How low can they crow - The Advertiser special series on all things crows

119others · Jun 18, 2024

COACHES

How Low Can They Crow: Matthew Nicks

Matthew Nicks

Age
50

Ht

187cm

Wt
88kg

Pos.
Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D
13.6

3

K
9.4

4

HB
4.2

3

M
4.1

4

T
1.7

4

G
0.7

4

No current season stats available

D
6.6

2

K
4.4

2

HB
2.2

2

M
2.2

3

T
1.4

4

G
0.4

3

, Adelaide’s coaching panel and the loss of James Rahilly

James Rahilly

Age
46

Ht

187cm

Wt
84kg

Pos.
Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D
12.2

3

K
7.2

3

HB
5.0

4

M
2.6

3

T
1.6

4

No current season stats available

D
6.4

2

K
2.8

1

HB
3.6

3

M
0.6

1

T
1.0

3

The Crows targeted two former senior coaches to join Matthew Nicks’ panel for 2024, but were turned down. See who they chased as we investigate Adelaide’s coaching set-up.
Simeon Thomas-Wilson and Josh Barnes

7 min read
June 18, 2024 - 5:30AM
News Sport Network

76 comments

02:45
Amartey kicks nine as Swans down Crows

AFL: The Swans have shown once again why they are serious contenders for the flag with a big win against the Crows.

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In Matthew Nicks’ first season at West Lakes, he was described as the least resourced senior coach in the AFL.
Adelaide quickly addressed this after its annus horribilis that was 2020 by beefing up the coaches surrounding him.
But just under four-years on, the microscope is again on whether Nicks has the people he needs in his coaching box with the Crows’ free-flowing style of play that impressed the competition in 2023 largely nowhere to be seen in 2024.
The departure of forwards coach James Rahilly, who returned to Geelong for family reasons, was always going to be felt by the Crows.
After being part of the big push to improve Nicks’ coaching box at the end of 2020, coming from the Cats, Rahilly had the Crows as an attacking juggernaut especially in 2023.
The Crows were the most potent side in the competition, Taylor Walker became an All-Australian at 33-years-old as he kicked 76 goals, after returns of 48 and 47 in Rahilly’s first two seasons at West Lakes that coincided with the Adelaide talisman’s late-career renaissance.
Rahilly was named as the AFL Coaches Association’s Assistant Coach of the Year.

[PLAYERCARD]James Rahilly[/PLAYERCARD] during his time as an assistant coach at the Crows. Picture: Mike Burton

James Rahilly during his time as an assistant coach at the Crows. Picture: Mike Burton
Former Crows forward Josh Jenkins, who worked with Rahilly at Geelong, said he was an excellent attacking coach.
“He’s got a really good balance. He is really relatable because he has the surfer looks and is still incredibly keyed in to players but he is also very firm about what you need to do to succeed, the work you need to put in,” he said.
“But again he has got the ability to convey that message without sounding like a dictator and I think that’s a really good balance.
“He’s a good connector. I think the key thing from my point of view, he has a great balance on not laying down the law but telling players how it is. Not allowing them to skip the steps but from a relatable point of view, his personality, he has a great balance.”
It was always going to be a blow losing Rahilly.
Publicly at the time Crows football boss Adam Kelly said under Rahilly “a number of our forwards have significantly improved under his guidance and he has been instrumental in building connection across the group with respect to our ball movement, which puts us in a strong position moving forward”.
Internally, it is understood that Rahilly was seen as a key piece, or even the key, in the Crows’ identity as a team.
So far the fears some at West Lakes had about Rahilly’s departure have come true.
Adelaide’s connection, especially ball movement, has been a constant criticism of the Crows this year as they have gone from an offensive powerhouse to a team in the middle of the pack when it comes to points scored.

Rahilly with [PLAYERCARD]Darcy Fogarty[/PLAYERCARD] in 2021. Picture: Brenton Edwards

Rahilly with Darcy Fogarty in 2021. Picture: Brenton Edwards
Jenkins said it was never just one factor, but Rahilly would be missed by the Crows.
“When he was in Adelaide the guys over there spoke glowingly about him and I guess the results for Adelaide and Geelong where they have flipped (since he returned to Geelong) are pretty stark,” he said.
“I think you saw it with the Cats, Matty Scarlett and Matty Knights were there and were defensively minded and you see a bit of a different make up.
“When the coaches sit there and talk about how you want the game to look each week, it is important to have three voices who are sitting there and are really strong about the way they are playing. Maybe they are missing James’ voice on, hey if you want to move the ball this way you should do this and this.
“Maybe they are missing that voice, I don’t know.
“It’s never one thing but I know the guys that were over there spoke so glowingly about him.”
With the Crows backing in Nicks, who signed a two-year contract extension after Round 1, the questions are again popping up around the coaching set-up at West Lakes.
Does Nicks have the resources he needs in the Crows coaching box? Who have Adelaide tried to surround him with? What does the future hold for the Crows coaches?

THE CURRENT SET-UP

With Rahilly returning to Geelong there were minor changes to the Crows coaching line-up for the 2024 campaign.
Former GWS, Port Adelaide and Gold Coast player Jack Hombsch was promoted to the Crows backline coach.
He joined former club captain Nathan van Berlo (midfield) and Scott Burns (forward) as the Crows line coaches.
In addition, former Norwood ruckman Sam Baulderstone took on a part-time role as the Crows ruck coach – allowing Matthew Clarke to focus entirely on the highly successful AFLW side.
Van Berlo and Burns both came after the end of the 2020 season, when the Crows made the decision to surround Nicks with more resources.
Van Berlo came from West Coast, and has stayed as the midfield coach throughout his time at the Crows.
Burns left Hawthorn to join the Crows, becoming Nicks’ senior assistant.
Prior to this year he was the Crows’ backline coach, in addition to being Nicks’ senior assistant.
Interestingly Burns – who has also been an assistant at Collingwood and West Coast – twice was in the mix to become the Crows’ senior coach.
He applied for the role in 2011, the Crows went with Brenton Sanderson and before Matthew Nicks won the race in 2019 Burns was at one stage considered the favourite for the role.
Highly rated in the industry, Nicks has said that Burns has the capacity to be a senior coach in the AFL.
However, it has been questioned if Burns, who also captained Collingwood as a player, has the people skills required and would be able to handle the media and messaging side of things as a senior coach.

[PLAYERCARD]Matthew Nicks[/PLAYERCARD] with his coaching group, [PLAYERCARD]Nathan van Berlo[/PLAYERCARD], [PLAYERCARD]Scott Burns[/PLAYERCARD], head of footy Adam Kelly and [PLAYERCARD]Jack Hombsch[/PLAYERCARD]. Picture: Sarah Reed/AFL Photos

Matthew Nicks with his coaching group, Nathan van Berlo, Scott Burns, head of footy Adam Kelly and Jack Hombsch. Picture: Sarah Reed/AFL Photos
Outside of those three there are some other key figures in the Crows coaching panel.
Michael Godden took on the added responsibility of coaching development this year after some impressive seasons guiding the Crows’ SANFL team.
That came after the former SANFL premiership winning coach with Woodville West-Torrens was not initially offered a contract at the end of 2020 - after he was the club’s midfield coach.
Since that he has been named the AFL Coaches Association’s development coach of the year twice.
Marco Bello is the Crows head of development, another who came after the 2020 season following seven years at Hawthorn.
The Crows’ development has been under intense scrutiny amid Adelaide’s winless run, with a number of young players yet to live up to their potential.
Player managers have questioned how the Crows are developing their clients in recent years.
The Crows development coaches are former player Andrew McPherson, the league’s youngest coach at 25, Matthew Wright and AFLW star Chelsea Randall - who is in the coaching panel as part of an AFL initiative.
After his premature retirement because of eye issues, former Crows captain Rory Sloane has still been training at West Lakes and has been around the coaches on game day.
Nicks has said Sloane could be suited to coaching.
Amid concerns that assistant coaching roles are unattractive and remain severely underpaid after a 30 per cent reduction to the soft cap in 2020, the number of coaches that Crows have under Nicks is around the AFL average after they were undermanned when he first took charge.

THE TARGETS

If Adelaide had its way there would be significantly more experience around Nicks.
After Rahilly returned to Geelong the Crows made some bold moves to fill his spot.
Former senior coaches Stuart Dew and Ben Rutten, a former player, were sounded out by the Crows to join Nicks’ coaching panel.
But both said no to the offer, because they would want to be a senior assistant coach - the role held by Burns.
Others sounded out were Sydney great Jude Bolton, and Cats assistant Nigel Lappin.
After that the Crows decided to go with Hombsch being promoted and Burns taking charge of the forward line.
That hasn’t been the only time the Crows were not able to land a target to provide more support to Nicks - as well as head of footy Adam Kelly.
For two years they tried to lure the highly credentialed Neil Balme from Richmond.
They nearly got him in 2021, having informal talks about him coming to West Lakes.
But Balme decided to stay at the Tigers.

