You could imagine the stench of optimism on Adelaide Crows supporters faces if, on day one of pre-season, they unearthed Christian Petracca and Angus Brayshaw as their new draftees.
That’s what was on offer, pick two and three was on the table from Melbourne – they wanted Patrick Dangerfield.
It never eventuated. It never needed to.
Throughout trade week about a handful of my Crows supporting friends were calling for the trade to happen. That interview on The Footy Show, his inability to fully commit and the assumption he called for Brenton Sanderson’s head at the end of the season.
It never eventuated. It never needed to.
Patty Dangerfield is the Crows’ best player, but not by a long stretch like it was at the end of 2013. Rory Sloane, Brodie Smith, Brad Crouch, Sam Jacobs and Daniel Talia have all closed the gap on Dangerfield.
Then Melbourne offer pick two and three – ultimately two gun but unproven midfielders. Good replacements for Dangerfield? Yeah, probably, but would they have taken Brayshaw with Petracca? Considering the gaps in their list, probably not and Jake Lever suddenly would’ve become a pick three instead of a pick 14.
But again, it never eventuated. It never needed to.
If Dangerfield does decide to leave at the end of 2015 the Crows will be well compensated, not pick two and three (unless they really, really blow 2015) but probably a pick around nine to 14.
Some smart list management could swap those two picks, say 11 and 12 to St. Kilda, who have shown in the past to aggressively trade to ensure increased picks in the first round, for pick three or four (depending on where St. Kilda finish).
The Crows pick the third or fourth best player in the draft and they’ve still got the player they wanted from the 2014 draft (Jake Lever). The critics of trade week 2014 are silenced and that stench of optimism that would’ve been present in the 2015 pre-season is there, just a year later.
Barneythecrab
Guest
Sorry mate but Otten and Van berlo are no easily replaceable. Your talking about our captain and a key defender. Not sure who you go for Tom but is your captain and main voice of leadership on the ground replacable? I'm not for once suggesting that the crows would have played in a prelim etc I was saying that missing key players does not help your team achieve its best especially if it's 9( 7 for those that think Reilly and Shaw are not) just have a look at port or Collingwood an see how they performed when they lost some players this year.
TomC
Roar Guru
I agree with Josh. Shaw and Reilly are eminently replacable, as is Otten and Van Berlo to a lesser extent. Kerridge is a strange one to include for other reasons. Still very raw and he didn't even miss many games. Very, very hard to make a case that Adelaide would've performed better in 2014 if he'd been available more often. 'Bags of goals' is an exaggeration to say the least. For some reason, he loves the Kangaroos. Had two big games against them but I don't think he's kicked more than a couple against anyone else.
Barneythecrab
Guest
Really, Shaw, Rielly an Kerridge are not vital players? A fit shaw, who missed a lot of football this year through injury is very important in our defense. Same goes for rielly he had an outstanding 2012 and a solid 13. He is now our most mature and experienced player through defense and plays a big role. Kerridge is one of our up and coming stars, he may be a tagger but he also kicks bags of goals, couple of bags of six I believe and tags top players out. Did you watch him on Griffen, pendles, Harvey etc over the past 2 years? Yes they may not be danger and co but they make up our best 22 and when 9 are missing it does make it hard.
Josh
Expert
How good would the Crows look with Tippett, Gunston, Davis and Bock still in the side, not to mention two extra first round draft picks? Been a nightmare couple of years for them off-field.
Josh
Expert
I don't know that I'd call the likes of Shaw, Kerridge, Reilly "extremely vital" players for the Crows - Reilly and Shaw spent most of their year in the SANFL (Reilly actually missed only a single game all year, and that was through "soreness"), and Kerridge really just plays as a tagger. If you were missing guys like Dangerfield, Sloane, Talia etc through injury for large chunks of the year then I would agree injuries were a big impact, but guys like Shaw, Kerridge and Reilly are barely best 22 let alone "extremely vital" IMO.
Josh
Expert
Martin was definitely impressive in the latter half of the year, I'll be interested to see how he keeps it up next year.
Floyd Calhoun
Guest
Sure is. The stench of hope is upon their faces as well. I'm struggling with it. Maybe it just means smugness.
TomC
Guest
'The stench of optimism'. That's a new one.
Barneythecrab
Guest
Agree loving Brodie Martin. Some of his marks running backwards into play in defense were amazing. And I'm sure if he was a well known players we would have had a little commentary on them.
