AFL Round 5 Adelaide v Richmond: All the news, action and fallout
When the Crows have claimed big victories under Matthew Nicks, it has usually been because of their ability to scrap it out. This was something else though.
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Adelaide has had memorable wins under Matthew Nicks.
But the victory over Richmond at Adelaide Oval on Saturday night might just be the most “mature” victory the Crows have had under Nicks.
When the Crows have claimed big victories under Nicks – Geelong and Melbourne last year and Port Adelaide in Round 3 this season – it has usually been because of their ability to scrap it out.
They haven’t really shown the composure and maturity they demonstrated against the Tigers, especially how they responded when Richmond wiped out a 25-point Crows lead in the space of six minutes in the third quarter.
The Tigers might not be the resurgent force that plenty predicted to be in 2022, but it was still a seriously impressive victory by the Crows.
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“We’re just seeing a team mature and evolve before our eyes here,” Melbourne great Garry Lyon said on Fox Footy.
“When you see such a good side like Richmond bang four goals on in a matter of minutes and hit the front, you can be forgiven for thinking, ‘OK, this has been a pretty brave effort.’
The pressure from Richmond continued in the final quarter, but the Crows again stood up – with the Tigers only scoring twice from 16 inside 50s.
Nicks said it could be the most “mature” win under his tenure.
“It rates highly, probably more the composure they showed,” he said.
“I think they showed a lot of maturity, under pressure, and some grit.
“To fight it out like they did in the last quarter that was great to see.
“They’ve been there before, in four out of those last five games we’ve been in arm wrestles in those games.
“We did get a few things wrong in those games which did cost us them eventually.
“Tonight for them to get a lot of things right in those key moments, to go behind and then right the ship and fight back like they did was really pleasing and it will give them a lot of belief going forward.
“Yeah it would be up there, it is front of mind at the moment but I couldn’t be prouder of the way they went about it against a very good side, an experienced side that has played a lot of finals football. That is the most pleasing part.”
Key defender Billy Frampton said a less mature Crows side might have rolled over in that third period after the Tigers rampant run.
“I think that’s what we wanted to show in our game play,” he said.
“That improvement and that consistency in the (four) quarters and (when) we were challenged, the ability to bounce back.
“In games past we might have rolled over under that wave of pressure but we embraced it and came back at them which was pleasing.
“I think we just talked to each other and allowed ourselves to get back in the moment and play the next ball as it came.
“It was a bit nerve racking because we might have rolled over but it was pleasing the way we reacted.”
CAN FANS DARE TO DREAM
Apart from the MCG drubbing at the hands of Collingwood, the Crows have been in every one of their other losses this year right up until the final siren.
After five games they could be 4-1 rather than 2-3, they could also be 1-4 so tight was that thrilling Showdown win.
But for a team that has faced serious questions at times this year over the brand of footy they want to play and whether their skills are good enough the Crows are showing they can match it with pretty much every side in the competition.
When asked where his side was at after five games, Nicks said;
“I know we are in the fight,” he said.
“We’ve been in all our games, Collingwood touched us up, we didn’t get that one right and play our brand of footy, that’s our big challenge.
“We will learn from that.
“But for us we are playing our brand of footy, it is now just locking it in consistently and I thought tonight was a great step.”
Lyon said the Crows had to be taken seriously again.
“What we’ve just witnessed, maybe not this year, but who would write them off,” he said.
“But the re-emergence of an Adelaide Crows side who have to be taken seriously again. And that’s a testament to Matthew Nicks and his group.”
Adelaide fans have been patiently waiting for their side to contend for finals again, so could the Crows at least have a crack at it in 2022?
Frampton said the Crows just needed to focus on playing their brand of footy each week.
“It is a bit early. As cliche as it is, we will take one week at a time and try and get as many wins as possible,” he said.
“I think we have a brand that we want to play, sometimes it doesn’t come out.
“But we know what we want to do and we play a game like we did today and it is hard fought and gritty and that is how we want to play footy.
“I think we have our brand and we want to play that.”
FINDING THEIR SPOT
Frampton came into the Crows side after the Round 2 shocker against Collingwood.
He might be fixing one of the Crows bigger issues.
Jordon Butts is the No. 1 key defender for the Crows, but no-one has really claimed that second tall spot.
Tom Doedee likes to play as a third tall, Nick Murray has a crack but is let down by a lack of polish at times and No. 6 pick Fischer McAsey is in the SANFL – he had just three touches and a mark against Glenelg on Good Friday.
The Crows started the Frampton as a defender experiment last year after the ex-Port Adelaide player was not able to find a consistent spot as a forward/ruck option.
And you can see why Nicks likes Frampton as a tall back there.
He’s good at using the ball so if he can get 22 disposals like he did against Richmond, that is huge for the Crows.
And he also had nine marks against the Tigers.
