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As metaphors go, there cannot be a much better one for Adelaide than the fact that this year the path into the AFL club’s headquarters takes the players through a building site.
The construction of a newer, bigger nerve centre for the Crows mirrors coach Neil Craig’s efforts over the past two off-seasons to compile a playing list to serve the club well into the next decade.
With rebuilding comes risk, and there is every chance the Adelaide team of 2009 will trip over the odd wheelbarrow or need to dodge a crashing beam here or there.
Finals may be missed for the first time since 2004 – the year Gary Ayres left the reins to his then understudy Craig, who has since built a dual reputation for guiding his teams to tremendous regular-season form but poor finals returns.
Though he is acutely aware of this, Craig is confident the list he now has at his disposal is one that will require only minimal tweaking over the next five years.
“We have got young talent, and I under-line the word talent, because anyone can get young people into a football club but in the end it’s about what sort of talent they’ve got, mental and physical talent,” Craig told AAP.
“So we’re really pleased with what we’ve been able to recruit, to the extent that we now feel like we’re in a position where we won’t have to cull excessively for a few years.
“In the past it was six or seven players per year. Some of those have been tough decisions like Matthew Clarke, Ben Hart, Kris Massie, Matthew Bode, Jason Torney.
“Hopefully we’re through that now and we’ve got a group we can hold for a long period of time and our supporter group can see it grow.”
In the places of the aforementioned loyal servants are the likes of Jared Petrenko, Phil Davis, Patrick Dangerfield, Taylor Walker and Andy Otten; youngsters with immense potential but rough edges to be smoothed over before they are ready.
More crucial to Adelaide’s fortunes this year are those players whose arrival or growing influence coincided with the start of Craig’s tenure.
While captain Simon Goodwin, Andrew McLeod and Tyson Edwards provide the last links to the 1997 and 1998 premierships, Ben Rutten, Nathan Bock, Nathan van Berlo, Jason Porplyzia, Brent Reilly, Scott Thompson, Chris Knights, Richard Douglas, Jonathan Griffin, Ivan Maric and Bernie Vince will all be required to do more this year, either as players or as leaders.
Midfielders Reilly and Douglas and ruckman Griffin in particular have much to prove.
Douglas and Griffin need to produce performances that match their talent, while Reilly must shake the tag of “gifted but injury prone”.
“(Douglas) is now ready to take the next step in terms of his career, and he needs to, because he’s been in the system now for four years, so had enough experience to gain the belief and the ambition that ‘I want to be better than just an average AFL player’,” Craig said.
“He’s got that motivation and mentality, and he’s got a lot of attributes that we need as a player … Richard doesn’t know how good he is yet.
“We’ve got quite a few guys in the midfield at our club who are at that level.
“We’ll continue to give them exposure and push them, but there comes a time for everyone.”
Two of the club’s most creative players are Porplyzia and Trent Hentschel, both on the road back from serious injuries.
Porplyzia’s recovery from shoulder surgery has him on course to be around the team in the early rounds of the premiership season.
Hentschel’s two-year fight to recover from a knee injury more consistent with a car crash than a football incident has warmed the hearts of many, but now it is a matter of whether the 26-year-old’s agile mind can still be served effectively by his patched-up body.
“Some people might have forgotten about his performance before he got hurt, but I certainly haven’t,” Craig said.
“If he can do that (again) he’ll be a standout for us.
“The challenge will be whether his body can hold up.”
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