WHAT NOW?

Before the loss to Richmond, which has ramped up the pressure on the Crows, chairman John Olsen said “I, the board and CEO have confidence in the coach and assistant coaches going forward”.
That keeps in line with the messaging that has come out of West Lakes.
Nicks himself has said he was feeling the support from Olsen and chief executive Tim Silvers after the loss to Sydney on Saturday.
On Monday, North Melbourne premiership player David King said he still believed Nicks was the right coach for the Crows.
“I still back him, I still see enough in Matty Nicks,” he said on SEN.
“I still think he is a very, very good AFL coach. They are just in an awful position.
“They need a whole host of changes, a couple of people probably need to put their hand up and say “me before him (Nicks).”
Silvers has said the Crows will not “throw people under the bus” as they look to understand what has gone just so wrong in 2024.
When Nicks first came to West Lakes he was offered the chance to have a senior coach or figure on his panel.
He said no but the club conceded that he needed more support around him.
With Nicks still the man at West Lakes among Adelaide powerbrokers, does the club again look to make a move or two to back him in as they look to rebound in 2025?

How Low Can They Crow - A special investigation

THE FORMER COACHES
<p>THE RECRUITING</p>

THE RECRUITING
<p>THE BOARD</p>

THE BOARD

THE COACHES' BOX

119others · Jun 18, 2024

THE BOARD

How Low Can They Crow: The ugly truth behind the Adelaide’s board and its ‘boys’ club’

Adelaide fans have long bemoaned what some call the ‘boys’ club’ running the Crows board. But what’s really going on behind the scenes? MICHAEL WARNER investigates.
Michael WarnerReporter
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5 min read
June 17, 2024 - 9:05AM
News Sport Network
161 comments

10:17
Nicks pinpoints where it fell apart
AFL: Adelaide Crows coach Matthew Nicks fronts the media after a disappointing... more

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When a horror goal-umpiring error robbed Adelaide of a place in last year’s AFL finals series, Crows chief executive Tim Silvers declared the club had agreed to move on begrudgingly.
“We did have a sleepless night and considered an array of options, but with the bigger picture this is where we landed,” Silvers said.
Top South Australian litigator Greg Griffin says it was a weak response, typical of a club that has long-adopted an “appeasement strategy” with AFL HQ that has “failed its members miserably”.
By Monday morning, Griffin says, the club should have lodged a Supreme Court injunction against the league – if only to show its “incredibly devoted membership base” that it will always “fight for points of principle”.
“No piece of litigation in sport is ever guaranteed, but the decision to do nothing when the members wanted action made no sense to me at all,” Griffin says.

Adelaide Lawyer Greg Griffin said the Crows’ board has failed its members. Picture: Ben Clark
Few would know (and maybe care) that since 2014 under the terms of the Crows’ re-struck constitution, the AFL appoints seven of the nine Adelaide directors and has sole voting rights of all matters at annual general meetings other than the election of the two remaining board members.
Griffin says it’s an arrangement that has disenfranchised the voice of fans and played a role in the club’s era of mediocrity.
“The current board has some very talented members, including a former federal minister for sport (Kate Ellis) and a Brownlow medallist (Mark Ricciuto) – the type of candidate the members would no doubt want,” Griffin says.

Former Crows captain [PLAYERCARD]Mark Ricciuto[/PLAYERCARD] has been part of the Crows’ board for years. Picture: Sarah Reed.

Former Crows captain Mark Ricciuto has been part of the Crows’ board for years. Picture: Sarah Reed.
“But by ceding control of the board and hence the club to the AFL, the Crows will never reach the heights they are capable of.
“And were the Crows a true members’ club, where the membership actually voted for the board – not just two director places – I suspect the board would have paid a high price for their failure to act after last year’s goal umpiring error.”
Playing footsies under the table with the suits over in Melbourne doesn’t win you many games of football, but it sure helps when it comes to governance failings and outright cheating.
Just ask Steven Trigg, the former Crows chief executive who got caught red-handed cooking the club’s salary cap books a decade ago only to cop a wet lettuce leaf punishment and later Gillon McLachlan’s public endorsement to take the reins at Carlton.

Former Adelaide Football Club CEO Steven Trigg. Photo Sarah Reed.
“Steven has been a very successful chief executive in our game. He made a mistake, he accepted responsibility for it, was punished and has come back into our game,” McLachlan said without a hint of irony of the Blues move at the time.
The right response came from then Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett, who expressed astonishment at the Trigg resuscitation.
“Cheating the salary cap … I mean what could be worse,” Kennett said.
“On my standard of governance he (Trigg) would have been sacked and unable to work again in the AFL because it was such a blatant abuse of the rules.
“This is just another indication that if you are a mate (of the AFL), if you are a friend of the inner circle, it doesn’t matter what you’ve done.”
Top silk David Galbally represented Crows forward Kurt Tippett at the AFL Commission “hearing” into the 2012 salary cap scandal and expressed his own amazement at the love-in.
“The commission were very anti-Tippett and very sympathetic to Trigg, who was a favoured administrator,” Galbally later said.

Adelaide Football Club chief executive Steven Trigg retreats to his office after speaking to members of the media at AAMI Stadium the day after the AFL Commission hearing over the Kurt Tippett saga.
“They gave Trigg a terrific hearing and that is what annoyed me. It was very, very clear that he had a much better relationship with the AFL than we had.”
Adelaide’s “appeasement strategy” paid dividends again in 2018 when the AFL launched another integrity “investigation” into the club’s infamous pre-season camp in Queensland.
Claims of what transpired – most since proven – included players being blindfolded, tied to trees, driven around in blackened buses and subjected to deeply personal taunts, but the AFL soon announced that it had cleared the club of any wrongdoing.
As Griffin points out, as the club’s ultimate authority, the AFL was hardly going to arrive at a guilty verdict that would have exposed itself to legal liability.
“Port Power has the same constitution, meaning the AFL has control over both Adelaide clubs,” Griffin says.
The little-known arrangements came about in March 2014 when the two South Australian teams secured their independence from the SANFL by buying their licences from the state body for more than $18 million with AFL financial support.
The league has similar governance deals with expansion clubs Gold Coast and Greater Western Sydney, as well as Sydney.

Incoming Chief Executive Officer Tim Silvers pictured in 2021 ahead of joining the club. Picture: Naomi Jellicoe

Crows players leave the ground after losing their round 14 match against Sydney. Picture: Mark Brake/Getty Images)
To be fair to the Swans, it was an arrangement the club inherited from the league in 1993 after the failed private ownership years of the 1980s.
And after the COLA wars, the Adam Goodes racism saga and the outrageous (and unprecedented) two-year trade ban imposed on the Swans after the recruitment of Lance Franklin – described by former chairman Richard Colless as “the greatest act of bastardry that I have ever observed or experienced in my time in football” – Sydney could hardly be accused of enjoying a cosy relationship with the AFL. But rival clubs have questioned why the Crows would voluntarily enter into the same agreement with eyes wide open in 2014.
Port was riddled with debt at the time and could perhaps be forgiven for signing up – but money has never been an issue at Adelaide.
“Up until that point, the SANFL appointed the directors and therefore controlled the club,” Griffin explains.
“So 2014 was a once in a generation opportunity to pay out the SANFL and assume control of the club for the benefit of members. But, of course, they didn’t do that.
“It just made no commercial sense”.

In a two-team town where most media operators have toed the party line for years, passionate FIVEAA broadcaster and former Crows player Stephen Rowe broke ranks last week to point the finger squarely at Adelaide’s underperforming hierarchy.
“Not enough people say it – it’s a boys’ club,” Rowe said on Thursday.
“I thought Tim Silvers would come in here with a silver bullet, but it’s the Stockholm syndrome — Google it if you don’t know what it is — you become them. You become the same as the captor.”
Ricciuto, a legend of the club, was co-opted onto the Crows’ board in 2014, and like most Adelaide directors, he has never had to face a vote of members.
Current president John Olsen, 79, a former Liberal premier and Australian consul-general in New York (and SANFL chairman when the 2014 licence deal was agreed), was also parachuted into the job four years ago.
But Griffin believes only true boardroom independence – and regular and robust elections, like the one that saw Jeff Browne take charge at Collingwood two years ago – will save Adelaide from itself.
Browne is for Collingwood – and Collingwood only – and has launched public campaigns against the league’s draconian soft cap rules and uneven annual distributions.
Fighting words you rarely, if ever, hear out of West Lakes.

