AFL 2021: West Adelaide’s Paul Streatfield reflects on junior product Riley Thilthorpe’s debut
Those who watched Riley Thilthorpe rise to become a No. 1 draft pick have predicted his five-goal AFL debut will be the start of a special career.
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West Adelaide talent manager Paul Streatfield had flashbacks when he watched Riley Thilthorpe on TV on Sunday.
“There was a game a few years ago that sticks out where we played Norwood at home and he was really strong in the air, he was taking those one grabs,” Streatfield told The Advertiser.
“It was actually the last game of under-18 footy he played before he went up to the league team (to debut as a 17-year-old).
“I could see some similarities with that, the way he was coming across the front of the pack and taking those marks.
“It was a bit of a flashback, which was great.”
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Thilthorpe kicked 3.3 and took eight marks – all contested – for the Bloods in that match at Richmond Oval in July 2019.
In Launceston on Sunday, the 201cm key forward/ruckman booted 5.0, gathered 16 disposals and claimed five marks for Adelaide in his initial appearance at AFL level – a three-point loss to Hawthorn.
It was the most goals on debut by a Crow and the biggest haul by a first-gamer since Richmond’s Marty McGrath in 2003.
Adelaide coaches, recruiters and supporters could hardly have hoped for a better opening performance for the player who in December became the club’s highest national draft pick, taken second overall.
Yet several other factors – Tom Lynch’s medical substitute controversy, Adelaide booting a league record 15.0 before registering a behind, the Crows coughing up a five-goal lead to lose and the game being in Tasmania – ensured he was not the biggest story from the match.
“It didn’t get as much attention in the days after as it would’ve normally,” Streatfield says.
“We certainly tracked it pretty closely at our footy club.
“We knew he could do it, we’ve seen him do it for a number of years, but to put it out on the park in your first game is pretty impressive.”
In a nice twist, John Klug, who had jointly held the club record with four majors in Adelaide’s inaugural match in 1991, presented Thilthorpe with his guernsey on Sunday.
Streatfield says Thilthorpe would not have been fazed by having to wait until Round 6 to break into the side.
“It’s been a pretty big build-up for a number of years,” he says.
“He’s been spoken about for a long time, so he had to wait for the draft and once he got drafted, he had to wait for his first game.
“Knowing Riley, he’s so driven it would’ve just pushed him to get even more out of himself, so he’s even more ready when the time came.”
Other draftees have struggled in their debuts but aside from two early errant kicks, Thilthorpe shone.
“He looked at home,” Streatfield says.
“I think that’s the result of him having always been playing up grades – under-18s as a 15-year-old, league footy as a 17-year-old – and I can’t say I’ve seen him flustered by that.
“He’s really level-headed, really mature and I think really confident in what he can do when he puts it all together.”
Loyalty is another of Thilthorpe’s traits.
Even as he adjusts to life as a full-time footballer, he finds time to make regular appearances at West Adelaide.
“He sits in the grandstand with players who used to be teammates, sits there quietly and supports the club he used to be at,” Streatfield says.
“It speaks a fair bit for his character.”
Streatfield, who speaks regularly to Thilthorpe, says the lifelong Crows fan is enjoying life at West Lakes and the club is really happy with how he is tracking.
“Knowing the quality of Riley and way he goes about his footy, he’ll only lift his standards each week from here,” he says.
“When you think about debut games, you probably don’t think about Hawthorn in Tasmania.
“But he’s got that done, he’s played well, so it’s onto the next one now.”
THE AREA STILL LETTING IMPROVING CROWS DOWN
Adelaide has gone from low-scoring wooden-spooner to one of the AFL’s most potent teams, but its defensive frailties are continuing to be exposed.
While the Crows have already matched their 2020 win count and have registered the fourth-most points in the league after six rounds, averaging 94.3 per game, up from a ranking of 18th last year, turnovers are really hurting it.
According to Champion Data, Adelaide has conceded the fifth-most back-half turnovers of any side and sits 17th for most points coughed up from defensive-half errors.
Not only are the Crows committing a lot of mistakes in dangerous areas, they are struggling to defend them and leaking scores.
