Critics across the border, while not doubting Adelaide’s competitiveness, have questioned whether the Crows have what it takes to go from fourth, third and eighth in the past three years to the top of the AFL ladder without bottoming out and gaining early draft picks.
Essendon premiership hero Tim Watson even suggested the struggling West Coast was closer to winning another flag than the currently sixth-ranked Crows.
Craig's stance on the issue of ‘rebuilding’, ‘tanking’ or ‘bottoming out’ has always been firm and he maintained there were other ways of develop a premiership-winning list.
“I don’t agree with it [bottoming out]. I think a premiership can be achieved by better or good selection with recruiting and doing a lot more work in that area, instead of saying, ‘well unless you get pick number one everyone else is useless’,” Craig said.
“I mean we all get a first-round pick. It’s [bottoming out] just not the nature of our football club to do that and it’s not the nature of me. I think I have a greater obligation to our playing squad to try and maximise what we do in this club and I think we have an obligation to our members and supporters.”
This year, Hawthorn, Collingwood and the Western Bulldogs have all showed the benefits of time served at the bottom of the ladder, but Craig was determined to make the most of what he’s got without sacrificing the club’s yearly goal of making the eight.
“I can say what I like and people will agree or disagree, but in the end, only time will tell. You get judged by what you do, not what you say,” Craig said.
“I think, to the best of my knowledge at the moment that Jon Griffin, Ivan Maric and Kurt Tippett are going to be outstanding AFL players. I think they can be premiership players.
“I think Bernie Vince, Jason Porplyzia, Chris Knights and Nathan van Berlo can be premiership players. My prediction is that I think Dave Mackay can be a premiership player and Andy Otten too, from what I’ve seen on the track. Andy is 18 years of age and our supporters and people making comment wouldn’t have seen him yet, so I have great faith in the talent that we have at the moment.
“Are they top-four draft picks? No, they’re not, but from my assessment, they’ve got enough talent to develop into that.
“I’m comfortable to go that way and I don’t like bottoming out.”
