IS IT time for some change at Adelaide?
Perennial contenders, the Crows have represented the best of the AFLW since the League began. They've qualified for seven of the nine finals series', won three premierships, and reached the preliminary final stage in each of the last five seasons.
But they've struggled to get over the hump in recent seasons. On Saturday evening they lost to Brisbane by 18 points, last year, North Melbourne knocked them out by one point, and in 2022 season seven, they fell to Brisbane by 23 points.
Maintaining some of the best players in the competition, and rarely adding players through the trade period, has meant the Crows have been the picture of consistency.
But could one or two bigger additions, as North Melbourne has done in recent seasons with Kate Shierlaw and Libby Birch, help them get back to the pinnacle?
"We love consistency, we think consistency is super important in terms of keeping your group together, keeping an understanding amongst you, building as a group. But I think a bit of a breath of fresh air in the Crows in terms of playing list wouldn't go astray," Gemma Bastiani said on Credit to the Girls.
"We always talk about, 'Oh, they've always been so impervious to expansion'. The only time they really lost players was (when) Port Adelaide (came in). Players don't leave that club. Maybe they need to move some players on to get some fresh eyes in so that they're not doing the same thing every time.
"And I'm not saying trade out an Ebony Marinoff, but maybe if a player is starting to entertain interest elsewhere, maybe that's your look of going 'Okay, let's try something new here'. I don't think that would be the worst thing in the world."
Of Adelaide's 2024 AFLW list, just four have come from other clubs. Sarah Goodwin (Port Adelaide), Niamh Kelly (West Coast), and Hannah Munyard (Western Bulldogs) all started their careers elsewhere, while Jess Allan began at the Crows, before a couple of years with Greater Western Sydney, only to return in 2023.
This is the fewest of any list in the League this year. Instead, the Crows have used the draft, and developed players over the long term – an admirable achievement – opting to take the slow burn approach with players.
Their three recruits in 2024, Brooke Boileau, Amy Boyle-Carr, and Lily Tarlinton played a combined 12 games for the season.
"They haven't had many high draft picks the last couple of years. Granted, Port Adelaide had taken a lot of that, those sorts of picks from them, but I think, thinking about the North-Port game and the way we just spoke about it in terms of the contributors and players that can step up, I don't really see that in the Crows," Lucy Watkin said.
"And when the game was on the line in the third quarter, Ebony Marinoff, you know, trying her heart out, not to say they all weren't, but who is that player that is bottom 10 on the ground, that's going to step up and make a difference. Like a Taylah Gatt, like a Piper Window."
That's not to say it's time for wholesale change at Adelaide, after all, preliminary finals themselves are hard to reach. But a tweak here or there wouldn't go astray.
"I think Doc Clarke is an incredible coach, I think they've got some incredible players and they play for him. So, I'm not suggesting that sort of change," Bastiani said.
"Just a Libby Birch and a Vikki Wall coming back to North Melbourne, like those sorts of changes. One or two players that can give you a different perspective. Because they've had a very similar perspective for eight years, nine years now."
