodes but in the emotions it evokes.
Can you put a price on pride, satisfaction and belonging? How can you price the euphoria of victory, smiles of fans and success by association?
However, there is a flip side to success – failure! And it’s a fine line.
The great Roger Federer made the astounding statement this week that over the journey of his stellar career, he only ever won 54 per cent of the points he played.
Team sports are different. A 54 per cent winning ratio might just get the Crows into the eight, but the point is, dealing with failure is an important part of a champion’s make-up.
It is the nature of sport, particularly in the AFL, that you are locked into a cycle.
The AFL system demands that you eventually must fail. It also puts provisions in place (the draft and the salary cap) which allow you to recover.
Thirty-odd years on from those heady days of the Crows’ foray into the AFL, and the failure of the Adelaide Football Club has never been more exposed.
Never have the emotions around the club and the team been so negative and hostile.
Never have those within the club who are responsible for performance, both on and off the field, been so exposed to criticism, be it informed or idiotic.
However, improvement will come. Actually, despite the deluge of criticism, improvement is happening as we speak.
Unfortunately, improvement doesn’t come without setbacks. It’s not an upward linear progression. There are ups and downs.
Currently they are sliding. The critics won’t be silenced until the team makes the eight again.
Then that won’t be good enough until they make a grand final. But even that is not good enough. They made a grand final in 2017, but lost.
What should have been a stepping stone to greatness, brought the club to its knees, such was the pressure of expectation to go one better.
Nothing happens without a reason and one of the reasons for the team’s demise since 2017 is the loss of good players and the inability to replace them.
Only three players – Rory Laird, Matt Crouch and Taylor Walker – remain from that grand final team.
By contrast, the Collingwood team that lost the grand final the following year retained nine players who played in last year’s premiership.
Retention and replacement. It’s a broken record but the Crows have failed at both.
I tipped the Crows to win on Saturday night, not because I thought them the better, more talented team, but because occasionally you catch good teams in a fog of complacency.
You put them on the backfoot, force the errors and deprive them of time and space. Do it to them before they do it to you.
No one doubts Sydney’s talent, especially that star-studded midfield, but talent can sometimes be surpassed by desperation, intent and discipline.
Occasionally the odds can swing in your favour. Occasionally the champions have a bad night. Sometimes you get the rub of the green from the umpires.
To tip the Crows required a giant leap of faith because the Crows team named for last night’s match was one of the least experienced and weakest we’ve seen for many years.
It’s painful to say it but on paper, it may have been the weakest line-up seen since the year of that disastrous wooden-spoon. It’s certainly the least experienced.
Having forward Izak Rankine and Taylor Walker missing games through injury were huge losses but a quick glance at other teams in the top eight reveal most teams are missing key players.
As well as Walker and Rankine the other sidelined Crows players who would be automatic selections include Thilthorpe and Milera, whose careers have both been stalled by injury.
Under the constant barrage of criticism this week, the spokespeople for the club had been well-briefed on the party line.
Injuries had been the main reason for recent disappointing results.
So to respond to the club using injuries as the excuse for this season’s disappointment, how will the team look in 2025 if its best 22 are available?
My view only, and allowing for retirements or reduced playing time in 2025 for stalwarts Taylor Walker, Brodie Smith and persistent injuries to Wayne Milera, is this:
B: Michalanney, Butts, Murray
HB: Nankervis, Keane, Hinge
C: Curtin, Soligo, Scholl
HF: Keays, Fogarty, Dowling
F: Cook, Thilthorpe, Rachele
FOLL: O’Brien, Dawson, Rankine
INT: Laird, Himmelberg, Jones, Pedlar
EMERG: Strachan, Hamill, Borlase, Murphy, McHenry, Berry, Worrell, Gollant
Play with it yourself, but does it look that much stronger than this year?
Even allowing for the unexpected emergence of young talent like Charlie Edwards or Zac Taylor, the team, on paper, does not look significantly stronger.
Defence looks solid but static.
The midfield with Reilly O’Brien still the best choice as ruckman, does not look threatening in comparison to the top-eight teams.
The success of the forward line will depend entirely on three players – Fogarty, Thilthorpe and Rachele – untapping their undoubted potential and staying injury free.
Regardless of last night’s result, it’s obvious some serious trading will need to be done over summer.
Some of Max Basheer’s “Boy’s Club” mentality could help.
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