The Lowdown: Adelaide Crows’ most promising sign from big win over the Eagles
Two big wins at AFL level for both South Australian clubs left most footy supporters in the state happy. SIMEON THOMAS-WILSON unpacks the likes and dislikes in The Lowdown.
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Two big wins at AFL level for both South Australian clubs left most footy supporters in the state happy, but it wasn’t all smiles.
Simeon Thomas-Wilson unpacks the week that was and the likes and dislikes in The Lowdown.
LIKES
1. JORDAN DAWSON’S LAST MONTH
Like the Crows Jordan Dawson started the season slowly. Over the last month he has had the highest rated four-week block across his career. And interestingly this has coincided with a lot more time forward. The Crows captain was incredible from the off against West Coast with a dominant first quarter in which he kicked two goals. Adelaide came in with a plan and Dawson was at the forefront of it.
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He started on the wing and would quickly be around the ball as the Crows added an extra body to the contest. But over the past month he has been spending 33 per cent of his time forward. This is up from 16 per cent from Rounds 1 to 7. Interestingly the impact from Dawson has been way up. From Rounds 8 to 11 his 28 disposals per game is ranked 17th in the AFL, his 618m gained is sixth, his two score assists per game is eighth as is his 7.8 score involvements. His ball use is ranked third and his ball winning is ranked 20th. His contested marking has also been a feature in this hot spell. Matthew Nicks has always been willing to move Dawson around to plug holes in the side. This latest move is reaping some big benefits so far.
2. TODD MARSHALL
Yes the five goal display came against the winless North Melbourne in an comfortable win. But Todd Marshall needed that. Aside from the four goal showing against Richmond it has been a quiet start to the season for Marshall. And after he said he was over his injury that clearly hampered him in the back-half of last year it has been disappointing.
Not just because the goals hadn’t flowed, he kicked eight goals in the eight games since the Richmond game, but because over a five-week period he didn’t get above nine disposals. He might not kick a bag of goals every week but given he is such a good field kick and smart player the Power need Marshall getting the ball in his hands more than nine times a game. In his breakout season in 2022 he averaged 10.7 disposals. He hasn’t really gotten going this year but the Power will be hoping that this can be the spark for Marshall’s 2024.
3. BIG SPREAD
For the first time this year we really the Crows as the attacking juggernaut we thought they would be this season after their 2023 campaign. And while the Eagles were just flat out terrible on Sunday, the big thing for Adelaide would be that the big score came with a big spread of goalkickers. In the end it was 13 Crows who kicked goals at Adelaide Oval with Chayce Jones leading the way with three and Dawson, Darcy Fogarty, Ben Keays, Taylor Walker, Josh Rachele and Brayden Cook all registering two each.
After just falling short of finals last year there was a fear that the Crows might have wasted Walker’s 76-goal season in 2023. The Crows talisman has only gone above three goals once this season – against Carlton when he kicked four goals – so it is imperative that Adelaide finds a way to not be too reliant on Walker if Nicks’ side are to make any sort of run at finals in second-half of the season.
DISLIKES
1. WILLIE RIOLI’S INJURY
The Power have copped an injury to the player it arguably needs the most to stay injury free. Port Adelaide might have star midfielders Connor Rozee, Zak Butters, Jason Horne-Francis, Brownlow Medallist Ollie Wines, spearhead Charlie Dixon and key defender Aliir Aliir.
But it is a massive blow for the Power to lose Willie Rioli for its blockbuster clash with Carlton on Thursday. With Sam Powell-Pepper out for the season with his ACL injury, the importance of Rioli to the Power’s forward line has only been rammed home in recent weeks. Against Geelong and Hawthorn he kicked seven goals, with some key moments that went a long way to the Power triumphing in both.
2. SANFL SHOCKERS
The long awaited national reserves competition is going to be delayed, after the AFL wished to have it up and running as soon as next year. The desires of Adelaide and Port Adelaide to leave the SANFL and join a national second-tier competition would have only been strengthened by the results on the weekend. The Crows went down by 61-points to Sturt, only kicking the six goals for the match. It was an even more concerning result for the Magpies.
They went down by 73 points to the previously winless South Adelaide. And while they were without Dante Visentini and Tom Anastasopoulos – who were emergencies for the Power’s trip to Hobart to take on North Melbourne – the Magpies actually had 12 AFL-listed players in their side and were still thumped and remain on the bottom of the ladder. What are these losses doing for the development of the young players at the Crows and the Power?
AND THE LOWDOWN ON …
Leek Aleer is the toast of the footy world after his incredible intercept marks to help GWS to a famous win over Geelong on Saturday night. But before Crows fans cry foul about whether they made a mistake about not drafting the former Adelaide Next Generation Academy product, or that the NGA system is broken, it was bad luck he is now making waves in the AFL with the Giants. In his draft year in 2019 he suffered a gruesome injury when he dislocated his ankle and broke his fibula in a tackle. Setbacks from this meant he was then sidelined for more than 15 months all up with the injury and its impacts. the Central District product was also a late bloomer. He only became a defender when his coach at the Bulldogs Paul Thomas – a former Crows coach – asked him if he could play in the backline after being a key forward and ruck for all of his junior footy career. And despite an impressive 2021 in the SANFL it was still a big surprise when the Giants called out his name with the 15th pick of the draft. The NGA system needs fixing around how clubs are rewarded for the work they do with Indigenous and Multicultural kids. But when it comes to Aleer and the Crows it was just bad luck and timing.
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