Adelaide Crows AFLW coach Matthew Clarke says the competition is an ‘unknown’ with four new teams entering
Adelaide Crows AFLW premiership coach Matthew Clarke has said this year’s campaign will be ‘unknown’ and is eager for round one to get underway this weekend.
AFLW
Don't miss out on the headlines from AFLW. Followed categories will be added to My News.
- Crows swoop on replacements to ease injury pain
- How to get the most out of your Advertiser digital subscription
Adelaide Crows AFLW coach Matthew Clarke is ready and raring for round one as the competition enters its fourth season.
Richmond, St Kilda, Gold Coast and West Coast entered the AFLW this off-season as it expanded to a 14-team league and Clarke said on SEN Breakfast it’s going to be ‘unknown’.
“I think if you enter this competition, you’re entering to win,” he said.
“One of the challenges is that the competition’s unknown.
Watch every match of the 2020 NAB AFLW Season LIVE & On-Demand on KAYO. New to Kayo? Get your 14-day free trial & start streaming instantly >
“There’s four new teams – all of the teams have had a big turnover, we were lucky to win the flag and we have eight new players.
“While we have a rough idea (of what’s going on), no-one’s sure how it’s going to shake out.”
The Crows mentor added he believes the standard of the competition is continuing to grow.
“We started to see that last year, we scored pretty well as did three or four other teams,” he said.
“It’s shortened format, the games don’t go quite as long, so it’s not really possible to kick 100.
“The ball movement from all of the teams, you can already see everyone’s shifting the line and moving into open space.
“The standard of the play generally is going up and up.”
The Crows have been smashed on the injury front, and it looked as if they’d lose another play to an ACL when Deni Varnhagen went down last week, but were relieved to find out it was cartilage damage and not ligament damage.
Following surgery, Clarke is hopeful to see her later this year.
“She’s going much better than expected, we were fairly apprehensive after the incident,” he said.
“She had a minor clean-up and all things suggest she’ll be back for the second half of the season.”
The Crows take on Brisbane on Saturday evening.
Originally published as Adelaide Crows AFLW coach Matthew Clarke says the competition is an ‘unknown’ with four new teams entering