Deep dive: A close look at where Adelaide sits after its big win over North Melbourne
Holding a 3-1 record, Adelaide has the chance to take advantage of a soft draw over the next few weeks. But just how far can this club go in 2021?
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Do we dare to think of Adelaide as a possible finals contender?
Before Round 1 it seemed like another tough year was on the cards for the Crows, following an inaugural wooden spoon in 2020, as the rebuild at West Lakes continued.
The Round 4 match against North Melbourne at Marvel Stadium was seen as a match where one of the two winless teams in the competition would break their duck and take a huge stride to avoiding the spoon.
But that was before Round 1.
Following a 41-point win over the Kangaroos the rebuilding Crows sit in fifth at 3-1 having now notched up as many wins already in 2021 as they managed for the whole of 2020.
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And it could get even better for Crows fans with Fremantle at home, Hawthorn in Launceston and GWS at Adelaide Oval the next three games.
“They should go in pretty confident and think they can win two or maybe three of them,” St Kilda great Leigh Montagna said on Fox Footy.
“And then all of a sudden have a tilt at being a top eight team and play finals, who would have thought and it’s a long way to go but they are showing good signs.”
It is a long season, and after those games the fixtures start to look a lot more daunting for Matthew Nicks’ side – starting with a Showdown in Round 8.
But as Mick Malthouse argued on the weekend “early wins are like gold”.
If 12 wins is the number that gets you into the top eight come season end, then the Crows are already a quarter of the way there.
But Adelaide veteran Tom Lynch said the Crows could not look that far ahead.
“Wins are just so important for a young group and last year was such a challenging season for us,” he said.
“But we felt like we took some really positive steps forward, our coaching group has played a really important role in that and it is certainly nice to generate some wins
FORWARD MIX STILL NEEDS WORK
If the Crows are to keep this momentum going, then Nicks and his coaching staff need the other forwards to step up and help Taylor Walker.
The former skipper looked to be continuing his red-hot start to the season when he kicked two goals just minutes into Sunday’s game.
And while it was another fine game by the reborn Walker, finishing with 3.2, 17 disposals, seven marks and three tackles, until the final quarter it looked like his fellow forwards’ inability to make their mark on the game might cost Adelaide.
Incredibly, given Adelaide’s season to date, of the eight goals kicked in the final quarter to run down the Roos and claim the 41-point win, none were kicked by Walker – although he did set Harry Schoenberg up for one late one.
But this shouldn’t mask that the forward line still needs someone to lift their output going forward.
“You can’t rely on one (forward),” Nicks said.
Lynch said the aim was to be a team with multiple avenues to goal.
“We are still in the infancy of the season and we are still trying to gel as a group and get some continuity playing together as a group,” he said.
“He (Walker) is playing some fantastic footy and is a really important part of our team … we are doing the best to stay out of his way but at the same time I feel like we are trying to complement him as best as we can.
“We want to be a team that has multiple avenues to goal, James Rahilly (forwards coach) has been really good for us and in terms of what he has brought to the club and the confidence he gives forwards to play and try and have multiple avenues to scoring.”
But who will be part of these multiple avenues?
Billy Frampton did little to hose down suggestions he may need a spell in the SANFL to find form, finishing with two behinds, nine disposals and five marks.
Shane McAdam finished with three goals, but did little in the first three quarters, while James Rowe also took a while to get into the game.
Darcy Fogarty, in a hybrid forward/midfield roll, kicked three goals but only had five kicks for the game.
Nicks said Fogarty shouldn’t necessarily be judged on that.
“We played him on ball a lot of the day and he had a specific role there and when you look at some of the numbers he’s actually had a better day than it looks like from a stats point of view,” he said.
“So we will keep working with Fog on what his game looks like and where we see him but to have multiple options with Fog is a bonus and I thought in and around the footy he battled hard.
“It didn’t show through marks, kicks and handballs but we will look back on the tape and see how he played that role.”
Against the better teams in the competition, and let’s face it there are 17 betters sides in the AFL than North Melbourne, the Crows will need more from their forward line.
SUPER SHOLL
Fogarty’s inclusion for skipper Rory Sloane meant that for the first time in 2021, one of Adelaide’s top picks from the last four drafts got minutes at AFL level.
While the success or lack of success with early picks continues to get debated by Crows fans, Lachie Sholl at pick 64 in 2018 looks to be even more of a steal with every passing week.
There’s a reason why Nicks talked him up at every opportunity in the pre-season with the hard-running wingman standing up when the Crows needed him in the final quarter against the Kangaroos.
He finished with 31 disposals, eight marks, nearly 600m gained and a crucial goal to help the Crows run over the top of the Roos in the fourth after he had set up Rowe for a major of his own minutes earlier.
But his lunging, despairing tackle to nab Roos midfield bull Luke Davies-Uniacke showed that he isn’t just a slightly-built youngster with some elite kicking ability.
“That’s a great despairing tackle,” North Melbourne great David King said on Fox Footy.
“He got a fingertip to grab the jumper and just put the towrope on.
“He (Sholl) has been enormous, that’s desperation right there.”
Lynch said the exciting thing was that Sholl still had room to improve.
“He’s a very good young player, I’ve really enjoyed watching him develop,” Lynch said.
“He will get better the more games he plays but yeah he’s a really good player.”
SENIOR PLAYERS HELPING OR HINDERING ROOS?
In the dying minutes of the match, King put the onus well and truly on his former club.
“I think it will be a discussion for the Kangaroos’ match committee post game, the same players in the centre bounce (mix) in this last quarter here that were there against the Western Bulldogs when they kicked 10 goals (in the fourth),” he said.
“Maybe they lose faith in these blokes to get the job done if they can’t run out the match.”
Whether David Noble “loses faith” in Ben Cunnington, Jy Simpkin and Davies-Uniacke, who were at the coalface when King made his comments, we will find that out in the coming weeks.
But the Roos desperately need their senior players, and those who have had several years in the system, to step up given the bloodletting that has happened to the North Melbourne list.
Adelaide’s improvement in 2021 is largely down to players such as Walker and Sloane improving, as well as the brilliant Rory Laird in midfield.
The Roos aren’t getting that from their senior players.
Cunnington was criticised for a lack of leadership with a late hit on Laird that led to an Adelaide goal.
While Jack Ziebell’s numbers are looking good, 25 disposals and seven marks, are the Roos best served this season by him playing on from the kick-ins and going short and wide almost time-after-time when the game has opened up so much?
It was no coincidence the Kangaroos’ best periods of ball movement from kick-ins, their ability to go coast-to-coast, largely came when Aaron Hall took them.
SCOREBOARD
ROOS 2.2, 6.3, 9.7, 10.8 (68)
CROWS 5.2, 8.6, 8.9, 16.13 (109)
D’URBANO’S BEST
ROOS Simpkin, Hall, Goldstein, Ziebell, Powell, Thomas
CROWS Smith, Sholl, Seedsman, O’Brien, Laird, Walker, Keays
GOALS
ROOS Larkey 3, Goldstein 2, Stephenson 2, Thomas 2, Phillips
CROWS: Walker 3, McAdam 3, Fogarty 3, Schoenberg 2, O’Brien, Seedsman, Murphy, Rowe, Sholl
INJURIES
ROOS: Walker (hamstring) replaced in selected side by Campbell, McDonald (pectoral), Zurhaar (concussion)
CROWS: Nil
VENUE: Marvel Stadium
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
D’URBANO’S VOTES
3: L.Sholl (Adelaide)
2: R.O’Brien (Adelaide)
1: J.Simpkin (North)
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