After a 135-point, injury-free win against Greater Western Sydney, Sunday could not have ended better for coach Brenton Sanderson and his Adelaide team.
But off the field, the day started out in disastrous fashion.
Already without strategy and innovation coach Dean Bailey (suspension) and football manager Graeme Dunstan (ill), the Crows were forced to start the game against GWS minus Bailey’s match day replacement and opposition analyst Rob Harding (ill) and five support staff.
Harding was unable to make his flight from Melbourne, while physical performance coach and match-day runner Matthew Bode, physiotherapist Kevin Whitford, Doctor Mark Cesana, GPS analyst Jarryd Wallace and statistical analyst Bernie McNamara arrived at the match during the second quarter after experiencing flight delays.
The travel party’s 6:00am flight out of Adelaide was diverted to Melbourne because of fog in Sydney. They eventually arrived at Sydney Airport around lunchtime and then had to make the hour-long drive to Skoda Stadium.
To cover the group’s absence, a host of Crows staffers were thrown into unfamiliar roles. Travelling emergencies Ian Callinan and Ricky Henderson were put to work. Callinan took Harding’s seat in the coach’s box and Henderson also spent time covering for McNamara (who had been assigned the task of filling in for Dunstan).
Leadership and development manager Paddy Steinfort took his role on the bench to another level, donning the sky blue outfit as a runner until Bode arrived. Communications manager David Burtenshaw assumed Steinfort’s traditional role of relaying messages from the coaches to the players.
Coach Brenton Sanderson said he was proud of the entire group’s ability to overcome the pre-match obstacles.
“We were plugging holes before the bounce,” Sanderson said.
“Dean Bailey is suspended and Rob Harding, who replaces Dean in the box on match day, was ill and couldn’t fly up (from Melbourne). We had Ian Callinan – one of our emergencies – coaching in the coach’s box. One of our media team was actually a coach on the bench in a role he’d never done before.
“We were putting band aids on a lot of problems, but we kept calm and I’m really proud of how the whole footy club responded to that today.”
The Crows host St Kilda at AAMI Stadium onSunday night. Tickets are available now at afc.com.au/tickets
