After belting the reigning premiers by 50 points on the weekend and edging out the then-undefeated Sydney Swans in the Harbour City the weekend prior, the question must be asked.
Does the Adelaide Football Club have a genuine chance of winning the premiership?
I got thinking while reading an article by Rohan Connolly, which predicted that Adelaide would finish 3rd with 18 wins for the season.
I thought that prediction was remarkably high considering this team won just seven games last season and with essentially the same personnel.
Sorting through the stats, you will find that the Crows are the kings of the contested ball in 2012.
They average 157 a game. I also found that they are second in hit outs, only to the Sandilands-led Fremantle and first in clearances with 41 per game.
Makes interesting reading, so more often than not, the likes of Thompson and Dangerfield are getting their hands on the footy first thanks to the work of Sam Jacobs.
And, when they don’t get first use, the likes of Petrenko and Sloane are cracking in to win the contested ball.
Now looking at their draw, they have some difficult fixtures over the next three weeks.
One would assume that Carlton will get the better of them this week, leaving the Crows with two losses.
Now Connolly believes that they will only lose two more games for the rest of the season, which includes a trip to Subiaco to face Fremantle, a trip to Kardinia Park to face Geelong, plus hosting West Coast, Essendon, Collingwood.
Call me a sceptic, but just I cannot see that happening. There is no doubt that under Sanderson, the Crows are a vastly improved unit, but I just don’t think they are a top four side, let alone a premiership contender.
They should play finals, with something in the region of 14 wins for the season (double their 2011 total) but as far as I am concerned, they will just be making up the numbers.
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