The Crows are an enigma. No one expected them to do well last year because South Australia’s development of women’s football has been, let’s face it, pathetic.
Lacking local talent development, Adelaide were saved by several strokes of good fortune — the impressive contribution of their Northern Territory contingent, the manna from heaven that dropped Erin Phillips and Sarah Perkins into their laps, and the smarts of Bec Goddard, one of the few coaches to truly figure out where the standard was at last season and devise a playing style to match.
In season two the concern was that the Crows wouldn’t get much out of the draft, but it seems they’ve dodged that bullet too — SA’s talent pool may be shallow, but there’s cream on top.
Jess Allen is one of the best young talls in the game and gives the Crows options to push either her or their present ruck, Rhiannon Metcalfe, into the forward line.
Jasmyn Hewett is new to the game, but tested near-top of multiple categories in the draft combine, and should strengthen an already strong forward line.
Possibly Adelaide’s player of the draft is midfielder Eloise Jones, whose skills and smarts are already top notch, and should turn Adelaide’s midfield terrible twosome of Phillips and Marinoff into a threesome.
There’s also a couple of former soccer players, Marijana Rajcic and Ruth Wallace, who’ve been tearing up the SANFL, and W-League players have a good record in the AFLW.
Wallace is another forward, and Rajcic a strong-bodied midfielder, so not only have Adelaide made up for the loss of Kellie Gibson up front, they’ve significantly increased both forward options and midfield depth.
The Crows’ backline looks mostly unchanged, but it was one of the best in the country last season, led by generals like Chelsea Randall and Courtney Cramey.
Having said all that, there’s only room for two teams in the Grand Final, and someone has to miss out.
This year Goddard’s tactics will no longer be a surprise, and the big gap between the Crows’ best players and their worst will be more fully exploited by the likes of Brisbane and Melbourne, who don’t suffer quite the same problem.
And if one of Adelaide’s stars were injured, as always seems to happen to defending champions, they could be in real trouble.
Prediction: 3rd.
In addition to his interest in sport, Joel Shepherd is a professional Science Fiction author. You can read more by him here.
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