In 24 hours will Kurt Tippett be a crow?

For the first time in a long time Adelaide have been highly influential at trade week. It’s been a refreshing approach and I think things have panned out beautifully for the footy club.

So far we’ve welcomed Brad Couch (via mini draft), Luke Brown (pre selection from GWS) and Tom Lynch (St Kilda). Yesterday we added Lewis Johnston from Sydney as part of a trade to send Tony Armstrong home. In Crouch and Brown we have two solid midfielders. Lynch should be looking to fill the void left by Jack Gunston as a key position forward. Johnston has been touted as a possible key position forward or back.

You’d probably be mistaken if you think this is the end of the moves. Tomorrow’s trade deadline is looming but anything can happen, as our friends over at Fremantle found out when Mitch Clark signed a 4 year deal with the Demons. It’s also interesting when your club changes its stance from “this player will be with us in 2012″ to “every player has their price.” That sort of comment leads me to believe a deal is a lot closer than it was before.

Kurt Tippett is of course the source of this speculation. Brisbane are desperate to secure a player who is a ready made replacement for when Jonathon Brown retires. Given these sorts of players don’t grow on trees, you can understand Brisbane’s willingness to chase Tippett and Adelaide’s reluctance to let him go. So it’s up to the Lions to make an offer Adelaide can’t refuse. With the Lions owning pick 8 and receiving pick 12 from Melbourne, they definitely have something to offer.

What would Adelaide need to be satisfied with losing an emerging talent like Tippett? Picks 8 and 12 with Tippett and Pick 24 perhaps? Or maybe Adelaide goes on to chase the likes of South Australian born players Jack Redden and Jared Polec. Both would slot beautifully into Adelaide’s midfield but will the Lions part with some of their top drawer young talent? You’d suspect it will be the Lions that will need to go above and beyond to make any deal for Tippett actually happen though.

Another interesting play for an emerging Crows player came from GWS who were testing the waters for a deal to lure Patrick Dangerfield to the AFLs newest franchise. Thankfully this is not something that looks like it will be going ahead. Losing Tippett is one thing, but losing Dangerfield (our future captain) is not going to make supporters happy at all.

Tags: Adelaide, Adelaide Crows, AFC, AFL, Brad Crouch, brisbane lions, GWS Giants, Jack Redden, Jared Polec, Kurt Tippett, Lewis Johnston, Luke Brown, Patrick Dangerfield, Tom Lynch, Tony Armstrong

The Crows get trading

Trade Week is one of my favourite times of the year. I’ve always found it fascinating how clubs deal with their lists and the ways they go about improving the clubs playing roster.

The week itself begins with pure speculation. You won’t see many deals done early because there’s always a gap between what Club A wants and what Club B is willing to offer.

Adelaide came into Trade Week with plenty to offer. Jack Gunston, Tony Armstrong and Ivan Maric had all announced they were leaving the club. There was however a general sense that after another woeful season that Adelaide wasn’t really the place to be. Thankfully new head coach Brenton Sanderson has been very clear that Adelaide Football club is on the way up.

The first deal the Crows made during Trade Week was the removal of Jack Gunston. While many Crows fans seem bitter towards Gunston for wanting to move home it’s blatantly obvious that a footy club will win some and lose some courtesy of the go home factor. Thankfully Adelaide struck a deal with Gunston’s club of choice at Hawthorn. The deal will send Gunston, picks 53 (third round) and 71 (fourth round) to the Hawks in exchange for picks 24 (first round), 46 (round 2) and 64 (round 3).  It’s a solid deal for a guy who has only played 14 games at AFL level.

Today the next domino fell with the club negotiating another important deal with Greater Western Sydney. The Crows secured the second pick in the upcoming mini draft by offering up their Pick 10 in the upcoming National Draft. With this mini draft selection they have already revealed they will pursue Victorian Brad Crouch. He’s regarded as a strong midfielder who achieved All Australian selection after a stellar Under 18 championships. Unfortunately we’ll need to wait until 2013 to see him in action for the Crows due to rules that stipulate a player he is only eligible to play in the AFL during the season he turns 19.