Barneythecrab
Guest
Crouch, Walker, van berlo, Henderson, Otten, lynch, Shaw, Kerridge and Riley. these are all extremely vital players for the crows. 9 of your best 22 is pretty significant and depth for most teams would not cover this.You may not follow them so you may not know what role each player has for team. Yes they were not all out for the entire season. Injury isn't an excuse but if you took that amount of key players, as we saw with Collingwood, out with injury there is not much a team can do. I def acknowledge that some teams are great like the Hawks and can do it. But I'm def not suggesting the crows are in the same ballpark as the Hawks.
Radelaide
Guest
Certainly I think Sando lost the players and there was no development but also the bottom rung of the team seems quite weak. I think you are suffering from A. Players leaving, having tippett, Gunston, Davis and even Bock would've helped these last couple of years. B. Finishing mid table so you never get better picks than pick 10 ( although trading that for pick 14 could hurt if Cockatoo bursts on the scene), remember Hawthorn bottomed out and used priority picks to build the team they now have and C. The Tippett scandal cost you a top 10 pick playing this year and who knows who that could've been also I think the club had a slight air of superiority about it that allowed it to sit on it's backside but that's starting to change when Trigg left.
Leigh Devlin
Roar Rookie
Fair point Josh with pick 10. In hindsight Lever would've been there on the night but considering the retirement of Rutten, the lack of a 3rd tall (depending on Hartigan's development possibly lack of 2nd tall) and Levers standing within the current crop they may have sprung him at 3. Of course none of this ever eventuated anyway so no harm no foul. The Brodie Martin/Smith was an editing mistake (I originally had Smith of course), in saying that though I thought Martin had a break out year and was one of those bottom six that you speak about that actually stood up
Josh
Expert
To be honest I think most people overstate the impact of injury on players. Ever club has to deal with injuries during the year and most players are carrying something of a niggle through all or most of the season. The best clubs are the ones that still put in good performances. The Hawks had an awful run with injury this year and still won the flag comfortably. The Crows were missing eight of their best players for a huge chunk of the season? The only ones I can really think off who had significant layoffs through injury and would be generally a part of the best 22 are Crouch, Walker, Van Berlo, Lynch, Otten and Henderson. And I'd say only two of those in Crouch and Walker are seriously big losses, and they were both fit for about 3/4 of the season still. So I'm not sure who you mean by '8 of their best'. Still had Dangerfield, Sloane, Thompson, Smith, Talia, Jenkins, Betts, Jacobs, Douglas etc play essentially full seasons, as I said, a pretty damn strong top group. It's the kind of group that should be playing finals. Like I said though, I think the issue is that once that top order drops off, there's just not much depth after that and the Crows are left playing a handful of pretty average players every week. Development is an interesing point to make - no doubt a lack of first round picks has hurt there as well. It'll be interesting to see which, if any, of the fringe players can get a bit of life breathed into them by a new coach. Lyons? Shaw? Grigg? If guys like that can step up I think the Crows will make finals comfortably.
Barneythecrab
Guest
I think everyone forgets the impact of injury on players, mentality of the team and the effect on their ability to win games. The crows were missing 8 of there best players for a huge chunk of the season and never gained stability. Everyone talks about how Port only slowed down towards the end of the season because they had injuries to 2 key players. Try having 8. Also a massive problem with adelaide is that the development of players defiantly stagnated over the past 2 years. Luke thompson, Petrenko and Laird are players who def have been effected by this. And unfortunatly Petrenko and Thompson are now delisted.
Radelaide
Guest
The Dees said they didn't offer both 2 & 3
Josh
Expert
Brodie Martin? I think you're thinking of Brodie Smith. Couldn't the Crows have traded for picks 2 & 3 and then taken Lever with pick 10, which they would still have? Not saying they should have done it - and I don't think Paddy would have agreed to a trade to Melbourne - but I don't see any reason that they would've had to pick Lever at pick 3 given they would still have 10 (or 14, if they did the Geelong trade again). Issue for the Crows I think is that they have a very talented top order, but their bottom six is a bit of a liability - they don't seem to have a great deal of competition for spots and week in, week out are playing a handful of guys who probably would not get games at most clubs. If you look at just the best half of their team they have as much star power as any other side in the game, IMO. So in terms of the future being bright, that's their main issue to look at I think (and obviously re-signing that top order is important too). If they lose Patty they still have a lot of talent up the top, as you suggested, it would hardly be an "end of the world" scenario.