“I’m loving it there to be honest, it is a little bit easier there with a starting point and I can sort of create with my skills and that,” Frampton said.
“I love it, it’s a fair bit easier than playing forward and I have loved the transition.
“I’ve never played at all in defence in my life.
“So things like coming back to a body and having someone to put them away, learning that back craft has been challenging.
“But in terms of offensive and creating I’m a bit more natural. I think that’s the initial reason why I went there (to be a playmaker from defence) but I’m also a key so I have to defend well also.”
Against the Tigers Frampton also showed that he has plenty of fight in him, as he fought back from Noah Balta getting the better of him early on to not let him kick another goal.
“I just knew immediately what I did wrong, I gave him my back and he was able to move me,” he said,
“So you figure out what you’ve done wrong and you just go about learning from that.”
Frampton wasn’t the only Crow impressing in his new role.
Whether Adelaide made the right call in taking Chayce Jones with Pick 9 in the 2018 Draft still gets debated.
This was especially after the Tasmanian was thrown to the wolves in the midfield in 2020.
But playing as a half back, Jones potentially played his best half of footy for the Crows against the Tigers as he won numerous battles with Tigers star Shai Bolton.
He also came off best in a contest with Balta, despite giving up 13cms and nearly 20 kgs.
“It was really pleasing (Jones’ first half) wasn’t it,” Nicks said.
“He threw his body around which is nice.
“He has been right on the edge Chayce, he has played some outstanding footy and it is just finding that little bit of touch with him and him trusting himself that he is a very good player.“
“What he was able to do has to bring some belief and hopefully it can take his game to the net level.
“Because he attacks the footy and defends it as well as any, it is then just that ball in hand.
“I thought it was really pleasing.”
MATCH REPORT: SERIOUS SLOANE SETBACK ZAPS ENERGY
Adelaide is fearing that captain Rory Sloane has suffered a serious knee injury, continuing a luckless run for the Crows skipper.
Sloane hurt his knee in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter after he and Richmond’s Nick Vlastuin hunted the ball.
Sloane was in immediate pain and spent time on the ground, before slowly limping off the field.
He was quickly subbed out of the game for James Rowe as the Crows put in an impressive performance to beat the Tigers.
Adelaide high performance manager Darren Burgess said Sloane would now have scans and conceded it “could be serious”.
“Rory came from the ground in the final quarter after suffering a right knee injury,” Burgess said.
“While we hold fears it could be serious, he will have scans and further assessment in coming days, at which point the club will provide another update.”
Crows senior coach Matthew Nicks said it was a concern.
“Our fingers are crossed,” he said.
“The doctors have assessed him and he has further assessment that we will have to go through, so we keep our fingers crossed for him and the team.”
It continues a luckless run for Sloane with injury in recent years.
He has had to undergo surgery twice on his hand and also on his eye last year.
Sloane missed the Round 3 Showdown win after he hurt his adductor against Collingwood.
“It has been a challenging period for him,” Nicks said.
“I’m not going to say he is up and about in there (the changerooms) at the moment.
“But he understands that for the group to have a performance like that was huge so he is embracing that.
“But he has been challenged, it just seems to be one thing after the other for him but he keeps fronting up.
“And that’s the way that he plays his footy, he grinds his way through. He is exactly what we want to be as a footy team.”
Sloane was used in a forward/wing role for the Crows against the Tigers, prior to his injury.
He was able to quell Richmond defender Nathan Broad, who has started the season strongly.
“We put him in different roles,” Nicks said
“We had Sam Berry come in and wanted to give him plenty of time in that midfield, he has been playing outstanding SANFL footy.
“For him to be able to do that, it allowed us to work with Rory around that and bring him up into the stoppage at times.
“He played a really crucial role for us.”
Tex time as fledging Crows take down Tigers
It was a given that Taylor Walker would get plenty of love from the Crows crowd as he made his return to Adelaide Oval.
And the Crows star gave the crowd plenty of opportunities to shower him with affection as he continued his red-hot form back on the field.
Walker was booed by Essendon fans at Marvel Stadium last week as he returned from his six-game racial vilification ban.
In front of his home crowd there was nothing but cheers for Walker, as he kicked five goals to lead the Crows to an impressive victory over Richmond at Adelaide Oval on Saturday.
Walker wasn’t able to get any match fitness in during pre-season as part of his ban but that has hardly mattered.
He kicked four against the Bombers in his first game back and is now well on track for another Adelaide leading goalkicking award — despite giving his teammates a three-game head start.
But what Crows fans will be loving is that with Walker back able to play footy, and looking good, all of a sudden Matthew Nicks has quite a potent forward line.
Walker’s the spearhead of course, but there were excellent supporting acts for the Crows in Elliott Himmelberg and Shane McAdam on Saturday night.