The second piece of the GWS deal was Adelaide trading the Phil Davis compensation pick for Norwood youngster Luke Brown. Brown is eligible to play next season and is said to be a good prospect to play a handful of games in 2012. Given the club was quick to get him in a club polo shirt you get the sense they see big things in the future.

With those trades made Adelaide is now still in a good position for this years draft. Picks 24, 35, 42 and 64 are all still available to use. There’s also still deals to be done for Tony Armstrong and Ivan Maric. I’m sensing there’s some potential for upgraded picks with these deals. Otherwise Maric to Richmond and Armstrong to Sydney may require third parties to complete these trades. With the Saints struggling to stay under the salary cap it’s been suggested that young key position forward Tom Lynch might be available. Collingwood half back Tyson Goldsack has also been rumoured to be available for similar reasons.

So you can be pretty confident that Crows List Manager David Noble still has a couple of tricks up his sleeve for the remainder of trade week. All things considered it has been a very good start and it’s nice to be truly excited about some young talent entering the club.

Tags: Adelaide, Adelaide Crows, AFC, AFL, Brad Crouch, Brenton Sanderson, David Noble, GWS Giants, Hawthorn Hawks, Ivan Maric, jack gunston, Luke Brown, phil davis, Tony Armstrong

Talking trades

There’s been a fair amount of action in Crowland for the last few weeks.

We’ve seen the signing of brand new head coach Brenton Sanderson. Scott Thompson walked away with a yellow jacket as club champion. Jack Gunston walked out on the club with Tony Armstrong following closely behind. Ben Hart saw greener pastures with Bucks at Collingwood. Dean Bailey agreed to join the Crows as a “strategy and innovation coach” which could mean anything, but I’m sure his experience as a senior coach will come in handy.

All of this off field action is merely a teaser for one of my favourite periods of the season: Trade week!

Adelaide are generally a conservative club when it comes to making trades. Generally we’ve only done well when players decide they want to come back to SA.

Of our current list there’s only a handful of players from other clubs. Scott Thompson is the obvious success story who came to the Crows via the Demons for Pick 14 in the 2004 (Melbourne picked up Matthew Bate with that pick who has played 90 games in his 7 years at the Dees). Scott Stevens turned out to be a pretty good recruit who played 119 games for the club before retiring early after enduring too many concussions. Sam Jacobs also looks to be another great success story in the making. Aside from that there’s the likes of Brad Symes, Richard Tambling, rookie listed Chris Schmidt, and recently retired Brad Moran.

The three players looking to leave the Crows all seem to have preferred destinations. Big Ivan Maric looks all set to sign on the dotted line with the Tigers and it’s likely the Crows will seek the return of their compensation pick which came courtesy of Nathan Bock defecting to the Gold Coast. The pick was then used to snare Richard Tambling. The pick itself is useful only at the end of the first round and with a number of clubs likely to use these picks in the next few seasons, you’re probably looking at around pick 20-25. Given the perceived lack of depth in this years National Draft I think you’d be ambitious to suggest Richmond will part with their first round pick at 14.

Tony Armstrong has nominated the Sydney Swans as his preferred club. Byron Sumner has been suggested as a player who could fit the bill as a replacement. Sumner hails from SA and played his footy with Woodville/West Torrens before being drafted with pick 54 in the 2009 National Draft. After playing only 1 game in his two seasons with the Swans Sumner returned home to Adelaide mid-season in 2011. He’s an out of contract small forward with a raking left boot.

Jack Gunston is last on my list of defectors. He recently decided he’d look better wearing brown and playing for the happy team at Hawthorn. It’s been suggested that Adelaide will be looking for a “quality player” or a first round draft pick which is only pick 24 for the Hawks. Ryan Schoenmakers seems the obvious target as a 193cm key position player who played for Norwood before being drafted with Pick 16 in the 2008 Draft. Schoenmakers has now played 35 games for the Hawks.

