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After their run to the preliminary finals last year, this season was a disappointing one for Adelaide as administration instability and the departure of Kurt Tippett conspired against them to ponder yet another year without finals.
Their off-season was one clouded in controversy, as they were fined for tampering the salary cap with their star player Kurt Tippett, who was eventually shipped off to Sydney with an 11-game ban hanging over his head for his role in the scandal.
Then assistant coach Dean Bailey was banned for 16 weeks for his role in Melbourne’s tanking saga, for ‘acting in a manner prejudicial to the interests of the competition’.
Those two off-field scandals partly contributed to a poor season on the field for the Crows.
What went right
The Crows still managed 10 wins and 11th place on the ladder, so the season wasn’t entirely a disaster for the club, even though this was a massive step backward after their second place finish and preliminary final last year.
Tom Lynch made himself well known by kicking ten goals against GWS in Round 7, as the Crows won by a whopping 135 points.
It was the Crows’ second victory over the Giants in Sydney by over a century, after a 119-point victory in Round 16 last year.
The club also enjoyed a comeback victory over Geelong in Round 17, and rounded out the season with two crushing victories over Melbourne and West Coast, by 68 and 86 points respectively.
Those two victories showcased the Crows’ potential, something that was otherwise not displayed throughout the year, but it should set them up for a return to the finals in 2014.
What went wrong
Apart from the narrow victory over Geelong, the Crows had no other top eight victories during the year.
Defeats at home ranged from a narrow loss in the final Showdown against Port Adelaide in Round 19 by four points to a 77-point thrashing by reigning premiers Sydney in June.
The absence of Kurt Tippett on the field and Dean Bailey for the first sixteen weeks in the coach’s box were sorely felt, as the Crows tumbled down the ladder.
The season-ending injury to Taylor ‘Tex’ Walker early in the season also didn’t help their cause on the field, but they did have a handy forward in Tom Lynch.
The future
Brenton Sanderson may have suffered from the ‘second-year syndrome’ which many teams or coaches are well-known to suffer.
This year’s effort was clearly a step backward and there is a lot of work to be done if the Crows are to once again contend in 2014.
Dean Bailey will have a full season’s access to the playing group, while Tex Walker should be back, fit and firing, by the middle of the season if not the beginning.
Questions the fans will want answered in 2014
– Can Taylor Walker return to his best form?
– Can the Crows return to the finals?
– Can the team put behind the disappointment of 2013 and improve further in 2014?
And last but not least
– Can the Crows realise their potential in 2014?
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For somewhere between two and three and a half quarters, depending on how generous you want to be, Adelaide didn't do a whole lot…
Hopefully Jake Soligo doesn't keep it in there for too long!
Why wasn't Brandon Zerk-Thatcher right on the line?
