‘There’s great belief’: Adelaide sets sights on making finals in 2022

One of Adelaide’s young guns says there’s ‘great belief’ from the playing group the Crows can reach the finals in 2022.

The Crows have set their sights on September. Picture: Albert Perez / AFL Photos via Getty Images

A strong start to the pre-season has led Adelaide’s young playing group to believe it can push for the finals in 2022, according to midfielder Harry Schoenberg.

The Crows began a rebuild under new senior coach Matthew Nicks in 2020, claiming their first-ever wooden spoon that season.

Adelaide showed improvement in 2021, most notably by becoming the first team of the season to defeat eventual premiers Melbourne, but faded considerably towards the end of the year and won only two of nine games after the bye.

Off the field, Taylor Walker’s highly publicised racism saga cast a long shadow over West Lakes as the season drew to a close.

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But with 2022 approaching, the Crows’ playing group is feeling re-energised – the club has re-signed a host of its young stars, including Schoenberg, as well as the senior coach himself.

Schoenberg said there was also reason to be excited about the Crows’ new arrivals, headlined by Darren Burgess, the high performance manager who oversaw Melbourne’s premiership tilt, number six draft pick Josh Rachele and Sydney Swans star Jordan Dawson.

“I think we’re going to go another step forward this year,” Schoenberg said.

“We’ve added some new additions on and off the field.

“We’re going to try and play finals, we try and do that every year.

“There’s great belief so far. I’m really looking forward to this year.”

The Crows opted to re-sign Nicks a year before his contract was set to expire. Picture: Michael Marschall

Schoenberg said border restrictions had helped galvanise the playing group.

“We’ve definitely become a tighter group, especially with all the Melbourne boys; they couldn’t get back for Covid reasons, so we’ve stuck tight, we’ve trained as a group and we’ve kept each other accountable,” he said.

“I think this off-season we’ve really nailed it; we came back in good shape and we’ve all been training really well so far.

“As we’re playing more games together and spending more time together, we’re just getting that connection and getting more belief.”

Schoneberg credited Burgess for helping the Crows to hit the ground running in the pre-season.

“All the boys have connected really well with him so far,” Schoenberg said.

“He’s driving us to be a really fit football club. He’s been great for me personally as well; there’s been a lot of high-speed running and I think that’s what the game’s changing into now. Every player in every position needs to be a good runner.

“We’ve all really enjoyed (working with Burgess) so far.”

Schoenberg is looking forward to the 2022 season. Picture: James Elsby / AFL Photos via Getty Images

Schoenberg said Burgess’ expertise would go a long way to helping him achieve his goals for 2022.

“My goal for the pre-season was just to get fitter and be able to play more midfield minutes,” he said.

“I do enjoy going forward, I do enjoy kicking a goal, but my main focus is to play midfield.

“At this stage, I’ve been running really well and enjoying my time.”

Originally published as ‘There’s great belief’: Adelaide sets sights on making finals in 2022