Adelaide has said they will be aggressive this year at trade week and while I can’t really see it happening this could be the year to make an impact. There’s the possibility of like-for-like trades for our outgoing players which is probably your safest and most likely bet. If however the Crows decide to be daring they could try and stack their team with top draft picks.  They could also combine a few solid picks to seriously go after some elite talent. Imagine Ryan Griffen or Bryce Gibbs running around in a Crows guernsey. Anything can happen if we show a little ambition.

 

Tags: Adelaide, Adelaide Crows, AFC, AFL, Ivan Maric, jack gunston, scott thompson, Tony Armstrong

A good rucking move

The last two years have been a struggle for Adelaide. The downward spiral pushed us towards a worst ever season and the loss of long term head coach Neil Craig. We’ve lost the likes of  former All Australian centre half back Nathan Bock to the Gold Coast and then his would-be replacement Phil Davis who recently defected to the greener pastures of Greater Western Sydney. Now we’re faced with the lost of an emerging talent in the form of Jack Gunston. So I thought perhaps it was time for a reminder that this once great club still has a lot to offer.

At the end of last season a young Carlton ruckman by the name of Sam Jacobs dominated a final against the Swans. With Jacobs falling behind Kreuzer, Warnock and Hampson in the ruck pecking order at Carlton there were bound to be limited opportunities at the Blues. Weeks later he decided it was time to pack his bags and return home to Adelaide. His club of choice was the Crows. It took a while for Adelaide and Carlton to agree on a suitable deal but finally Jacobs became a Crow.

Niggling preseason injuries cost Jacobs his chance to start the season at AFL level and it wasn’t until Round 5 where he fittingly faced off against his old side. It was a slow start for the big man with only 20 hit outs. The combination of Hampson and Warnock  were solid and had the Crows often opting for a third man up in the ruck contest more often than expected. Still, you sensed there was plenty to like about Jacobs and his efforts. As it turns out this was season low performance for hit outs.

In Round 6 against St Kilda at AAMI Stadium you could see Jacobs was finding his feet in Adelaide. He had a game high 33 hit outs compared to the Saints team total of 35 hit outs. This was the sort of dominance Crows fans had been waiting for.

Over the course of the season Sam would reach 19 games with 13 of those reaching the 30 hit out mark, a feat Ivan Maric has only reached once in his 77 games with the club. He also managed to rack up 45 hits outs against reigning premiers Collingwood and a mammoth 47 hit outs against the Gold Coast which in no small way helped Scott Thompson rack up a lazy 51 disposals.

So with everyone talking about Scott Thompson after his much deserved Malcolm Blight Medal win, I thought it might be interesting to delve into the world of statistics and see how new boy Sam Jacobs stacks up against the Crows rucking legends.

Top 5 for hit outs in a single game for an AFC player
47 – Sam Jacobs (2011 vs Gold Coast)
45 – Sam Jacobs (2011 vs Collingwood)
40 – Matthew Clarke (2003 vs Collingwood)
40 – Shaun Rehn (1998 vs North Melbourne)
39 – Sam Jacobs (2011 vs Brisbane)

Top 5 for hit outs in a single season for an AFC player
611 – Sam Jacobs (19 games, 2011)
566 – Shaun Rehn (26 games, 1998)
537 – Matthew Clarke (22 games, 2003)
495 – Matthew Clarke (22 games, 2004)
445 – Rhett Biglands (24 games, 2003)

So as you can see there’s an awful lot to like about Sam Jacobs and there’s plenty more to come. Remember that being a South Australian football club is a double edged sword. On one hand you might lose a Bock, a Davis and a Gunston, but you also gain the likes of a Thompson and our new rucking legend Sam Jacobs. So it’s not all bad.

 

Stats courtesy of AFL Tables

Tags: Adelaide, Adelaide Crows, AFC, AFL, carlton blues, Sam Jacobs

The curtain draws on the worst season ever for the Adelaide Crows

Yesterday afternoon the Crows were put out of their misery. It’s about time really because there hasn’t been a lot to like about 2011. There also wasn’t a lot to like about how we played against the West Coast Eagles.

