Adelaide’s season sinks to new low with 10th consecutive loss against Melbourne
Adelaide’s season sunk to a new low on Wednesday night when it crashed to a heavy defeat to Melbourne, condemning the club to its 10th-consecutive loss under first-year coach Matthew Nicks.
Crows
Don't miss out on the headlines from Crows. Followed categories will be added to My News.
How did Adelaide fall away so badly against Melbourne on Wednesday night, after sticking with the visitors for so long throughout the game?
According to Crows coach Matthew Nicks, his team “ran out of gas” – both physical and mental – as it sustained its 10th straight loss to start the season and 13th in a row.
“It was an arm-wrestle and we put out three high-quality quarters of contested ball against a very good contested ball team, and we ran out of gas,” Nicks said after his side conceded seven goals to one in the fourth term of the the 51-point home defeat.
Watch Footy LIVE & On-Demand Every Day from July 29 – August 17 with Kayo. New to Kayo? Get your 14-day free trial & start streaming instantly >
“We’re off a four-day break but that’s challenging for all teams and we made nine changes, so we had nine fresh guys in.
“When you’re 12 points down at three-quarter time and feel like you’ve had a fair bit of the play – up to that point statistics were reasonably balanced ... and it was a good battle.
“There’s no doubt when they got one or two quick goals and bust out of centre bounce and bust out of stoppage, there’s a mental side to that for both teams – they get a lift ... and, if anything, we maybe dropped off a percent or two, and that’s too much against a good side.
“Credit where it’s due, they were very good in that last quarter and got clearance going.”
On paper, the past two games – against second-bottom North Melbourne and a Melbourne side coming off a horrible performance last week – looked winnable for Adelaide.
Now, after a 69-point loss to the Kangaroos and a fourth-quarter fade-out to the Demons, the 0-10 Crows only have seven games remaining to avoid becoming the first side since 1964 to go through a season without a victory.
Nicks was confident one would come before the end of this campaign.
“We’ve been in a number of games where we’ve had our opportunities,” he said.
“It does get tougher and tougher for a group when you are losing the way we are but it comes back to what we live by, what are our values as a group, but we didn’t quite put them out there for four quarters today.
“We’re doing it tough and we’re 0-10 but it will make it all the more sweeter that we’re experiencing this hard time when we do actually turn it around, play some really good footy and get some wins on the board.”
After Brodie Smith (knee) was a late withdrawal and replaced by Ben Crocker, the Crows fielded nine players aged 22 or under and 11 who had featured in 30 games or fewer.
Adelaide hosts Collingwood on Tuesday night.
NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK
The debutants keep coming for Adelaide during this rebuilding season.
Harry Schoenberg and Lachlan Sholl were the latest to get an opportunity, taking the Crows’ tally this season to eight – the most debutants in a year for the club since nine in 1999.
And both impressed.
Inside midfielder Schoenberg got plenty of opportunities at centre bounces, while halfback/wingman Sholl looked composed with the ball and used it well.
Adelaide’s other debutants this year have been Will Hamill, Andrew McPherson, Fischer McAsey, Ned McHenry, Kieran Strachan and Shane McAdam.
“I thought Sholl was rock solid and Schoenberg battled away inside and embraced the contest that it was against some high-quality opposition in (Clayton) Oliver, (Jack) Viney, (Christian) Petracca – it was a good initiation for him,” Nicks said.
“Some of these young players are showing us what will hopefully be a bright future.”
CLEARANCE ISSUE
Adelaide had only won the clearance count once in its nine games prior to Wednesday night – against Fremantle in Round 5.
And the Crows had been on the receiving end of some lopsided tallies in every other match, losing the category 46-25, 39-30, 38-25, 31-22, 28-17, 36-31, 37-2 and 35-20.
On Wednesday night, it not only matched Melbourne’s midfield for most of the night, but was leading the clearances 23-19 at three-time quarter-time.
But the dam-wall burst in the last term, as Oliver, Jack Viney and Christian Petracca all fired.
Oliver, in particular, looked dangerous at stoppages and Adelaide was unable to stop him.
TALL ORDER
Melbourne dropped Tom McDonald and went with youngster Luke Jackson and Sam Weideman in a two-prong tall forward line.
The decision paid off, as Jackson and Weideman both worked into the game and proved instrumental in the Demons’ win.
Weideman finished with three goals, while Jackson managed two and both gave their midfielders a target.
‘ALIVE AND WELL’
Melbourne coach Goodwin said the side’s season is “alive” and “well” after putting behind a testing six days, that included lashings from chairman Glen Bartlett and club great Garry Lyon.
The Demons and Goodwin entered the match against winless Adelaide at Adelaide Oval under enormous pressure on the back of Bartlett labelling the club’s defeat by the same margin to Port last Thursday night as “disgraceful” and “soft as butter”, and Lyon calling it “pathetic”.
A loss to the struggling Crows would have raised all sorts of questions at Melbourne, but instead the victory moved it to a 4-5 record with a game to come against Essendon.
Goodwin said last week’s display was “completely unacceptable and we took responsibility for that, but that was one game” and the side’s form for most of the season had been “OK”.
The fourth-year coach said Bartlett’s comments were “were just addressed with our playing group because when the chairman speaks, you listen, but it didn’t have any impact on our preparation or tonight’s result”.
