AFL 2022: Shane McAdam credits focusing on simple pressure for his improvement this season

Shane McAdam has always been talented, but the inconsistent forward of previous years has been replaced by vastly improved footballer in season 2022.

Shane McAdam is a vastly improved footballer in season 2022 Picture: Getty Images

Shane McAdam has the ability to do the complex stuff.

A high-flying mark, or a stunning goal, McAdam has shown more than once in his Adelaide career that he has the spectacular in his locker.

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But for Crows fans, and McAdam himself, this didn’t happen consistently enough.

So McAdam and Adelaide forward’s coach James Rahilly sat down at the start of this season, and switched it all around.

“I had a sit down with James Rahilly at the start of the year, I had a look at last year and I didn’t really have the most consistent year for myself,” McAdam told News Corp.

“So I just tried to make it really simple and pretty straight forward for myself going into games this year.

“I’m just keeping it simple, focusing on my pressure and the goals and high flyers will come from that.”

When asked if he maybe focused on trying to take a high-flying mark or kicking a stunning goal above everything else in the past couple of years, almost fittingly McAdam offers a simple “yeah”.

This approach has McAdam, 27, playing the most consistent footy of his career.

In his eight games so far this season, he has only failed to kick two or more goals in two games.

In his eight games so far this season, Shane McAdam has only failed to kick two or more goals in two games. Picture: Getty Images

One was in the Crows worst performance of the season against GWS, the other was when he kicked 1.3 against Geelong.

His disposals are up to a career-high 11 per game, marks at 4.25 and tackles at 3.25.

It has led Crows dual premiership coach Malcolm Blight to say that McAdam is an improver, potentially the only real improver this year at Adelaide.

On top of this new mindset, McAdam says he is the fittest he has ever been.

“In the off-season I went back and lost a few kilos so I feel a lot lighter running around the field and that has helped with my fitness,” he said.

“Burgo (Darren Burgess) has helped with my fitness massively.”

Helping McAdam’s fitness was that unlike previous off-seasons he wasn’t able to get back to his home town of Halls Creek, a tiny town in the remote East Kimberley Region of WA.

When back home, McAdam would usually go bush - so it would be hard to keep up with an off-season plan from an AFL club.

“I stayed here in the off-season, stayed here and went to Perth,” he said.

“I didn’t really get a chance to go to home because of Covid and I also wanted to work on my fitness.

“So I didn’t really make it to Halls Creek until the start of this year so I could have a big off-season and pre-season.”

But after a pre-season groin injury, the Crows gave McAdam their permission to go home to Halls Creek at the beginning of the season.

The chance to see family and friends and fish for barramundi every day, with the catch never below a metre McAdam jokes, gave him the chance to refresh after a gruelling pre-season.

“I had a niggle in my groin and the club was great enough to let me go home all the way to Halls Creek and I loved it,” he said.

“It was more a refresher of the mind to go to home and see family.

“It’s a completely different lifestyle there, just a free lifestyle.”

After McAdam kicked three goals against West Coast, Adelaide senior coach Matthew Nicks praised the strides the Crows forward had taken this year.

“Our high performance team deserve credit in that space for our entire group but especially for Shane and he deserves credit for putting in the work,” he said.

“He is fitter than he has ever been, he has balanced out his body, he has speed and power.

“He is quite exciting as to what he can get to if he can continue on this trajectory.”

Randall, Phillips’ historic new roles in men’s AFL teams

AFLW star Erin Phillips will be mentored by Port Adelaide senior coach Ken Hinkley while Adelaide triple premiership winning captain Chelsea Randall will become a full-time development coach for the Crows’ men’s team.

The two will join the Crows and Power’s men’s coaching ranks as part of the AFL’s Women’s Coach Acceleration program.

The program is an AFL initiative to try and boost the number of women’s coaches at the top level of the game.

Randall is joining the Crows men’s coaching staff. (Photo by Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

As part of this the AFL will pay up to $50,000 of Phillips and Randall’s coaching salary at Alberton and West Lakes, and the Power and Crows will make up the rest of it.

Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley had flagged adding Phillips, who has recently returned from America, after she made her high profile move to the Power from the Crows ahead of their entry into the AFLW competition.

Phillips will be mentored by Hinkley, with the Power still to work out what her role will be.

Randall, a three-time premiership captain for Adelaide’s AFLW side will become a development coach for the Crows men’s program in July.

Randall becomes the second female coach in the Crows men’s program after Pat Mickan, who was a skills coach at West Lakes in the 1990s.

She will be on a contract that runs until the end of the 2024 season.

The 30-year-old is completing her Level 3 coaching accreditation along with a teaching degree.

Prior to joining the Crows for their inaugural AFLW season in 2017, she spent seven years working in game development and elite talent pathways in Western Australia.

Randall will be mentored by Adelaide’s senior coach Matthew Nicks and by head of development Marco Bello.

Phillips will join the Power’s coaching staff. (Photo by Sarah Reed/Getty Images)

She will attend all coaches’ meetings, match committee, game review, training sessions, the coaches’ box and be on the interchange bench on game day.

Nicks said he was excited to have Randall as a development coach.

“We talk a lot about prioritising others in our AFL program and Chelsea does that as well as anyone in here,” Nicks said.

“We see her as a great addition to the AFL program, this is not only an opportunity for Chelsea to develop her own coaching style through the program but it’s an opportunity for us to be better through her experiences and unique skill set.

“We are constantly searching for the best people, those who make others better, and Chelsea will do that for us.”

Randall said she was thrilled to take her first step on her coaching journey.

“I want to continue to grow and learn as much as possible in all facets of coaching, while using my experiences to add value in any way I can,” she said.

“There is strong alignment across all areas of the club and we are building towards sustained success.”

Crows chief executive Tim Silvers said Randall was a quality person, player and leader.

“We are so lucky to have her as captain of our women’s team, she makes us better and we have no doubt she will improve our AFL program, players, coaches and staff, both on and off the field,” he said.

Originally published as AFL 2022: Shane McAdam credits focusing on simple pressure for his improvement this season