Kane Cornes suggests things may get even tougher for the Adelaide Crows this year.
They were last night beaten by 51 points by Melbourne at Adelaide Oval, consigning them to a 0-10 record in 2020 which has them rooted to the foot of the AFL ladder.
That may already tell much of the story but with their fixture to come, including scheduled games against Collingwood and Western Bulldogs and the fact they are yet to play the likes of Richmond, Geelong and GWS, Cornes believes the year from hell might only get worse for rookie coach Matthew Nicks and the Crows.
Cornes said on SEN SA Breakfast: “Now it’s the point where you (ask), ‘Well what next?’
“Because you haven’t even played the good teams yet. So is it going to get really ugly for Matthew Nicks? You would have to say it will.
“They take on Collingwood then it’s the Western Bulldogs. They’ve sort of played the easier teams in Sydney, Melbourne and North Melbourne already this year.
“It’s not going to get easier. How they galvanise the group for the next eight weeks is going to be vital because there is the possibility it could get really ugly, which is the last thing they need.”
Cornes said that even though the Crows now have an unenviable win-loss record this year and have been beaten in their last 13 games overall, there at least was a response of sorts on the field for three quarters against the Demons.
“It’s an unwanted record. Unfortunately they’re just not up to it, they’re not up to AFL standard,” he added.
“They can compete. I thought the way they attacked the ball… No doubt the positive out of it is that there was a response form the week before. Which there needed to be, clearly, but there was a physical response.
“They were hunting after Max Gawn, they went after him off the ball. They were strong in the clearances despite the makeshift midfield, they out-tackled Melbourne to three quarter time and they were leading contested possession up until that point.
“But in the end it was 14-4 inside 50s in the last quarter and seven goals to one so they couldn’t sustain it for long enough.”
The Crows are next in action against the Magpies at Adelaide Oval on Tuesday night.