Staring down the barrel of a 0-3 start to the season, the Crows have been called out for their ‘vanilla’ midfield after a second consecutive defeat.
So is it time for Matthew Nicks to mix up his mix?
Adelaide’s 19-point loss to Geelong at home last Friday night has amplified concern around its ability to make finals this year, with dual premiership Kangaroo David King taking aim at their engine room.
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Speaking on Fox Footy’s The First Crack, King was critical of the capacity of their on-ballers – which, through two games has near exclusively featured Reilly O’Brien, Jordan Dawson, Matt Crouch and Rory Laird – to compete with the best in the league.
“I don’t think they are good enough yet to compete with the big boppers,” King exclaimed.
“This midfield is vanilla; they don’t have tackle breakers in there, guys that threaten space – they don’t have magic makers in there.”
Adelaide’s stats around the stoppage on Friday make for fascinating reading when you consider the criticism of their lack of spark around the contest.
The home side registered nine more clearances than the Cats in Round 2, with seven additional stoppage clearances and two more from the centre bounce.
However, the Crows currently rank 11th in the competition for converting first possession to clearance, attesting to their inability to get the ball forward when getting first use.
“Too often they dump kick – Adelaide are the least likely team to score from a one clearance,” King added.
“One in every seven they score from – the AFL average is four; the top four or five teams go at one in every three.”
Often a clean and brutal user of the ball going forward, Adelaide captain Dawson was guilty of uncharacteristically ‘dump kicking’ against the Cats, going at 55 per cent efficiency from his 18 kicks.
Laird was in a similar boat, going at 54 per cent from his 11 disposals by foot.
Crouch was easily the best from Adelaide’s first-choice midfield, kicking at 76 per cent with an overall disposal efficiency of 89.2 per cent for the match – a seriously impressive stat line given the 28-year-old had a match-high 37 disposals.
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What changes, if any, the Crows decide to make going forward will be intriguing given the calls for their young talent to play more midfield time.
“They’ve got magic makers, guys like Izak Rankine who’s only been in centre bounce for 10 occasions for the year,” King added on First Crack.
“What a waste – you got the guy to your club to make a sizeable difference to what you’re doing… get him in there!”
Fellow half-forward and young gun Josh Rachele has been tried and tested previously in the midfield, however, the Crows have been tentative to give him more time around the ball.
“I know they don’t trust Rachele, so they don’t put him in there, but at some point, you’ve got to break that psyche,” King said.
“He’s supposed to be one of the spark players for them – (Jake) Soligo, (Luke) Pedlar, you can go down the page … something has to shift with what they’re doing in the midfield, because they are just vanilla, and it’s not going to get it done.”
St Kilda champion Leigh Montagna had flagged his questions marks on the Crows before the 2024 season kicked off, with their defence his biggest query.
“I thought it would be a difficult year for them, I thought there were a few red flags coming into the season … if you get them in a contest and force them to defend, I don’t think they’re up to the better teams in the competition,” Montagna explained.
“Very quickly this season could be slipping out of reach of their aspirations to play finals.”
The Crows will continue to search for their first win of 2024 against Fremantle in Perth on Good Friday.
Source Agencies
