Crows coach Matthew Nicks will resist the temptation to plug Rory Sloane or Ben Keays in at centre bounces towards a strong-bodied Richmond midfield, backing in his youthful gamers.
Adelaide’s midfield performances impressed Nicks over the pre-season and there was no pressing want to vary plans following the disappointing spherical 1 loss to GWS, he stated.
Jake Soligo (16 disposals and 4 clearances) and Harry Schoenberg (16 and two clearances) had been the popular choices to accompany Rory Laird and Sam Berry at centre bounces towards the Giants, with Nicks adamant the younger pair deserved time to settle into the season.
They will face the daunting activity at centre bounces of Dion Prestia and Richmond’s two new inside bulls, Tim Taranto and Jacob Hopper.
“We’ve still got a lot of faith in the young group,” Nicks stated.
“Seven days earlier, we probably had one of our best performances in that area, but in saying that, we’re extremely flexible in what players we get through that area.
“On the weekend it was just a couple of key moments in the game where we gave our opponent field position … it was a five-minute period where if we had our time again, we’d get a couple of key points right in that moment.”
Nicks stated Sloane and Keays would nonetheless be essential midfield contributors at totally different factors all through the season, because the Crows tried to inject some “freshness” into their on-ball brigade.
“Keays is still very much in the mix for us on ball, as is Rory Sloane,” he stated.
“We’ve got no issue with who’s in at the centre bounce … probably one of the things we’re working on is having flexibility for a number of people to go through.
“There’s a balance there, you don’t want a merry-go-round, you want players to be able to settle in and get to work … Sloane didn’t get in there last week but he will across the coming month, and there’ll be times where we need his experience and we need his freshness.”
Adelaide added extra run to their aspect for Saturday’s conflict with Richmond by bringing in Lachlan Sholl for key defender Jordon Butts, whereas Nicks stated Riley Thilthorpe had been troublesome to go away out after he “dominated a game” within the SANFL.
Sholl had been in excellent kind and was trusted to ship right away for the Crows, Nicks stated.
The problem for the 23-year-old was to discover a method to proceed having the identical affect on video games when opponents’ health caught up, Nicks stated.
“Sholly is at his best at the moment and strike while the iron’s hot … Sholly really starts seasons well, he’s shown that to us, the challenge is to keep it going right through the year,” Nicks stated.
“There’s not many that run quite the distance he does and we feel that’s really important against Richmond.
“The game changes a little during the middle of the season … he’s an absolute professional when it comes to his preparation, and sometimes he gets the jump on a lot of players throughout the league.”
Source: www.news.com.au
