Mark Bickley: It’s now or never for Adelaide Crows against Geelong at Kardinia Park this Friday night

DUAL premiership captain Mark Bickley says now is the time for the Adelaide Crows to end their 14-year hoodoo at Kardinia Park. Or they may never win at the venue again.

Geelong’s David Spriggs tackled by Matthew Clarke and James Begley.

NOT many people would remember former Crows’ number 21 James Gallagher swooping on a loose ball inside the forward 50 at Kardinia Park and slotting it through to seal the match for his team.

The only reason I do is because I was playing at the time. It was round 10, 2003. That was the last time Adelaide walked away from Geelong with four points.

Many times in the ensuing 14 years the Crows have threatened to break the drought, including last year.

Sitting second on the ladder and on an eight-game winning streak, only to leave defeated again and with their lowest score of the year, 55 points.

Cat Will Slade is tackled by Tyson Edwards and James Gallagher during Adelaide’s last win at Kardinia Park in 2003.

In fact, the two defeats at the hands of Geelong last year were the Crows’ two lowest scoring matches in Don Pyke’s tenure.

Returning to the present and it appears Adelaide could not be better placed to face its nemesis. Let’s look at how Geelong has gone about dismantling Adelaide’s game in recent times.

The most important element has been contested ball. In all of the Geelong victories dating back to round one 2014 the Cats have got their hands on the ball first, including the two matches last year under Pyke.

This became a recurring theme in big games for Adelaide in 2016, leading to Pyke and his coaches making it the number one priority for his team to improve during the 2017 pre-season.

It was time well spent. The Crows statistically are now the number-one contested ball team in the competition, winning that category in all but one game this season, (the Demons being the only hiccup).

This is the biggest improvement the Crows have made this year and is what will allow them to challenge the Cats.

With Patrick Dangerfield the number one contested-ball player in the competition and Joel Selwood at number four, breaking even or winning this part of the game becomes a key focus for Adelaide.

Patrick Dangerfield of the Cats competes for the ball against Crow Matt Crouch.

The next area to conquer is Geelong’s defence.

In recent times it’s been the 900 games of experience through Corey Enright, Harry Taylor, Tom Lonergan and Andrew Mackie who have been smart enough to drop off their opponents and patrol the area behind the Crows’ forwards.

That removes one of the key avenues to goal, particularly for Jenkins and Betts who love running back into space after slick ball movement further up the ground.

This is the test for Pyke, as it will be no surprise how Geelong will set up – but can his forwards find other winning avenues to goal?

I’m confident the variety of the Adelaide forwards can create enough scoring chances to win. Particularly when you consider Enright has retired Taylor is now a forward and Lonergan is not at the level of past seasons. Another piece of the jigsaw is the ability to transition the ball from defence.

Once Geelong goes into its forward 50 it is the master at locking it in.

The narrow Simonds Stadium does opposition teams no favours. The Cats in recent times have targeted Tom Lynch as the player to stop.

He is Adelaide’s number one outlet target and is the key to quickly transitioning from defence to attack.

Lynch very rarely goes back behind his mark, preferring to play on instantly.

He is also brave with his kick, pulling the trigger into the corridor setting up many scoring attacks.

Lynch’s returns last year were modest, averaging just four marks and one goal in the two meetings.

Expect to see Taylor Walker and Charlie Cameron play higher up the field this week to give him a hand. Walker, with his foot skills, and Cameron, with his leg speed, will assist Lynch in being the conduit from defence to attack.

Finally the Crows need to expect at some stage Geelong will have momentum during this match. Adelaide needs to be able to limit the damage on the scoreboard until it gets the game back on its terms?

Last year at the Cattery it was a five goal to zero third quarter that was the difference. Adelaide’s two losses this year have had costly lapses, North Melbourne and Melbourne both recording long unanswered goal sprees.

Taking all of the above into consideration I like Adelaide’s chances.

They are fit, in form, and acutely aware of what they need to do well to win.

But the stakes are high for Adelaide. If they can’t win this week, will they ever believe they can beat Geelong? If Don Pyke’s game plan is thwarted again, what then? Will the Crows high scoring game style stand up to Geelong’s fierce tackling pressure?

All questions Crows fans and the rest of the competition are keen to see Adelaide answer.

Originally published as Mark Bickley: It’s now or never for Adelaide Crows against Geelong at Kardinia Park this Friday night