Adelaide were scoreless in the first quarter and they deserved to be in that position. Whenever West Coast coughed up the ball Adelaide gifted it right back to them. Interim head coach (and possibly former head coach now the season is done and dusted) Mark Bickley was trying to keep loose men in defence to stop the Eagles running rampant, but this just left the Crows forwards isolated. Any forward runs broke down quickly due to the lack of options ahead of the ball carrier. It was a return to the ugly handball happy football from the Richmond game and a stern reminder that the remnants of the Neil Craig coaching era were still lingering.

You would think that after a woeful first term that Adelaide would lift. Thankfully they managed to finally put two goals on the board due to the game opening up a bit. Unfortunately the openness of the game favoured the hungrier Eagles who were fierce at every contest and continually rewarded with free kicks. Good teams capitalise on their opportunities and West Coast are a quality side. They blasted home 8 goals for the quarter and gave their home fans something to cheer about.

The scary thing about this game is that West Coast could have not bothered to turn up in the second half and they still would have won. Their 66 point half time total would have been enough to defeat the Crows final tally of 50 points.

West Coast did turn up though and they were intent on finishing off this game and carrying some solid form into September. They piled on another 12 goals for the half while Bickley’s Plan B of Johncock up forward scraped together 5 goals for the team. It was another epic fail of a game in an epic fail of a season. On the plus side the Eagles only won by 95 points when it could’ve easily been 100+…

Aside from another amazing effort from Scott Thompson (40 disposals) and Sam Jacobs (36 hit outs) there wasn’t a lot to like about the Crows. They didn’t play as a cohesive unit and didn’t work nearly hard enough for each other. On Twitter one fan suggested they no longer deserved the right to call themselves the Pride of SA and you’d have to agree with that.

It was interesting to note after the game that Bickley was quick to put his hand up for the Crows head coaching job in 2012 and beyond. Without a preseason under his leadership it’s hard to say how good Bicks could be, but on the evidence of the past three weeks I’d probably pass on his offer.  Generally coaches are fired after 95 point losses and not hired.

While the football portion of our season is now complete I’d like to say a big thanks for reading the Still Crowing blog in 2011 as well as all the great tweets from readers on Twitter. I’ll be continuing to review the season and be looking forward to one of my favourite parts of the year in Trade Week.

Tags: Adelaide, Adelaide Crows, AFC, AFL, Mark Bickley, Neil Craig, Sam Jacobs, scott thompson, west coast eagles

Crows soak up the Gold Coast sun

This weekend Adelaide travelled up to Tippett territory to face off against the Gold Coast Suns.

Last time the two sides met was way back in Round 8. In Round 7 the Crows copped a hiding to the tune of 94 points courtesy of a hot and cold Demons side. Thankfully they weren’t to be disgraced for a second consecutive week as they overcame a slow start to kick 18 goals in the last three quarters and cruise to a 57 point victory.

A few weeks ago this game was looking like being our first loss to the Suns as the Crows form was nothing short of woeful. Enter the interim messiah, Mark Bickley, who sorted out the trash and gave us the beautiful game that we call attacking football.

The game showed that life is still like a box of chocolates (you never know what you’re going to get). In the first quarter we saw free flowing football with Adelaide players throwing themselves at the ball. The Gold Coast Suns youngsters could only stand by and watch as Adelaide rammed home 9 goals. It was party time!

When the second quarter came around the Crows were still in party mode. Someone forgot to mention to them that there was a lot of football to be played. To the credit of the Gold Coast, and in particular their captain Gary Ablett, they rallied together and started making some inroads. By half time the margin was back down to 30 points.

The half time break didn’t serve as much of a wake up call for the Crows who continued to disrespect their opposition. By now Scott Thompson was carrying the team on his broad shoulders as he’s done for most of the season, but on this occasion he was also on world record pace for disposals. At the final change the lead had slipped to 21 points.

The 21 point margin was clearly enough to rattle the arrogant Crows and they decided to disrespect their opposition the right way: on the scoreboard. Another 7 goals in the final term, including some beautiful one handed pick up and snaps at goal from Kurt Tippett, had me proclaiming we had the better Tippett (Kurt’s brother Joel was playing in his debut game for the Suns). With the game on ice, suddenly the focus shifted to Scott Thompson and his world record attempt. He managed to claw his way to a mammoth total of 51 disposals, just 2 short of the total set by Greg Williams way back in 1989.

