Talented youngsters, a possible No. 1 draft pick and Matthew Nicks among reasons why Crows fans shouldn’t tear up their memberships
Adelaide is winless after five rounds and the infamous pre-season camp is back in the headlines, but there is light at the end of the tunnel – you just have to look hard to find it. SEE THE LIST
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The Adelaide Crows’ tweet landed at 2.44pm on Sunday.
“All over”, it said with a final score from their 20-point loss to Fremantle, which left them 0-5 on their way to the airport to come home.
The replies came thick and fast.
“The season? Yes. Yes it is,” one Crows fan wrote.
But amid the doom and gloom there were – to borrow a line from former Carlton coach Brendon Bolton – some “green shoots” and light at the end of the tunnel.
Here’s 10 reasons why Adelaide fans should hold onto hope that things will get better.
1. WILD WILL
The fastest player on their list and the most impressive of this year’s debutants.
Will Hamill was playing just the third game of his career on Sunday and was one of only a few who continued to take the game on.
Tom Doedee said post-match the Crows want him to defend-first, attack-second, but right now they need dash off halfback and through the midfield and that’s what Hamill is providing.
He uses his body well in the contest and when he gets the footy he tucks it under his arm and runs to break the lines. A 10-year player in the making.
2. MAJOR TOM
People forget because he’s been around a while, but Tom Doedee has only played 25 games.
He looks as assured as any defender on the list and in four games back from a knee reconstruction this year he has picked up exactly where he left off when he almost won the rising star in 2018.
Already elevated to the leadership group, he is a defensive general and their next captain.
3. REBUILDING THE MIDDLE
Adelaide is building a new midfield. Rory Sloane did not attend a single centre bounce on Sunday, maybe because of injury, but maybe because at 30 it’s time for someone else to step up. Ben Keays (14), Matt Crouch (13), Brad Crouch (12), Chayce Jones (3), Myles Poholke (2) and Brodie Smith (1) attended the CBs as have Paul Seedsman and Rory Atkins in other games this year.
The Crows were +4 in clearances and +6 in stoppage clearances against the Dockers.
4. SHANE MCADAM
We were warned that Shane McAdam would take mark of the year one day, but we didn’t expect it to be in the first two games of his career. If he held onto one of those attempts against Fremantle on Sunday it would have been all over. He is raw and exciting and worth the price of admission now that Eddie Betts won’t be kicking goals from his pocket anymore.
5. THEY ARE TACKLING
Particularly inside 50m – finally. The Crows’ lack of forwardline pressure has been pathetic this season. In Rounds 2, 3 and 4 their tackle count inside 50m was 4, 7 and 4, while their opposition laid 13, 17 and 23 in their forward 50m. Against Fremantle on the weekend they finally cracked double figures, laying 13 tackles inside 50m compared to the Dockers’ 7.
In previous weeks they’ve lost the overall tackle count by 16, 18 and 1,3 but on Sunday by just two.
6. GETTING THEIR HANDS DIRTY
Despite all the talk during the COVID break of working on its “contest”, Adelaide was smashed in contested ball when the season resumed. It was -19 against the Power, -18 against Gold Coast and -41 against Brisbane. Finally, the Crows bucked the trend against Fremantle on Sunday, winning contested ball by +8 and clearances by +4.
7. RILEY THILTHORPE
Hello, number one draft pick. The only consolation to finishing on the bottom of the ladder is they will get the number one selection, which even in a difficult year for drafting should land them a gun. And even better he could be homegrown. While Jamara Ugle-Hagan is considered the best player in this year’s pool and tied to the Western Bulldogs as part of its academy, 200cm Riley Thilthorpe, who moves like the wind, is sitting at West Adelaide and there will be no go-home factor if they take him.
8. HELLO CROWDS
The long wait is nearly over. On July 20, Adelaide will finally play its first proper home game of the season and in front of 25,000 people, which is far more than the 2240 that were allowed into the Round 2 Showdown. Seeing their team live will be long overdue for many Crows fans regardless of how they are travelling.
9. BIG BILL
Billy Frampton showed something on Sunday. It wasn’t a lot, but it was enough to show why they recruited him from the Power. Adelaide can’t afford to have Frampton fail given he’s on a three-year deal, and on Sunday he was the link-up man and a target they needed. If only he kicked straight: 2.0 would have looked a lot better than 1.1 when he missed that set shot in a crucial final quarter. I’m not a fan of him in the ruck, but if he works up the ground like Gerard Healy implored him to last week then he can be handy.
10. YOU’RE IN GOOD HANDS
You’ve got to give Matthew Nicks credit for the way he’s handled himself publicly so far. He’s under enormous pressure that a first-year coach coming into a club which was supposedly starting with a clean slate shouldn’t have to endure. He’s lost arguably his most attacking player in Wayne Milera to injury and small forward Tyson Stengle to suspension, they’ve been slammed by ex-players, the footy director has thrust them into the headlines and the camp from two years ago is still haunting them. Nicks hasn’t hid his disappointment in the team’s performances or criticism of the players, but his frustration hasn’t shown and he has remained calm and composed – which was all the characteristics we heard about him when he got the job. You do have to wonder whether his coaching box needs reinforcement when you look at Port Adelaide, which has Michael Voss, Nathan Bassett, Brett Montgomery and Jarrad Schofield sitting next to Ken Hinkley.
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