My Two Cents: Adelaide must deliver finals after long, slow rebuild | Andrew Capel
In Matthew Nicks’ fifth season with the club, Adelaide will not be able to explain away another failure to make finals, writes Andrew Capel.
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It’s time for the Crows to deliver.
While the knee injury suffered by exciting tall Riley Thilthorpe was as devastating as it was untimely, Adelaide must take the next step in its steady development and play finals this season.
Sure, the Thilthorpe injury hurts.
The athletic, 202cm giant had enjoyed a standout pre-season that had him primed for a breakout year and possible 40-plus goals return.
Of all the players the Crows didn’t want to lose to injury in their final trial game, the emerging 21-year-old was close to the top of the pile.
But coach Matthew Nicks’ side will have to manage without him for the first half of the season after he underwent knee surgery to repair a torn lateral meniscus following his injury against West Coast.
The Thilthorpe injury is an unexpected body blow on the eve of the season for Adelaide but it won’t want to use it as an excuse for missing September action for the seventh consecutive year.
After being super-competitive last season - and perhaps missing the finals because of a shocking goal umpiring error against Sydney - expectations have been raised internally and externally that this is the year the Crows break their long finals drought that dates back to 2017 when they lost the grand final to Richmond.
They have been on a slow upwards trajectory since bottoming out - and finishing with their first wooden spoon - in Nicks’ first year in charge in 2020 following his predecessor Don Pyke’s departure.
Adelaide jumped from 18th (3 wins, 14 losses) to 15th (7-15) in 2021, to 14th (8-14) in 2022 to 10th (11-12) last season.
The next step is to play finals, which Nicks has acknowledged.
“We said we were going to come in and challenge the best (last year) and we did that,’’ Nicks said.
“We’ve got to aim high now. We want to do more than challenge the best this year.
“There’s an expectation on us to perform and play finals footy and we want to embrace that expectation.’’
Crows head of football Adam Kelly said the club’s list management decisions had it primed to play finals this season.
“As we set out on the rebuild - and we’ve been very disciplined and patient with the way we’ve gone about it - we forecast where we would like to be in our development throughout,’’ he said.
“This year was the year where we started to believe that we’d have the maturity building in the list and the games of experience (to play finals).
“We showed last year that we could compete with the very best in the competition and this year we need to turn some of those results in our favour because we expect to be playing finals.
“That was what the rebuild was designed to do, to put us in this position from 2024 and onwards and have a really sustained run at challenging for premierships in the years to come.’’
Kelly noted that Adelaide “went to the draft heavily’’ and now has “18 players that were taken with top-30 selections’’.
“So we have built a breadth of talent on the list, along with acquiring some really quality players from other clubs - Jordan Dawson, Izak Rankine, Mitch Hinge and Ben Keays,’’ he said.
“But we still the fourth-youngest list in the competition, so there is a bit more maturing to happen yet.’’
Rival AFL captains believe in the Crows’ rebuild.
Asked at the pre-season captain’s call which seven other clubs - apart from their own - they thought would make this year’s top eight, 10 nominated Adelaide.
Only premier Collingwood (17), beaten grand finalist Brisbane (16), Carlton and GWS (15) and Melbourne and Sydney (14) had more nominations.
Port Adelaide was the next-ranked club with seven.
The Crows’ hopes of playing finals has been boosted by an injection of midfield class and explosiveness, with excitement machines Rankine and Josh Rachele to be given more on-ball opportunities this season.
The dynamic small forwards trained in the centre square for much of the summer and will split time between there and attack as Adelaide searches for more midfield X-factor qualities.
“The fact that we now have Rankine, Rachele and (fellow small-medium forward) Luke Pedlar to add to the dynamic of our midfield group presents us with a different look and we will look to explore that throughout the year,’’ Kelly said.
“I know there have been some queries on our midfield but when we inject some of that talent in there, along with the fact that Dawson is now an All-Australian midfielder and Rory Laird has probably been stiff not to have been in the All-Australian 40 in recent years, we think the midfield is developing well.’’
Despite not playing finals, Adelaide was the No. 1 scoring team last season, averaging 95 points a game.
While evergreen key forward Taylor Walker should not be expected to match last year’s career-best goals tally of 76, which earned him All-Australian honours for the first time, he has enjoyed another strong pre-season and looks in great nick, despite turning 34 in April.
With their blue-chip talent forward of centre, which includes improving powerhouse Darcy Fogarty, the Crows - despite the Thilthorpe blow - should be able to impact the scoreboard.
Their issues appear to be down back.
Adelaide ranked ninth in scores against last year (average 82) and has lost Tom Doedee (to Brisbane) while fellow key defender Nick Murray will miss the first half of the season as he recovers from a knee reconstruction.
“To be able to take the next step, the obvious things that come to mind are our ability to close out the close games, having lost five games by a kick last year, and our ability to win away from home (two wins, eight losses last season),’’ Kelly said.
“We have to get better in those end-of-game scenarios and defence will be really important to us.
“We were the No. 1 offence in the competition last year but didn’t defend as strongly as what we needed to to make our way into that finals mix. That has to be a primary focus of ours.’’
NUMBERS GAME
20
Clearances by Gold Coast’s Matt Rowell against Richmond - the second-most recorded behind Paul Salmon’s 22 for Hawthorn against North Melbourne in 1998.
46
Points that Carlton trailed Brisbane by in the second quarter at the Gabba before winning by one.
QUOTES OF THE WEEK
“What we have been able to build over the past few years has been really positive, now we need to deliver on that expectation.’’
- Adelaide chief executive Tim Silvers.
“He’s been a really important person to us and it won’t feel quite the same without him being there with us.”
Carlton coach Michael Voss on Sam Docherty’s season-ending knee injury.
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