While Scott Thompson was a clear best player in the eventual 61 point win, his service from ruckman Sam Jacobs was undoubtedly superb. Jacobs racked up a massive 47 hit outs, which I think is an all time high for any Crows player. Other key players included Nathan van Berlo with 32 disposals and a goal playing on Gary Ablett, David Mackay with 28 damaging disposals and the forward pair of Tippett and Walker who kicked 4 goals each.

While I’d love to say this was a superb victory, in reality it was the Crows we’ve seen over the last two seasons who could have continued to destroy their opposition but instead preferred to offer them hope. These sort of fade outs won’t do Bickley’s claims for the head coaching role a lot of good. Better sides will not let their opportunity pass them by.

Tags: Adelaide, Adelaide Crows, AFC, AFL, david mackay, Gold Coast Suns, Kurt Tippett, Sam Jacobs, scott thompson, taylor walker

Victory at the Lion’s den

If you’re looking to coach an AFL club you’d better be ready to step into the lion’s den. Mark Bickley knows all about that. After losing 8 out of 9 matches, including a record flogging at the hands of St Kilda, Neil Craig bowed out and the club handed the reigns to Bicks. Poor Bicks then had to handle the media circus surrounding the Showdown with South Australian football on the decline, as well the departure of one of the clubs top rated prospects in Phil Davis.

After a win in the Showdown and signs of solidarity within the playing group it was straight back into the lion’s den as Adelaide travelled to Brisbane to face the Lions.While Brisbane are towards the bottom of the ladder, I still believe they are a team with a lot of upside and coach Michael Voss almost always gets a solid performance out of his side.

The game started at a cracking pace! An 11 goal first quarter was hardly what you’d expect from 14th vs 15th on the ladder. Once again I loved the effort of Nathan van Berlo at the first bounce as he set the tone by throwing his body at the ball. VB even managed to kick a long bomb from outside 50. Without the services of key forward Kurt Tippett once again, Jack Gunston lifted and kicked two first quarter goals with Taylor Walker also looking dangerous. Adelaide’s 8 point quarter time lead was probably a fair indication of how the game was being played.

The second quarter saw the Lions assert themselves a little more. They piled on another 6 goals to Adelaide’s 3 and lead by 13 points at half time.

With Adelaide falling off in the second term, it was always going to be a question of what Crows team we were going to see after half time. In the face of adversity this season Adelaide has floundered.

It looked like the floundering was set to continue. In the third quarter Brisbane extended their lead to 20 points with a 3 goal to 1 effort. Jack Gunston, now up to 3 goals, had numerous opportunities to kick the Crows back into the game but his radar was clearly off target.

The final quarter was a nail biter. Bickley rolled the dice and threw Graham Johncock up forward. This proved to be a stroke of genius as Johncock kicked the first goal of the quarter. With 16 minutes left in the game VB kicked another big goal from just inside 50 and you just got the sense there was still life in the Crows. With 15 minutes left in the match the Crows were still 20 points behind but they found a way to bridge the gap. Taylor Walker kicked a further two goals and a superb kick from Ricky Henderson had the Crows smelling victory. It was a Graham Johncock goal with 3 minutes to go that sealed the 5 point win.

Scott Thompson once again tore up the midfield with 38 disposals, 10 clearances, 6 inside 50s, and 8 tackles. Sam Jacobs had 19 disposals and 30 hit outs as he dominated the ruck. Tex Walker was the best of the forwards with 4 goals.

Big Phil Davis becomes a Giant

Ever had deja vu? Crows fans had it today.

Remember that guy Phil Davis who was the saving grace when defender Nathan Bock defected to the Gold Coast Suns? He has decided to follow in Bock’s footsteps and sign up with the GWS Giants.

In losing Davis, Adelaide has lost yet another centre half back as well as their top draft pick in the 2008 draft. Despite having only played 18 games for the club Big Phil showed composure in defence that belied his experience. He will most definitely be mised.

