Crows AFL coach puts stars on notice

Coach Brenton Sanderson has put Adelaide's star players on notice by ahead of their home clash with fellow AFL top-eight hopes North Melbourne.

Adelaide coach Brenton Sanderson

Coach Brenton Sanderson has put Adelaide's stars on notice for their AFL clash with North Melbourne. (AAP)

Adelaide's star players have been put on notice by coach Brenton Sanderson ahead of Saturday's AFL clash with fellow finals aspirants North Melbourne at Adelaide Oval.

The Crows, yet to string back-to-back wins together this season, were on track when they edged ahead of Fremantle to hold a two-point lead at halftime last Sunday at Patersons Stadium.

But Adelaide's slight lead unravelled in the second half as the Dockers stormed home to win by 40 points.

"At critical times in the Fremantle game, there wasn't that ability to think our way though in a calm situation," Sanderson said on Friday.

"We didn't have enough consistency from our leaders last week so we need more from our star players - it's as simple as that.

"We do need a contribution from our 22, but we need a consistent output from our stars, from our leaders.

"If you look across the competition and not just in our industry, good players play well when it matters."

Just three Crows were awarded with best-and-fairest votes by Sanderson and his coaching staff after last week's crushing loss.

"We only had three players get votes in our club champion award last week, so 19 players didn't get a vote," Sanderson said.

"You are not going to win too many games when 19 players get zero votes."

Veteran defender Brent Reilly, who will celebrate his 200th game on Saturday night, is a welcome, experienced inclusion for the Crows.

Reilly's career was left hanging in the balance when he was axed following the Crows' demoralising round-six loss to Melbourne, but impressed in the club's SANFL reserves side to earn himself a recall to reach his milestone game.

"We certainly need him tomorrow, it's an important game for us and a milestone game is good timing too because our boys certainly do lift for those occasions," Sanderson said.

"When the pressure came a bit last week, we didn't handle it and I think Radar's (Reilly) experience will help control the situations when they arise."

Along with Reilly, the Crows have also named midfielders Matthew Wright and Matthew Crouch at the expense of Charlie Cameron (groin) and omitted youngsters Cam Ellis-Yolmen and Jarryd Lyons.

The Kangaroos, who are undefeated interstate this season but have not won in Adelaide since 2003 against the Crows, have regained forwards Lindsay Thomas and Robbie Tarrant, and omitted Majak Daw and Sam Wright.


Share

3 min read

Published

Updated


Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS News
SBS Audio
SBS On Demand

Listen to our podcasts
An overview of the day's top stories from SBS News
Interviews and feature reports from SBS News
Your daily ten minute finance and business news wrap with SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves.
A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability
Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS
SBS World News

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service
Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world