Firewalker
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Happy Silver Anniversary!
Today marks 25 years or 9,131 days that have gone by since the men of the Adelaide Football Club won an AFL Premiership.
To celebrate yesterday’s 25th Anniversary of the 1998 Flag I rewatched the match last night, whilst this thread isn’t specifically about that 1998 Grand Final and lots has been said about that match, (mostly due to that success so far never being repeated by the club) I still found some bits that have been lost in the general history of that day;
But as ever we’re not here to talk about past glories we’re here to talk about what’s happened in the 25 years since that day and what are the biggest moments that have led to this long drought.
We can look back at the mistakes a bored/mad with power Blight made in the aftermath of the flag, his departure after almost blowing up the joint & almost blowing up the joint again by recommending Gary Ayres to take over.
Gary Ayres manages to piss off half the playing list, but despite this finally gets things to click but wastes multiple chances with a generational midfield having to kick to a rotation of dog’s breakfast key forwards.
Neil Craig puts the coach in Fitness coach - finals heartbreak, heartbreaking player absences and questionable list management ensure. Sando sparks short-term on-field success and long-term off-field rumours… Ricciuto then goes all Godfather, what might’ve been if not for Phil Walsh’s sad death? Pyke takes control of everything and almost takes us to the promised land then loses control of everything with camps & press conferences.
And finally Nicks wanders in with a smile and not much else at the club, hits rock bottom and has to fight out of the deep mire to get back to the middle of the pack.
So as a form of catharsis vote for The 25 Biggest Club Changing Moments of the last 25 Years… and talk about those that stand out for you.
Let the healing begin.
Today marks 25 years or 9,131 days that have gone by since the men of the Adelaide Football Club won an AFL Premiership.
To celebrate yesterday’s 25th Anniversary of the 1998 Flag I rewatched the match last night, whilst this thread isn’t specifically about that 1998 Grand Final and lots has been said about that match, (mostly due to that success so far never being repeated by the club) I still found some bits that have been lost in the general history of that day;
- Attention on Matthew Robran pre-match was ridiculous after an out of the blue Prelim performance, which was mostly due to Terry Wallace playing a ridiculously undersized Rohan Smith on him the week before, it leads to Dennis Pagan to move his best defender Mickey Martin out from his influential full-back role to Centre Halfback. Robran has a stinker that he was prone to producing at Centre Half-Forward (Robran’s overall history as a forward at the club is pretty poor and it’s ridiculous he made the best 22 of 30 years team, his best football was actually played as a undersized-ruck or as a rebounding/running defender) but despite having a stinker and Martin beating him Robran somehow still plays almost the most influential forward role for the team as North Melbourne’s last line defending and ability to stop forward 50 leads falls apart without Martin playing his more familiar role.
- Mark Bickley’s move into the middle; whilst the moves of McLeod into the midfield, Ricciuto to half back and Jarman forward are synonymous for the influence they produced in the second half turnaround the move that makes all those possible is Mark Bickley’s move into the centre. Bickley is unfairly painted in the years since his retirement as a dour defender but he played brilliant football as a midfielder for most of the 90s, his toughness around the ball changes the dynamic of the midfield battle as he gets his hands first to a lot of ball in the 2nd half and stops any influence Stevens & Bell have around the ball.
- Brett James’ 3rd quarter is ridiculously important to the outcome of the match as he shuts down North’s prior free scoring ability, James is another player that is moved from the forward role he’d been playing that season to the more unfamiliar role of half-back and shuts down a stack load of North attacks and springboards the ball back the other way. This guy was a genuine gun and should’ve played a lot more league football for the Crows.
But as ever we’re not here to talk about past glories we’re here to talk about what’s happened in the 25 years since that day and what are the biggest moments that have led to this long drought.
We can look back at the mistakes a bored/mad with power Blight made in the aftermath of the flag, his departure after almost blowing up the joint & almost blowing up the joint again by recommending Gary Ayres to take over.
Gary Ayres manages to piss off half the playing list, but despite this finally gets things to click but wastes multiple chances with a generational midfield having to kick to a rotation of dog’s breakfast key forwards.
Neil Craig puts the coach in Fitness coach - finals heartbreak, heartbreaking player absences and questionable list management ensure. Sando sparks short-term on-field success and long-term off-field rumours… Ricciuto then goes all Godfather, what might’ve been if not for Phil Walsh’s sad death? Pyke takes control of everything and almost takes us to the promised land then loses control of everything with camps & press conferences.
And finally Nicks wanders in with a smile and not much else at the club, hits rock bottom and has to fight out of the deep mire to get back to the middle of the pack.
So as a form of catharsis vote for The 25 Biggest Club Changing Moments of the last 25 Years… and talk about those that stand out for you.
Let the healing begin.
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