Okay folks, let’s put this on the table.
Adelaide are unstoppable. They are irresistible. They are magic to watch.
Sanderson has taken a squad of meek, skinny little boys and turn them into hulk-esk monsters in the space of 6 months. One pre-season, that’s it.
In the past three weeks they have ground one premiership fancy into submission, and then proceeded to crush two more with ease.
They are playing the game with an intensity that has arguably never been seen before. They crash and they bash, they attack the contest and the footy with no thought for their own safety. They hunt in packs and they spread and run like they have a lung capacity that is limitless.
Dangerfield emerges from packs like he is the bull, and everyone else is the unfortunate china. He rips out the pill like King Arthur extracting his sword, like the footy was meant for him and him alone.
Sloane has a look of a mad man in his eyes, you wouldn’t want to make eye contact with him, let alone try and take his footy.
Then you have the re-birth of the old stagers. Reilly is playing like a man possessed across half back. Rutten looked like he’d lost five years overnight yesterday against the Blues. Johncock is patrolling the forward 50 like he’s wanted to play up there for years.
Amongst it all Thompson just keeps doing what he’s always done, relishing the fact that he is now not doing it alone.
Despite all this the wider football public continue not to rate them, out of disbelief more than anything else.
Their opposition have had injuries, and let’s not forget the dream draw. They are still raw, and will fail eventually. Surely they haven’t turned it around that much. Even their own supporters are shaking their heads.
You get the impression that Sanderson and his chargers don’t mind this at all.
This week they have a Swan-less Collingwood on their home deck. Dare I say it, another massacre beckons.
Like a roman emperor in the Colosseum, at the moment Sanderson seems only to have to gesture thumbs down for his gladiators to turn any stadium into a slaughterhouse.
About Ben Footner
I'm tragic Crows fan, avid lawn bowler, public librarian and father of 2 little kiddies. Sometimes I also find time amongst all that to squeeze out the occasional article for the Almanac.
G’day Ben,
There is always much to discuss (and gaze at) out the back of the Adelaide Oval Members.
During the Test, I was given some intelligence that the Crows were going to be big improvers.
The players were really enjoying training. They’d bought the message.
Bye-bye bikes. Hello boxing rings etc.
However, there’s a long way to go.
And there’s the MCG.
Cheers,
Peter
Ah at last. The circumspect ‘keeping a lid on it/pride cometh before the fall’ school of journalism. Sort of redefines the term ‘going the early Crow’.
I suspect there are half a dozen teams that would describe their best footy in similar terms.
I will send you Litza and TRobb’s phone numbers when you need a crash course in Humility 101.
There is a banana peel waiting for you.
Agreed Peter, there is a long way to go. Nevertheless the turn around in form is unbelievable. To be honest I am also taking on Sando’s message and just enjoying the moment. They are just beautiful to watch.
If someone said to me at the start of the year that ‘by round 9 your boys will have 7 wins in the bank (including crushing victories against Geelong & Carlton) and will be going into the match against Collingwood favourites’ I would’ve told them to get off the wacky tabacky.
I have been eating humble pie for several years PB – it’s nice to be serving it up for a change. ;-)
Gees Quisling, that’s a bit rough, being an old Crow Eater and all that has hopped on the Eagle’s bandwagon.
They have already beaten you in one big one this year. You should have stayed onboard. Wait till the partisans catch up with you on your next visit home.
I have no emotional connection. The Crows were outstanding v Geelong. I only saw the third quarter yesterday and when I turned it on I thought a dose of that bug the Handicapper listed recently had been inserted in the pie-warmer at Princes Park. Lethargy of Melbourne FC proportions.
Correct me if I am wrong, but also the Crows performance was against the (then) premiership favourites (joint with Hawthorn).
Were I a Crows fan I would be a little like Ben, writing as if I’d discovered girls, multi-ball pinball, and rum and Coke for the first time.