No reason to leave: Craig
Adelaide is hopeful forward Taylor Walker won't take his recent axing as a reason to join Greater Western Sydney
ADELAIDE coach Neil Craig says he's hopeful out-of-contract forward Taylor Walker will understand his recent axing from the team, and won't see it as a reason to join Greater Western Sydney next season.
Walker was left out of the team to play Gold Coast last weekend and failed to earn a recall this week, despite kicking seven goals for SANFL club Norwood.
The 21-year-old is rumoured to be in the sights of GWS and has put off contract talks with the Crows until the end of the season.
Craig reaffirmed Walker was a required player at the club, saying the talented goalkicker's situation was no different to that of Bernie Vince or Andy Otten, who are both yet to re-sign with the club and have also been dropped to the local league this season.
"I'd like to think that Taylor understands…and that Bernie Vince and Andy Otten understand that just because you get omitted from a side in this industry it doesn't mean the club doesn't want you, or that you're future is somewhere else," Craig said on Thursday.
"You've got to be stronger than that and I'm sure those players will be.
"There's no doubt in my mind that Taylor's got a future here, but I have a responsibility that the players have a skill set that enables them to perform for our team."
Craig praised Walker's "offensive" game for the Redlegs last weekend, but said he wanted to see more from the former NSW Scholarship holder defensively.
"Taylor was really good for Norwood in terms of his attitude and offensive work…but I still want a bit more from him in terms of what he's going to be exposed to when he comes back to AFL and that's the defensive action," he said.
"I also thought our forward line last week was very good. It's not Taylor's fault…but we had 11 different goal scorers, 16 tackles inside 50m and 10 or 11 scoring shots forced from our defensive pressure and I was keen just to stay with that structure."
Adelaide has named an unchanged team for the first time this season ahead of its clash with Collingwood at Etihad Stadium on Sunday.
Rookie Aidan Riley has been promoted to the senior list and will travel alongside midfielder Myke Cook as an emergency.
The Magpies will be without ruckman Darren Jolly (knee) and Alan Toovey (chest), but have named skipper Nick Maxwell and premiership player Dayne Beams.
The 12th-placed Crows are yet to record consecutive wins this season and have lost both games away from AAMI Stadium.
Craig said it was important his team learned to win on the road.
"We've been up and down. I thought last week we were back up with the top-end speed of our game. We need to do that again this week and we'll need to be at our absolute best in terms of contested ball and our pressure skills because they are Collingwood's hallmarks," he said.
"This group needs to show that they can do it away from here. Last time I checked I don't think the AFL was going to move finals out of Melbourne, so in this competition you need to be able to perform away."
The Crows should feel fresh this week, having restructured their training program to include one main session instead of two.
Craig said the decision to modify training was made by the coaches in consultation with the leadership group and the players, and allowed more time for recovery and "individual" development.