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“It is inconceivable that the membership of either Carlton or Collingwood would ever agree to any ceding over board control of their club to the AFL,” Griffin says.
The solution, he believes, is a rewriting of the club constitution and an end to the era of appeasement.
“Until Adelaide becomes a truly democratic club, where it is the members who vote upon all those it entrusts to run it, success will continue to elude it,” he says.

119others · Jun 18, 2024

RECRUITING

How Low Can They Crow: Matt Turner runs the rule over Adelaide’s recruiting over the past 10 years

Every club has its draft skeletons – and there are plenty of things recruiters can’t foresee. But only GWS, Gold Coast and North Melbourne have had more first-round picks than the Crows in the past decade.
Matt TurnerSports reporter
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@mattturner1986

14 min read
June 17, 2024 - 9:18AM
News Sport Network
176 comments

10:17
Nicks pinpoints where it fell apart

AFL: Adelaide Crows coach Matthew Nicks fronts the media after a disappointing loss to the Sydney Swans.

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Plenty of people in AFL circles will tell you every club has draft howlers and trades they want to take back.
They also say recruiting is a five to seven-year process.
“That’s why a lot of recruiters survive forever because it’s bloody hard to analyse how they’re going until years later and then it gets a bit lost in time,” a player agent who did not want to be named told this masthead.
Adelaide’s head of talent, Hamish Ogilvie, has been in his role since 2012.
The Crows’ other main recruiting decision-maker, Justin Reid, has been the club’s list manager for more than nine years.
Along with the late Matt Rendell and David Noble, they were architects of a squad that became a premiership contender and reached the 2017 grand final.
But Adelaide’s recruiting and list build is now in the spotlight because of the club’s slump from finals contender to mid-season strugglers.
Of the 76 players the Crows have added over the past nine years, just one – captain Jordan Dawson – has made the All-Australian team while at the club.
Dawson and ruckman Reilly O’Brien are the only Adelaide best-and-fairest winners.

Adelaide’s list boss Hamish Ogilvie when he took on the role in 2012.
The Crows have picked 14 players in the national draft’s first-round during the past decade – ranking behind only expansion clubs GWS (28) and Gold Coast (25), and battlers North Melbourne (16) – yet there remain questions about their depth and top-end talent.
Some people this masthead contacted this week remained optimistic about the Crows’ squad, believing it not to be as bad it as critics would suggest.
Others mentioned how it was easy to be an expert in hindsight in a difficult job of predicting how players would develop.
Most agreed notable mistakes over the past decade had played a key role in Adelaide’s underwhelming 4-1-9 start to this year.

TOP PLAYERS LEAVING

Adelaide started the decade by recruiting four All-Australians over a two-year period – the problem was two of them received their blazers while playing for other clubs.
The quartet was Eddie Betts, Matt Crouch, Charlie Cameron and Jake Lever.
Luring Betts from Carlton – when David Noble was Adelaide’s list manager – was undoubtedly one of the Crows’ biggest recruiting successes.
Betts made three All-Australian teams in the tricolours and was instrumental to the club’s surge to the 2017 grand final.
But in the aftermath of losing the premiership decider to Richmond, fellow small forward Cameron and intercept defender Lever left the club.

Charlie Cameron is one of the stars who departed Adelaide. Picture: Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images

The Crows would love to have had Cameron’s electricity in attack. Picture: AAP Image/Julian Smith
Cameron has made two All-Australian sides and reached one grand final at Brisbane, while Lever earned team of the year honours, as well as a premiership medal, at Melbourne in 2021.
Two years before their departures, superstar Patrick Dangerfield left West Lakes for Geelong.
“They’re big names,” former St Kilda and Hawthorn list manager Chris Pelchen said.
“And not coincidentally, they’re exactly the types of players Adelaide needs now.
“Charlie Cameron is the opportunistic forward, Lever the versatile defender, Dangerfield the big-bodied midfielder.
“Their losses have cruelled them because they’ve created (list) holes.

Jake Lever has gone on to be a linchpin of the Melbourne backline since leaving Adelaide. Picture: Adam Trafford/AFL Media/Getty Images
“Every club will lose some players but they lost more than other clubs, which means something isn’t right.
“Either the TPP (total player payments) structure has limited their ability to retain players or there’s a cultural issue, or they’ve fallen out with someone.”
Alan Stewart, who was a senior recruitment officer at the Crows for 13 years until 2017, said the departures of Lever and Cameron were massive.
“Losing blokes around 20, 21 who are good players are hard to replace because they were all going to be in your premiership side,” Stewart said.
“I think if Danger continues in our team, on that journey, we win a flag.”

How Low Can They Crow - A special investigation

THE FORMER COACHES

THE RECRUITING

THE BOARD

THE COACHES' BOX

FIRST ROUND QUESTION MARKS

An interstate club’s recruiter looks at three drafts as missed opportunities for Adelaide.
In 2016, the Crows took speedy midfielder Jordan Gallucci at pick 15.
The Victorian was axed after 27 games.
Adelaide was reportedly close to taking 2023 All-Australian ruckman Tim English instead.
In 2018, the Crows selected wingman/halfback Chayce Jones at pick 9 and small forward Ned McHenry at 16.
They had interest in Port Adelaide jet Zak Butters and AFL.com.au’s phantom draft had him landing where Adelaide snared McHenry, but the Power ensured he never got that far.
The interstate club’s recruiter said the Crows selected Jones and McHenry “a bit ahead of where other teams predicted them to be”.

Chayce Jones and Ned McHenry were taken in the first 16 picks in 2018. Picture: Adam Trafford/AFL Media/Getty Images
Jones has played 89 games and placed eighth in their best-and-fairest last season.
McHenry has featured 70 times at AFL level, lining up in five SANFL games since the start of 2023.
In 2019, key position player Fischer McAsey became the Crows’ highest ever selection to that time, at No.6.
McAsey quit the AFL in January last year, 10 games into his career, citing a lack of passion to make it at the elite level.
The next seven players taken in 2019 who were not academy tied were: Hayden Young, Caleb Serong (both Fremantle), Sam Flanders (Gold Coast), Kysaiah Pickett (Melbourne), Will Day (Hawthorn), Miles Bergman (Port Adelaide) and Cody Weightman (Western Bulldogs).

Fremantle nailed its early picks in 2019, landing Caleb Serong, Hayden Young and Liam Henry. Picture: Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images
Pelchen said the Crows would acknowledge internally but probably not publicly that their first-round picks as a whole had been disappointing.
“Every club has their draft skeletons,” he said.
“I’ve been associated with picking players who don’t perform to the level you expect or injury curtails their career or you get a player like Fischer McAsey who decides to give it away.
“They’re things you can’t foresee but they hurt you when they’re first-round selections.”
A player agent said: “Good clubs do well with their first couple of draft picks and if you do that, you build up your talent base”.
“Jones and McHenry seem to be good blokes and work hard, but they’re small blokes and if you’re that small, you need to have something really special to be drafted early I reckon”.

Fischer McAsey played 10 games for the Crows before retiring. Picture: SANFL Image/David Mariuz
Adelaide actually entered the 2018 draft with three top-20 selections but traded one (pick 19) to Carlton, along with a 2019 first, for the Blues’ 2019 first-rounder.
The interstate recruiter was baffled by that decision.
“Carlton want to come up and get their guy (Liam Stocker) so you’ve got all the bargaining power,” he said.
“They had no reason to offer Carlton their first as well.”
Ultimately, from four first-rounders Adelaide ended up with Jones, McHenry, McAsey and Luke Pedlar.
The Crows traded down from pick 4 to 6 to get McAsey and acquire a 2020 first-rounder from GWS, which they used on Pedlar.
“So between McAsey and the pick swap, they burnt two first-round picks for nothing on the list,” the interstate club’s recruiter said.
Stewart used to always have flag teams in mind when he was helping create the Crows and Port Adelaide’s squads.
“Building a premiership list requires astute recruiting, smart trading and the ability to make hard decisions along the journey,” Stewart said.
“First-round selections are gold and players picked should become 100-plus game players, and consistently display the attributes of a premiership player.

