Being a Crows fan living in Victoria is not easy. Just ask member Joel Smith, who will write for afc.com.au in 2012. Here is his first Out of Victoria blog ….
Season 2012. Are you kidding me? Already? Fortunately, there are no unfortunates here. A new era is upon us at the Adelaide Football Club and we have already lived up to high expectations.
So let’s go back to the start. Actually where is the start? Was it Patty Dangerfield’s convincing Grand Final Sprint victory all those months back on that first day in October? Or was it S. Thompson receiving 12 votes to be our number one player at the Brownlow? Or perhaps Bernie Vince and Richard Douglas’ call up to play for Australia in the International Rules Series?
No, I think we should start on September 19, 2011, where Brenton Sanderson (#Sando2012) was announced as the new coach of the Adelaide Football Club. After almost eight years at the club, it was time that Neil Craig stepped down as senior coach and handed the reigns over to someone else. And who better than Sando - who has spent the last five years down at the more than successful cattery. I can confidently say that out of all the five new coaches appointed for Season 2012, we have certainly secured the best one.
Trade Week arrived ever so quickly and to some surprise, we were quite active.
Having already lost Phil Davis to GWS, Jack Gunston was next, going to Hawthorn in exchange for a first round draft pick. We also lost Ivan Maric to Richmond and Tony Armstrong went to Sydney but there was also some incoming traffic. We secured promising Tom Lynch from St Kilda, Lewis Johnston (who can play at both ends) returned from the Swans and at the last minute Josh Jenkins (a tall utility) crossed from Essendon. And then the Crows secured Norwood teenager Luke Brown and young Victorian Brad Crouch in deals with GWS.
The squad was back training under Sando on November 7 and it quickly became clear that there was going to be a strong emphasis on strength. He even had them pulling Toyotas! The changes kept coming, with another batch of new Crows listed through the national and rookie drafts.
Living in Victoria means very little Crows news filters through the media. But in early February we saw best mates Matthew Jaensch and Taylor Walker have a go at each other during a tough training session and even though they were just playing around, the perception was that Sando’s more physical and aggressive approach was on show.
At last the footy started. Snippets of information from the internal trial excited us and then it was time to see a bunch of new recruits in the NAB Cup. After a few fullback torpedoes from Jaensch and some promising play from Lynch up forward, we had secured our first win. As the weather changed and the storm rolled in, game two against Port Adelaide was very tight. The result - Adelaide by one point. Sam Shaw and Jared Petrenko were noted as ones to watch.
Jason Porplyzia was back for our second NAB Cup game against the Brisbane Lions in Alice Springs. The Crows also unveiled Brad Crouch for the first time and Patrick Dangerfield filled in as skipper and was best afield.
Eight senior players returned last Friday night to take on Collingwood but it was Porplyzia, Dangerfield and Sloane who again shone. Only eight points up at the long break, enter Ian Callinan and Brodie Smith who both ripped the game apart. Kicking eight goals to two solitary behinds in the final term, the game was well and truly over and the Adelaide Crows were into their sixth pre-season grand final.
Our draw this season has been somewhat cited as a ‘good one’. We will wait and see! As far as top eight sides from 2011 go, we only have to play Sando’s ex-club Geelong twice and we are one of only two teams to play GWS and the Gold Coast twice. The first five rounds offer at least four winnable games, which will excite most fans after the very poor start we had last year. Whilst it is sad that as a Victorian member, I only get to see the boys play five times over here rather than at least the usual six, I do get the opportunity to travel up to the SCG to watch them against the Swans for the first time since 2008. Big games to look out for include being the home team in the first Showdown (Round 5), Sando fronting up against his old club in front of a home crowd (Round 7) and our only Friday night home game against the Saints (Round 12).
One thing that I am really excited about this year is the return of Porplyzia. After such a horrible run of shoulder injuries, he is back better than ever. Described by Sando as ‘a freak in the gym’ and crowned Adelaide’s strongest player in 2012 - he has a lot to live up to and I wholeheartedly believe that he can do this. We are in for a massive year and I hope that Porplyzia will play a big part in it.
In terms of the NAB Cup, we go into Saturday night’s grand final at home as slight favourites. Seven players with less than 20 games of experience have been put to the challenge, including defender Sam Shaw and draftee Sam Kerridge, who are yet to make their regular-season AFL debuts.
Opponents West Coast seem to have been our bogey team over the years - only winning three of the past 11 matches (premiership season and finals) against them - but the eye is definitely on the prize on Saturday night. Hopefully this isn’t the only silverware we will be playing for in Season 2012.
- - Joel Smith (Victorian Member)
