Adelaide’s gameplan beautiful – but ‘flawed’
Adelaide’s gameplan – and the team’s ability to execute it – have been questioned by former Kangaroos premiership player David King, who says the Crows have major flaws in their game that undermine their legitimacy as a premiership contender.
King says Adelaide are the worst team in the league at locking the abll in their forward line. Photo: Tracey Nearmy, AAP.
King, regarded as one of the AFL’s keenest analysts, said while the Crows’ resurgence under rookie senior coach Don Pyke has seen them play some of the most exciting football in the league, the freewheeling, high-scoring style was papering over some gaping concerns.
In particular, he highlighted an inability to keep the ball in their forward arc and a major drop-off in contested possession since the departure of marquee midfielder Patrick Dangerfield.
“I’m not saying they won’t win games playing like this – they will – but something needs to change if they’re to go deep into September,” King told FoxFooty’s On The Couch last night.
“They’re the poorest team in the competition at locking the ball in their forward end, and the second-poorest at getting out of their defensive end.
“They’re giving more opportunities to their opponents, and history tells us that if you concede almost 60 inside-50s a week [as the Crows do], at some stage you’re going to pay a price against the best teams.
“That’s fact – you can’t argue with that.”
King was not roundly critical, enthusing that Adelaide “play the most attractive football in the competition, almost…up there with the [GWS] Giants”.
“Their ability to score and put on a show, they kick goals from the goalsquare more than any other team and they get the ball fast-tracked from their back line into the forward 50 – but when they don’t convert down there it comes out at a rate of knots, and goes back down the opposition’s end really quickly,” he said.
“They’re either scoring, or it’s coming out and zinging back down [to] the opposition’s forward 50 and being locked in there.”
King said the star-studded forward set-up boasted “enough talent” to improve the defensive pressure in the attacking half, “but right now they’re not doing that”.
After seven rounds, with a 4-3 win-loss record and a tough game against the pace-setting Cats this Friday, Adelaide are conceding an average of 59 inside-50s a game – and getting the ball inside their own forward 50 only 52 times a game.
“That’s a minus differential – it’s not a premiership profile,” said King.
He argued that the past ten premiership sides had all boasted positive inside-50 differentials, with the flag winners from 2006 to 2015 averaging 46 against and 55 for.
“That’s plus nine, rather than minus seven; it’s a significant variation,” he said.
Moreover, the Crows have totalled 74 fewer contested possessions than their collective opposition over the first seven weeks of the 2016 season – a warning sign for a team once regarded as contested ball kings.
“The bookends are really good [but] in the middle they’re really struggling…[and their] defence [is only] ranked ninth,” said King.
“They’re a unique club, they’re playing a unique brand of football [but] something needs to change… in four or five weeks’ time, if they’ve got the same concerns – for me – they won’t be in the premiership race.”
