Two-time premiership Crow Mark Bickley believes Adelaide has decided Riley Thilthorpe is not in its best 22 to start the season in what he describes as a great sign for the club.
Thilthorpe, taken with the second pick in the 2020 National Draft, didn’t play in Adelaide’s second pre-season game against West Coast. Instead, Reilly O’Brien and Elliott Himmelberg were preferred as Matthew Nicks’ main ruckmen in what was a dominant display of footy over the Eagles.
Given the high-profile nature of Thilthorpe as a top draft selection, Bickley identified his selection snub as a major takeaway from the weekend’s game.
“The big story, I guess, was Riley Thilthorpe not making the side,” Bickley said on SEN SA Breakfast.
“It looks like Reilly O’Brien and Elliott Himmelberg will be the one and two in terms of ruck/tall forward combination.
“Most people thought Riley Thilthorpe would get that role done, but on exposed form and what we’ve seen, O’Brien’s done enough to keep his spot as the no.1 ruckman and then what we’ve seen is Himmelberg, whose ruck work has been okay… he’s just been more effective in the front half of the ground... much more consistently than what Riley Thilthorpe has done.”
But Bickley doesn’t believe it’s a cause for concern. On the contrary, the former Adelaide skipper said the selection squeeze is a positive sign the club is heading in the right direction.
Nicks is set to line up his two rucks in combination with Taylor Walker and Darcy Fogarty as the key talls up forward.
That’s despite Thilthorpe playing 25 games in his first two seasons at the level and reports he’d been amongst the most impressive Crows this pre-season.
“It’s not a concern because what it means is you’ve got a good side and you’re not gifting games to young players. Now Riley Thilthorpe will be a good player but he’s still 20 years of age, so I don’t think there’s a concern,” Bickley continued.
“He has to earn his spot in the side because the alternative is you say to Elliott Himmelberg, ‘Sorry Elliott, you’re not playing because we’re going to play Riley because he’s got a bigger future than you’.
“How does that conversation go in terms of rewarding people for the work they do? I just don’t think you can have that conversation.
“Is it absolutely locked in? Probably not. But I would think on exposed form that’s how it might start.”
Bickley also highlighted further selection calls that will define how far Adelaide has come since last year’s 14th-placed finish.
“The real measure of Adelaide is the fact that (Chayce) Jones, (Ned) McHenry, (Lachlan) Murphy, (Brayden) Cook, (Lachlan) Scholl, a lot of these players who have played (plenty of games)… are not even really in the conversation for Round 1,” he added.
“That shows the improvement Adelaide has made. It puts the blowtorch on some of those younger guys to try and turn it up to get back into the side, but right now they’ve been overtaken by that next breed.”
Izak Rankine headlines the fresh faces set to line up for Adelaide in Round 1 when the Crows face GWS to start the season.