Garry Lyon: Adelaide as exciting as it has been since the halcyon days under Malcolm Blight
Adelaide is surging towards finals — and a potential premiership tilt. Fox Footy’s Garry Lyon delves into what’s changed to turn the Crows from an also-ran into one of the AFL’s most lethal sides.
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It’s time to find out about these Adelaide Crows.
Since their ill-fated run to the 2017 grand final, this very proud football side – self monikered as ‘the pride of South Australia” – has been anything but.
In fact their fall from grace has been quite spectacular.
The following year they finished 12th, before backing that up with an 11th placing and sacking their coach.
In Matthew Nicks’s first year they then ‘won’ the wooden spoon.
They lingered between 10th and 16th on the ladder in the ensuing four years, but never really shaped as a genuine finals threat.
For a side that won two flags within the first eight years of their existence, it has been a profoundly disappointing seven years.
But 2025 is shaping as something different.
At the halfway mark of the season they are sitting in third position on the ladder with eight wins, four losses and boasting a competition-best percentage of 139.
There is plenty of football still to be played, but there is undoubted cause for optimism for the Adelaide faithful that have been denied any September action for too long.
I love what has unfolded under Nicks so far this year.
It is a throwback to the halcyon days of Malcolm Blight, kicking 21 goals in the opening round against St Kilda and then following up with 25 goals against Essendon at the MCG.
They were the second-highest scoring team in the first five rounds but the win/loss ratio sat at 3-2 and the style of play wasn’t sitting that well with the Crows coach.
While they were scoring freely, they were also getting scored against.
Now keep in mind the much quoted premiership window formula – ‘every premiership team in the past 19 years has been in the top six for scores against, and 17 of the last 19 premiers have been top six for scores’.
Clearly the attacking box was ticked but the non-negotiable defensive metric was a concern.
The Crows were 11th for scores against.
And then came the change.
The following week Adelaide only scored seven goals in its win over the Giants but it kept them to just four.
In the next five weeks they became the hardest team in the competition to score against.
It was a decisive plan, executed methodically and has seen them as one of only three teams (along with Collingwood and the Suns) who currently sit inside Fox Footy’s premiership window.
It all came together last week for the Crows when they obliterated the Swans at the SCG.
The 131 points they scored was their third highest for the year and the 41 points conceded was their second lowest.
It’s a beautiful thing when a plan comes together.
They had given up some of their scoring power while they tightened their defence in the previous six games but they demonstrated against the Swans that they are fully capable of scoring heavily, while also denying the opposition.
It was a super impressive performance against a hapless opponent.
The defensive profile they now boast is reminiscent of a genuine contender.
They are the fourth-hardest team for opponents to score from intercept. They are the second-hardest to score from clearance and they are the hardest team to score against from half back.
While we all marvel at the breathtaking skills of Izak Rankine, or the sublime talents of Josh Rachele (with his flick on soccer pass to Ben Keays a season highlight), it’s these defensive numbers that would be bringing a smile to the Crows coaching group.
They have assembled a diverse defensive group, capable of going head-to-head with any forward set-up.
My initial concerns when Nick Murray went down was that they may be key defender short.
But up steps Mark Keane who provided the defensive moment of the year when fearlessly backing back at a critical time in the Showdown to take one of the marks of the season and deny an unlikely Power comeback.
Along with Jordan Butts they are developing into a very reliable, very hard to beat duo – who may not be fashionable but rarely lower their colours.
Alongside them are three great examples of modern day defenders.
Josh Worrell is 195cm and runs like the wind, Max Michalanney is 190cm and covers the ground equally as well and Mitch Hinge, while not as tall, plays with an intensity and desire that all respected defenders possess.
Watching the three of them last week cover their opponents, read pressure from upfield, anticipate dangerous space and get their first and then revel in the 1v1 contests was a joy to behold.
Worrell in particular refuses to be dictated to by an opposition forward who has no real idea of what’s unfolding ahead of him.
He makes quick decisive decisions and inevitably gets to the ball quicker than his opponent.
Michalanney is a genuine competitor who hates to be beaten and Hinge might just have a little bit of that ‘crazy’ in him that makes opposition sides wary.