Matthew Nicks with Josh Rachele at the 2021 draft. Picture: Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images
“Premiership teams of the past have always consisted of six to eight A-graders with the majority of these players being first-round selections.
“List management must continually assess these first-round picks or any player for that matter to ascertain whether they can or cannot fulfil the criteria required to play a role in a premiership team.
“If they cannot, this is when hard decisions are made to trade or delist them.”
Stewart compared the Crows to Fremantle, saying both teams appointed coaches – Matthew Nicks and Justin Longmuir respectively – before a team reset for 2020.
Adelaide had since gone bottom, 15th, 14th, 10th and was 15th entering this round, while the Dockers had finished 12th, 11th, sixth, 14th and were now seventh.
“I still see Fremantle’s list trending in the right direction, but I see Adelaide’s as having flattened out,” Stewart said.
“I think there needs to be some hard decisions about the list because I think they’re treading water.”

STRANGE CALL

Adelaide made a difficult call in 2022 – on mid-season draftee Brett Turner.
He was recruited from Glenelg on a six-month deal in June, then axed 136 days later without playing an AFL game.
The Tigers were disappointed and Turner told this masthead at the time he felt “led down the garden path”.
Reid said then that the club was upfront with the 26-year-old.
“Is that (six months) enough time and is that fair at times for the individuals? Maybe not,” he said.
“But we need to make hard decisions … to try to improve the list.”
The interstate club’s recruiter recalled being very surprised at how it unfolded.
“It felt a little like Brett Turner was used as a pawn – ‘if (Matt) Crouch goes, at least we’ve got a back-up here’ – then he was discarded (after Crouch stayed),” he said.
“If you’re contending for the top four, you bring in a guy like that as cover, but in a rebuild phase, it made no sense.
“You take a 19, 20-year-old.”

COMPARISONS TO PORT

The majority of Adelaide’s experienced recruits this past decade have had a South Australian flavour.
Of the 20 players to join the Crows directly from other AFL clubs since the end of 2013, 11 are local products.
West Australian Billy Frampton made a rare switch from rivals Port Adelaide.
The other eight who were not from SA were: James Podsiadly, Kyle Cheney, Luke Lowden, Paul Seedsman, Sam Gibson, Ben Keays, Ben Crocker and Tyler Brown.
Seedsman, an All-Australian squad nominee in 2021 whose career was cut short by concussion, and leadership group member Keays had been the two success stories.

Ben Keays has been one of Adelaide’s recruiting success stories. Picture: James Elsby/AFL Photos via Getty Images
Contrastingly, Port Adelaide has recruited 27 players from other AFL clubs over the past decade, including 16 non-South Australians, going hard at free agency.
Charlie Dixon, Aliir Aliir and Paddy Ryder were interstaters who became All-Australians at the Power.
“I go back to my time at Port and we made a deliberate decision to select players from outside South Australia in draft and trade from day one,” Pelchen said.
“I don’t think that focus has been as strong from the Crows.
“That approach has been maintained by Port Adelaide over the last 25 years, whether by design or opportunistically, and players from outside your club do notice it.”
The player agent had found Reid to be “obsessed with ex-South Australians”.
“I think the state thing is a bit overstated,” he said.
“These days if the money is good and contract is good most players will go anywhere because it’s about opportunity and lifestyle, and Adelaide’s got that to sell.”

One player manager claims Justin Reid “splits hairs” in contract negotiations.
Another player manager, who did not wish to be named, said his dealings with the two SA clubs were starkly different.
“Adelaide is more of a business and family club that like to do things the right way,” he said.
“I think they’re very aware of their brand and social impact.
“Port Adelaide make no apologies and is a bit of an old-school football club still, touching on their success, the Collingwood type mentality of us against them.
“And I think Port Adelaide is better at showing themselves over the Crows.
“Port is able to make players feel like they are part of something, whereas the Crows seem a little bit more like a machine.
“Port Adelaide also pays its good players really well, whereas I know Reidy splits hairs quite a bit.
“Adelaide lost Mitch McGovern because of that.
“They sometimes try to outsmart you and be a little too clever.”

ADELAIDE'S INS SINCE 2013

The 84 players Adelaide has recruited in the past decade
2013
Trade James Podsiadly (Games for Crows: 21)
Free Agent Eddie Betts (132)
Pick 23 Matt Crouch* (154)
Pick 46 Riley Knight (55)
Rookie Charlie Cameron (73)
Rookie James Battersby (0)
Rookie Jake Kelly (110)
Rookie Alex Spina (0)
2014
Trade Kyle Cheney (44)
Trade Luke Lowden (0)
Pick 14 Jake Lever (56)
Pick 35 Harrison Wigg (0)
Pick 43 Mitch McGovern (48)
Pick 58 Harry Dear (0)
Rookie Reilly O’Brien* (112)
Rookie Keenan Ramsey (0)
Rookie Anthony Wilson (0)
2015
Trade Dean Gore (0)
Trade Curtly Hampton (12)
Trade Troy Menzel (4)
Trade Paul Seedsman (83)
Pick 11 Wayne Milera* (99)
Pick 17 Tom Doedee (82)
Rookie Paul Hunter (0)
Rookie Jonathon Beech (3)
Rookie Hugh Greenwood (51)
Rookie Alex Keath (30)
2016
Pick 15 Jordan Gallucci (27)
Pick 44 Myles Poholke (16)
Pick 51 Elliot Himmelberg* (45)
Pick 62 Matt Signorello (0)
Pick 75 Ben Davis (11)
Rookie Ben Jarman (0)
2017
Trade Bryce Gibbs (37)
Trade Sam Gibson (5)
Pick 12 Darcy Fogarty* (92)
Pick 40 Andrew McPherson (28)
Rookie Patrick Wilson (2)
Rookie Lachlan Murphy* (105)
Rookie Jackson Edwards (0)
2018
Trade Shane McAdam (50)
Trade Tyson Stengle (12)
Pick 9 Chayce Jones* (89)
Pick 16 Ned McHenry* (70)
Pick 30 Will Hamill* (43)
Pick 64 Lachlan Sholl* (64)
Rookie Kieran Strachan* (6)
Rookie Jordon Butts* (70)
2019
Trade Billy Frampton (21)
Pick 6 Fischer McAsey (10)
Pick 24 Harry Schoenberg* (60)
Pick 28 Josh Worrell* (26)
Pick 42 Ronin O’Connor (3)
Pick 48 Lachlan Gollant* (15)
Rookie Ben Keays* (96)
Rookie Ben Crocker (7)
SSP Ayce Taylor (0)
2020
DFA Mitch Hinge* (53)
NGA James Borlase* (11)
NGA Tariek Newchurch (0)
Pick 2 Riley Thilthorpe* (46)
Pick 11 Luke Pedlar* (30)
Pick 25 Brayden Cook* (21)
Pick 28 Sam Berry* (47)
Pick 38 James Rowe (36)
PSD Jackson Hately (15)
SSP Nick Murray* (46)
MSD Patrick Parnell* (17)
2021
Trade Jordan Dawson* (58)
Pick 6 Josh Rachele* (47)
Pick 36 Jake Soligo* (50)
Pick 44 Zac Taylor* (0)
PSD Luke Nankervis* (14)
MSD Brett Turner (0)
2022
Trade Izak Rankine* (30)
Pick 17 Max Michalanney* (35)
Pick 43 Billy Dowling* (1)
Pick 50 Hugh Bond* (0)
SSP Tyler Brown (0)
SSP Mark Keane* (17)
2023
Trade Chris Burgess* (7)
Pick 8 Dan Curtin* (2)
Pick 21 Charlie Edwards* (0)
Pick 27 Oscar Ryan* (0)
*Denotes still on the list
**Games correct before round 14 v Sydney
PSD: Pre-season draft selection
SSP: Pre-Season Supplemental Selection Period
MSD: Mid-season draft selection
NGA: Next Generation Academy selection

The manager said while the Power tended to take bigger swings and target recruits who were more of a risk, Adelaide “likes to go for players like a Dawson and Rankine – nice guys seen as big wins”.
“They also draft a lot of the same type of player, rinse and repeat,” he said.
The former recruiting boss said the Crows’ trading had been more disappointing than their drafting over the past decade.
He said Adelaide typically had not gone into contract talks “with a number that’ll make your eyeballs turn”.
“They’re probably over conscious of not disrupting the list,” he said.

MISS DUSTY, GET GIBBS

Perception may be otherwise, but Adelaide has taken big swings, it just has not landed its desired targets.
The Crows had a serious crack at Richmond champion Dustin Martin in 2017 when he was coming out of contract.
They met him at his house in Melbourne and presented a massive offer of $11m over seven years, but Martin re-signed with the Tigers.
He went on to break Adelaide hearts on grand final day by winning the first of three flags and Norm Smith Medals.

