Adelaide Crows farewell veterans with stylish win over North Melbourne Kangaroos
The Adelaide Crows farewelled two of their veterans in style on Sunday afternoon by polishing off a disappointing Kangaroos outfit.
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Adelaide has farewelled departing veterans Tom Lynch and David Mackay in fine style, the Crows ending a disappointing season on a high note with a convincing 44-point win over North Melbourne on Sunday.
Despite claiming their first wooden spoon since 1972 in round 22, the Kangaroos had been playing an encouraging brand of football since the halfway mark of the season, but David Noble’s men were largely outplayed by the Crows in a first half that set up the 13.20 (98) to 8.6 (54) result at Adelaide Oval.
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The inaccurate Crows led by 17 points at the first break, 24 points at half-time and 29 at the last change before charging home to record the win that left them with a 7-15 record for the season.
It was a fitting farewell for Lynch and Mackay, who played their last games for the club, with both mobbed by their teammates when they kicked last-quarter goals.
“It was a really pleasing way to finish the season off, especially that last 15 minutes,” coach Matthew Nicks said.
“I thought they played well the entire game, but in the last quarter we got back to what we really do well.
“Off the back of that there were some feel-good moments for a couple of legends of the club.”
The clash between 17th-ranked Adelaide and the last-placed Roos was the deadest of dead rubbers to bring the home-and-away season to a close but both line-ups featured a bevy of talented youngsters eager to impress with an eye on next year.
The Crows showed they might be a touch further advanced in their list rebuild on the evidence of Sunday’s performance.
While experienced hands Rory Laird, Ben Keays, Rory Sloane and Brodie Smith led the way, the likes of Matt Schoenberg, Shane McAdam, Ned McHenry, Kieran Strachan and Jordon Butts all played important roles.
The Roos were smashed at the stoppages in the first half and didn’t kick a goal in the second quarter, but it wasn’t all bad news for the Shinboners.
Nick Larkey was a shining light up forward, finishing with three goals, with Aaron Hall, Tarryn Thomas and Jy Simpkin all busy around the ball.
“It was extremely disappointing,” Noble said.
“We’ll have to go away and reflect on that to understand what happened.
“But the overall growth of the group (this year) has been extremely positive.”
High flyers
McAdam, who finished with three goals, put up his latest candidate for mark of the year in the first quarter. The spring-heeled forward was allowed a free run by direct opponent Aiden Bonar, who copped McAdam’s knee in the head as he climbed up to bring down a screamer.
Thomas followed suit in the second term when he used teammate Eddie Ford as a stepladder to launch for a big grab that was a highlight in an otherwise bleak quarter for the visitors.
SHANE MCADAM SOARS 🛫#imlovingit | #AFLCrowsNorthpic.twitter.com/Idr0CEpD4Z
— AFL (@AFL) August 22, 2021
Crows farewelled
Lynch and Mackay played their last games for Adelaide, with Daniel Talia also departing the club after failing to play all season through injury. After playing six games in two seasons with St Kilda, Lynch bows out with 164 career games and 203 goals, Mackay retires having made 248 senior appearances, with Talia stuck on 200. Lynch and Talia will likely find new clubs after the rebuilding Crows decided against offering the pair new deals.
Draft slide
The result had significant ramifications for Adelaide at the national draft. The Crows started the day with the second overall pick in their keeping, but slid down the order to No. 4 with their seventh win of the season moving them into 15th spot on the ladder.
Future plans
Matthew Nicks is supremely confident Adelaide is on track to compete for finals sooner rather than later, but the second-year coach is less certain if Taylor Walker will play a role in the Crows’ bid to push up the ladder next season.
Adelaide finished a disappointing 2021 campaign with a 44-point win over wooden spooners North Melbourne at Adelaide Oval on Sunday.
It was the third match Walker missed after the former skipper was slapped with a six-game ban for making a racist comment about North Adelaide’s Robbie Young.
Walker took some time away from West Lakes after issuing a public apology via video with Young appearing alongside him.
Speaking to reporters following the season-ending victory, Nicks could not offer a definitive answer when asked about Walker’s future.
“It’s a really complex situation for us to work through,” Nicks said.
“I have met with Taylor, I have been able to sit down with him, we will continue to do that.
“We will continue to talk through what is best. How do we look after our people? How do we look after Taylor? How do we hopefully at some point integrate Taylor back into our squad?
“He’s met with our playing group as well and we’re making some really good ground in that space.
“These are things we will work through.
“I can’t comment for Taylor and where he sits at the moment. I sat down with him and we have spoken through a number of different scenarios and how he’s going.
“At this point of time we will continue to work through that, (but) it’s not something I can give you a definitive answer on at the moment.”
Walker, 31, signed a one-year contract extension for the 2022 season before the racism controversy erupted.
The Crows finished the season in 15th spot with a 7-15 win-loss record following the victory that proved a fitting farewell for outgoing veterans Tom Lynch and David Mackay.
A 3-1 start to the season and a tight win over ladder leaders Melbourne were the highlights of a campaign that was derailed in a barren 13-game stretch where the Crows managed just two wins.
Despite that disappointing run, Nicks feels the club has firmly established a DNA based on embracing the contest and playing front-half footy.
Club director Mark Ricciuto told Fox Footy he believes Adelaide can push for finals next season “with a bit of luck”, but Nicks was a little more guarded when asked about the prospect of finals in 2022.
“That’s the danger question,” he said.
“We would love to play and compete in finals – that’s what we’re trying to get to – that’s why we’re laying a foundation at the moment that we hope is strong enough to hold up not just for one year where we’re trying to dribble our way into a finals series and then be knocked out straight away … we’re looking at sustained success.
“We’re looking at a group that can perform week in and week out and will fight out for finals year after year.
“We’d love to think we’ve fast-tracked that development and we’ve seen that growth throughout the season.
“That’s just a matter of time and I can’t give you exactly that timeline.
“We’ve seen it takes clubs different amounts of time but where we are at the moment we’re building a really strong group of people.
“I’m confident that we will challenge sooner rather than later.”
CROWS 4.6 5.9 8.15 13.20 (98)
KANGAROOS 2.1 2.3 5.4 8.6 (54)
PHELAN’S BEST CROWS: Laird, Keays, Smith, Sloane, Schoenberg, McAdam, Butts. KANGAROOS: Hall, Thomas, Simpkin, Goldstein, Larkey.
GOALS CROWS: McAdam 3, Keays 2, Jones, Schoenberg, Lynch, McHenry, Seedsman, Thilthorpe, Mackay, Gollant. KANGAROOS: Larkey 3, Anderson, Scott, Thomas, Walker, Phillips.
INJURIES CROWS: Nil. KANGAROOS: Nil.
UMPIRES O’Gorman, Wallace, Glouftsis
ADELAIDE OVAL
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
JASON PHELAN’S VOTES
3 R. Laird (Adel)
2 B. Keays (Adel)
1 A. Hall (NM)
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