FORMER first-round draft pick Jordan Gallucci has paid the price for an average summer, the Adelaide forward on the outer heading into the Crows' first pre-season game.
The 21-year-old wasn't even named in the emergencies for the Crows, who open their Marsh Community Series campaign against Melbourne at Casey Fields on Saturday.
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Out of contract at the end of the year, Gallucci – the 15th overall pick in the 2016 NAB AFL Draft – has the task in front of him if he is going to force his way into the side this year.
"Jordan just hasn't quite got to the point where he was up for selection this week. His pre-season has been OK without being to the level that he would like, or we would like at this point," Crows midfield coach Michael Godden told SEN SA on Friday.
"He has still got to work on his consistency, so what he does is bits of individual bits of brilliance … but the reality is that the game goes for longer than that, so he needs to keep working on his consistency.
"He is working hard at it, the coaches are working hard with him, but he hasn't quite made that jump at this stage."
Gallucci managed just 10 senior games last season, taking his total to 27 in his three seasons at the club.
He might have been hoping for a fresh start under new senior coach Matthew Nicks, but was left out of the extended 26-player squad that will face the Demons, along with the four emergency spots.
That was even with the Crows having seven players unavailable – including fellow half-forward Riley Knight – for the clash with the Demons, while new faces such as Ned McHenry, Shane McAdam and Ben Crocker have leap-frogged him in the pecking order, along with 2018 top-10 draftee Chayce Jones.
"(Gallucci) is an explosive athlete, so to be able to maintain his effort throughout a day is a difficulty for him, so he is working hard on it and a lot of players are in that same boat," Godden said.
"It takes them a while to keep that endurance in their game … and the other side is just maintaining his mental application.
"The game continues, it never stops, whether you're in defence or attack. Modern day football you have to be up the ground and back down the ground and at times, he lapses in applying that.
"He is progressing in that area, just hasn't quite got to that level yet."
