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Despite losing their best player in the off season, the Crows had a great season last year and surprised quite a few observers. What’s in store for 2017?
Defence
The Adelaide defence was an unsung part of their season, they ranked second in the league in opponent points per game differential which is a testament to how good they were. The Crows were excellent at moving the ball out of defence quickly and efficiently throughout season 2016, both Brodie Smith and Rory Laird had fantastic seasons, the latter unlucky to win an All Australian spot.
The Crows have a good age demographic in defence with Brown and Lever both playing between fifty and a hundred games, with Dan Talia, Brodie Smith and Rory Laird all becoming leaders down there. Jake Lever is the young prodigy who really impressed in his last two seasons as a Crow.
One would think that the Adelaide defence will stand up strongly again in 2017 and see them as a hard team to score against.
Midfield
This was the Crows’ major Achilles heel last season, even though the group of midfielders had a good season, the Adelaide midfield lacked star power.
The only stars in the midfield group is Rory Sloane and tar ruckman Sam Jacobs, and it is something they needed to improve on in the trade and draft period. The Crows missed Bryce Gibbs who might have pushed them to another level, and therefore need to rely on the Crouch brothers, in particular Brad, to stand up and have great seasons.
Scott Thompson is another year older and started to show signs of his age at the back end of the season, the crows will hope Richard Douglas can find his best form and young draftee Jordan Gallucci can slot in and make an immediate impact. In summary the lack of star power and depth through the middle again is seemingly going to be a big problem for the pride of South Australia.
Forward
The Crows’ forward line was lethal last year, and is without a doubt the best in the league, they ranked first in points per game last year, which isn’t surprising considering they had three of the top ten goal kickers in the league. The forward line made up for some of the deficiencies in midfield last year for Adelaide and they will need to do so again.
One would imagine that the forward line will stay very similar from last year – don’t fix it if it isn’t broken.
Summary
The Crows had a fairly good year last year finishing fifth in the regular home and away season, but with no improvement coming through trading and most likely minimal improvement short term via drafting, it’s hard to see them moving up the ladder much at all.
The Crows actually are in danger of dropping a few places due to them not improving their list and other teams like Melbourne, Saint Kilda and Richmond doing so.
A lot of the season will depend on youngsters improving like Brad Crouch, Curtly Hampton, Troy Menzel and guys like Matt Crouch and Mitch McGovern taking the next step.
Predicted finish: 7th
Adelaide 2017 season preview
Best 22:
FB: Jake Lever, Daniel Talia, Luke Brown
CHB: Rory Laird, Kyle Hartigan, Brodie Smith
C: Paul Seedsman, Matt Crouch, Charlie Cameron
CHF: Richard Douglas, Taylor Walker, Tom Lynch
FF: Eddie Betts, Josh Jenkins, Mitch McGovern
F: Sam Jacobs, Rory Sloane, Brad Crouch
IC: Scott Thompson, Rory Atkins, Wayne Milera, Jordan Gallucci
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