Adelaide Crows: All the latest news, updates, previews ahead of Round 6
Adelaide’s top pick from the 2018 ‘super draft’ hasn’t come on as expected, but his junior coach says Chayce Jones can still be a star.
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Chayce Jones should be running out at UTAS Stadium in Launceston on Sunday with the Crows as a hometown hero.
But unless there is an injury the Tasmanian will likely be watching Adelaide take on Hawthorn from the stands, with the Crows’ first pick of the 2018 “super draft” still without any AFL minutes in 2021.
However, Adelaide’s coaching staff, and those who know the 21-year-old, are backing the former pick 9 to turn things around, with Matthew Nicks set to change things up over the next month to get the best out of his highly-rated prospect.
After Nicks said last week Jones “took a really big step” following 16 disposals and five tackles against West Adelaide in the SANFL, the young midfielder managed to touch the ball only five times against Woodville-West Torrens.
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Jones travelled with the team to his home town, but there’s little chance of him playing on Sunday.
“He is Tasmanian, so we will take him home so he can see family” Nicks said on Friday.
“At this point we haven’t finalised our team but I wouldn’t expect Chayce to be in the 23.
“We have to have an extra player just in case if one pulls out on the morning of the game, we have to have a player ready to go.”
Only managing five touches of the footy at state league level in the midfield, and not tasting any minutes of AFL action, is not how many thought Jones’ 2021 season would be playing out so far.
After what looked as a breakout game when he amassed 18 disposals, seven marks, four tackles and a goal when shifted into the midfield against the Western Bulldogs in the Crows’ final game of 2019, Jones was earmarked as one of those who would drive the youth-led revolution under Nicks.
Winning the club’s 2km time-trial further fuelled the excitement, but Jones didn’t take the steps forward many predicted in 2020.
As others from his draft class began to emerge as stars of the competition, Jones’ move into the midfield didn’t yield the results those at the club had hoped for.
He played 15 of 17 games in 2020, but recorded 10 plus disposal games on only five occasions.
There were some signs of Jones’ talent when shifted to the wing late in the year, playing arguably his best game of the season in the Crows’ breakthrough win over Hawthorn in which he had 13 touches and two goals.
Nicks conceded earlier this year Jones was “thrown in the deep end” in his second season at AFL level, but during pre-season said the Tasmanian had put on some size, added some power and was “looking like a different man” ahead of the 2021 campaign.
But six rounds into the season, Jones is the only player from the top 10 from the 2018 draft not to taste any minutes in the AFL this year — even with Rory Sloane and Matt Crouch out of the midfield mix through injury.
Those who know the Launceston product, an All-Australian in his Under-18 year as the captain of Tasmania and second in the Tasmanian State League’s best-and-fairest despite playing just five games, are backing him to overcome this “tough period”.
Lance Spaulding coached Jones in the Tassie Mariners and said he was as good as anyone he had coached at that level.
“I noticed he was the emergency a couple of times for the Crows this year, so that suggests that he is in the mix and I think they understand his potential,” he said.
“But it’s not an easy gig, is it? But I’m sure if anyone will get through it, it will be him.
“He is just one of those kids that are super coachable and just a fantastic leader, maybe that might be contributing.
“I wouldn’t know for certain, but because he is so team-orientated he would be trying to do everything the coach says to the letter and maybe he just needs to free himself up a little bit and just play.”
While he was an All-Australian at Under-18 level as a midfielder, Spaulding said Jones could shine in multiple positions.
“I think he can play anywhere, and he can play anywhere well because he will commit himself to a role and maybe some of his issues, instead of playing he may just be over-thinking things,” Spaulding said.
“I’m sure he will find his way, it’s such a cutthroat business but if anyone can, he can.
“He will cross the I’s and dot the T’s to get back in that side, I know that.”
Nicks said the coaches had a plan for Jones over the next month.
“It’s one of those things with statistics, we pick up the sheet at the end of the game and we look at it and say, ‘It’s five possessions — come on’,” he said.
