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Adelaide Crows in strong position for tilt at AFL finals glory

Taylor Walker's racist remarks have seen him booted from the game for six weeks.

Taylor Walker's racist remarks have seen him booted from the game for six weeks. Photo: Getty

ANALYSIS

The Adelaide Football Club has gone through many publicised and traumatic events over the past 12 months.

They lost their best player to a trade, which paled into comparison when dealing with the untimely death of their senior coach.

Adelaide has had to push through various barriers to not only manage on-field but to grow emotionally off it.

This is why the Crows’ meteoric rise to premiership contention is not only remarkable, but one of the most heartfelt and deserved revelations that season 2016 has brought to the fore.

Many teams coping with insurmountable odds are forgiven for taking the time to adjust, adapt and improve.

However, the 2016 Crows have found that extra gear enabling them to contend for their third premiership, when all looked so lost at the end of last year.

Adelaide has one of the more feared forward line units in the competition, Eddie Betts (65 goals), Josh Jenkins (59 goals) and skipper Taylor Walker (47 goals) have all enjoyed outstanding years.

Adelaide’s midfield unit – tipped to flounder with the departure of Patrick Dangerfield – has galvanised into the clearance and disposal powerhouse that has been at the forefront of their success so far.

adelaide crows afl finals

The loss of Patrick Dangerfield has not stunted the Adelaide Crows’ development. Photo: Getty

Evergreen midfielder Scott Thompson, All-Australian contender Rory Sloane and the Crouch brothers have so admirably filled the midfield absence left by their former teammate and have turned a potential setback into an opportunity to improve.

The Crows’ game against the Power tussle showcased how much they have improved as a unit more than many of their recent contests.

Enjoying such an easy run before finals with heavy wins against Brisbane and Fremantle provided evidence of their flair but little of the substance and guile needed in the heat of finals action.

Port Adelaide pushed Adelaide, closing to a nine-point margin late in the last quarter, before Adelaide’s new-found audacity and winning edge pushed them across the line. The form and tenacity shown in that final term was something rarely seen before this 2016 campaign.

Finals are always a mixed bag when form is concerned so we will have to wait and see if Adelaide can continue its winning ways and push deep into September.

But for all the talk of the potential historic Hawthorn four-peat, perhaps there will be another fairytale at the pointy end of 2016, it just might not be the one we were expecting.

James Fitzgerald also writes for www.footyprophet.com – football and fantasy analysis unravelled.

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