I must apologise for the length of time between articles. This article looks at some problem areas at the Adelaide Crows and discusses what could be done to produce winning performances from the team.
After witnessing an insipid performance against Melbourne on the weekend I would like to briefly discuss three areas; Leadership, Game Plan and Personnel.
In terms of Leadership, the simple question arises: “Is Nathan Van Berlo the right man for the job?”
Based on the performances that I have seen this year, the answer is no. The word from West Lakes is that Van Berlo is a natural leader, but performances on field do not suggest this to be the case. A leader of men needs to be fearless, uncompromising and passionate about the cause. Leaders command respect just by their presence and motivate their army, their followers and their men to perform great deeds.
However on Sunday against Melbourne, I saw a Captain who dropped his head at a crucial time. A captain who did not chase the opposition player which every last bit of energy he could muster. It was very disappointing moment and something that no other Adelaide Captain would ever do. This attitude quickly spread through the players as a result. Yes, it is Van Berlo’s first year as captain, but based on this performance the future is not very encouraging.
So, who should replace Van Berlo if he should be deposed of the Captaincy?
My choices are Scott Thompson, Kurt Tippett and Patrick Dangerfield, although the latter is still very young so we are left with Scott Thompson and Kurt Tippett. For my mind, Tippett has too much responsibility at Full Forward as the spearhead with additional Ruck duties thrown in to be given the Captaincy as well. This leaves Thompson as my choice for Captainm this is based on his determinination and his on-field presence.
Are the playing personnel a problem?
This could be one aspect in Adelaide’s favour as the playing is fairly young and Adelaide currently has the longest injury list in the AFL. The list will take time to develop and there are encouraging signs with Luke Thompson, Rory Sloane and Sam Jacobs to name a few. Adelaide has also recently lost well over 1000 games of experience with the retirements of Riccuito, McLeod, Burton, Goodwin and Edwards so there is a lack of on-field presence when times are tough. That said senior players currently within the side need to stand up during games and the Captain’s example mentioned above does not set a good precedent.
Does Adelaide’s game plan need tweaking?
It become obvious at the Melbourne game that when Adelaide were in trouble the players went back to chipping the ball around and the game plan of rushing the ball forward became non-existent. Is this because the players on the ground are not able to execute the game plan under pressure?
However, there are still question marks over Craig’s ability to change plan mid-game when circumstances change in a match. There have been times when Craig goes defensive when in an attacking position. The semi-final against Collingwood in 2009 is an example. So are there other game plans in Craig’s repertoire or is it time for new blood?