“(But) he’s doing some really good work, off the field he is getting his game to a level we are seeing an intensity in the way he is playing.
“So we are really pleased with that and we are going to try and a number of different things with Chayce around where we play him, making sure that we are doing the right thing by him and getting him in the position that he will benefit from him.
“Chayce’s weapons if you look at his overall game, he is a very good overhead mark, he has elite speed and endurance, he is very clean with the ball.
“We are looking at the possibility of trying him in different positions, letting him see the game, letting him come onto the footy.
“Without giving too much away, over the next month we will have a look at a couple of different areas rather than putting him into the heat of battle.”
Jones still has time on his side. He has two years remaining on his deal at West Lakes, and there is a genuine desire for him to do well — even from rivals.
Recently a Port Adelaide player remarked that they hope Jones can turn it around and make his mark on the AFL.
The next month after his trip back home could be vital in this.
PRIZED DRAFTEE HAS LICENCE TO THRILL
Adelaide will unleash the highest ever draft pick in its history with Riley Thilthorpe to debut against Hawthorn.
But Crows senior coach Matthew Nicks says the club and its supporters have to be “really mindful” of what expectations they have as the boyhood Adelaide fan gets his first crack at the big time.
While he hasn’t yet settled on a team to take on the Hawks, Nicks revealed that the No. 2 pick of the 2020 Draft would play his first AFL game for the club in Launceston on Sunday.
“Riley will play this week,” he said.
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“That’s a really exciting thing for our footy club and for the squad.
“We look forward to him have an opportunity at the highest level.
“It’s going to be a challenge for him, he’s a young key position player but we think he’s ready to step up and have a crack at the highest level.”
But Nicks said Crows fans had to be realistic about what Thilthorpe could produce in his first crack at AFL level.
“From a training point of view you don’t get many better, we talk about being a pro and he’s that and some,” he said.
“Sometimes we have to pull him back on the amount of load he is trying to put through his young body.
“It’s a huge step up, from an expectation point of view we understand that he is a young key forward.
“It is about tempering expectations, it’s not all on Riley on how he performs.
“It is about delivery, it is how we are going in the midfield, are we getting the job done across the ground and are players playing their role.
“We are really mindful of what expectation we put on a young kid, yet he’s a high draft pick and a really talented footballer.
“If he plays his role for the team and we can get the job done that’s what we are looking for.”
Nicks said Thilthorpe had a large smile and gave him a “bit of a nod” to say “I’m ready” after he told him he would play his first AFL game for the Crows.
“If we asked Riley early on in the year he would have said he was ready for Round 1,” he said.
“But I know he has done a hell of a lot of work over six weeks just working on his game and the off-field understanding of how we play.”
Thilthorpe will likely come in for Billy Frampton, who hasn’t kicked a goal since Round 1, but Nicks said the Crows were yet to finalise their team for the clash against the Hawks.
“That has been our conversation of late,” Nicks said.
“Billy has been playing a really important role for us, he’s the first one to admit that we haven’t seen his weapon as much as we would like.
“And Elliott (Himmelberg) has been playing some good footy at the lower level, so we are still to make some decisions in that space.
“We have a captains run to get through, we have some sore boys still. Tom Lynch’s toe has been troubling him for a number of weeks and he hasn’t been able to train.
“So we are looking at how many weeks can we go without training before he cannot perform at the level we know he can so those things will play out in the next 24 hours.”
Sam Berry rolled his ankle at training on Thursday, possibly opening the door for Jackson Hately to play his first game for the Crows since coming over from GWS.
Nicks said the first year player was still in the mix, but the Crows had a decision to make on him as well as youngster Ned McHenry.
Nicks said Taylor Walker had trained well this week after a calf issue impacted his second half in the loss to Fremantle last time out.
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First-year Adelaide midfielder Sam Berry appears unlikely to play in Sunday’s clash with Hawthorn in Launceston after rolling his ankle at training.
Berry had to be helped off the ground early in Thursday’s main session at West Lakes and did not return.