Himmelberg’s place in the team was heavily questioned after no goals in the Crows’ first two games of the season, especially with No. 2 draft pick Riley Thilthorpe in the SANFL.
But since then he’s kicked four goals in a Showdown, two against Essendon and against Richmond Himmelberg again had four goals.
McAdam hadn’t been in the AFL side yet this season but finished with two goals and competed strongly in the air for the Crows.
Hawthorn legend Jason Dunstall said the Crows now had multiple avenues to goal.
“I Love what Elliott Himmelberg has been able to do,” he said on Fox Footy.
“They are not one dimensional as a forward group any more.”
At ground level Josh Rachele provides the spark, kicking two goals of his own, while Lachie Murphy and Ned McHenry just hunt and hunt.
But while the Crows claimed a big win, and put in one of the more mature displays shown with Nicks at the helm, they will be sweating on the extent of a potentially serious ankle injury suffered by captain Rory Sloane.
Sloane’s knee seemed to buckle when as he and Richmond’s Nick Vlastuin tried to hunt the ball and the Crows captain instantly went to ground in pain.
“This is not good for Rory Sloane,” Dunstall said.
“This is a massive loss for the Crows.”
Sloane took some time to leave the field and as soon as he went to the bench the Crows activated James Rowe as their medical sub.
It continues a horror run for Sloane with injuries.
He missed the Showdown victory after an adductor injury in Round 2 while last year he missed time with an eye issue and had to have surgery on his finger after a high-grade tendon injury.
Sloane injury sours pulsating victory
By Jason Phelan
Taylor Walker has stepped up with five goals in his first home match of the season to propel Adelaide to a pulsating 19-point win against Richmond.
Walker slotted three goals in a scintillating first quarter, then booted majors in the second and third terms to help his side to a hard-fought 15.11 (101) to 12.10 (82) win at Adelaide Oval.
The victory was soured late in the engrossing contest when Rory Sloane hobbled from the field in the hands of trainers.
The captain’s right knee appeared to buckle as he fought for a ground ball in the final term, with medical substitute James Rowe brought on after Sloane underwent a brief examination before heading to the rooms.
The entertaining contest was in the balance late in the final term when the Tigers booted two goals in a minute, but a pair of last-quarter majors to young star Josh Rachele was enough to seal the Crows’ second win of the season.
Elliott Himmelberg finished with four goals and Ben Keays was the leading possession-winner on the ground with 31.
Trent Cotchin was in vintage form for the Tigers with 24 disposals and nine clearances with Shai Bolton, Shane Edwards and Toby Nankervis all prominent in the never-say-die display.
TEX TIME
Tall forwards Tom Lynch and Noah Balta started in ominous form, the Tigers leaping out of the blocks to lead by 13 points before Walker almost singlehandedly changed the momentum.
The star forward was roundly booed by Essendon fans at Marvel Stadium in his first game back from a six-match racism ban, but found a more forgiving audience in his first home appearance.
Walker booted his first goal after a pinpoint pass from Rachele and followed that up with another two inside the final minute of the first quarter to put his side up by six points.
The former skipper added a fourth just after the restart, with Himmelberg driving home a monster goal from 55m out as Adelaide surged to a 24-point lead.
Walker blotted his copybook late in the first half when Nankervis coaxed a 50m penalty that led to a Cotchin goal.
TAILS UP
The margin was 25 points early in the second half when Himmelberg superbly trapped a loose ball and snapped a spectacular goal, but Bolton and Edwards helped spark a ferocious fight back.
Bolton’s move into the centre and Edwards’ work across half-forward spurred the Tigers who rattled through four unanswered goals.
The fourth in the devastating run came from Liam Baker, whose second goal gave Richmond the lead midway through the third term.
But where Matthew Nicks’ charges might have succumbed in the face of such an onslaught before, this time they dug deep.
Reilly O’Brien kicked a rare goal and Walker and Himmelberg added to their tallies to put the home side up by 14 points at the last break.
SCOREBOARD
CROWS 4.1 9.4 13.6 15.11 (101)
TIGERS 3.1 6.3 10.10 12.10 (82)
PHELAN’S BEST
Crows: Walker, Keays, Himmelberg, Smith, Dawson, Butts.
Tigers: Bolton, Cotchin, Nankervis, Ross, Edwards, Prestia.
GOALS
Crows: Walker 5, Himmelberg 4, McAdam 2, Rachele 2, Laird, O’Brien.
Tigers: Baker 2, Castagna 2, Riewoldt 2, Lynch 2, Balta, Cotchin, Edwards, Graham.
INJURIES
Crows: Sloane (knee), Cook (head knock).
Tigers: Nankervis (head knock).
UMPIRES
Haussen, O’Gorman, Meredith.
ADELAIDE OVAL
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
JASON PHELAN’S VOTES
3 Walker (Adel)
2 Bolton (Rich)
1 Keays (Adel)
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