Adelaide was one of the clubs who offered a massive deal to Dustin Martin. Picture: Adam Trafford/AFL Media/Getty Images
The Crows chased Melbourne gun Clayton Oliver last year and West Coast star Elliot Yeo this season, and reportedly put a significant offer in for Sydney’s Errol Gulden before he stayed.
All three are non-South Australians, but the big fish they have been landing are locals.
Before Dawson and Rankine, there was Bryce Gibbs.
After getting knocked back by Martin and losing to Richmond, the Crows sought to bolster their squad and midfield by trading for the 231-game, 28-year-old Blue.
Adelaide, which narrowly missed out on securing Gibbs as a father-son draftee in 2006, cited Carlton’s “unrealistic demands” for why a trade fell through in 2016.
A year later, the Crows sent picks 10, 16 and a future second-rounder in exchange for the Glenelg product, the Blues’ 2019 second-round selection and their future third.

Elliot Yeo is the latest star to be linked with a switch to Adelaide. Picture: James Elsby/AFL Photos via Getty Images
Gibbs managed just 37 games in three seasons at the Crows, getting limited opportunities under coaches Don Pyke and Matthew Nicks.
“It’s easy in retrospect, but what was interesting was they were so fixated on getting Bryce to the club that they just went even harder the second year,” Pelchen said.
“It was almost as if it didn’t matter what was needed to get the deal done that they would, almost as a statement, and it was clearly a mistake.
“Whether or not they felt some obligation or a point to prove, what they gave was way over.”
Stewart added: “The season prior, he might have been the missing jigsaw piece to help us win the flag”.
“When we got him, I think he was maybe tailing off with his career and we gave up far too much.
“Sometimes you’re damned if you do, you’re damned if you don’t.”
Adelaide’s reward did not come from Gibbs but its pick trades.
Carlton finished last in 2018 and deals the Crows made with the two Sydney clubs led to them receiving selection 30 that year and 28 the following one.
Adelaide chose halfback Will Hamill and intercept defender Josh Worrell.
Worrell was having a breakout season until getting sidelined with an arm injury last month.
For the record, Carlton took the now delisted Lochie O’Brien with pick 10 and on-traded 16 with 40 to get Matt Kennedy from GWS and draft Tom De Koning.
The Western Bulldogs used 16 on Ed Richards.

THE HITS

Fox Footy analyst David King said post-game last week that injuries to stars such as Taylor Walker and Izak Rankine had highlighted the Crows’ lack of depth and matchwinners.
Pelchen was more glass half-full.
“While their last month has been extremely poor, I think it’s not as bad as those who are predicting doomsday for the Crows,” he said.
“I still think there’s upside with that list, I genuinely do.
“Riley Thilthorpe and Max Michalanney are going to be excellent players.
“Daniel Curtin can be an A-grade talent but the pressure will be on retaining him because he will be aggressively pursued by the WA teams.

Chris Pelchen has warned Adelaide faces a fight to retain Dan Curtin long-term. Picture: Tom Huntley
“Josh Rachele has the ability to be an A-grader – he made such an outstanding start to his career, it was always going to hard to keep that up.
“So I agree with the general impression that they lack top-end talent, but it’s primarily in the 22 to 27 (age) bracket.”
Pelchen said while the club’s success with early draft selections had been below average, it had long done very well with other picks.
O’Brien, key defenders Nick Murray, Jordon Butts and Lachlan Murphy were rookies, Irish backman Mark Keane was a pre-season supplemental selection and Ben Keays and Mitch Hinge were delisted free agents.
The interstate club’s recruiter praised the selections of Worrell, Jake Soligo, Brayden Cook and said he loved Darcy Fogarty.
“Fogarty hasn’t always been consistent, but I think that’s been a bit of a by-product of their lack of midfield quality,” he said.

BEHIND THE SCENES

Pelchen appointed Ogilvie to his first recruiting role — as a Victorian-based part-timer with Port Adelaide in 1997.
He described Ogilvie, who joined the Crows in 2006, as a good, hardworking, well researched talent scout who did not leave anything to chance.
“He’s always easy to deal with,” Pelchen said.
“Justin is a tougher negotiator and that may come from having done more contract negotiations as a player manager.”

Matthew Nicks presents Fischer McAsey with his jumper in 2019. Picture: AAP Image/Michael Dodge
The former recruiting boss added: “I think Hamish has got a really good handle of talent, but Reidy comes from the management pathway where that part (negotiations) should be your one wood, but maybe it’s the opposite and agents are a little wary of it”.
While the Crows’ list build has come under scrutiny as a result of their poor form this year, the interstate club’s recruiter is steadfast it makes up only one aspect of what is unfolding at any team so cannot solely be to blame.
“It goes hand-in-hand with all clubs that when you talk about recruiting you have to talk about development and culture, they’re all important aspects,” he said.
“Recruiting guys will often go ‘the development guys aren’t doing their job’ but the development guys will say ‘well, you’re giving me shit players’.
“They’re both arms on the same body.”

WHERE TO FROM HERE

Crows coach Matthew Nicks has always publicly backed his squad.
He has made comments late in seasons along the lines of “I’d keep everyone if we could” and has remained confident this list can achieve success.
Ricciuto said this week the squad was “absolutely good enough” to play finals if it was healthy, given a string of injuries to the likes of Walker, Rankine, Crouch, Wayne Milera, Worrell and Murray.
Last month Ricciuto told this masthead: “I don’t think anyone was saying that (criticising the list build) last year when we were knocking on the door of the eight and I don’t think anything’s changed from that.”

Izak Rankine is one of the Crows stars who has missed games due to injury this year. Picture: Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images
Crows chief executive Tim Silvers had a different view, telling the ABC last Saturday that wins and losses showed the list was not good enough.
“We’ve got to find some pieces of the puzzle to help us take that next step,” Silvers said.
Pelchen believed the Crows should bounce back to contend for finals next season if they addressed a few key areas, including their midfield.
The interstate club’s recruiter said things could turn quickly.

More Coverage

Rankine returns, but where’s Tex?

‘It’s the facts’: Tex points to reason behind Crows’ struggles
“There’s not one recruiting manager in the history of the AFL that’s got every one of them right,” he said.
“Everyone’s got their first-round howlers and how well you’re going is a big determining factor in how much recruiting’s looked at.
“It’s not for the faint of heart sometimes to take on those roles.”

119others · Jun 18, 2024

FORMER COACHES

How Low Can They Crow: Former Adelaide coaches Malcolm Blight, Graham Cornes, Brenton Sanderson

Brenton Sanderson

Age
51

Ht

185cm

Wt
90kg

Pos.
Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D
15.7

4

K
11.0

4

HB
4.6

3

M
4.8

5

T
1.4

3

No current season stats available

D
22.4

5

K
16.0

5

HB
6.4

4

M
6.4

5

T
1.6

4

and Mark Bickley

Mark Bickley

Age
56

Ht

178cm

Wt
82kg

Pos.
Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D
19.4

5

K
11.7

4

HB
7.8

5

M
3.3

3

T
2.7

4

No current season stats available

D
21.2

5

K
11.0

4

HB
10.2

5

M
3.2

4

T
3.8

5

on the state of the club

Former Adelaide coaches Graham Cornes and Malcolm Blight have highlighted the club’s clear issues. But Brenton Sanderson is ‘in the minority’, backing the Crows to turn things around quickly.
Mat TuerSports reporter
Follow
@mattturner1986

7 min read
June 13, 2024 - 10:48AM
News Sport Network
94 comments

FOXSPORTS02:42

'it's a boys club' – Crows mediocre drafting exposes club?

UP NEXT

03:27
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00:38
Ollie Wines adamant he'll remain with Port Adelaide
03:59
AFL Ladder Check After Round 13 | AFL Today Show
03:49
'We need more from them': Matthew Nicks

Matthew Nicks

Age
50

Ht

187cm

Wt
88kg

Pos.
Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D
13.6

3

K
9.4

4

HB
4.2

3

M
4.1

4

T
1.7

4

G
0.7

4

No current season stats available

D
6.6

2

K
4.4

2

HB
2.2

2

M
2.2

3

T
1.4

4

G
0.4

3

fronts media
10:17
Nicks pinpoints where it fell apart

AFL: The On the Crouch crew analyse why the Adelaide Crows recent mediocre results with first round draft picks.

