AFL Adelaide v Richmond: Crows could hold three top-10 draft picks after claiming wooden spoon

Adelaide has claimed the wooden spoon for the first time in the club’s history but it’s not all doom and gloom. There is a major silver lining for the Crows and it could help fast-track the rebuild.

Reece Homfray and Matt Turner

5 min read

September 20, 2020 - 10:43AM

Crows David Mackay and Harry Schoenberg learn you don’t argue with Dusty. Picture: Sarah Reed

AFL

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The bad news for Adelaide is it has claimed a first wooden-spoon but the rebuild that has gone from ugly to on course over the past month is set to be fast-tracked by the best draft hand in the club’s history.

Not only will the bottom-placed Crows secure pick No.1, GWS’ slide from grand finalist to also-ran will net Adelaide another top-10 selection after the clubs’ pick swap last year and it may gain another early call as compensation if restricted free agent Brad Crouch leaves.

The Crows have never finished in this position on the ladder and it is easy to forget they started 0-13.

But they’ve also never had two top-10 draft choices, let alone three, and will enter the off-season buoyed by winning three of their last four matches.

Adelaide’s consistency in having finished no lower than 14th previously has kept them away from the prized picks that recruiting manager Hamish Ogilvie and list boss Justin Reid can now use to reshape the squad.

The club’s highest draft call since joining the competition in 1991 is Fischer McAsey at six last season.

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Riley Thilthorpe is likely to be picked by Adelaide at the draft. Picture: Sarah Reed

Thilthorpe in action. Picture: Mark Brake

Its best early haul is having selections nine (Chayce Jones) and 16 (Ned McHenry) in 2018.

Adelaide is expected to bid on exciting forward Jamarra Ugle-Hagan with pick one, but Western Bulldogs have priority access to him through their Next Generation Academy and will match the bid, forcing the Crows to No.2.

Enter Riley Thilthorpe, who ticks boxes as an athletic forward/ruckman and a homegrown product with two seasons of senior SANFL games under his belt at West Adelaide.

Thilthorpe looms as a long-term replacement for Taylor Walker and support for Reilly O’Brien.

Two other high picks and recruiting young rival clubs’ talent, such as out-of-contract SA midfielders Jackson Hately (GWS) and Jack Graham (Richmond) – who the Crows have been eyeing – would further rejuvenate a squad after three consecutive years without finals.

It will not just be what Adelaide can bring in that gives cause for optimism in 2021.

Lachlan Sholl (20 years old, eight games), Harry Schoenberg (19, eight), Andrew McPherson (21, nine), Will Hamill (19, eight), Shane McAdam (25, 13), Elliott Himmelberg (22, 19), Tyson Stengle (21, 16) and McAsey (19, 10) all took major strides this season.

O’Brien is only 37 matches into his career and on track to win the club’s best and fairest this year.

Lachlan Sholl has given the Crows plenty to be excited about. Picture: Getty

Tom Doedee has emerged as a skipper-in-waiting.

Rory Laird’s shift from defence has given the Crows a much-needed midfield boost after looking one-paced and getting smashed in clearances there earlier in the year.

Wayne Milera, who played just twice in 2020 due to a foot injury, should add creativity on his return, either at halfback or on the ball.

Adelaide would also be banking on further growth in coach Matthew Nicks’s second season, free from the constraints of coronavirus restrictions.

Time will tell if the Crows can turn this end-of-season optimism into more wins next year.

Plenty of sides have finished campaigns strongly, then gone backwards in 12 months – look at North Melbourne this season.

But things are looking at lot rosier for the Crows than a month ago, when they sustained a 57-point loss to the Bulldogs at Metricon Stadium and a winless season seemed on the cards.

CROWS OVERWHELMED AS O’BRIEN LOOMS FOR TOP HONOUR

That escalated quickly.

Just three years after they met in that infamous 2017 grand final, Richmond has positioned itself perfectly for a crack at a third flag in four years while the Crows have won the first wooden spoon in their history.

