AFL Showdown 49: Adelaide suffer 49-point defeat to Port Adelaide as injuries take toll
Taylor Walker was quiet against Port Adelaide but it was a by-product of Adelaide’s horrendous delivery into its attacking 50 – as shown by the data.
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Adelaide’s fight is back but it will struggle to get out of its slump if it cannot address its malfunctioning forward line or connection between midfield and attack.
Last week coach Matthew Nicks highlighted his side’s poor contest work and woes ahead of the ball as key factors behind the 67-point home loss to GWS – the club’s third successive defeat.
The grunt improved in the 49-point Showdown disappointment on Saturday night, but Adelaide’s ability to convert attacking forays was again woeful.
Over the past two weeks, the Crows have managed just seven marks inside 50 – five against the Giants on a dry day and two versus the Power in slippery conditions.
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GWS snared 14, while Port Adelaide managed 12.
Kicking efficiency going inside 50 was another big issue for the Crows on Saturday night.
They were going at just 16.7 per cent at quarter-time and finished at 26.5 per cent.
Crows defender Tom Doedee told The Advertiser the statistics were “pretty damning”.
He said factors that might have contributed included decision-making, opposition pressure, how forwards were presenting, going too wide and choosing tough kicks over easy ones.
“I don’t think it was an issue earlier on in the year,” Doedee said.
“These last couple of weeks it’s just something that’s popping up.
“I think the biggest thing for our work on is just try to get a bit of connection, the ability to know when we’ve got someone leading up, know when we want to go deep and if they’ve got a three-on-one down the ground and (Aliir) Aliir’s rolling off or (Tom) Jonas is rolling off to not kick to that, to have another option.
“That’ll come with time and games with our young group.
“Unfortunately we didn’t execute it well enough tonight and they got the better of us.”
Nicks said the coaches needed to find ways to help the players improve in those areas.
“It’s bigger than just the last kick that goes inside 50 – stats can sometimes send you the wrong way,” Nicks said.
“Majority of the time we’re hacking the ball in there as it sits.
“We’ll keep working on it.”
Goalkicking inaccuracy compounded the problem for the second consecutive week too.
After slotting 4.15 against the Giants, Adelaide booted 5.8 on Saturday night.
Taylor Walker, Rory Sloane and James Rowe all missed shots just before halftime when the Crows were building momentum.
“The forwards do a ton of work goalkicking,” Doedee said.
“We do set shots on the run, pressure snaps … but it seems like the last couple of weeks we haven’t been able to make the most of our opportunities when it really mattered.
“I do believe part of that is purely experience.
“It was a finals-like atmosphere and the pressure was finals-like, and those boys (that faced the Power) haven’t played in too many of those games.”
The Crows were hurt by the losses of small forwards Ned McHenry (concussion) and Lachlan Murphy (ankle syndesmosis) during the opening quarter.
“It’s not the reason the game went the way it did,” Nicks said.
“But the stoppage play we needed on the night with the ball on the deck, we needed some pressure and speed and some heat around that forward line, and we lost that.
“We played some midfielders forward of the ball and with that comes connection issues.
“We tried a number of different ways to fix that on the night and it didn’t quite work.”
Nicks said his side intended to go smaller attack “but the footy gods didn’t agree with that, referencing McHenry and Murphy’s exits from the game during the first term.
He said that needed to be taken into account when judging the forwards but they were still beaten.
“We didn’t take the marks we should’ve taken when the opportunities were there and the ball came out of our forward line far too easily again,” he said.
Walker booted 20 goals from his first four games, but was goalless, had just six touches and dropped several marks against the Power.
He was also down against the Giants, registering two majors from eight disposals.
Nicks said the team was not helping its former captain by continually kicking the ball down the line or with its delivery inside 50.
“By no means is it an individual not performing, it’s a collective,” he said.
“When Tex was on fire, part of that was we were playing very well as a footy team and moving the ball well … and Tex found himself in some great positions.”
First-year tall Riley Thilthorpe kicked two goals from six touches, Elliott Himmelberg collected 10 disposals and two marks and James Rowe (13 disposals, one major) was lively.
Adelaide has tweaked its forward line at selection during its run of four consecutive losses, dropping Shane McAdam on Friday night and Billy Frampton a fortnight ago.
It will need to make more changes when it replaces McHenry and Murphy for the tough trip to Perth to face West Coast next week.
TEX HAS NO INFLUENCE AS CROWS INJURY CARNAGE BITES
Port Adelaide justified its red-hot favouritism for the Showdown with a 49-point triumph over bitter rival Adelaide in a bruising clash at Adelaide Oval on Saturday night.