Adelaide also ranks 15th for scores from turnover differential, as opponents cash in on its errors but the Crows struggle to do so themselves.
That statistic can be an indicator of the best teams in the competition.
This year, the top four sides for turnover differential are unbeaten Melbourne and Western Bulldogs, Sydney, which is fifth on the ladder at 4-2, and Port Adelaide (third, 5-1).
Overall, the Crows have conceded the third-most points in the league with 91.8 per game.
The absence of first-choice backmen Daniel Talia and Wayne Milera to injury are not helping tighten up Adelaide, while captain Rory Sloane’s defensive work in the midfield is also being missed while he recovers from eye surgery.
But even without those stars, along with gun on-baller Matt Crouch, the Crows have made clear improvements in Matthew Nicks’s second season as coach.
They have turned stoppages from a major weakness last year to a strength.
Adelaide is second across the competition for points from stoppage differential (+ 16.7) and points from centre-bounce differential (+ 7.0) after sitting bottom in those categories in 2020.
The Crows’ transition scoring and efficiency are other positives so far.
They rank third in points from defensive-half chains with 34.7 per game, up from 11th last year, while they are scoring from 46 per cent of their inside 50s – the fifth-best mark in the competition, compared to a ranking of 10th in 2020.
Adelaide showed its attacking prowess in its three-point loss to Hawthorn in Launceston on Sunday, converting a league record 15 goals without a miss.
It is only early in the season but Adelaide is showing plenty of development in some key areas and remain very much a work in progress in others.
The Crows enter their home clash against GWS on Saturday with a 3-3 record.
ADELAIDE’S CONCERNS
2020 Rank 2021 Rank
Points Against 18th 16th
Points from Turnover Diff 17th 15th
Forward Half Intercepts 18th 14th
Opp D50 to Inside 50 % 16th 18th
Post-Clearance Contested Poss Diff 13th 15th
Loose ball Diff 17th 16th
ADELAIDE’S STRENGTHS
2020 Rank 2021 Rank
Points For 18th 4th
Score per Inside 50 % 10th 5th
Points from Stoppage Diff 18th 2nd
Points from Centre Bounce Diff 18th 2nd
Points from Defensive Half Chains 11th 3rd
Crows considering sending another fledgling into battle
Adelaide may play its fifth debutant this season if Will Hamill is not passed fit test to face GWS at home on Saturday
Victorian defender Josh Worrell is in the frame to replace Hamill, who is awaiting results on a scan of an injured ankle and is listed as a test.
Worrell has been impressing in the SANFL, gathering 21 disposals and taking seven marks in Adelaide’s 23-point win over Central District on Saturday.
Hamill rolled his ankle in the third quarter of Sunday’s three-point loss to Hawthorn in Launceston and did not take part in Tuesday’s optional light training session at West Lakes.
Crows defender Jake Kelly said Worrell, who would join Riley Thilthorpe, Nick Murray, Sam Berry and James Rowe in debuting this season, would be in the selection mix.
“He’s definitely a chance to come in,” Kelly told SEN SA.
“He’s been playing very well in the SANFL … and he’s very talented.
“He’s a good character, Josh, and I think the fans will really like him.”
Taylor Walker, Tom Doedee and Tom Lynch were among others missing from the group of about 15 players from Sunday’s game who trained on Tuesday, in a session that resembled a warm-down, more than a standard training.
Regardless of it being an optional session, Lynch’s no-show is not unusual, despite his headline-making appearance as the medical substitute on Sunday.
He has been training inside in recent weeks as Adelaide continues to manage his sore toe.
Coach Matthew Nicks leapt to his defence on Monday after the veteran forward had to head to the change rooms, get strapped and warm up before being available to come on the ground against the Hawks.
Kelly reiterated the club’s stance that Lynch was available to play and followed instructions by taking his time to get ready.
“The decision from the club was to give Tom a rest … obviously the medical sub is a way to that,” he said.
“He was able to play if he could … and I don’t think you can at all blame the loss on the fact Tom didn’t get ready quick enough.
“He was ready at the start of the fourth quarter when we wanted him to.
“I think it’s been particularly overblown.”