“As a club, we were disappointed and as a coach post last week I was pretty clear what I thought of the performance … and we wanted to launch into this week and do it our way and bring our strengths, and I thought tonight we did,” Goodwin said.
“It was important we got back in a frame of mind to where we were and we came to Adelaide to try to win two games, we’re one down and got another (against North Melbourne) in four days’ time (on Sunday).
“Our season is alive, it’s well and we’re right in it like every other team.”
Adelaide took it up to the Demons for three quarters and were just two goals ahead at the last break before the visitors powered home, kicking seven goals to one.
“They brought a lot of heat early in the game and it was one of those games that was going to be in the balance for a long period and to our guys’ credit, they fought it out,” Goodwin said.
Goodwin hailed skipper Max Gawn’s performance and leadership as “unbelievable” after the ruckman overcame a soft tissue strain and soreness to help his team win the clearances.
He said he would be assessed before Sunday’s game and also called on him to be protected.
“He gets a lot of attention, Max, and we continually speak to the various powers to be about the attention he gets and he gets clearly targeted around just getting to a stoppage,” he said.
“It happens every week – he’s a target for most teams, he’s an outstanding player and great leader and hopefully at some stage that will come to an end.”
Goodwin also called Clayton Oliver’s second-half stoppage work “extraordinary”, saying he was a big part of why the Demons won.
ADELAIDE 2.4 4.5 4.7 5.7 (37)
MELBOURNE 3.2 5.4 6.7 13.10 (89)
GOALS – Melbourne: Weideman 3, Fritsch, Melksham, Jackson, Viney 2, Bennell, Oliver.
Adelaide: Seedsman 2, Himmelberg, Fogarty, Crocker.
MATT TURNER’S BEST
Melbourne: Oliver, Viney, Petracca, Salem, Weideman, Gawn, Langdon.
Adelaide: Lynch, M. Crouch, Keays, Brown, Seedsman, Laird.
INJURIES
Melbourne: Nil.
Adelaide: Hamill (concussion)
MATT TURNER’S VOTES
3 – Clayton Oliver (Melbourne)
2 – Jack Viney (Melbourne)
1 – Christian Petracca (Melbourne)
‘STOP THIS ROT’: LEGEND CALLS FOR CHANGE
Hawthorn legend Dermott Brereton has called on the AFL to “stop this rot” of players taunting their opponents.
Recalled Demon Aaron vandenBerg cost his team a shot at goal on the quarter-time siren when he rushed to where teammate Jake Melksham had taken a mark and pushed opponent Fischer McAsey while he was on the ground.
The shot was immediately revoked by the umpire, and Brereton said the action had “crept into the game” and that respect for opponents had to be paramount.
“It’s not something that’s been going on for years that we’re clamping down on,” he said on Fox Footy.
“This has crept into the game. And we can talk about yesteryear, whether (it’s) better, worse, whatever. Players didn’t do it.
“There was a respect for players. You didn’t do stuff like that. This has crept into the game.
“There’s got to be a respect for your opposition that you don’t have to denigrate them to this level.
“Pay the free kick, and let’s stop this rot.”
Collingwood president Eddie McGuire said league football boss Steve Hocking was waging “absolute war on this type of play”.
“The smart alec cheap shot – whether it’s a missed goal or a missed tackle or whatever, and it’s cost Melbourne a shot at goal,” he said.
“This is what the AFL is wanting to stamp out. They think it is just absolutely no good whatsoever.
“They think that this is just a shocking look.”
Fellow Fox commentator and North Melbourne premiership player David King said paying the free kick would stamp it out.
“You’re 3-5, you’re battling in this game,” he said of Melbourne.
“You’re not flying. That goal is priceless.”
King added coaches could also solve the problem.
“The coaches say ‘hey, you just cost us a goal’ … I guarantee you through selection, and those sorts of things, they’ll correct it pretty quickly,” he said.
St Kilda great Nick Riewoldt said taunting opposition players had become a “virus” in the game in his column last week.
DEMON TO FACE SCRUTINY FOR SLING TACKLE
Melbourne forward Alex Neal-Bullen will face scrutiny from the match review officer after a sling tackle on young Crow Will Hamill.
Neal-Bullen, who was recalled to the Demons’ side for his first game since Round 2, hurled the rookie Crows defender to the ground and gave away a free kick for a dangerous tackle in the first quarter on Wednesday night.
The umpire did not report Neal-Bullen, but Hamill took more than a minute to get to his feet and appeared dazed when he did.
Moments later, Hamill came off the ground and he had been ruled out of the game by quarter-time.
Fox Footy’s David King said of the tackle: “that’s the action we have to stamp out of the game”.
“The fines and the one-weeks (suspensions) are not a deterrent,” King said.
The AFL tightened its rules around sling tackles earlier this year after Hawk Shaun Burgoyne dodged suspension for a tackle on Patrick Dangerfield.
MORE TO COME
Neal-Bullen just demonstrating the textbook definition of a dangerous tackle. Hope Hamill comes out of this ok. #AFLCrowsDees
— Nicholas Sacco (@NicholasSacco22) August 5, 2020
Originally published as Adelaide’s season sinks to new low with 10th consecutive loss against Melbourne