Leading the way

Tom Lynch will lead Adelaide in the absence of captain Taylor Walker and also vice-captain Rory Sloane. Lynch, 27, was also skipper for the Club’s first JLT Community Series clash with Fremantle in February.

It will be the first time since Round 19, 2013, when Nathan van Berlo was captain that the Crows will be without both Walker and Sloane. It’s a rare occurrence for Adelaide to field a team without its appointed captain and vice-captain.  

With Walker injured, Sloane has skippered the Crows in Round One in the past two years. The two-time Club Champion also assumed the mantle in Round 23 last season.

Sloane and former teammate Patrick Dangerfield shared the on-field captaincy duties in 2014 when van Berlo was ruled out for the season with a ruptured Achilles. Two-time All Australian Scott Thompson also stepped in for van Berlo for three games in 2013.

Van Berlo had experience in the interim role prior to becoming captain in 2011, taking the reins from an injured Simon Goodwin in the season prior. Goodwin himself was acting captain for Mark Ricciuto who retired in 2007 after being limited to nine games for the season.

Adelaide has only had seven full-time captains in its history: Chris McDermott, Tony McGuinness, Mark Bickley, Ricciuto, Goodwin, van Berlo and Walker.

Lynch, Walker, Sloane and young midfielder Matt Crouch make up Adelaide’s senior leadership group for 2018.

Contesting Cripps

Carlton is currently also minus its captain, with 23-year-old Patrick Cripps in charge while Marc Murphy recovers from a foot injury.

At 195cm, Cripps is taller than Taylor Walker but plays as an inside midfielder and is a contested ball beast. The West Australian is enjoying a brilliant season in spite of his team’s winless start.

Cripps leads the League for contested possessions with 113 after six rounds – 11 more than the next-best player, Hawthorn onballer Tom Mitchell, and substantially more than the top-ranked Crow Hugh Greenwood who is 12th with 76.

Cripps is also second for clearances (50) behind Mitchell, while Bryce Gibbs is the top-ranked Crow (39) in this statistic. In addition, Cripps ranks eighth for tackles (40).

It will be interesting to see how the Crows approach Cripps. Will Don Pyke back his own hard-ball winners Matt Crouch, Greenwood, Gibbs and Cameron Ellis-Yolmen to win their share? Or will Adelaide put time into the emerging superstar of the competition?

Once in a Blue moon

With AFL in its fifth season at the redeveloped Adelaide Oval, it seems odd that the Crows and Blues have never met at the venue but that is indeed the case leading into Saturday night’s game. Carlton has only played at the ground twice, both losses to Port Adelaide in 2014 and 2017.

Experienced Blues Matthew Kreuzer and Dale Thomas, who have played nearly 400 games combined, have never experienced the venue, and former Crows Matthew Wright and Sam Kerridge and ex-Port Adelaide defender Cam O’Shea are the only members of the selected Carlton team to have played in a win at Adelaide Oval.

When the Crows and Blues last met in South Australia at Football Park in Round Four, 2010, Eddie Betts and Bryce Gibbs were wearing navy blue and Taylor Walker was playing just his 18th AFL game.

Will they be nice to Bryce?

Crows recruit Bryce Gibbs has admitted to having mixed emotions ahead of his first game against the club where he played 231 games over 11 years.

Gibbs, who remains friends with a host of Blues, is expecting some attention from his former teammates on Saturday night, but he won’t be the only player on the ground with ties to both clubs.

After starting their careers at Carlton, Eddie Betts and Sam Jacobs will also line up for Adelaide while ex-Crows Matthew Wright, Sam Kerridge and Ed Curnow will play for the Blues.

Eddie Betts and Bryce Gibbs as Blues