Amidst all the talk of the Tigers’ 35-year grand final drought, it’s easy to forget the Crows’ struggles over the past two decades for AFL’s Holy Grail.
On Friday night, Adelaide steamrolled Geelong to book themselves a place in their first grand final since 1998, breaking their preliminary final curse.
All the wash-up from the 2017 AFL Grand Final
» Match Report: Tigers are premiers
» BUCKLAND: Richmond go from rabble to flag
» Six talking points from the match
» Richmond Tigers player ratings
» Adelaide Crows player ratings
» Watch video highlights from the match
» Re-live the match with our live blog
For the best part of 20 years, Adelaide has been a good club, but never the best club. During this time, the Crows have been considered serious premiership contenders on multiple occasions, only to stumble the week before the big dance.
Since their last flag, they have made the finals 12 times, with four of those resulting in losing preliminary final appearances.
They’ve been good, but just not good enough.
The first came in 2002, with a loss to Collingwood at the MCG, however the stinging defeats came back-to-back in 2005-06, both at the hands of the West Coast Eagles.
Adelaide finished on top of the table in 2005, but just like three years prior, lost their qualifying final (this time against the Saints) and had to do it the hard way. They belted Port Adelaide to the tune of 83 points, before coming up against the in-form Eagles at Subiaco Oval.
After a tight first half, the Eagles ran over the Crows in the third quarter, kicking five goals to one. This ended up being the difference, the Eagles getting home by 16 points.
There was a sense of hope instilled in Adelaide after Week 1 of the 2006 finals, with a win over Fremantle gifting them a week off and a home preliminary final against West Coast at AAMI Stadium. The Crows found themselves 22 points up at halftime after containing the Eagles’ star-studded midfield and looked as if they were headed for the MCG.
But Adelaide lost their ruckman Rhett Biglands to an ACL injury in the second quarter, allowing the likes of Chris Judd, Ben Cousins, Daniel Kerr and Andrew Embley to gain first use of the footy from West Coast big man Dean Cox.
In scenes eerily reminiscent of the previous year, the Eagles stormed home in the second half to win by ten points, breaking the hearts of Crows supporters again.
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Their narrow loss to Hawthorn in 2012 mirrored some of their exits from previous series: secure a qualifying final then lose. Win a semi-final then lose in heart-breaking fashion in the preliminary a week later.
The last five minutes of the game was heart-in-your-mouth viewing, the Crows with opportunities to snatch victory and cause a huge upset, but history was doomed to repeat and they fell short.
Along with a string of finals defeats, Adelaide have frequently dealt with adversity since 2010.
A raft of high-profile players have left the club, including Patrick Dangerfield, Kurt Tippett, Phil Davis, Bernie Vince and Jack Gunston. The Crows suffered their worst season ever in 2011, with coach Neil Craig resigning mid-way through as the team finished 14th.
At the end of 2012, the club was fined $300,000 and lost its first two picks in the 2013 draft after being found guilty of breaching the salary cap and draft tampering in the Kurt Tippett trade.
The tragic death of Phil Walsh in 2015 shook the whole game to its core. It was nothing short of extraordinary that the side played finals that year, let alone won another game of footy after suffering such tragedy and pain. The emotional scenes after Adelaide’s first game back against West Coast reminded us all that there are much bigger things in life than footy.
It would be understandable for Crows supporters to be a little nervous heading into this weekend considering their club’s finals record, but Adelaide are the form side of the final, easily accounting for the Giants and Geelong, which is something they haven’t been able to accomplish in past years.
Their forward line is the best in the league, a well-structured unit stacked with talent that averages a league-high 108.9 points a game and is also ranked number one for marks inside 50, goal assists and goals.
Their midfield is tough, wins inside ball, and provides their forwards with plenty of scoring opportunities after topping the league for contested possessions, inside 50s and coming second for tackles.
Their defence is ranked fourth best in the league for scores against, only allowing teams to score 80.7 points on them.
By reaching this year’s grand final, Adelaide finally defeated their preliminary final demons. If they come to the MCG on Saturday with the same intensity and pressure as they did when they last faced Richmond in Round 6, the Crows will be celebrating their third premiership, lifting their September curse.
Pedro The Fisherman
Roar Rookie
My idea of a fun party is one that you aren't at. One were my fellow attendees aren't a group of born-to-rule and insulting wanna be's and never "wasers" ... but your lack of invites means that seems a likely outcome!
Pedro The Fisherman
Roar Rookie
Yes - it is an insular approach from a group that can not see the wood for the trees and think that they are born to rule. Sad really!
