The Adelaide Crows’ backline looked resolute and composed in the opening three rounds of the season, conceding fewer points than any other team at the time. Then the Crows were challenged and the cracks began to show.
Against the Western Bulldogs and the Suns, the backline was clumsy and unskilled. It lacked height against the Power and was inexperienced against the Saints, with youngsters making poor decisions in the back half that cost the team goals.
In the following four weeks, the defence slipped from first to seventh despite games against the lowly Saints and Suns.
Despite having Phil Walsh at the helm the Adelaide defensive structures has consistently broken down. Why? Because of the wrong personnel in the backline.
Why would Adelaide drop Kyle Hartigan, a full-back standing at 194cm and 94kg, when faced against Justin Westhoff, Patrick Ryder and Jay Schulz? The trio have an average height of 196cm, yet were faced by Daniel Talia (195cm), third gamer Jake Kelly (189cm) and Kyle Cheeney (187cm). It was a disaster waiting to happen, with the undersized Kelly and Cheeney conceding eight goals between them.
Warren Tredrea declared that Walsh made a mistake by failing to move Talia onto Schulz during the game, but how could he? Cheeney would be isolated one-out against the high-leaping Ryder. Neither Cheeney nor Kelly are meant to play a key position, so once again I ask why was Hartigan dropped? It was a blatant mistake and one that Adelaide have failed to accept.
This was not the only game where Talia was forced to play on a resting ruckman rather than the number one forward. Against the Saints, Talia was restricted to playing on Tom Hickey as Josh Bruce kicked five goals on second gamer Jake Lever. Without rectifying the mistake this week, Jeremy Cameron will have a free shot at Lever, while Talia holds James Stewart, and Matthew Pavlich will rag-doll Cheeney as Lever and Talia play on taller opposition the following round.
The answer to Adelaide’s height woes is simple, bring back Hartigan at the expense of Cheeney to restore the backline’s competitiveness against key forwards.
Walsh has attempted to compensate for this lack of height by selecting hard-working players such as Kyle Cheeney, Jake Kelly and Rory Laird. While their performances have not been poor, Kelly and Laird excelling in fact, their lack of skill has burdened the Crows.
Since Round 3, the run and carry and kicking out of defence has been woeful. Turn-overs while coming out of defence have been far too frequent to be acceptable. Talia, Brown, Kelly, Cheeney and Laird are by no standard ‘elite’ kicks and they know it. None of them take the game on like a Robert Murphy, Chris Yarran or even a young Adam Saad, and that is why Adelaide has had stagnant ball-movement since Round 3.
Brodie Smith and Matt Jaensch played this role last year, but under Walsh Smith has been moved to the wing and Jaensch has put a greater focus into defence. When Jaensch went down just after half-time on Saturday, Mackay was put back onto the half-back flank and suddenly the ball movement was far swifter. This is the first sign that it is time for Walsh to forfeit some team defence for the sake of offensive flair and skills.
It is time to end the Brodie Smith experiment, he has been far too inconsistent on the wing, and move him back onto the half-back flank. With Jaensch sidelined for 12 months, either Mackay or the smooth kicking Mitch Grigg should be moved permanently to the half-back flank (where they were temporarily trialled during the pre season) as well.
Continuing to rotate Henderson between the wing and half-back flank will promote this offensive flair that all of the top four sides have – even the defensive Fremantle. This will mean that Laird, Kelly and Cheeney must fight for the same position in the team. If Walsh moves these elite ball-users onto the back-flank he will drastically reduce the turnovers which the top sides punish.
There is no doubt that Walsh knows he needs more class and height in his backline, but is he willing to sacrifice some of his hard working ‘soldiers’ for this which could potentially jeopardise his team defence? The turnovers these soldiers create also undermine the team defence, so why not take a punt?
The club will start outsiders against the Giants, Dockers and Hawks so why not throw things around and see what happens?
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