There could be several reasons for Phil making the jump to Sydney’s west. Money is obviously going to be a factor as the Crows have stated that they were simply unable to compete with the salary cap concessions GWS has. There’s also the fact that Davis was born in Canberra which falls under the GWS banner now.

But perhaps there’s more to this story than finances and fairy tales.

Maybe Phil thought about the opportunity to be a part of a new club and be an integral piece of their foundations. We’ve seen first hand as Crows supporters how players such as Ricciuto, McLeod, Goodwin, Edwards, Smart and Hart will be forever ingrained in the clubs folklore. They are the players that have built the legacy of the Adelaide Football Club. Davis now has that same opportunity at GWS.

There’s also a sneaking suspicion that defectors like Bock and Davis feel they have a better chance of winning a premiership with their new teams. With the draft and salary cap concessions available, GWS and the Gold Coast will have unparalleled young talent that will provide them with large premiership windows should their teams be managed correctly. With some people suggested Davis could have been a potential Crows captain of the future, maybe he was lured into the idea of being the captain of the Giants first premiership side.

Whatever the case, I wish Phil Davis the best of luck at GWS.

Adelaide is likely to receive a first round draft pick as compensation which could just provide us with next Ricciuto, McLeod or Goodwin. There’s also the added bonus that now GWS would have to trade for the likes of Taylor Walker and Bernie Vince.

Tags: Ben Hart, GWS Giants, Mark Ricciuto, nathan bock, Nigel Smart, phil davis, simon goodwin, tyson edwards

Crows throwdown at the Showdown

On Sunday afternoon Adelaide took on its fiercest rivals from the other side of town at AAMI Stadium. Port came into the clash with one hand on the wooden spoon and Adelaide was lining up for the first time under interim coach Mark Bickley.

Leading up to the game you had to be pretty confident. Sacking your longest serving coach will more than likely serve as a rocket up the backside. But what was Bickley going to do to change things up in such a short period of time?

Bicks did what I had hoped Neil Craig would do for some time: Put the captain back in midfield where he belongs. Since moving to half back van Berlo has struggled to rack up the disposals and his captaincy has come into question with Scott Thompson dominant every week. VB hadn’t managed to get 20 disposals since Round 12 against West Coast. At the start of the Showdown you could see that the Crows captain was back in his element with a fierce attack on the ball at the first bounce. It really set the tone from the outset.

The first quarter was a see-saw battle as both sides struggled to maintain possession of the ball due to the games high intensity. Chad Cornes tried to ignite the Port faithful with the first goal but but a quick response from Taylor Walker with a nice soccer goal had the Adelaide crowd fired up. A follow up goal moments later courtesy of an Andy Otten long bomb had me thinking this just might be our day. In typical Showdown fashion though, this game was about intensity and not so much the goals. Adelaide’s 11 point quarter time lead was largely due to Port Adelaide’s inability to finish in front of goal.

In the second term the gritty football continued. It took 5 minutes of play before Matthew Wright snapped home the first goal of the quarter. Then Adelaide continued to stretch their lead with a 5 goal to 3 quarter. It was reward for a more risky attacking brand of football. The Crows were FINALLY backing themselves in and taking on the game. It was as if they realised the game was there for the taking.

At the start of the second half Port were keen to close the scoreline. Despite having had only 2 less shots Port had found themselves down by 22 points at the main break. They kicked the first two goals of the second half courtesy of Brett Ebert and Justin Westhoff, both of whom had been quiet in the first half. While Port managed to dominate the first part of the quarter with 4 goals and closing to within 11 points, Adelaide hit their straps again with a fine finish to the quarter. When Michael Doughty snapped a goal from 30 metres out, you knew it was going to be a good day. When Taylor Walker kicked a goal after the three quarter time siren you got the sense that Port were on the ropes.

Tex wasn’t done yet either. To start the fourth quarter he marked inside 50 and rammed home a nice drop punt from a set shot. With the Crows now 5 goals up you got the sense that the contest was now over.