Taken at pick 28 in December’s national draft, the 19-year-old Victorian has played in all five matches so far this season, impressing with his toughness and tackling.
If Berry is sidelined, GWS recruit Jackson Hately looms as a good chance to come in for his club debut after being an emergency last week.
Crows midfielder Rory Laird said the team had several options to replace Berry if needed.
“I think he’ll be doubtful, he looked a bit ginger in the rooms,” Laird said.
“I didn’t actually see the incident but rolled ankles usually take a couple more days.
“We’ll just wait and see.”
Ned McHenry also came off the ground late in the session after getting a kick to the leg but was OK.
Former captain Taylor Walker, who entered the Dockers game with a calf issue, got through training unscathed and should be fine to play on Sunday.
“He said he felt really good today and felt better than he did last week,” Laird said.
Laird said himself he copped a “stinger” to his shoulder in Sunday’s home loss to Fremantle but said he was OK to play.
Tom Lynch trained inside as part of the club’s management of his sore toe.
Skipper Rory Sloane was jogging on the track, as part of his recovery from eye surgery.
He is expected to be available in two to three weeks.
“I feel for Sloaney, he was playing so well and leading us so well,” Laird said.
“It was a very awkward injury … and he wasn’t able to do a lot with his eye or socialise or look at screens and knowing Sloaney, he was a little bit bored – he’s a jack-in-the-box and wants to be doing stuff.
“For him to be running today would be a great circuit-breaker for him.”
Laird said there might be some management of players in coming weeks after some fatigue had crept in, but it would be a case-by-case scenario.
Adelaide will announce its side on Saturday evening.
ROO REVEALS SKIPPER’S LIKELY RETURN DATE
Adelaide captain Rory Sloane could return to action in the Showdown in Round 8.
The Crows’ skipper has started running again after he had to have eye surgery on a detached retina – which has ruled him out of Adelaide’s past two matches.
Sloane had the procedure after complaining of blurred vision before the North Melbourne game and the decision was made to send him into surgery quickly before any damage was done.
He was at Adelaide Oval for the Crows’ loss to Fremantle on Sunday, and club board member Mark Ricciuto said the club hoped Sloane would be back in action shortly – potentially against fierce rivals Port Adelaide.
“I think they are hoping he will be back around the Showdown or maybe a week after,” he said on Triple M.
“It’s not like a broken arm … it’s a detached retina, it’s a weird one.
“The Showdown would be a great game to come back in.”
The Crows have a trip to Perth to take on West Coast after the clash against the Power.
On Tuesday Adelaide head of football Adam Kelly said Sloane would be assessed by specialists this week. and after that the Crows would be able to confirm when he will return to play.
Sloane had been in fine form for the Crows before he complained of blurred vision.
He has averaged 24 disposals, 13.7 possessions, 7.7 clearances and 7.7 score involvements per 100 minutes in 2021 – all up from a 2020 campaign seriously impacted by injury.
Crows coach Matthew Nicks described Sloane’s game against Gold Coast, his last match before the eye issue, as “one of the best captains games I’ve seen”.
Sloane had 35 disposals, 20 contested possessions, 11 clearances and 11 score involvements against the Suns, which prompted the gushing praise from Nicks.
The Crows will head to Tasmania on Saturday morning for their Sunday lunchtime clash with Hawthorn in Launceston.
Crows leadership group member Brodie Smith told 9 News that a number of Adelaide players were a bit banged up after the first five weeks of the season.
But he expected them to play against the Hawks this weekend.
Key forward in the mix as top Crow calls for patience
Adelaide key forward Elliott Himmelberg is in the frame for his first match of the season after another encouraging showing in the SANFL.
Himmelberg took 10 marks, had 15 disposals and kicked 1.2 in the Crows’ 83-point defeat to reigning premier Woodville-West Torrens on Saturday, to put pressure on Billy Frampton.
Frampton registered 10 touches, four marks and three hit-outs in Sunday’s 12-point loss to Fremantle, while going goalless for the fourth consecutive game.
