Adelaide Crows lack hunger in 2013

Crows midfield star Patrick Dangerfield has lifted his game to another level. Picture: Sarah Reed. Source: The Advertiser

IT is best to first deal with the facts.

Adelaide has won five games - against teams that will not play in finals this season (Brisbane, the Western Bulldogs, Greater Western Sydney, St Kilda and North Melbourne).

The Crows have lost seven matches - all to teams that rank above Adelaide in the premiership race, including Port Adelaide.

Adelaide has a 2-5 win-loss record at AAMI Stadium. This is a major change from last season when the Crows lost just two games at home.

Adelaide is averaging 92 points from an attack that has to be rebuild its look after losing key forwards Taylor Walker and Kurt Tippett. It has broken the 100-point barrier just three times.

This does not compare favourably with the record 106-point average the Crows achieved last season.

Now the subjective stuff, such as the Adelaide midfield appearing one dimensional rather than the league's best - as Geelong premiership captain Cameron Ling said in the pre-season when he predicted the Crows would be carried to their first flag since the 1997-98 double with midfield dominance.

Only three Crows players appear to have advanced their game - Patrick Dangerfield, Rory Sloane and Richard Douglas and even this trio has not reached top form in every game.

And the most subjective statement that can be made of the Crows at the half-way mark of the season is to suggest the team's hunger waned in the afterglow of Season 2012 rather than being stoked by the heart-break loss to Hawthorn in the preliminary finals in September.

How much coach Brenton Sanderson's pre-season speech - that predicted the Crows were destined for greatness with a repeat of 1997 - turned ambition into misplaced arrogance at West Lakes will never be known.

Lead ruckman Sam Jacobs puts the "full responsibility" for Adelaide's fall on the players' shoulders.

"We're not executing the game plan," he says. "We've gone away from the things (that made us play well last year). Contested footy is one. We were No.1 in the comp for contested footy and stoppages last year, but this year we're mid-pack.

"We're very confident in the team we've got. We've got a team that can be a premiership contender when we're getting everything right.

"We've showed that when we play our best we can compete against the best teams.

"We saw that against Hawthorn and Fremantle, but the last couple of weeks (against Sydney and Richmond) have been really disappointing."

The key fact is this: Adelaide must win at least eight of 10 games to be sure of a finals berth. Or is that fiction?

SUPERSTAR

PATRICK DANGERFIELD

COACH Brenton Sanderson now wishes he had three Patrick Dangerfields - one for half-back, one for the midfield and one in the goalsquare. It has been a demanding year for the 23-year-old Dangerfield as he - and fellow midfielder Rory Sloane - have continually carried the Crows on their shoulders.

GONE MISSING

JASON PORPLYZIA

ADELAIDE'S experienced-mature forwards - Ian Callinan, Graham Johncock and Jason Porplyzia - have had testing first halves to the season as substitutes or through the revolving door at selection. Porplyzia has been shown more faith and handed more game time with 11 of a possible 12 games. But he has kicked just six goals.

COACH'S RATING

BRENTON SANDERSON

THE immediate response Sanderson had last year from the jaded Crows players was measured by more wins, never losing two games in a row and the highest-scoring team in Adelaide's history. The follow-up act has been far more difficult with the loss of key forwards Taylor Walker (knee) and Kurt Tippett (Sydney) and the inconsistent form of too many key players.

The honeymoon also has ended for Sanderson as his selection policy and tactics come under greater scrutiny.

5/10

PREDICTION: NO REPEAT OF '97

RUN HOME

13 bye

14 June 29 Gold Coast (Metricon)

15 July 6 West Coast (AAMI)

16 July 12 Collingwood (MCG)

17 July 21 Geelong (AAMi)

18 July 27 Fremantle (Patersons)

19 August 4 Port Adelaide (AAMI)

20 August 11 North Melbourne (AAMI)

21 August 18 Western Bulldogs (Etihad)

22 August 24 Melbourne (AAMI)

23 tbc West Coast (Patersons)

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