First-year midfielder Sam Berry will return to training this week after rolling his ankle last Thursday, while the Crows remain hopeful Rory Sloane can make his comeback in the Showdown on May 8 as he recovers from surgery for a detached retina.
Forward Ben Davis is also expected to resume running this week and be available within a fortnight.
Sub drama played out ‘exactly as we planned it’
Adelaide senior coach Matthew Nicks says he understands why the club has copped criticism for the look of medical sub Tom Lynch requiring 15 minutes to warm-up after being activated in the loss to Hawthorn.
But Nicks said he gave Lynch, who he said was fit enough to play out the entire match if required, instructions to take his time to prepare to come on and some of the barbs that have been aimed at his leadership group member are “unwarranted”.
The Crows have been accused of an “unprofessional” bungling of its medical sub after they were ran down by the Hawks, who were 32-points down at one stage.
Lynch, who did not train during the week as he continues to battle a toe injury, was not ready to play when Will Hamill suffered an ankle injury – with television cameras capturing him sprinting to the Crows changeroom to look for his boots and socks.
The veteran forward then had to receive treatment, entering the play 15 minutes after the sub was activated.
Nicks said he understood why the Crows were copping it for the scenario, but said it was the plan for Lynch to take his time.
“We acknowledge off the bat that it wasn’t the best look, for supporters and those watching on the TV for a player who looked like he was rushing around the changerooms getting organised,” he said.
“We can see how that comes across but the intention and the plan that we had was executed exactly as we planned it.
“We gave Tom the instruction to take his time, there was no rush for him to be implemented into the game.
“What we’ve looked at across the league, be it on limited data, is that that medical sub doesn’t necessarily need to come into the game for first 10 or 15 minutes after being activated.
“So we were happy for Tom to come on albeit 10 or 15 minutes after we decided we need the sub to come on, that played out as planned. Tom came on for the last rotation of the quarter and played the quarter out.
“We were really pleased with the way that Tom went about it.”
Lynch has required painkilling injections to play for the last three weeks and did not have much of an impact on the game on Sunday.
Hawthorn legend Jason Dunstall said on Fox Footy that Lynch didn’t look like “he could run” when he took to the field.
But Nicks said Lynch was match fit.
“Tom was fit enough to play a game out,” Nicks said.
“Tom for the last month has required treatment around preparing for a game so he has required painkillers to play so we were confident he could play the game out.
“If we were able to get through the game and Tom wasn’t required to play the game that would have been a bonus because we wouldn’t have required him to take those painkillers and he could have had a week off.
“But at no time were we concerned about Tom’s ability to play.”
Chayce Jones travelled down to Launceston to see family, after playing in the SANFL on Saturday, but Nicks said there was no consideration of the youngster being the medical sub unless there was a withdrawal in the warm-up.
Nicks also said the criticism Lynch has copped after the footage was broadcast was “unwarranted”.
Saturday.
Crows use of the medical sub a bit baffling today.
— Josh Money (@joshmoney__) April 25, 2021
Tom Lynch sore all week, struggled to train, wasn’t selected, named as sub and then needs medical treatment before being able to replace Hamill.#AFLHawksCrows
This Tom Lynch sub situation is bizarre. #AFLHawksCrows
— Ryan Daniels (@FootyRhino) April 25, 2021
Tom Lynch only now putting his boots on. What’s the point of the medical sub if he’s not ready to go on immediately? #AFLHawksCrows
— Lee Gaskin (@Lee_Gaskin1) April 25, 2021
“Tom warming up in the changeroom and searching for his socks I totally understand why it has been labelled as it has,” he said.
“But in saying that, that was our instruction to Tom. No rush, you prepare yourself as best as you possibly can for when we need you which was five minutes into the final quarter and you will run the quarter out and he did exactly that.
“He ran the quarter out as good as anyone.
“It’s unwarranted (what Lynch has copped on social media) because he was carrying out his role, he is the ultimate professional.
“For those who know Tom he is all about team, he is ready to go and it was my instruction to Tom, I jumped on the phone to him in the third quarter and said no rush we will get you on for the first rotation and we did.”
Nicks said the Crows would consider deploying the same plan when they face GWS on Saturday.
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