The Lowdown: Simeon Thomas-Wilson runs the ruler over footy in Round 3
Where to now for Adelaide? Start with Jake Soligo permanently in the midfield and handing a dominant young gun a debut, writes Simeon Thomas-Wilson. See all the SA footy likes, dislikes.
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It’s been another big week for footy in South Australia as we get ready to ramp up for Gather Round.
We go through the likes and dislikes from the round of footy ahead of the AFL world descending on Adelaide.
LIKES
1. Travis Boak again defies age
The end can come quickly for players and there is still a lot of the season to play out.
But it looks like Boak still has a fair bit to give to Port Adelaide at 35-years-old.
In his 351st game, the Power star was one of the best for Ken Hinkley’s side on Saturday night.
On multiple occasions he produced either a smart or courageous act in the pressure cooker that was a thrilling clash against Melbourne.
The wing position at Port Adelaide has been described as the “graveyard role” in the wake of Xavier Duursma’s trade to Essendon.
But Boak was consistently in the contest on Saturday night, finishing with 24 disposals, 11 contested possessions, four clearances, four marks and two tackles.
There was a worry around Adelaide Oval when he collided with teammate Ivan Soldo late on and stayed on the ground.
But he has passed the concussion tests in a big relief for the Power.
2. Is Mark Keane Adelaide’s best key defender?
Early last year a player agent and keen observer of the Crows said they might have one in the Irishman.
But the caveat was they didn’t know just how committed Keane was to giving footy a crack. After staying in Australia over the Christmas period you can definitely say Keane is committed.
There were few positives from the Crows loss to Fremantle at Optus Stadium.
Keane was one of them.
In his 12th AFL game, he was a player who could definitely hold his head up high for the Crows.
Under the pump constantly, given how easy the Dockers were able to get the ball into their forward 50, Keane finished with 26 disposals and 11 marks.
He trained the best of any Crows defender during pre-season.
Given Jordon Butts’ struggles with injury, and form, over the past year Keane might be the Crows No. 1 key defender.
3. Dangerous Dee no longer under the radar
With Melbourne staying in Adelaide because of Gather Round, Alex Neal-Bullen will be having a happy time at home as he continues to feel the love for his performance against the Power.
The Glenelg product kicked two clutch goals in the third and fourth quarters on Saturday night at Adelaide Oval to go along with 24 disposals, seven score involvements and six tackles.
And his ability to pretty much play as a midfielder in transition hurt Port Adelaide throughout.
It freed up Melbourne star Christian Petracca to do damage forward of centre.
Petracca is a star for the Demons, so is captain Max Gawn and midfielder Clayton Oliver.
But there’s a reason why Melbourne say Neal-Bullen is a “heart and soul” player.
At Adelaide Oval on Saturday night he showed why.
DISLIKES
1. Where to now for the Crows?
Adelaide needs a spark and fast.
One of the more famous wins under Matthew Nicks came in Round 10 of the 2021 season when the Crows snapped a five-game losing streak to shock Melbourne in a thriller at Adelaide Oval.
A win over the Demons on Thursday night would be of a similar shock given how bad the Crows looked against Fremantle.
Being winless after games against three teams who didn’t play finals last year would be concerning enough for the Crows.
The way they are playing further compounds this, with Adelaide looking toothless in attack.
Nicks will be forced into at least one change with Wayne Milera now out for the season in another cruel injury blow for him.
Crows fans will be demanding more.
Jake Soligo in the midfield is a good starting point and Izak Rankine or Josh Rachele need more time in there also to give the Crows some spark around the ball.
If Billy Dowling doesn’t come in for an AFL debut after his 34 disposal, seven tackle, seven clearance, five mark and a goal game against South Adelaide then players in the SANFL side will be wondering just how do they break into the side.
Dowling from downtown... 🚀🙌
— Adelaide Crows (@Adelaide_FC) March 29, 2024
Check out Billy's brilliant sealer in our SANFL win over the Panthers.
(via: @AFL) #weflyasonepic.twitter.com/3BqGdGPYJ0
2. Power outage against top sides
Somehow Port Adelaide could not defeat Melbourne despite winning nearly every key stat there was.
And this was with the Demons being without key defender Steven May.
So how the hell didn’t the Power win that?
It’s quite boggling when you look at the stats with the Power +21 inside 50s, +7 for marks inside 50, +15 for clearances and +36 for disposals.
An optimist would say that this shows the Power’s game plan can have success against the top sides like Melbourne.
But while the Dees stood up under the pressure, the Power didn’t.
“They were able execute when the moments got big,” Port coach Ken Hinkley said post game.
“There were moments in the game where Melbourne stood up under the pressure and we could have been better,” assistant coach Josh Carr said on Monday.
It continues a worrying trend for the Power.
Since the beginning of 2023 five of the Power’s 19 wins have been against top eight sides, and after it beat Melbourne in a thriller in Round 10 last year it has only tasted victory against one top eight side since - a woeful GWS outfit who then got its revenge in finals.
In 2021 the Power tried to shake off the flat-track bully side it was labelled with.
It is too early to throw this tag at the Power in 2024, but against the Demons it had the chance to make a big statement about its intentions for this year.
3. Lachie Jones’ marking
After the game Hinkley said the Power would be fair and honest when it reviews the game and some of the individual mistakes against the Demons.
It is going to be uncomfortable viewing for Jones.
On four occasions he dropped chest marks which you’d expect players to take 99 times out of 100.
One of them led to a Melbourne goal, when he panicked after his mistake, kicked it to the most crowded part of the ground and the Demons got a turnover and punished him for the mistakes.
Eventually when he did hold onto one there were ironic cheers from the Adelaide Oval crowd.
In games like that only small margins separate teams.
Dropping four easy chest marks is a gift.
AND THE LOWDOWN ON...
In his first year at West Lakes in 2022, now Crows captain Jordan Dawson was used like a Swiss Army knife by Nicks.
With Milera’s season ending injury, could a way the Crows get their season back on track be by returning Dawson to defence?
He might not provide the run that Milera has off halfback, but it could be a way that Dawson can rediscover his kicking accuracy after a huge drop off in that key stat so far this season.
Being able to cause damage through your halfbacks is huge in the AFL in 2024.
So far the Crows haven’t been able to do that, or get the best out of their captain.
Originally published as The Lowdown: Simeon Thomas-Wilson runs the ruler over footy in Round 3
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