Adelaide and Essendon have met 37 times. On Friday night, the Bombers will be looking to square the ledger, which currently stands at 19 – 18 in the Crows’ favour.
The two teams have met just twice previously in Round One – in 2013 and 2007 at Football Park. Essendon came away with the win on both occasions.
The sides have played nine times at Etihad Stadium, with Essendon holding a narrow overall advantage 5 – 4. However, Adelaide has won four of the last five encounters at the venue.
The most recent meeting between the teams was in Round 21 last season when Adelaide came away with a 43-point win. On that night, Matt Crouch amassed 35 disposals at 83 per cent efficiency along with seven clearances to claim the three Brownlow votes.
Both Adelaide and Essendon were victorious in Round One last season. The Crows recorded an impressive 56-point win over Greater Western Sydney at Adelaide Oval, while Essendon started 2017 with a stirring 25-point with over Hawthorn at the MCG.
Adelaide and Essendon both played attacking styles in 2017. The Crows averaged 15.8 goals per game (ranked No.1 in the AFL) and the Bombers averaged 13.9 goals (ranked No.3).
Last year, Adelaide played six Friday night matches, coming away with four wins and two losses. Essendon played just twice on Friday nights last season for one win and one loss.
Don Pyke will coach his 50th AFL game on Friday night.
Pyke has led Adelaide to 34 wins and one draw, with a winning percentage of 69.4 per cent. This is the second-best winning percentage of current AFL coaches, just 1.3 per cent behind Geelong’s Chris Scott.
Coincidentally, Pyke made his AFL playing debut for West Coast against Essendon in Round One, 1989. He finished with 21 disposals and two goals in a losing side.
The Crows have confirmed that defender Tom Doedee and draftee Darcy Fogarty will debut against Essendon.
Doedee was recruited with pick No.17 in the 2015 AFL National Draft. The rebounding backman was the No.1 ranked intercept player in the SANFL last season, averaging 17 disposals, five marks and four rebound 50ms per game.
Doedee finished second in the 2017 State League Crows Club Champion award, just one vote behind the winner Scott Thompson.
Fogarty was selected with Adelaide’s first pick, No. 12 overall, in last year’s AFL National Draft.
Fogarty’s first three kicks in a Crows jumper all resulted in goals, with one against Fremantle in the Club’s opening JLT Community Series game and two first-quarter goals against Port Adelaide in the second match.
On Friday night, wingman Rory Atkins will play his 50th consecutive game in a stretch that began in Round One, 2016. During this period, Atkins has amassed 1,028 disposals and kicked 22 goals.
If selected, recruit Sam Gibson will stretch his remarkable streak of consecutive AFL games to 131, an achievement that stretches all the way back to his debut with North Melbourne in Round 12, 2012. It’s the longest current active steak of any player in the League.
The last time the Crows fielded two debutants in Round One was in 2016, when Wayne Milera Junior and Mitch McGovern pulled on the guernsey against North Melbourne.