The Tigers secured the all-important double chance with a 44-point win over Adelaide on Saturday and will finish third, setting up a date with Brisbane or Port Adelaide in the first week of finals.

The Crows were competitive but the Tigers overwhelmed them with class which was hardly surprising given where both teams are at.

Richmond won without key forward Tom Lynch and in-form midfielder Shai Bolton who were both injured but welcomed back Shane Edwards who didn’t miss a beat in his first game since Round 5.

Dusty was fired up as he prepared for finals footy. Picture: Getty Images

Adelaide showed enough to justify the late season optimism supporters are hanging onto. Their tackling and intensity was good, ruckman Reilly O’Brien’s contested marking was supreme and Rory Laird’s midfield resurgence continued.

But the 44-point margin represents how much work they’ve got to do over the off-season to return as a contender next year.

WELCOME BACK, TITCH

Described by coach Damien Hardwick as Richmond’s “spiritual barometer”, Shane Edwards has returned to the Tigers’ team just in time for finals.

Playing his first game since Round 5 when he opted to stay in Melbourne with his pregnant partner while his teammates flew to their Queensland hub, the 31-year-old has clearly been working hard behind the scenes and as they say, class is permanent.

Playing on the wing and on the ball at centre bounce, Edwards drove the Tigers forward through the corridor and his lightning handball over his head set up Jake Aarts’ first-quarter goal.

Edwards had eight disposals (six contested) and three clearances in the first quarter and cooled somewhat after that to finish with 18 but his return was a welcome sight for Richmond fans.

Josh Caddy also returned to the side for his first game since Round 11 and sent a scare through the Tigers’ camp when he went into the rooms with an apparent leg injury in the second quarter but returned to play out the game and kicked two goals.

ROB’N ROLL

If Reilly O’Brien hadn’t already stitched up Adelaide’s best-and-fairest before Saturday then surely he has now.

He or the man he was hitting it to out of the ruck – Rory Laird – are the hot favourites and enhanced their claims against Richmond.

O’Brien took four marks in the first 10 minutes and finished with seven for the game, while his tackling was first rate especially for a big man.

Crows fans also cheered for Taylor Walker when he broke Tony Modra’s club goalkicking record.

Walker went into the game tied with Modra on 440 goals and got it out of the way early.

What took Modra 118 freakish games in the 1990s took Walker 203 but he won a free kick for a high tackle in the first quarter and converted the set shot.

He was swamped by teammates, got an extra long hug from Rory Sloane when they dispersed and a standing ovation from the fans.

Adelaide played three talls inside 50 with Elliott Himmelberg and Darcy Fogarty also hitting the scoreboard.

The Nank and big ROB battled it out in the ruck. Picture: AFL Photos/Getty Images

TARGETING JACK

NO wonder the Crows are apparently circling Richmond midfielder Jack Graham.

He kicked three goals against Adelaide in that 2017 grand final while tagging Rory Sloane in just his fifth AFL game, and this year has become a consistent AFL midfielder.

The former under-18 SA captain is out of contract and believed to be being pursued by the Crows for next year, and at 22 with 50 games to his name, he is coming into his prime.

Graham had 21 disposals against Adelaide on Saturday, second only to Dustin Martin’s 28 for Richmond while defensive linchpins Nick Vlastuin and Dylan Grimes were their reliable best and Jack Riewoldt, Caddy and Jake Aarts all finished with two goals.

SCOREBOARD

RICHMOND 3.0 5.0 9.5 12.5 (77)

ADELAIDE 2.2 2.4 3.5 4.9 (33)

BEST

Richmond: Martin, Edwards, Graham, Short, Vlastuin, Grimes.

Adelaide: O’Brien, B. Crouch, Laird, M. Crouch, Smith, Brown.

GOALS

Richmond: Aarts, Caddy, Riewoldt 2, Martin, McIntosh, Chol, Rioli, Lambert, Castagna. Adelaide: Fogarty 2, McAdam, Walker.

At Adelaide Oval.

VOTES

3: Dustin Martin (Richmond)

2: Shane Edwards (Richmond)