The superior efficiency of the Power proved decisive and they always appeared to have the injury-hit Crows at arm’s length for a third consecutive Showdown victory.
It was a terrific response to the poor effort in Brisbane last week, while the Crows have now lost their past four games.
Power ruckman Scott Lycett will face scrutiny from the AFL match review officer after a heavy tackle in the Showdown left Crow Ned McHenry with concussion.
Lycett slung McHenry’s head into the turf early in the first quarter and the Adelaide small forward had to be helped off the field by trainers.
McHenry took a few moments to get up and was dazed when he did.
He was substituted out of the game later that term and replaced by Andrew McPherson.
“That’s trouble for Lycett,” Fox Footy commentator Dwayne Russell said.
Co-commentator Garry Lyon: “He may be having a week or so off, Scott Lycett”.
Mark Ricciuto then said: “Last week they were poor in that (contest) area Port Adelaide … so you can imagine all week in the review they would have talked about they need to toughen up around the ball and unfortunately that could cost him”.
McHenry is set to miss the Crows’ trip to face West Coast in Perth next week due to the league’s 12-day concussion protocols.
His concussion will also hurt Lycett’s chances of avoiding a suspension.
Lycett went on to play a key role for the Power, registering 18 touches, 34 hit-outs and six tackles.
Crows goalsneak Lachlan Murphy and Port Adelaide defender/midfielder Dan Houston also left the game with injuries.
Murphy had to be assisted from the field during the first quarter with a right ankle problem.
Houston was substituted in the third term after coming off with a left shoulder injury.
He had 19 disposals for the night.
Speedster Martin Frederick, who was the medical sub, replaced Houston.
It looked like there might be more casualties during a bruising opening half.
Adelaide captain Rory Sloane, who returned this week after recovering from eye surgery, exited proceedings with a cut above his left eye but he came back on.
Port Adelaide’s Travis Boak looked to have hurt his right knee at one point and went to the bench, only to return a short time later.
Boak missed last week’s loss to Brisbane with a quad issue.
Not only did he play out the game, he went on to win the Showdown Medal after a brilliant 28-disposal performance on the ball.
In the absence of two Crows small forwards, fellow goalsneak James Rowe was one of his side’s better players, finishing with 13 possessions and one goal.
Losing McHenry and Murphy, and being down a rotation for three quarters, took its toll on Adelaide, which looked tired late in the match.
Power switch on
The Power totally dominated territory in the opening quarter on the back of a supremacy in clearances, smashing the Crows 17-6 in the inside 50 count.
And with a flood of opportunities, Power’s go-to forward Charlie Dixon was a massive headache for young Crows defender Jordon Butts. Dixon nailed both goals for the Power in the first term.
At the other end of the ground, the Crows forwards had few chances to impact on the contest, although they were not helped by poor delivery.
Too often the ball was bombed in long to just inside 50 and Power defenders Tom Clurey, Aliir Aliir and Dan Houston were in control.
Wasted chances
The intent and pressure from the Crows in the second quarter was a constant and they were able to turn the situation around to get plenty of ball inside 50, winning the count for the term 17-11.
However, key forwards Taylor Walker, Elliott Himmelberg and Riley Thilthorpe just could not have an influence, adding only one behind between them.
Small forward James Rowe was the most dangerous attacking weapon for the Crows in the first half.
Answers all night
The early minutes of the third term belonged to the Crows, only to have five successive visits inside 50 for no result on the scoreboard.
And they were punished. The Power fired the ball out of defence for Dixon to mark strongly in the middle of the ground and spark an attacking raid.
The ball ended in the hands of Todd Marshall, who goalled and the Power were 20 points up.
Even when the Crows did kick a goal, the Power had all the answers, and superior efficiency, and Marshall and Mitch Georgiades both bagged a double in the third quarter.
SCOREBOARD
POWER 2.4 4.6 9.10 12.15 (87)
CROWS 1.0 1.4 4.5 5.8 (38)
BEST – Power: Boak, Clurey, Amon, Drew, Aliir, Lycett, Byrne-Jones. Crows: Laird, Seedsman, Keays, Sloane, Brown, Rowe.
GOALS – Power: Marshall 3, Georgiadis, Dixon 2, Motlop, Fantasia, Rozee, Farrell, Drew. Crows: Thilthorpe 2, Sloane, Rowe, Fogarty.
INJURIES – Power: Houston (shoulder). Crows: McHenry (concussion), Murphy (ankle), Sloane (head cut).
UMPIRES – O’Gorman, Brown, Mollison.
VENUE – Adelaide Oval
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
WARREN PARTLAND’S VOTES
3 Travis Boak (Power)
2 Tom Clurey (Power)
1 Karl Amon (Power)
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