AFL Round 13 Adelaide v Richmond: A full Crows review is needed after Tigers boilover
After being stunned by Richmond, Adelaide’s season is all but over. And no matter what happens from here, the Crows need another external review, writes SIMEON THOMAS-WILSON.
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Adelaide needs a review.
No matter what happens between now and the end of the season, the Crows need to do an external review when their campaign is over.
Yes, they had one at the end of 2019, but the Crows need to find out just why they have not only stalled but gone backwards in 2024.
Sure, they had a makeshift team, and were without Izak Rankine and Taylor Walker through injury, and Riley Thilthorpe hasn’t played all year because of his pre-season knock, and Nick Murray has just returned in the SANFL.
But an even-more injury hit Richmond at home is a game the Crows couldn’t have dropped.
And yet they did, and for many Crows fans at Adelaide Oval it appears to be the final straw.
It was a flat atmosphere from the outset, for a Thursday night stinker in terms of skills, only to rise when the Crows looked to make a late comeback.
Already those on social media were ramping up the pressure on the Crows and the direction of the club in the build-up to the clash against the Tigers after just how disappointing Adelaide was against Hawthorn the week prior.
But let’s be honest, aside from Carlton at Marvel Stadium and Port Adelaide in the Showdown, it has been a season of disappointment from the Crows.
After saying they were ready to embrace the expectations that were coming their way, the Crows have faltered and faltered.
They get too far behind too often, and while they have a crack it has too often been too late.
“I’ve read this book before from Adelaide, I’ve read this book all year,” Crows board member and club great Mark Ricciuto said on Triple M.
“Get down and have a crack, when they have had to have a crack they have.”
It was in the third quarter, when Richmond piled on the goals and the Crows couldn’t cope with the Tigers.
And yes they lifted in the fourth quarter, but, like it has been far too often in 2024, they were just too far behind.
One of the most entertaining teams in the competition in 2023, the Crows are now just middling and look to have lost of their potency.
Adelaide needs to find out why this has happened – just when it looked like the Crows would finally get back to where fans expect.
Leigh Montagna on FoxFooty called the Crows “a shell of the team they were last year” after the final siren.
Get Jason Dunstall, Matthew Pavlich, Tim Gabbett and Jonah Oliver back at West Lakes and find out what has actually changed since their review in 2019, get in a new panel.
Whoever they choose the Crows need to get answers to a lot of issues.
Look at why they have gone backwards, look at why the most dangerous offensive side in 2023 is nowhere near this in 2024.
Look at why they seem to have so many players who you just don’t know that are at AFL level, look at why their midfield is still one-paced and undersized despite years and years of commentary around this.
Look at why top draft picks aren’t firing, look at why outside of Rankine and Jordan Dawson they haven’t been able to get top players in, look at all areas of recruitment.
Look at why too many of the players in their leadership group aren’t performing, look at why young players aren’t making their way into the AFL side or when they do why they are out so quickly.
Look at why they can’t win away and in close games, don’t turn up at times when the heat is on, the psychological work being done after appointments in that area were being touted in pre-season.
Look at the coaching, the game plan, how young players are being developed.
Look at whether Matthew Nicks is still the man to be senior coach, regardless of the fact he signed a contract earlier this year.
Because they need to find answers about just why things have gone so wrong in 2024, when they should have kicked on.
They also need to placate fans, just like they did in 2019 when they last did a review.
But then they were wondering why they fell away from a grand final team.
Now they have to wonder why they look miles away from getting back to finals.
And whether the direction they are on is the right one, and the people who on and off the field tasked with driving this are the right ones.
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Originally published as AFL Round 13 Adelaide v Richmond: A full Crows review is needed after Tigers boilover
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