AFL

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Two former Adelaide coaches have questioned the team’s mental strength on the back of a string of narrow defeats that has left its finals chances in tatters.
Inaugural Crows coach Graham Cornes called the side’s struggle to cope with being favourites a “psychological weakness”, while dual premiership mentor Malcolm Blight said some players would be lacking belief they could win tight games.
Over the past two years, Adelaide has a 9-1-7 record when favoured by bookmakers and are 2-1-9 in matches decided by eight points or fewer.
The Crows’ eight-point home loss to one-win Richmond last Thursday night left Adelaide in 15th spot on the ladder with its top-eight hopes all but over.
While acknowledging injuries to several key players had hampered the team, Cornes said there had been a costly lapse in attitude the past two games.

The Crows’ recent losses have piled on the pressure. (Photo by Mark Brake/Getty Images)
“It is a mental issue, a psychological weakness that they’ve displayed over the last couple of years when they go into games that they’re favourite,” Cornes told this masthead.
“There’s a subconscious complacency that creeps in.
“‘We’re only playing Hawthorn, now we’re playing Richmond who have only won one game and we’re at Adelaide Oval, we’ll be right’.
“It doesn’t work like that.”
The Crows hired a new performance psychologist during the off-season in a bid to improve in close games, help players’ mindset and deal with pressure.
Club chief executive Tim Silvers conceded last weekend that the team might have been burdened by the weight of expectation this season.
Blight said he had no doubt some Adelaide players would be “shrinking” in tight matches, going too cautious and not believing the team would prevail.
“How many? One is too many, two is far too many and three’s disastrous,” Blight, who led the club to flags in 1997 and 1998, told this masthead.
“As a player, I never thought you couldn’t win (close games) or get a kick and do something about it.
“But I do know that some players go within themself – they don’t want to make a mistake.
“I call it shrinking.
“Somehow you’ve got to get that belief back into the group.
“Some teams win close games and some don’t, and I think it’s that mentality of ‘we can still win this’.”

Former Crows coach Graham Cornes. (Pic by staff photographer Ray Titus)
Cornes laid blame at list management, rather than Matthew Nicks or the coaching department.
He said Nicks, who took over at the start of the Crows’ rebuild in 2020 and had led the club to 18th, 15th, 14th and 10th, should not be on notice, having endured the toughest task of any Crows coach.
Cornes instead lamented the lack of top-end talent and holes in the squad.
“Injuries have impacted them more than probably a dozen other teams because their depth isn’t great,” he said.
“We don’t have enough big-bodied midfielders.
“We don’t have the intercept marking rebounding defender.
“Who are the forwards who are going to take over from Taylor Walker when he’s not there and Riley Thilthorpe’s injured?
“Who’s the matchwinning ruckman? Reilly O’Brien is a warrior and warhorse, but he’s not the footballer that Max Gawn or Brodie Grundy is.”
Brenton Sanderson, who coached Adelaide from 2012-14, backed Nicks to turn things around.
Sanderson said the club should not make any rash calls and needed to wait until the end of the season to analyse the entire campaign.
“I’m probably in the minority but I’m quite bullish about them,” Sanderson told this masthead.
“I rate the coach, I like the game style – probably more so what they showed in 2023 – but unfortunately they haven’t been able to replicate their best form often enough.
“That’s probably a combination of injuries and form, plus a couple of games things haven’t quite gone their way.”

[PLAYERCARD]Brenton Sanderson[/PLAYERCARD] backed the club to turn it around. Pic Calum Robertson

Brenton Sanderson backed the club to turn it around. Pic Calum Robertson
The Crows host ladder-leading Sydney on Saturday night before heading into the bye.
Sanderson said deep down Adelaide players would probably know they would need to be at their best to cause an upset, but he was not writing them off.
“Footy changes really quickly,” he said.
“A team can get confidence, get key personnel back and the whole dynamic of the season can change.”
Four ex-Adelaide coaches share their views on where the four-win Crows go from here:

GRAHAM CORNES

CROWS COACH 1991-94
“(As pressure mounts) you just work through it – you can’t hide from it, particularly in Adelaide. It’s a combined effort with coaching staff and players. I’m confident they can bring the attitude that’s required. But I’m not confident their talent is deep enough, that’s the big issue. (The external pressure) would be impacting on Matty Nicks but you get within the four walls of the club and onto the training ground, and you’re insulated from it. And you’re supported by coaching staff around you and the players. They’re all in it together. There’s plenty of ways to get players’ confidence back and they’ve got a professional sports psychologist down there. You remind players what they’re capable of doing by showing them what they’ve done and excite them with the opportunities of what’s to come. (Playing Sydney), you love ‘unwinnable’ games because so many unwinnable games are winnable. It just gets back to the basics, contest by contest. But they’ve got to be prepared to use the ball better too because their skills have been disappointing. It’s not something you can rectify overnight – and it comes back to talent”.

The pressure is mounting on [PLAYERCARD]Matthew Nicks[/PLAYERCARD] and the club. (Photo by Sarah Reed/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

The pressure is mounting on Matthew Nicks and the club. (Photo by Sarah Reed/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

MALCOLM BLIGHT

CROWS COACH 1997-99
“It’s a mental fight every week when you lose, particularly when you get multiple losses over multiple years. It eats away at you. Matthew Nicks started from a very low base and you can’t imagine some of the courage that takes. He’ll still get more and more resilient. He’s still a young coach. As you try to climb up the ladder, you need a lot of things to go right. Port Adelaide’s won four games by a total of 20 points and they have eight wins. The Crows have lost four games and drawn one with a total of 21 points. So they’re a kick or two away from being around eight wins. Collingwood can get away with injuries because they’ve been up the top for six of the last seven years. But (Taylor) Walker and (Izak) Rankine are missing and they’re A-graders. Then you’ve got (Wayne) Milera, (Nick) Murray, (Riley) Thilthorpe, plus all the others who have been out. So it’s been a bit unsettled. Those close losses drastically hurt you at the end of the year. Getting that lucky bounce of the ball, having a great set up, a great system. But every time I look at those close games, I can show 20 other things 15 minutes before all that happened, where a touch of luck went the other way too. What they’ve got to do now is hang tough and hopefully the worm turns. You’ve got to front up with hope and some system. I’d do something a bit different to try to spark it up and you might just get something. There is a chance to play one or two newbies … but if your form is terrible in the SANFL, sorry, you’re not getting a game just because you haven’t played yet.”

Blight (L) knows all about finding success at the Crows.

BRENTON SANDERSON

CROWS COACH 2012-14
“They’re still quite a young group and it looks like the confidence level of the team isn’t quite where it needs to be. But I’m still quite optimistic they can recapture their best form this year. I think the coach is a good coach. I think his philosophy – that contested style – holds up in finals. I know they haven’t been able to test that yet. They’ve just got to get their best 22 on the park, recapture some confidence and I think they’ll be fine. While everyone probably expected Adelaide to beat Richmond, at their best Richmond beat Sydney earlier in the season. With a young group, the Crows are still learning how to ensure a winning culture becomes a habit, which is one of the biggest challenges with any team. I’m obviously not the coach, but I’d look at setting up some internal goals – not losing at Adelaide Oval this year, then pinching a couple of big scalps on the road. It would be foolish to write them off and if they can get a couple of wins, in such an even season, they could be right there when the whips are cracking later in the year”.

Bickley voiced his concerns about the Crows’ depth.

More Coverage

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No one going ‘under the bus’ – but Silvers makes big concession

MARK BICKLEY

CROWS CARETAKER COACH IN 2011 (SPEAKING ON SEN)
“Footy clubs are like a wheel and all the departments are like spokes so you need to have all of them working in unison to get the result, so it’s not just one department that needs fixing, it’s a continual improvement in all. List management and recruiting is a flashpoint for a lot of people who say ‘let’s change that over’, but that is not a quick fix. If you change it over, you’re still two, three, four years away from seeing any sort of big results, I would think. My focus would be on what’s happening on the ground. Adelaide have got some injuries and what this has exposed is their depth is not quite to the level. There was just too many players last game who you would have question marks if they’re ready for the level or up to the level and that’s Adelaide’s issue at the moment. People are saying ‘have we recruited the right style of player?’ Adelaide had a focus on contested players. There’s a lot of that style. Do they have enough who are speedy and can kick the ball and break the game open? That’s what they should be focusing on – how do we get our game style back up and moving and be executed with the players we have in the team at the moment?”

