Kane Cornes is interested to see how Adelaide responds from last weekend’s heavy 59-point loss to GWS at home.
The Crows had pulled off results over Richmond and the Western Bulldogs in back-to-back wins prior, but were jumped by the Giants who kicked five of six goals in the opening quarter and 11 of 13 in the first half.
The situation presents as near identical to the coinciding round last year when after an impressive 3-1 start, the Crows entered Round 7 against GWS at 3-3 and were hammered by 67 points.
From that moment on Matthew Nicks’ side won just four of 15 matches to finish 15th and now face a similar challenge in season 2022.
Cornes highlighted where he believes it went wrong for the Crows against the Giants.
“They had a terrific fortnight, their best fortnight under coach Matthew Nicks with wins over Richmond and the Western Bulldogs,” he said on SEN SA Breakfast.
“They came crashing back to earth with a 59-point loss to the Giants who were red hot.
“We’ve chatted a bit about the difficulty of the way Adelaide play. It’s really admirable and I’ve been thrilled with their contest work that Matthew Nicks alluded to and their work around stoppage.
“At times their defence has gelled together on the back of really good pressure up the field. When that breaks down and when you’ve got a young side as the year goes longer, it’s such a tough way to win. You don’t get any easy wins because Adelaide’s biggest weakness is their ball use.
“We saw that on the weekend. That last kick inside 50 was diabolical really. That’s backed up by the stats and any stats you look at, Adelaide’s ability to move the ball and actually be efficient with their ball just going forward is really difficult.
“When that contest stuff breaks down and you’re turning the footy over, you’re forcing your defenders to defend all day.”
The Crows, who failed as favourites last week, head into the Round 8 clash with Carlton as outsiders.
The stage is set for them to prove they are a better rounded and more mature team now following last season’s fadeout.
“On any metric it was an absolute smashing,” Cornes added.
“We’ll find out pretty quickly how the improvement is at Adelaide, because last year after that loss to the Giants they did fall away significantly. Started the season really well, they were 3-1, so there are some similarities between last year and this year.
“Let’s see if the improvement is there and whether this group can regather quickly.”
The 3-4 Crows (12th) will take on the 5-2 Blues (6th) at Marvel Stadium on Sunday.