Crows fans got their first look at several new players on Saturday as all eight 2019 draftees pulled on the tricolours for the side’s trial match against GWS at Richmond Oval.
Several Crows delivered impressive performances, despite the side going down to the Giants by 17 points.
Adelaide led the way in the first half, taking a five-point lead into the main break, but the visitors were the dominant side in the second half, kicking four goals to the Crows’ one.
AFLW coach Matthew Clarke said that while the team went down, he was pleased - particularly with the first half of the game.
“I thought we had good energy and saw some reasonable shape in the first half,” Clarke said.
“The second half got a little bit scratchy, but to be fair we threw the magnets in the air at half time, so there was some players out of traditional positions.
“Overall, we are pretty happy.”
Clarke was impressed by all of the eight players that played their first game for the Crows.
“I thought Jaimi Tabb had some great moments, really good pressure, Caitlin Gould and Montana McKinnon got in the air in the ruck and followed up really well, Nicole Campbell did some nice things out of the back half, as did Maddi Newman,” Clarke said.
“Courtney Gum showed that she is going to be a solid contributor, Najwa Allen ran through the middle and was able to kick a goal while Chelsea Biddell looked comfortable down back.”
Day for it down at Richmond Oval 🙌 Not long now until we’re underway #weflyasone #crowsaflw pic.twitter.com/9LaMug5Afp
— Adelaide Crows AFLW (@CrowsAFLW) January 17, 2020
In the first term, Stevie-Lee Thompson got the Crows on the board with a nice running goal, set up after Danielle Ponter took some running bounces through the middle of the ground.
McKinnon’s contested marking ability was also on display in the first quarter with some strong grabs on the wing.
Sarah Allan played well in defence, winning a number of one-on-one contests and she paired well with Dayna Cox to get the ball out of the defensive 50.
Sophie Li had a lot of the ball along the wing, while Gum and Allen kicked their first goals in Crows colours.
No injuries were reported out of the match.
Next weekend, the Crows will fly to Perth to take on Fremantle in another trial match on Saturday, January 25.
ADELAIDE 1.2 2.3 3.3 3.3 (21)
GWS 0.2 1.4 3.5 5.8 (38)
GOALS: Thompson, Gum, Allen
BEST: Allan, Li, Cox, Tabb, Campbell, Ponter