Adelaide season preview: Star mid returns as Crows look to fly up the ladder

After a difficult 2020 campaign that saw the Crows lose their opening 13 games and finish on the bottom of the ladder, most people were expecting much of the same in 2021 from Matthew Nicks side.

Yes, they still finished bottom four but there was significant improvement across the board and Crows fans could finally start to see the future.

Adelaide finished with seven wins in season 2021 and were much more competitive with a percentage of 82. With impressive wins against Geelong in Round 1 and eventual premiers Melbourne by 1 point in Round 10, there also came plenty of big losses, especially from Round 16 onwards the Crows lost to Brisbane by 52, Essendon by 63, West Coast by 42, the Western Bulldogs by 49 and Melbourne by 41.

The Crows will want to be competitive in games for longer and hope their youngsters can keep developing with plenty of them showing promise.

None were more impressive than Ben Keays, a Brisbane castaway who couldn’t get a game in a loaded Brisbane midfield, playing just four games over his last two seasons at the Gabba.

After crossing to West Lakes at the end of 2019, he was given the role of tagger during his first season in Adelaide which opened his eyes to how the stars of the competition go about finding the ball and impacting the game.

After playing well in the role and playing 16 games, he was unleashed in 2021 as a midfielder and he flourished, averaging 28 disposals a game while also keeping up with his defensive responsibilities with six tackles a game.

After not reaching the 30 disposal mark during the first month of the season, he had 30+ disposals ten times including a six week run averaging 32 a game.

Keays also hit the scoreboard kicking 12.8 for the year and now as he approaches 25 years of age, hopes to become a star midfielder for an Adelaide engine room featuring two stars in Rory Laird and Rory Sloane and the return of star midfielder Matt Crouch after an injuring affected 2021.

Matt Crouch has never had a problem finding the ball, he had 37 disposals in a grand final in which his team lost by 48 points.

After missing 2021 with continued groin soreness after having hip surgery in the 2020 off-season, he hopes to return into a midfield that looks completely different since the last time he stepped foot out on the park.

The emergence of Rory Laird from a half back flanker to a star mid, Keays making a midfield spot his own, former Swan Jordan Dawson crossing to the club and looking to move into the middle and a young brigade of the likes of Schoenberg and new draftee and number six pick Josh Rachele all in the fold for midfield minutes.

Ben Keays (Photo by James Elsby/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

Midfield depth is never a bad thing in modern football but it will be interesting how Nicks and Co manage their onballers and which ones can be versatile enough to play other positions. Dawson played across half back and on the wing during his time in Sydney but Adelaide will be looking to use his penetrating leg to punch the ball inside forward 50 and hit the scoreboard.

Heading into 2022, Adelaide will be hoping to build on their seven wins and push themselves out of the bottom 4.

They will want to win their share of the ball more in 2022, ranking second last in disposals per game last season at 338 a game and will also want to hit the scoreboard more often, finishing 14th in both Inside 50s a game and total points scored.

The development of young key forwards Darcy Fogarty and Riley Thilthorpe will be instrumental in hitting the scoreboard especially with Taylor Walker being 31 and having his own off field issues at the end of the year.

They are into Year 3 of the rebuild and have now brought plenty of talent through the door, it’s time for the Crows to fly their way up the ladder and push the top 8 teams in 2022 on a regular basis.

Nicks isn’t under much heat at the moment having signed a contract extension until 2024 and while most would say he has done a fine job with a list that was lacking top end talent, if they regress and don’t push up the ladder or even worse, stay inside the bottom four this season the temperature meter will certainly go up and make 2023 very interesting for his long term prospects.

Adelaide play their first unofficial practice match at Metricon Stadium against Brisbane on Friday February 25th and will kick off their 2022 campaign at home against Fremantle on Sunday March 20.