George CantStandYa · Jun 19, 2024

This belongs in my we are really shit thread

Chances Are · Jun 19, 2024

The one thing that stands to me is the Crows need to make changes. Coaches, players, management, recruiters, list managers and if possible a new board. In other words we need changes all over the club. Will they do it? I doubt it because they're too set in their stubborn losing ways. Gotta protect those well paying jobs afterall.

adelaidecrows · Jun 19, 2024

Every week that goes past feels like we have the culture 'plod along, she'll be right' We just have a culture of mediocrity where we do enough to look good most of the time, but no one is willing to rock the boat to take us to the elite level. Maybe its out of fear of failure in a boys club environment. You put your head on the chopping block, the media and the club will chop it off if you fail.

Is the 2020s Crows descended into the 1980s-2010s Richmond. Destined for below average mediocrity for an extended period of time.

moogerfooger · Jun 19, 2024

It's so obvious that Kelly and Reid have to go and Roo needs to resign from the board at the same time so he can't influence the hiring and firing that will follow. Nothing else can happen until this.

Sack Nicks first and the merry go round that started in 2019 will just keep on going with the same mediocre clowns hiring the same bargain basement people that nobody else wants.

We're not going to get a better coach until this is addressed.

DJ75 · Jun 19, 2024

The writing was on the wall with Reid the first year he announced that Gibbs wanted to come to the Crows. The guy is not up to it. I suspect he is disliked and not trusted by most other list managers and many player agents. It makes it very difficult to recruit non-SA players.

Crowstar · Jun 19, 2024

Boys club being well and truly called out and I'm here for it.

Smoooothy · Jun 19, 2024

119others said:
The Crows had a serious crack at Richmond champion Dustin Martin in 2017 when he was coming out of contract.
They met him at his house in Melbourne and presented a massive offer of $11m over seven years, but Martin re-signed with the Tigers.

wait what??? did we??

SugarShane · Jun 19, 2024

A lot of fact in there, but it's hard to take the part about us v Port in trades seriously. They're saying Port's trading is better because they're trading more non-South Australians and then takes a shot at us for trading nice guys like Dawson and Rankine.

The manager said while the Power tended to take bigger swings and target recruits who were more of a risk, Adelaide “likes to go for players like a Dawson and Rankine – nice guys seen as big wins”.

So we shouldn't have traded in our two best players? I'm not sure what they're trying to say with this.

Which non-SA players have Port traded in with their "big swings" that have been any better than average? Just Aliir? None of their other "missing pieces" have been anything worthwhile.

This is not jumping to our defence, it's more calling out the humour in pretending Port are some trade masters.

Billy_01 · Jun 19, 2024

The part about us being more like a business with a family orientated and socially correct culture is interesting. I fear that we have created a culture which is comfortable for the current playing group but deterring to young interstate players entering their prime. Port is much better at selling their plan to interstate players, they just seem to have a harder edge. Makes sense that they’re more appealing to ‘mercenary’ free agents besides the good SA boys.

MarcusP2 · Jun 19, 2024

Smoooothy said:
wait what??? did we??

Yes, this has been known for years straight from Dusty's manager's mouth.

Why Dusty backflipped on rivals' stunning $22m play

New details emerge out of 2017 free agency

www.nine.com.au

fuic08 · Jun 19, 2024

Smoooothy said:
wait what??? did we??

Yep we offered much more than Richmond.

But the fact that he could make much more money commercially in Melbourne is what swayed it.

I still think that is our biggest disadvantage, the big Vic teams don't need to pay as much due to more commercial arrangements for the players.

Crows I Am · Jun 19, 2024

With so much press and negativity around the club over the last few weeks, the club will find it hard to ignore the external noise now and continue on as they have. There will have to be changes next year, just got to hope they do it properly and not just go with one or two sacrificial lambs to try and please the masses.

If they are serious we should be moving on 2 or 3 of the following - Nicks, Ogilvy, Reid, Kelly, Burns.

Smoooothy · Jun 19, 2024

Crows I Am said:
If they are serious we should be moving on 2 or 3 of the following - Nicks, Ogilvy, Reid, Kelly, Burns.

my guess is kelly and burns. reid is too loved by roo, ogilvy has been there since the dinosaurs, and it would cost too much to pay nicks out

Jirkago75 · Jun 19, 2024

Reading the article, it just proves to all of us that we are nothing clubs and until we are independent. Nothing will change. We keep getting screwed over and asking for more. I think we will have to suffer a bit more until the new HQ is complete before we are free of everyone that has destroyed our club.

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cmndstab · Jun 19, 2024

I haven't read every word of this, but it's a very good thing that we are being called out in a mainstream paper with more than just a token throwaway article. Not just targeting one person, or a vague "the people in charge" blanket statement, but multiple people across the club from top to bottom, with comments from highly respected footy people, many of them formerly of the Crows.

Fans like us can scream on Bigfooty or talk radio until we're blue in the face and nothing much will ever change, but this kind of thing prompts action.

BACCS · Jun 19, 2024

cmndstab said:
I haven't read every word of this, but it's a very good thing that we are being called out in a mainstream paper with more than just a token throwaway article. Not just targeting one person, or a vague "the people in charge" blanket statement, but multiple people across the club from top to bottom, with comments from highly respected footy people, many of them formerly of the Crows.

Fans like us can scream on Bigfooty or talk radio until we're blue in the face and nothing much will ever change, but this kind of thing prompts action.

Whatever happens with Nicks, there will be change off field this year, just a matter of who.

BACCS · Jun 19, 2024

Smoooothy said:
my guess is kelly and burns. reid is too loved by roo, ogilvy has been there since the dinosaurs, and it would cost too much to pay nicks out

Can't see how money will be a factor over whether Nicks goes, money isn't an issue for our club

ringo200 · Jun 20, 2024

“Premiership teams of the past have always consisted of six to eight A-graders with the majority of these players being first-round selections.

So how do we get to this point? Keep in mind if we want to include Dawson we need the other A graders to be reaching their prime while Dawson is still in his.

I think potentially

Rankine
Dawson
Michaelanny
Thilthorpe
Rachele
Soligo

are our best hopes for this.

Curtin and a top draft pick this year gives us some lottery picks with an ok chance of hitting.

Cleric · Jun 21, 2024

We just don't have the depth of experience to cover injuries at this point.
Having RT, Rankine, Worrel, Murray etc injured is a bridge roo far for us. We have some good talent, and one thing is a given, if we start winning games, all of a sudden we will have a talented list. Infact, we went from scribes talking up our squad last year, to talking then down this year.

We have young talent that needs to be played.
Sig, Nan, Dowling, Michaelanny, RT, Cook, Pedler for example.
We made the mistake of thinking our rebuild was over quicker than it was. We are still a couple of years away. What we do need to do is make sure it's done by the time Tasmania starts getting the top talent locked away.

We need to continue going after top local talent at other clubs. Rankine and Dawson are two examples of what we need to continue to do, and not chasing players like Yeo.

119others · Jun 26, 2024

How Low Can They Crow: Building blocks of rebuild, the big Dan Curtin call, who’s left on free agency market

The Crows’ call to get Dan Curtin was a massive one for two reasons. Jay Clark breaks them down, plus the free agency targets left to chase and the building blocks Adelaide can rely on

7 min read
June 25, 2024 - 6:00AM
News Sport Network

46 comments

The sharpest focus was on two players in last year’s draft. There was the megastar-in-the-making Harley Reid, who had long been touted as the clear No.1, and then there was Daniel Curtin, the big slider from Western Australia.
Once considered a top-three prospect, recruiters spent many hours trying to work out whether the 197cm Curtin would become an agile key defender with rare skills, a big-bodied midfield playmaker, or something in between on a half back flank.

And it was Adelaide which might have made the biggest call of the draft (outside of Reid) when it knocked back a live trade offer from West Coast to snaffle Curtin at pick eight last year.

The Eagles dangled its future first-round pick (which is currently slated at three) for Adelaide’s eight last year, but the Crows said no. They wanted Curtin, and six months on he remains one of the most crucial jewels in Adelaide’s rebuild.

Daniel Curtin is a huge player in Adelaide’s future. Picture: Getty Images
The Crows’ call was a massive one for two reasons. Firstly, the club desperately needed more class and rebounding polish in the back half, so he was the one who ticked an important box.

Someone who could use the ball beautifully out of the back half and help set up its attack on the rebound when he wasn’t trying to stop or intercept in the air.

One recruiter said Curtin has a kick like a young Marcus Bontempelli, which is high praise.

But the elephant in the room at Adelaide has been the hit-and-miss first-round draft record in 2018-2019, as tough as the caper can be for even the most successful scouts. And since 2020 the returns have been quite solid.

