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Adelaide are the third team in a row to be given a comprehensive belting by Sydney, and the knives are sure to be out for a top four side from last season struggling to keep in touch with the eight.
I’m not so sure they should be savaged, because it was obvious to any reasonable football observer that, regardless of final ladder position, the Crows were not a legitimate top four team in 2012.
Yes, they played some good football throughout last year, but they were blessed with arguably the friendliest draw we’ve ever seen.
Adelaide were lucky enough to play each of Port Adelaide, Gold Coast and Greater Western Sydney twice, when these three teams won a grand total of ten games between them for the 2012 season, four of which were against each other.
Importantly, they were able to play them all in the first five rounds of the year, when it’s most critical to get ahead of the curve and build form, confidence and momentum.
North Melbourne, another finalist, was the only other team to get two of that aforementioned combination more than once.
Adelaide were also widely regarded as more talented than what they’d been showing in the 2011 and 2012 seasons under Neil Craig, and were due to bounce under an impressive new coach in Brenton Sanderson.
If nothing else, that man has boundless enthusiasm for football and life, which couldn’t help but be absorbed by a playing group sick of disappointment.
Leading into the finals series, it was clear that Adelaide were going to finish top four and be joined by Hawthorn, Sydney and Collingwood.
The only thing up in the air were the permutations of who would play who, and where.
Every single supporter of the Hawks, Swans and Pies wanted to play the Crows, knowing they were the weakest link. In fact, it was even more desirable to travel to AAMI Stadium to play than host one of the other three teams at home.
So it proved in the first final as Sydney romped away to an easy victory, keeping the Crows to five goals in the meantime.
Adelaide dominated the inside 50s, but the match was played completely on the Swans terms as they controlled possession through the back half of the ground.
Fremantle dominated the Crows in the first half of the next final but, after travelling three weeks in a row, and four out of five, tiredness took its toll.
Conversely, Adelaide were playing at home for the third consecutive week and still only just scraped a victory.
What sucked some people into believing the Crows were the ‘real deal’, was one single game. This was the preliminary final against the Hawks where they famously went down by less than a kick.
Looking beyond the actual scoreline, this was a margin that flattered Sanderson’s men. Hawthorn had dominated the early stages of the match, but hadn’t kicked straight. Every time the Crows went forward they finished with a major.
The Hawks won inside 50s 64-38 and had ten more scoring shots. As we know though, Hawthorn are chokers, another thing that gets glossed over when people try to look for meaning beyond the obvious.
This is what allowed some to afford the Crows more respect than they deserved heading into 2013.
Add to this the loss of an important cog in Kurt Tippett, and this was a team that was never going to be a top-end player in 2013.
In terms of quality, Patrick Dangerfield is obviously a brilliant, explosive match-winner. Rory Sloane represents a great combination of grunt and class.
Taylor Walker has been sadly missed through injury, a key forward with more tools in the bag than most.
They have capable players across the ground, but outside these three exceptions, not much more than that right now.
This is not to say they aren’t on the right track, and some of their younger players are among the brightest prospects in the league.
Names like Jenkins, Lynch, Brown, Talia and Kerridge will be much more well known in a couple of years if they continue to improve at the current rate, and if so, the Crows will have a good mix of talented youth and experience.
But that’s for the future. Right now, Adelaide has beaten the teams positioned 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th and 18th on the ladder, and lost to everyone else. They are exactly where they should be, and have neither under, nor over-whelmed.
Last year, they lucked into a most favourable set of circumstances, were admittedly good enough to take advantage, and happened to fall one straight kick away from playing in a grand final. Let’s be real though, and not pretend it was anything other than that.