They all make good decisions with the ball, with Hinge more prepared to bite off something a bit more extravagant, while the other two demonstrate good ball security.
Throw an improving Wayne Milera in the mix and you get the creativity and drive that all successful sides crave from the back half.
The veteran Rory Laird has returned to where it all began for him, with his experience, leadership and undeniable ability to find the ball complimenting the group really well.
The defensive picture looks really solid.
Dan Curtin has been playing some football on the wing with success and at 198 cm he can slide back and provide support when needed.
So we then turn our attention to the front half – and this is where the imagination starts to run a little wild.
There are obvious names we will talk about but on the weekend the Crows had 14 individual goal kickers. 14!
If you were starting from scratch, the balance of forward half is almost perfect.
Riley Thilthorpe is a monster of a man and a horrific match up for any defender. Everything can revolve around him and when he gets hot, he is almost unstoppable.
Darcy Fogarty is a perfect foil. He’s strong, competitive, will come at the ball hard and is a magnificent converter.
Straight away, you’ve got the long and short options sorted.
Taylor Walker sits beautifully in-between. He is no longer the main act, but how he must enjoy watching the number one and two defenders head to Thilthorpe and Fogarty.
He is a tricky match up for a third defender.
Then there’s what I describe as the ‘brats’ and the ‘babysitters’.
Brats as a term of endearment for the freakish talents of Rankine and Rachele.
They can run wild and are as unpredictable and dangerous as a pair of vipers, free to unleash their venom at every turn.
They do so with the knowledge that in Alex Neal-Bullen and Ben Keays, they have the best babysitters in the game.
Watch both of these boys closely and you will get a true appreciation for how important they are to this side.
They work tirelessly from the start of the game to the finish, from one end of the ground to the other, priding themselves on chasing and tackling and covering for an opponent.
It is uplifting to watch, yet it is a mistake to ignore their offensive capabilities.
They will push hard into attack at every opportunity – challenging or even almost daring – their opponent to try and cover the same amount of ground as they do.
More often than not they can’t and the image of Keays sprinting back into an open forward line, with a beaten opponent lagging behind, is a thing of beauty for those that value physical and psychological disintegration.
So if we’re looking to sum up this 2025 version of the Crows, balance is the word that comes to mind.
The offence and the defence are in really good order, players with attacking flair and brilliance are complimented by dedicated and disciplined role players with a punishing mindset.
And we haven’t even mentioned their captain Jordan Dawson who has almost surreptitiously emerged in the past couple of years as one of the most complete footballers in the game.
And continuing on with the balance theme, Dawson started his career as a defender, has dominated the midfield and now Nicks has shown a continued penchant for throwing him forward.
Which brings us to Friday night against the reigning premiers and why it is time to find out whether all of this is real or if we are being deceived.
For of the eight wins, seven have been against teams outside the eight.
The one win was against the Giants – in the low scoring encounter back in round five.
The losses are where the big questions about this side reside.
All four – against the Suns, Geelong, Fremantle and Collingwood – are sides inside the eight and looming as genuine contenders.
It is the one nagging thing in the back of my mind that has me hesitant to declare them of having arrived.
They haven’t been disgraced in any of the defeats.
The biggest losing margin was 19 to the Cats and the lowest was a solitary one point loss to the Suns.
But they did lose them and you have to mark them accordingly.
Their most recent loss against the Pies sums up my misgivings.
They were competitive for the whole game, five points down at half time, before the lead got out to more than four goals in the last quarter. The Crows did hit back though, kicking the last two goals of the game to fall 10 points short.
I walked away from that game thinking they’re not quite there.
And maybe that’s their problem. Maybe they think they’re not quite there.
It’s time to find out.
They’ve got all of the components, they’ve got the game style that wins big, modern day blockbusters, they’ve got talent on every line and they’ve got a coach and captain who look capable of leading the way out of the dark.
But to date, they just keep coming up short.
A win over the reigning premier might erase any doubts and set them on their way back to the big time.
Originally published as Garry Lyon: Adelaide as exciting as it has been since the halcyon days under Malcolm Blight
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