Kurt
Guest
Wow, sick burn Pedro. I guess your idea of a fun party is one where you stand there spouting ridiculous ideas and your mates laugh at you?
Col from Brissie
Roar Guru
Yeah, I am sure the NRL who are playing their Grand Final there the next day would be happy to have AFL line markings all over the surface and the ground management would be excited having about 12 hours to change all the sponsorship logos on and around the ground and have the arena cleaned and ready for 80,000 league supporters. I would imagine it might also be hard for supporters of both codes travelling from interstate to find accommodation too.
Pedro The Fisherman
Roar Rookie
Gee you could be fun at parties Kurt ... if only you could get invited. ANZ is not rectangular yet but may be headed that way (but that is not a done deal at this stage - plenty of opposition and an alternative stadium proposal has some legs). If every 2nd GF was on offer perhaps it would maintain its current dimensions?
Callum McGivern
Roar Rookie
An AFL Grand Final in Sydney? Not in this lifetime.
Lroy
Guest
ah yes, that was him, poor guy.
Mattyb
Guest
Pedro,the point about the fans is something the Victorians keep forgetting every time they mention the MCG capacity,I think it's only 17k tickets per club,plenty of people are missing out. Like I keep saying,I really think people have no understanding yet about the new facilities and security of the new Perth Stadium moving into a modern world,it's going to be a big game changer. We are moving into a different world. I remember when supporters were very much against expansion even though it saved the Vic clubs from bankruptcy,that's a good example of what we're dealing with,I have little doubt the GF will be shared for multiple reasons. The 2037 thing simply won't happen due to the need for the MCG to be majorly renovated before that date. Also,the GF will still be played at the MCG,it's not like anyone is going to propose it be moved away permenantly,it will just not be permenantly played in one state in a national competition.
Kurt
Guest
Yeah, let's totally hold the AFL Grand Final between a Melbourne team and an Adelaide team at a rectangular stadium in Sydney. That'll be a winner. Seriously, this is pretty much indicative of the level thought put into these arguments about moving the GF from the MCG.
Cat
Roar Guru
ANZ is going fulltime rectangle.
Pedro The Fisherman
Roar Rookie
We have 2 stadiums that hold above 75K today (MCG & ANZ). Lets rotate it among those 2 to start then? PS: the MCG will deny more than 50,000 fans from attending this game so that argument is actually moot!
Pedro The Fisherman
Roar Rookie
I assume that Richmond will be using the "Visitor" changerooms?
Cat
Roar Guru
A very very very overblown advantage Peter/Brayden/Pedro/MattyB
Kurt
Guest
An interesting logical fallacy. In effect what you're saying is that regardless of the actual results, the unfairness exists. But if this supposed unfairness doesn't manifest itself in results, how exactly do we construe its existence? The simple fact is that interstate clubs have a winning record against Vic clubs at the MCG on GF day. Very few of these premiership teams actually finished on top of the ladder at the end of the regular season, so the argument that they were so profoundly superior to everyone else holds little water. For example, the Crows won 2 premierships from 4th and 5th on the ladder respectively - and in both cases won against Melbourne clubs. Brisbane never won a minor premiership whilst the most recently non-Vic team to triumph, the Swans in 2012, finished 3rd and beat the team that finished top.
Peter the Scribe
Guest
The Pies riding the Bucks appointment will go one better than Richmond, from 13th to premiers, Richmond will be back to 9th.
Peter the Scribe
Guest
Why is it interstate have won half? Because the sides that won had to be way better than the local to compensate for their home ground advantage! Simple!!!!!
Peter the Scribe
Guest
While Kurt and Cat cuddle up to each other have you both gone insane? The simple fact is Richmond play their home games there!!!! Of course they have an advantage with familiarity of the ground!!!!!! What's wrong with you two?
Cat
Roar Guru
Thank you. It is odd people think the atmosphere is like other games - it is not.
Cat
Roar Guru
I agree there is the 'familiarity factor' regarding ground dimensions; however, I think that is a minor issue. Clubs and teams have all year to plan and train for different dimensions. This isn't some last minute surprise. Every club knows they will play several different dimensions throughout the year and can and should plan accordingly. IMO ground dimensions account for about 5% of the total 'home ground advantage'
Peter the Scribe
Guest
2037 Mattyb? That's about the next time the inept punt rd clowns will next make the finals after their embarrassing GF this year. We shouldn't forget this tragic club have been a disgrace since 1982, that's a lifetime of being a laughing stock joke of the AFL.