Obviously you guys

[Ford Fairlane]

seriously underrate Neil Craig. Not just a football coach, but the new Gorbachev!!! Ultimately he oversaw the collapse of a crumbling empire didn't he?

Roo calls for help
By RICHARD EARLE
24dec04

PERESTROIKA and Glasnost. Reforms associated with the old Soviet Union that now represent "open" Adelaide's new way forward with skipper Mark Ricciuto leading the charge.

The Crows concluded a three-day training camp at Tanunda on Wednesday – turning their backs on an abysmal year that cost a coach and a finals finish.

Ricciuto confirmed the Crows are picking up the pieces – heralding an era of openness in tackling the club's rebuilding predicament.

"No one is happy with what happened last year. Ever since it finished last season we have worked towards being better next year," he said.

Adelaide's 2005 pre-season honesty contrasts with the abject self-delusion that promised a top-four finish in 2004.

The 2003 Brownlow Medallist remembers the vitality of the skill-laden 1997-98 premiership sides and is emphatic Adelaide's middle-tier players assume more responsibility.

Aspiring midfielders Robert Shirley, Martin Mattner, Michael Doughty and Graham Johncock, half-back Brent Reilly and athletic Brett Burton could catapult the Crows into the top eight if they clicked in unison next season.

Ricciuto said: "I think we need to share the workload over the squad a bit more and get a bit more out of our middle-range players.

"Our senior players can continue to play well and keep developing the younger players.

"I think we've perhaps relied on too few and we really need to stress that everyone is as important as everyone else."

Ricciuto accepts the Crows didn't plan adequately for life after their ageing leadership group consisting of himself, Ben Hart, Simon Goodwin and Andrew McLeod.

"We have probably had too big a gap between our leaders and our second-tier players and we have known that," Ricciuto said.

"That's happened for a variety of reasons but certainly some of those things we have been talking about is bridging that gap and getting as many people as possible up into that leadership group."

Critics of the succession management and youth development during Gary Ayres' regime would welcome Ricciuto's comments and possibly view coach Neil Craig as the AFL's Mikhail Gorbachev.

Craig is implementing immediate reforms in terms of labour efficiency and free thinking just as Gorbachev did upon his rise to Soviet premier.

Skill level, once Adelaide's weapon, is now its Achilles heel. Hence Craig's intensive ball work sessions – usually unheard of before Christmas. "We thought we could get more out of doing a lot more ball work and getting the development quicker into our younger players and that's how we are going to develop in the next couple of years," Ricciuto said.

"If we are going to be a strong side this year we need as many guys as we can pulling their weight and going to the next level."

The slate is clean – every spot is up for grabs. "They are going to get every opportunity on the training track, in drills, in games and even off-field activities to step up and be important and valued members of the team," he said.

One of my favourite comments was about the "self-delusion of a top four finish". Richard Earle tipped Adelaide to win the premiership in 2004. So looks like the delusion extended beyond West Lakes Boulevard.

 

[noddy]

seriously underrate Neil Craig. Not just a football coach, but the new Gorbachev!!! Ultimately he oversaw the collapse of a crumbling empire didn't he?
.

Gorbachev, didn't he vacate as leader not long after the collapse of the old USSR ??

 

[Kane McGoodwin]

Gorbachev, didn't he vacate as leader not long after the collapse of the old USSR ??

Yep, but will Craigy get a matching birthmark...

 

[Blue Red and Gold]

Richard Earle lost me in the first line, too hard, change article

 

[arrowman]

God I hate it when sports writers pick up some totally irrelevant analogy and then thrash it to death throughout the article. It's usually just a way of trying to cover up the fact that they can't write.

But in Richard Earle's case, nothing can cover up that.

The 2003 Brownlow Medallist remembers the vitality of the skill-laden 1997-98 premiership sides and is emphatic Adelaide's middle-tier players assume more responsibility.

Pardon?

 

[macca23]

Richard Earle lost me in the first line, too hard, change article

Or in Richard Earle's case, change hands!!