Adelaide are facing scathing criticism for deciding not to conduct a thorough review of their nightmare loss to Port Adelaide on Saturday. Defender Josh Worrell revealed on FIVEAA that the club only conducted “a little review” of the Showdown, adding they “didn’t look into it too much”. The Crows are playing West Coast in Perth on Friday night and Worrell said it was a good “opportunity” to park the loss and just “get on with it”.
AFL Experts Left Baffled
But that decision has baffled AFL experts, with The Agenda Setters’ panel of Luke Hodge, Dale Thomas and Kane Cornes all agreeing that the decision not to examine the loss was mystifying. “I’m disappointed they didn’t review that (loss) thoroughly,” Cornes said while Hodge admitted it was very surprising.
“And this is going to consistently happen to this team unless they’re better players stand up and there’s a couple guys that I’m looking at, Izak Rankine and Josh Rachele,” Hodge said on The Agenda Setters. “Two blokes that can be the best on ground if they put it together but being consistent week in week out is something they’ve really struggled at.”
Key Players Under Scrutiny
Hodge pointed to the pair’s centre bounce attendances, noting they had 22 CBAs for just two clearances and only three inside-50s. “Rankine had no tackles for the game, Rachele had one, and if you throw in (James) Peatling, who was supposed to be running around near Butters, he only had two. So for them to be on in big games, you need those two blokes to be really standing up.”
Thomas said to not review a game where you lost the inside-50s by seven and clearances by 20, and centre clearances by 10, and contested possession, and marks inside the forward 50, was very odd. “They would be all the red lights so whether or not it’s just been a conscious decision to maybe allow the players to say, ‘oh, it’s not as bad as it was,’ ... but I would have thought that’s one where you go, ‘right, eight weeks to go (before finals) ... this is it ... we don’t do this again.’”
Club’s Language Questioned
The language coming out of the Crows following the loss has also been put under a burning spotlight, with former captain Mark Bickley questioning why the club would be saying it was a “reality check”. Bickley said “reality check” meant the players had got ahead of themselves and now they had been brought back to reality, and Cornes said this had arguably been symptomatic of the club since the 2017 grand final where they were belted by Richmond by 48 points.
“Maybe you could argue that the Adelaide footy club has got ahead of themselves for 10 years. There was definitely an attitude that they were going to walk into the 2017 grand final and just win ... that didn’t work,” Cornes said on The Agenda Setters. “There was an attitude that a camp will fix it the next year, they’ll top up, they’ll get Bryce Gibbs (from Carlton) and that will work ...
“The next year the coach left, the club was in chaos, they sign Matthew Nicks, they go right to the bottom (in 2020), win the wooden spoon. They rebuild for a couple of years but then they rebound. (In 2023) Ben Keays has the non-goal (against Sydney) that would have (put them in the finals) ...
“So in ‘24 they’re on the primetime stage, the AFL says they’re just going to be the primetime darlings, they finished 15th because they just thought it was going to happen. And last year they (finish top of the ladder after) the home and away season. They think it’s just going to happen in the finals and they get done in straight sets and didn’t win a quarter in any of the finals.
“So I’m not sure ... why this club would think that they have the right to get ahead of themselves considering they’ve largely achieved nothing and haven’t won a final for a long, long period of time. So hopefully that’s the reality check that Adelaide needed.”
Current Ladder Position and Run Home
The Crows are currently sixth on the ladder, on equal points with Melbourne (seventh) and the Western Bulldogs (eighth). They have a favourable run home, however, with games against the Eagles and Gold Coast (at Adelaide Oval) in the next fortnight, and also games against teams outside the top eight in Collingwood, Essendon, Richmond, and the Giants.
