Ruckman Sam Jacobs believes Adelaide’s six-day turnaround between games could prove a blessing in disguise heading into Friday night’s blockbuster battle with Geelong at Adelaide Oval.
The Crows fell 15-points short of the Western Bulldogs on Saturday night in a high-scoring shootout at Etihad Stadium.
The home side led at every change and, while Adelaide remained in contention until the dying minutes, the Crows were bettered in almost every key indicator. The Bulldogs dominated the disposal count, almost doubled Adelaide’s inside 50m entries, and smashed the Crows in clearances.
Sam Jacobs said the brief break between matches was exactly what the Club needed.
“It’s great it’s only a six-day break because it’s the closest chance we get to rectify our performance,” Jacobs said on Monday.
“Obviously there was some key areas we were down in, most notably was centre bounce (clearances). We leaked too many forward 50 entries as well, which stems from centre bounce.
“It’s obviously an integral part of my game. We’ve got a lot of seasoned players in the centre bounce and it’s not something that we want to be known for.
“We’ll seek to change (that) this week.”
Aside from tall forward Josh Jenkins, who kicked a career-best eight goals, many of Adelaide’s most important players were below their best in Saturday’s loss to the Dogs.
Conversely, Geelong enjoyed a convincing 44-point win over West Coast at Simonds Stadium last round with several key Cats finding form, including captain Joel Selwood, veteran Jimmy Bartel and former Crow Patrick Dangerfield.
Jacobs said his ex-teammate would be treated just like any other opponent once the ball was bounced on Friday night.
“He’s just another player for another team,” Jacobs said of Dangerfield.
“We’re very respectful of how good of a player he is, but along with that, obviously they’ve got some real quality players with Selwood and blokes like Cam Guthrie and Josh Caddy who are having fantastic years as well.
“We’re very respectful of their good players and we’ll have to be on our game this week.”
Friday night’s clash with the second-placed Cats looms as an important one in the context of Adelaide’s season. The Crows are currently clinging to eighth place on the ladder with a 4-3 record, but could slip well down the table with another loss this week.
“The way the season’s panning out, I think every week’s going to be big,” Jacobs said.
“There’s some real quality teams around now. You can see any team beating any other side every week. The better teams and the teams down the lower end of the ladder - the gap’s really closing.
“We look no further than Geelong this week.”
