Crows, Under A Cloud, Look To History For A Silver Lining
The Age
Monday September 9, 2002
Brisbane
Let's call it September optimism. Less than an hour after Adelaide's 71-point qualifying final belting from Brisbane had come to a merciful end for Mark Ricciuto, the Crows' captain was asked whether the black cloud of such a heavy defeat hid any shred of the 1998-model silver lining.
Could there be similarities between Saturday night's drubbing and Adelaide's substandard start to its finals series four years ago? A long bow to be drawn with the 67-point drubbing from Melbourne that preceded the Crows' premiership defence just three weeks later? Could history be repeated?
``I hope it is, but we've still got a long way to go if it's going to be similar," said Ricciuto, who stressed, as if it was necessary, that the most recent failure had not been planned with history in mind. ``We obviously got beaten pretty badly in the first game (in '98) and put it behind us and got on with next week and that's basically what we have to do this time."
One major difference, however, is that in 1998, there was no standout team to block the Crows' run to their second flag; certainly not a team of the calibre of this Brisbane line-up, for whom the round-22 loss to Port Adelaide was a slap into action, and for whom raging premiership favouritism was confirmed on the first weekend of a finals series falling nicely into place.
``I like those games where you're 10 or 12 goals in front at three-quarter-time, they're good for my nerves," said a relaxed Brisbane coach Leigh Matthews, his Lions having earned a week's rest and a home preliminary final against either Port Adelaide or Essendon. ``Yeah, it was a nice way to win. Margins don't really matter that much, so it was a fairly low-pressure (game) emotionally in the last quarter."
The pressure, indeed, was all from Brisbane; its intensity and tackling supreme. Adelaide was in the contest for no more than 10 or 15 minutes, managing the first three scoring shots, including two misses to Brett Burton. Brisbane then dominated for three quarters, easing up just enough to enable the Crows to pass their lowest-ever score with about 10 minutes to play.
But not before Burton missed again from the edge of the goal square, and Matthew Clarke did likewise from a similar range. Not before all manner of key forwards and defenders were tried in a futile attempt to redress the imbalance in contested marks, unearth a goalkicker or two and curb a rampant Alastair Lynch. And not before superstar Andrew McLeod was held to eight possessions while being touched up by Shaun Hart in a collective midfield battle that failed to live up to expectations.
Embarrassing? ``Of course it was," said coach Gary Ayres, labelling the performance ``totally unacceptable" and Adelaide's worst of the season. ``How can you sit there and say it was anything else? No one gets any joy out of seeing that happen."
Ayres blamed his team's failure on a lack of ``hardness", although not of the obvious crash-through kind. ``It's about kicking goals late in the game when you're 12 metres out," he said. ``It's about hitting targets when you're not under pressure. It's about running to assist your teammate. It's about running to space when your teammate's coming out of defence. It's about chasing the opposition down even though you think you might not be able to get there, that's a hardness, and that was just an area where we just got showed up by a very, very good side."
A side that - scarily - should have its full premiership-winning list available when it resumes in a fortnight. A side that has the AFL's best midfield, with Nigel Lappin the standout on Saturday night, and Simon Black another to shine. A side that cannot find room for Daniel Bradshaw and Robert Copeland, and has ruckman Beau McDonald to return from what was variously described as a virus and post-training soreness.
Yet Ayres refused to blame Adelaide's short and much-travelled week for Saturday's blowout, and the semi-final challenge will include another road trip, this time to the MCG to play Melbourne. Third place delivered a double chance, but did not bring the benefit of a home final, although that was the least of Ayres' concerns as he left the Gabba with just a week to reattach the wheels that had come clattering off.
``We can restructure everything, but if you actually can't win the ball, it's not going to really matter," Ayres said. ``We've got to rebound in a way that we know we can and I'm pretty sure that we can do that, so I just think the best place is to start at the basics.
``I wouldn't think there'd be a need to rush into making a multitude of changes because of the faith that I've got in these players. When you look at the last 22 weeks, we have won 15 and lost seven before tonight . . . I don't think you want to throw the whole thing away because of the performance, even though it wasn't acceptable to the standard of the Adelaide Football Club. But what we've got is what we've got, and it's my job, along with Mark and the other leaders within the group, to get it back on track in seven days."
That will be an onerous task. Since it last hoisted the premiership cup, Adelaide has made two September appearances, for an average losing margin of almost 70 points. All year, according to Ricciuto, the players have discussed their desire to atone for the 2001 elimination final loss to Carlton. Sudden death is now the sentence, as it was for the last three games of 1998. Not a cause for optimism, but it will have to do for now.
GOALS - Brisbane: Lynch 7, Hart 2, Headland, Johnson, McRae, Notting, Brown, Lappin, White, Akermanis
Adelaide: Smart, Crowell, Ricciuto, Bassett, Burton
BEST - Brisbane: Lappin, Akermanis, Black, Lynch, Hart, Johnson, Power, Voss, Headland
Adelaide: Goodwin, Ricciuto, Edwards, Johnson
INJURIES - Brisbane: McDonald (thigh strain - omitted from selected side), Power (corked thigh) C Scott (hamstring)
UMPIRES: Coates, Kennedy, Morris
CROWD: 31,854 at the Gabba
VOTES
Bill MacDonald
N Lappin Brisbane 8
S Black Brisbane 8
A Lynch Brisbane 8
J Akermanis Brisbane 7
S Hart Brisbane 7
Linda Pearce
Alastair Lynch Brisbane 7
Simon Black Brisbane 7
Shaun Hart Brisbane 7
Des Headland Brisbane 6
Nigel Lappin Brisbane 6
BRISBANE 5.3 8.9 13.11 17.13 (115) ADELAIDE 1.4 2.5 2.9 5.14 (44)
© 2002 The Age
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