Brenton Sanderson walks off AAMI Park after Adelaide's loss to Essendon. Picture: Sarah Reed Source: The Advertiser
BRENTON Sanderson's honeymoon as an AFL coach is over.
After a dream start last season as Adelaide coach, lifting the Crows from 14th to second while producing the highest-scoring team in the club's history, Sanderson in Friday night's premiership season-opener watched a Crows unit defy all his praise of the players.
Sanderson has repeatedly declared he has rarely had to raise his voice at training and in games because of the players' self-motivation. He has granted them freedom to work within the new framework he delivered at West Lakes to break the rigid regime left by Neil Craig. But after watching the Adelaide players abuse that trust with a horrid collapse in the 35-point loss to Essendon at home on Friday night, Sanderson is compelled to take full control at West Lakes.
Adelaide's two-week gap between games is now an advantage rather than a problem ahead of the April 6 clash with Brisbane at the Gabba.
Beyond the tactical detail of needing to find a functional attack, strengthen a wobbly defence and making his league-best midfield fire, Sanderson is challenged to take charge of a group he can no longer trust to find its own answers.
The physical cost of Adelaide's defeat, as measured in the medical rooms, is certainly eased by having a two-week break before the test against the NAB Cup champion Brisbane.
X-rays have revealed no bone damage to young defender Luke Brown's left foot that was twice crunched in the third term on Friday night. The long break between games will ensure Brown has time to clear the bruising. Switch-hitter Ricky Henderson has passed a concussion test after taking a knock to the head in the last term. He too will appreciate the longer lead-in time to the game at the Gabba.
Adelaide football operations chief Phil Harper yesterday presented a calm front amid the review of the loss to Essendon despite the intense scrutiny being put on the club from outside, in particular from its own fans.
"We assess the game and look at areas for improvement," said Harper. "There's probably 10 after a performance like that, but you hone in on two or three and work hard on them in the two weeks we have before playing Brisbane."
Adelaide's poor tackling will be one of the three focus points in the Crows' planning for the clash with the Lions. Adelaide had 47 tackles against the Bombers, just seven in the second term when Essendon dominated possession and scored six goals to take command of the match.
Crows defender Brent Reilly did not hide the players' views on their tackling, saying: "We weren't good at it last year either. We worked hard on it in the pre-season and we're still not up to scratch. We need to get better at it."
That pre-season work was done under the expertise of Adelaide's new fitness coach Nick Poulos, who has a rugby background, and former Adelaide Rams rugby league coach Rod Reddy. Adelaide midfielder Richard Douglas highlighted the cost of the poor tackling saying: "A lot of the tackles we missed resulted in goals which absolutely kills you these days.
"It's disappointing because we have done a lot of work in the summer. But it's not just our technique that looks like it is poor, our intent was poor as well. We have to look at that, and we definitely have to get better."
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