Ben Rutten didn’t play a single minute of football in the pre-season competition, but you would never have known judging by his performance in Adelaide’s 69-point win over Gold Coast at Metricon Stadium on Saturday.
Rutten, who battled plantar fasciitis in the early stages of the pre-season, opted for foot surgery to correct the condition in late-January.
The reliable 28-year-old’s recovery from surgery went according to plan until last Monday when he left the training track with soreness in a different part of his foot.
The scare temporarily put in doubt Rutten’s round one return, but the Crows selectors didn’t hesitate to pick the All-Australian full-back after he completed Wednesday’s main training session.
Rutten rewarded the Club’s faith on Saturday afternoon, playing his part in a defence that conceded only 10 goals in near-perfect scoring conditions.
“I’ve been doing a fair bit of stuff at training, so I wasn’t too worried (about going into round one without any match practice),” Rutten told afc.com.au after the game.
“It was just a little scare during the week.
“I suppose I was a bit sensitive to any feeling in the foot after the operation.
“It (leaving training) was a bit more of a precaution than anything.”
“I’m a little bit stiff and sore now, but it’s good to get through the game well and I’ll move on from here.”
Rutten and fellow backmen Daniel Talia, Michael Doughty and Andy Otten, who also impressed in the big win over the Suns, didn’t have a lot to defend in the first quarter as Adelaide piled on 7.8 to Gold Coast’s 3.1.
However, the Suns lifted their intensity in the second quarter and the Crows slipped back into some bad habits.
“It was a good way to start the season,” Rutten said.
“It’s always important to get a fast start especially away from home, and we were focused on keeping the form that we showed over the pre-season.
“At times we lost our way a little bit and there were a few momentum swings.
“We got a little bit fancy, trying to handball a bit too much and going away from what we did in the first quarter really well.
“Once we addressed that, started kicking long again and winning some contests we started to get a bit of control over the game again.
“Footy is going to be like that all year I think in terms of the momentum swings.”
The inaccurate Crows finished the match with 42 scoring shots (19.23) from a remarkable 73 inside50ms.
Imposing forward Kurt Tippett was a catalyst in Adelaide’s fast start, kicking four first-half goals.
Taylor Walker impressed throughout the game, slotting five goals and promoted rookie Ian Callinan also looked dangerous, kicking 2.5 and putting another shot out of bounds on the full.
“Tippo and Tex are big guys and if we keep getting the ball inside 50m more and more, no defender wants to play on big, strong targets like those two,” Rutten said.
“I’m really pleased for them.”
