Adelaide defender Will Hamill says the potential to make Club history is an exciting position to be in, ahead of the Crows’ SANFL Preliminary Final against Sturt this Sunday.
Having reached this point on three occasions since entering the SANFL in 2014, a victory over the Double Blues would lead Adelaide to its first State League Grand Final appearance.
The chance of playing in a maiden flag decider comes after an impressive 2023 minor round, in which Adelaide won 13 games and finished third on the ladder.
Speaking to AFC Media ahead of the do-or-die clash, Hamill said players were determined to “put their best foot forward” and hoped to etch their names into Club history.
“I’m pretty excited to get out there against Sturt this weekend, we’ve played them a couple of times over the last month and feel we have a good gauge on how they like to play,” Hamill said.
“Obviously the Preliminary Final is as far as we’ve ever got in the SANFL, so the group is super determined to put our best foot forward and get a result.
“We want to go where no Crows SANFL team has gone before, and a win on Sunday would achieve that goal.”
The Crows will enter the clash having split the first two matches of their finals campaign.
They beat Sturt a fortnight ago, before falling to Minor Premier Glenelg last Sunday.
Hamill said the squad learnt a lot from its shortcomings against the Tigers and was confident it could turn its form around.
“In our review we talked about how our scoreboard pressure wasn’t quite there (last week) when we were ahead of the game, and didn’t stem the flow well enough when they got their tails up,” Hamill said.
“They are a good side and one bad quarter is all it takes to lose, and fingers crossed we get another crack at them.
“But we learned a lot from the game that we can take into this weekend against Sturt, and we are confident we have what it takes to get the job done against them.”
From a personal point of view, Hamill has been one of the Crows’ standout contributors in the finals series thus far, registering 17 and 21 disposals, respectively, while providing crucial line-breaking speed from defence.
He said the experience of playing finals footy had been invaluable for his development.
“It’s been great getting the opportunity to play finals footy on Adelaide Oval,” Hamill said.
“I’ve just tried to find a bit of consistency over these last two weeks and it’s been nice to put in a couple of solid performances.”
Adelaide takes on Sturt in the SANFL Preliminary Final at Adelaide Oval on Sunday at 3.15pm.
The winner will take on Glenelg in the Grand Final the following week.