Mid way through the final quarter David Mackay went up for a routine overheard mark in the centre of the field. He copped a nasty punch to the back of the head courtesy of an errant Cameron O’Shea fist. Debutante Aidan Riley quickly got in there to ruffles O’Shea’s feathers, and then Nathan van Berlo came in for a little extra roughing. This caused a bit of a melee but boy it was good to see the Crows showing some passion. After weeks of sitting through rubbish performances suddenly we were witnessing a team who actually stuck up for each other. They were a team that had pride in their football jumper and I sat up and took notice.

Port managed to get a few late goals to close the margin from 42 points to the final margin of 33 points. It was a much deserved win from the Crows and, dare I say, a four quarter performance. Add to that seeing Knights, van Berlo and Vince as the top disposal getters, and there was plenty to be excited about. But wait, did I forget to mention the career high 27 disposals and 8 inside 50s from Patrick Dangerfield? There was plenty to be excited about!

This is the Crows side we have been waiting for and Mark Bickley was deserved left smiling after the game. Now the question is, with the emotion of the loss of Neil Craig now out of the picture, how long will we have to wait to see this kind of performance again?

Tags: AAMI Stadium, Adelaide, Adelaide Crows, AFC, AFL, Aidan Riley, Chris Knights, david mackay, Mark Bickley, Matthew Wright, Michael Doughty, nathan van berlo, Neil Craig, Patrick Dangerfield, Port Adelaide Power, scott thompson, taylor walker

Thoughts on the lead up to Bickley’s first game in charge

Mark Bickley was a champion footballer for the Adelaide Football Club. There’s no doubt about it. From 1991-2003  Bickley gave his heart and soul to the club. He played in 272 AFL games for the Crows which ranks him 7th in the clubs history. From 1997-2000 he was named captain and remains the only premiership winning captain at the club.

Since 2009, Bicks has been an assistant coach at the Crows. After 18 rounds he is now the interim head coach.

One of the problems towards the end of Neil Craig’s reign was his honesty. Despite poor performances on field Craig remained adamant that we were witnessing the most exciting list in the clubs history. As we saw this sort of honesty can backfire because there’s nothing exciting about getting pummeled by St Kilda.

Enter Mark Bickley as head coach. His first press conference was an eye opener. He was very forthright and said he didn’t know if he was ready to be a career coach at AFL level just yet. It gave the sense that Bicks was reluctantly putting the weight of the world on his shoulders.

Perhaps this lack of confidence is because this isn’t his job to lose, but more likely an audition to other clubs of what he has to offer. Club CEO Steven Trigg has stated there are “no guarantees” for Bickley and that an extensive search to find the best coaching option would be put in place. Should another coach be chosen ahead of Bickley there’s a fair chance the current assistant coaches could all receive their marching orders.

One of the interesting factors of changing a coach is the instant spark it provides the team. You can almost guarantee a win the week after a sacking. With only 6 weeks remaining of season 2011 there’s not a great deal that a new coach can change structurally, so their only real options are to release the shackles of a system that was failing miserably and back in players who were perhaps out of favour with the previous coach.

Bickley was quick to make some calls on personnel. Out of favour players Ivan Maric, Taylor Walker and Chris Knights will all return to the line up to face Port Power on Sunday. NSW Scholarship player Aidan Riley has been given the call up to feature in his first AFL match after impressing with SANFL club Sturt. Out of the side are Tippett (hamstring strain) and Symes (fractured jaw courtesy of Nick Riewoldt) and both Tambling and Moran have been omitted.

It’s going to be particularly interesting to see how Adelaide can cope without Tippett in the side. Neil Craig’s Plan A (Kick to Tippett) and Plan B (Tippett in the ruck) will no longer be options. Hopefully with a bit more structural freedom players like Walker, Dangerfield and Wright will start to reap some rewards which in turn will provide Tippett with better opportunities to be damaging in the future.

Tags: Adelaide, Adelaide Crows, AFC, AFL, Aidan Riley, Brad Moran, Brad Symes, Chris Knights, Ivan Maric, Kurt Tippett, Mark Bickley, Matthew Wright, Neil Craig, Richard Tambling, Steven Trigg, taylor walker