The upcoming Amazon Prime documentary about the Adelaide Football Club will be a must-watch for Crows fans
Michael Jordan’s The Last Dance documentary has captivated the world. If the upcoming behind-the-scenes miniseries on the Adelaide Crows is half as good, it will still make for compulsive viewing, writes Graham Cornes.
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By far the two most absorbing sport documentaries in recent years – maybe ever – have been the The Last Dance and The Test: A New Era For Australia’s Team.
The Last Dance follows Michael Jordan and his team, the Chicago Bulls, as they pursue an incredible six NBA championships.
The Test travels with the Australian cricket team as it goes to England and tries to recover from, and atone for, the disgrace of blatant ball-tampering in South Africa.
If you love your sport, you’ve probably already seen them.
If you haven’t, don’t waste any more time.
They’ll be the best things you’ll see on pay-TV.
However, there is another documentary currently in the making and for Aussie rules fans, particularly those who follow the Crows, it will make for compulsive viewing.
It will be the Crows like you’ve never seen them before.
Fans of the Netflix series Drive to Survive will be familiar with the concept of having a camera crew invading the inner sanctum of a professional sporting team and delivering perspectives that previously could only be imagined.
Unfortunately though, this Crows documentary won’t be aired until next March.
At this very moment, there is an Amazon Prime film crew embedded with the Adelaide Football Club.
The club is a little coy about all the details, but head of football Adam Kelly confirmed that filming had begun.
Those critics of the Crows who constantly accuse the club of not being open enough may have to eat their words because apparently the camera crew has access to all areas.
According to witnesses, the cameras were rolling in the Barossa Valley when the club incurred the wrath of the AFL and the Melbourne media pack.
The club wouldn’t confirm whether the cameras were present when Tyson Stengle’s pre-season mishap was discussed, but they didn’t deny it either.
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Were they there when Stengle had to explain and apologise to his teammates?
Does it explain why the club waited so long to release the details to the media?
The Crows are one of six AFL clubs that have Amazon Prime camera crews embedded with them for this season.
Increasingly, professional sporting teams see this as a great way to interact with their fans.
It’s not something the clubs can do themselves because the exercise then becomes a love-fest for the club and nothing more than propaganda.
But an independent camera crew, with access all areas provides insights never seen before. Richmond, Carlton, Brisbane, GWS and West Coast are the other teams in the series.
The timing of the series could not have been better for Amazon Prime, with the COVID-19 pandemic impacting on professional sport like no other historical event.
However as the season unfolds, it will hold enormous interest for current and future generations.
The Last Dance was over 20 years in the making.
Archival footage blended with modern narrative and interviews, pitting Jordan against old rivals, some of who are still bitter, as indeed Jordan seems, gives unprecedented insight. We’ve known the results for the best part of 22 years, but the excitement is still palpable.
The modern day Michael Jordan is no longer the supreme athlete he was, but he leaves no one in doubt of his talent, his status in the game and the legacy he leaves.
Still, you hang on his every word.
Was it arrogance or just supreme confidence? It matters not.
He doesn’t need to impress, apologise or defend. His record says it all.
They will argue that others have surpassed him as the greatest basketballer ever, but The Last Dance carries you with him.
The one characteristic Michael Jordan had, above all others, was consistent brilliance.
He played every game for those people who were coming to see him for the first time.
The Test is a series much closer to home.
I’ve never seen a camera crew have so much access to a sporting team and its inner sanctum. You actually feel you are part of the team.
The locker rooms of the various venues are exposed as never before.
Who could ever get inside the locker-rooms at Lord’s or Edgbaston? This series takes you there.
One wonders how the Amazon crew ever got permission from Cricket Australia to tag along.
Smith, Warner and Bancroft are all returning from their shame.
Justin Langer is the new coach.
You see these characters as you’ve never seen them before, although Langer’s public and private personas don’t change.
Marnus Labuschagne, the wunderkind of the last two summers is presented as a new eager rookie hanging on every word and action of Steve Smith.
His other teammates constantly tease him for his lapdog devotion to the former skipper.
“I don’t care”, he responds, “I really enjoy learning from him”.
If the wide-eyed innocence and enthusiasm of Labuschagne is appealing, the real revelation of the series is into the character of Tim Paine, a surprise selection as Australia’s test skipper.
The Test displays Paine’s personality and depth of character with a far greater perspective than could ever been gleaned from a press conference or interview.
The team’s journey from disgrace to triumph is compelling.
Previous generations of sportspeople – footballers and their coaches in particular – have excluded the media from the inner sanctums of their club.
The locker-rooms were sacrosanct, a haven if you like from the intrusion of those who wouldn’t understand the pressures, or what young men do when they let their hair down.
But slowly the filmmakers are knocking down the doors.
Twenty-nine years ago at the Adelaide Football Club the concept of having a film crew in every change-room, at every team meeting, in the huddle during a match or inside a boardroom meeting would have been unthinkable.
There was some magic in the mystery. Now, the magic is in the knowing. I can’t wait.
Originally published as The upcoming Amazon Prime documentary about the Adelaide Football Club will be a must-watch for Crows fans
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