But the Crows know they need to add age and games in the exchange period to strengthen one of the youngest lists in the competition.

Over the past year or so, the club hasn’t been backwards about tabling some big-money offers to superstars such as Melbourne’s Clayton Oliver, Sydney Swans’ Errol Gulden and West Coast’s Elliot Yeo, among others.

These top-line midfielders are among the best players in the league, and have certainly been worth a crack.

But who’s left is the big question facing Adelaide’s list management team as they stare into an increasingly empty-looking free agency barrel.

GWS Giants’ utility Harry Perryman has agility, power, sizzle and versatility. He can move the ball with panache and as a free agent would come for nothing.

nothing.

[PLAYERCARD]Harry Perryman[/PLAYERCARD] is on the free agency market this year. Picture: Phil Hillyard

Harry Perryman is on the free agency market this year. Picture: Phil Hillyard
Gold Coast utility Jack Lukosius might be open to a return home to South Australia, but clubs are wary of paying too much for the half forward who hasn’t set the world on fire at the Suns.

Caleb Daniel has attracted interest as he weighs up his future at the Western Bulldogs.

GWS’s Nick Haynes doesn’t fit the right age profile, and Melbourne’s Harrison Petty could be on the hook again as a replacement for Taylor Walker if the leading goal kicker made the shock call to leave this year.

The Crows have pick four in the draft as things stand, and plan to use it at the draft if they can’t tempt a genuine top-liner such as Oliver to join them.

But even that would be a risk considering Oliver’s off-field issues over the past six months, even though he has appeared to turn a corner since some heart-to-heart discussions at Melbourne.

The Crows would have loved Max Holmes from Geelong, but at pick 21 last year Adelaide selected Charlie Edwards, a Sandringham product with genuine zip and nice size as a dashing midfielder. They aren’t dissimilar players.

But when coach Matthew Nicks said a couple of weeks ago Adelaide has the list, it was a glass-half-full attitude on a squad that clearly still has holes and was seen as only a borderline top-eight team when the pre-season predictions were all rolled out.

GAME STYLE
So should we be that surprised they have bombed out early in 2024?
In terms of game style, the quick and exciting brand which took them to the verge of finals last year has turned into a bowl of claggy cold porridge over the past month.
The 2.6 first half against Hawthorn was horrific and the follow-up effort at home against Richmond was not much better, as the ball movement slowed to a crawl.
Nicks gave a decent spray at quarter-time of the loss to Hawthorn but there was no response in the second term.
Overall, they have registered at least 100 marks for less than 50 forward 50m entries in each of the past three matches. Unless there’s been a deliberate change of game style to kick and control, which would be a surprise, the system has sprung a big leak this year.
But injuries to key players such as Thilthorpe, Luke Pedlar and Taylor Walker, among others, has hurt.
And the form of some senior stars, such as Rory Laird, has waned at times.

Where is Adelaide’s list at? Picture: Getty Images
PLAYING LIST
Now attention has again turned to the list. What are the key pieces Crows fans can count on? How many building blocks are already in place? The forward line needs Riley Thilthorpe to become a 200-game star, and good judges say he can still blossom if his injuries subside.
Pedlar can play midfield-forward and people should keep their stock in Josh Rachele despite a flat first half of the 2024 season. It’s a blip.
The midfield has some promise with two A-Graders in Jordan Dawson and Izak Rankine, and Jake Soligo has a burst of speed and is on his way, but it is down back that the club needs a talent injection.
Yes, Mitch Hinge and Max Michalanney look good, and Nick Murray and Jordon Butts are solid key defenders in the making. But where is the class, the speed and the power on a back and forward flank? The difference-makers? The spark and electricity?
They need some top-end ball-winners and ball-users.
Rankine is up in the middle where he looks like one of the most electric line-breakers in the game, Brodie Smith will be 33 by next season and Wayne Milera has again been savaged by injury, after losing Shane McAdam to Melbourne last year.
The Crows know their weaknesses, clearly, having baited a big hook for Essendon’s Mason Redman, who at one stage said he was out the door at Tullamarine, before re-signing for Brad Scott. The South Australian rebounder would have been perfect.

The Crows miss out on [PLAYERCARD]Mason Redman[/PLAYERCARD]. Picture: Getty Images

The Crows miss out on Mason Redman. Picture: Getty Images
And it is why the Crows last year went for Curtin, who is someone who can intercept, link up on the rebound and eventually graduate into a midfield role.
The Crows want the ball in his hands. But there were some big decisions made on draft night last year before taking a plunge on a man the two Western Australian clubs are still keen on.
Adelaide gave picks 11, 15 and a future second-rounder to GWS for picks eight and 17.
That meant the Crows jumped up the order from 11 to eight to land Curtin. They wanted him bad, but the drums have already started to beat across the Nullarbor.
It was a brave pick from Adelaide knowing the Eagles, and Dockers, will keep coming for the next two years, and it’s likely he will hold off on a new deal for now. He has made clear to the club he is very happy, as things stand.
But the chase is most certainly on, and the Crows have been vulnerable to player poaching raids for the best part of a decade.
The club’s critics are watching closely for another miss with an early draft pick, showing how tough and fickle the art of picking teenagers actually.
It was especially hard for all list bosses in the Covid-19 years given the lack of exposure and in 2020 (Thilthorpe and Pedlar), 2021 (Rachele, Soligo and Luke Nankervis) and in 2022 (Michalanney) there are some hits if the big forward, in particular, can establish himself at the top level.
The club has a lot of confidence in Curtin and Edwards from last year’s crop, too.
But 2019 was a wipe-out on pick six with Fischer McAsey retired. The club had its sights set on wingman Dylan Stephens, but the Swans jumped up the order to nab him at pick five.

[PLAYERCARD]Fischer McAsey[/PLAYERCARD] was a bust at pick 6 for the Crows. Picture: SANFL Image/David Mariuz

Fischer McAsey was a bust at pick 6 for the Crows. Picture: SANFL Image/David Mariuz
In any case, Stephens, from Norwood, is at North Melbourne now, anyway.
In 2018, the Crows opted for Chayce Jones (pick nine) and Ned McHenry (pick 16) and the year before the club handed over picks 10 (Lochie O’Brien) and 16 (Ed Richards) for Bryce Gibbs, which didn’t work out either in the wake of the 2018 pre-season camp debacle.
Plus, the club lost Jake Lever to Melbourne, and let go of Tyson Stengle (Geelong) amid some clear off-field concerns.
Tom Doedee (Brisbane Lions), Billy Frampton (Collingwood), Alex Keath (Western Bulldogs) and Mitch McGovern (Carlton) have also departed over the past decade.
Clearly, the Crows don’t like to pay overs for defenders, and you could argue the toss anyone other than Lever has really hurt them, considering McGovern’s injury history, after rocking up at Carlton out-of-shape in the first place.
The Crows seemed happy to let go of McGovern, the club has created cap space in the process.
And 195cm Josh Worrell, who has a nice left foot kick, looks a ready-made Doedee replacement.

Josh Worrell is a positive for Adelaide. Picture: Getty Images
Goalkicker Charlie Cameron became a genuine superstar at Brisbane despite leaving for a variety of reasons, and the club didn’t want to lose McAdam last year.
But it has to be acknowledged the Crows are on the wrong end of the stick when it comes to the go-home flow.
The bulk of the country’s top footy prospects come out of Victoria, and have 10 clubs to weigh up back home if they attract interest, and good players always do.
Those competitive balance forces are hard to combat, and the Crows hit the nail on the head with Dawson and Rankine, similar to Port Adelaide on Jason Horne-Francis. But after a solid rise in recent years to the brink of finals, Adelaide has hit the skids so far in 2024.
Suddenly, the pressure has cranked up significantly, and this next series of decisions along with the big Curtin call last year could determine whether the club zigs or zags on the field.
Powerbrokers will say that a few clubs have found it tough going this year such as Richmond, Melbourne and Geelong.
So the Crows aren’t on their own in the spiral this year.
How the club reacts at board level, and whether they hold their nerve or get jumpy, will be interesting to watch as the season comes to an end and the trade period approaches.
Expect Adelaide to be an aggressive player.

How Low Can They Crow - A special investigation

THE FORMER COACHES

THE RECRUITING

THE BOARD

THE COACHES' BOX

THE LIST

THE REPORT CARD

THE RUN HOME

Originally published as How Low Can They Crow: Building blocks of rebuild, the big Dan Curtin call, who’s left on free agency market

CrowMike · Jun 26, 2024

Such an embarrassing series by The Chadvertiser; and they wonder why print media is dead

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