Playing as a key forward and back-up ruckman, Himmelberg finished last season in hot form to earn a contract extension but Frampton was in that role from Round 1 this year.
Adelaide senior assistant Scott Burns said although Himmelberg had performed consistently for three or four weeks, the coaches had been pleased with its forward line during the club’s 3-2 start.
“Easy (Himmelberg) was certainly one of the players down there who certainly hit the footy pretty hard and took some pretty good marks,” Burns said.
“We’re really happy with the collective seven that have been out there as forwards … but it’s not a collective seven that’s going to be there for every round.
“There’s going to be changes, whether it’s this week or whether it’s three or four weeks from now and whether it’s Billy or whoever it is, it’s open at this point.”
Riley Thilthorpe is another key forward/ruck option and the 18-year-old continues to be a talking point outside of West Lakes.
Burns said Thilthorpe — averaging 10.7 touches, three marks and 0.7 goals from three SANFL games — moved the best he had seen in the state league this year on Saturday.
“His sharpness, his agility, he was clean around the ball,” he said.
“When he’s going to be in the mix I’m not sure, but he’s a long-term project.”
Burns called for patience with the club’s younger players, including the past two years’ top draft picks Thilthorpe and Fischer McAsey, as they continued to develop in the SANFL.
“We’ve just got to be a little bit careful with 18, 19, 20-year-olds — some people take a little bit longer (to become regular AFL players),” he said.
“I didn’t play my first game until 20, I think Bucks (Nathan Buckley), Peter Sumich was 21.
“Matty Rowell’s a star, Chris Judd’s a star — some come in straight away and play good footy.
“It does depend on players you’ve got ahead of you and how the team’s going.”
Captain Rory Sloane’s eye will be assessed this week to determine when he can return to training.
Sloane is recovering from surgery to fix a retinal detachment and is listed as two to three weeks away from being available.
Forward Ben Davis had scans on Tuesday after rolling his ankle in the SANFL on Saturday and having to come off with a sore right foot.
Sacked Crow dominates former club, eyes third chance
Dumped Crow Tyson Stengle is eyeing a third AFL opportunity.
After making a sensational return to football against his former club in the SANFL on Saturday, a month after cutting ties with Matthew Nicks’ team, Stengle said he would love the chance to grace an AFL field again.
“Hopefully I get that chance because I want to play AFL again, for sure,’’ he said after kicking four goals in his comeback game for premier Woodville-West Torrens against the Crows reserves.
“We’ll see what happens but it’s good to be back playing footy. It was a good feeling to be out there again.’’
Stengle, 22, returned to the fray after serving a four-match AFL suspension for “conduct unbecoming’’.
The penalty was imposed before he mutually agreed to leave Adelaide last month, with two years left on his contract, following three off-field indiscretions in eight months.
Stengle, an Eagles junior who played for Richmond before being traded to the Crows in 2018, refused to talk about his controversial departure from Adelaide, saying “I can’t comment on that’’.
But he revealed he had lost 2kg since joining the Eagles and that they had helped him on and off the field and rekindled his fire to play at the top level again.
“It’s been a challenging period, pretty tough, but the Eagles have been good to me, helped me through it, and now I’m trying to control what I can control,’’ Stengle said.
“I loved being back out there playing again and to be part of a good win, it was nice.
“I’m just trying to play my role for the team, that’s going to be my focus each week.’’
Stengle, who is eligible to be selected in the AFL mid-season draft in June, said he had lost 2kg since joining the Eagles — “through diet and stuff’’, he said — and that he had moved on from his Crows delisting.
He has started working with the Eagles as an education support officer, which includes a 12-month traineeship.
Starting on former Adelaide teammate David Mackay at Woodville Oval on Saturday, Stengle dominated his first league game for the Eagles, finishing with four majors, 21 disposals and a handful of goal assists.
He was so exciting that Eagles premiership coach Jade Sheedy suggested he was too good for the SANFL.
“It was a bit funny playing against the Crows because I knew a few of the boys and there was a bit of banter but it was just good to be playing footy again,’’ Stengle said.
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