It should be difficult to look at the Adelaide Crows’ 2025 season objectively and see it as anything other than an unqualified success.
Achieving the biggest one-season rise in AFL history, to go from 15th to minor premiers, surely speaks of good things to come for the club, and gives coach Matthew Nicks some much-needed breathing space after so long under pressure to justify his job.
However, things are rarely that simple. Having guided the Crows to the top of the table at the end of the home-and-away season, Nicks presided over two of the most pitiful and gutless finals efforts in the club’s history, to see them become the first team in AFL history to make a straight-sets exit from pole position.
They didn’t win a single quarter in September, and looked spent, unimaginative, and worst of all, afraid. What’s worse, they didn’t even get to face one of the grand finalists – they were shown the door by the two losing preliminary finalists. They were a long way off the pace at the pointy end.
Adelaide’s midfield depth was exposed. When things were going wrong there seemed to be no alternative plan. Players were rushing, executing their skills poorly and making bad decisions.
Now that these things have been exposed at the highest level, how will the Crows respond, and how can they prepare for opponents who will be looking to exploit these flaws?
The first thing to acknowledge is that the Crows overachieved in the regular season. With a favourable draw by virtue of their low finish in 2024, they did well to bank wins against the teams they were expected to beat, and grab enough close ones against the better teams to earn top spot. However, narrow victories against struggling opposition in the last few weeks of spoke of a team that had spent its tickets getting to the finals, and didn’t have enough in the tank to bring its best once there.
Another factor to consider – one that probably contributed to the outcome above – is the pressure that was on the Crows, and the coach in particular, to make finals this year. There is no doubt that had they missed again in 2025, Nicks was finished. After the experience of 2024, with the season getting away from them before being halfway over, it seems natural that the early focus for the Crows would have been putting wins on the board at all costs, borne out in some of the early season thumpings they handed out to Essendon and St Kilda in particular.
A team with more confidence and purpose in its method may have sought to ease into the season and manage its efforts and players, rather than pummelling opponents into submission at the first smell of blood.
The elephant in the room is the unfortunate situation around Izak Rankine’s homophobic slur and its fallout. This undoubtedly robbed the Crows of one of their best players and most potent big-moment weapons right when he would have been most useful. But given the lack of dramas for the Crows on the injury and suspension front throughout the season, I don’t consider it worth going into in depth.
All things being equal, the Crows had a very good season personnel-wise, and will be lucky to replicate their availability in 2026. Hopefully Rankine will be wiser for the incident and return to the game next year a more focused and serious player, and leave the taunts and staging efforts creeping into his game in the past.
It seems, Callum Ah Chee aside, that the Crows aren’t going to be major players in this year’s trade period, while the draft is an unknown. This is a good thing; as a fan, I’m happy they aren’t looking at selling the farm for a fading star like Christian Petracca, and I think the team has enough on the list already to be contending for the next few years.
The clear deficiency exposed in the finals was midfield depth. However, the search for a particular individual as a fix for this (e.g. Petracca) is misguided. Instead, they need to look at alternatives from within, more players ready to spend some time in the guts and be ready and waiting when called up for it.
That means players like Josh Racele and Luke Pedlar, along with some of the younger guys, are on-call along with the regular rotation. The sight of Ben Keays and Rory Laird going back to the future in the middle as a desperation move against the Hawks in the semi final spoke of a team and coach with no workable plan B.
Adelaide players celebrate their win over Collingwood. (Photo by James Elsby/AFL Photos via Getty Images)
Along with the natural progression of younger regulars like Dan Curtin and Zac Taylor, and the expected emergence of Brayden Cook, Sid Draper and Billy Dowling, this should mean that the team has options when things aren’t working, rather than relying on Jordan Dawson or Rankine to have to pull them out of the fire so regularly.
Jake Soligo and Sam Berry, meanwhile, should both be on notice – while both showed glimpses of excellence through the year, they appear workmanlike at best and seem to lack an extra gear when the stakes are raised.
The midfield may well fall short of being elite next year, but this flexibility is something they should be working towards. There is now enough young talent on the list to make this a realistic goal without needing to import an established star.
As for the rest, the Crows seem very well placed, with an outstanding defence and productive attacking options. The decision to re-sign Taylor Walker for another year is a concern, though – the move of a club not prepared to make the hard decisions one that truly considers itself in the window for a flag should be making.
Walker should be depth at best from now on. The “three-headed monster” of Walker, Riley Thilthorpe and Darcy Fogarty had its moments, especially against weaker opposition; but the Crows need to move on and work towards an offensive inside 50, revolving around Thilthorpe and Fogarty as the marking targets and taking advantage of their skilful smalls and rotating mids like Dawson and Curtin.
One issue that could count against the otherwise exemplary defence is that the AFL world is now on notice to Mark Keane. As outstanding as he was at times through the year, his tendency towards poor disposal under pressure and habit of throwing the ball will not have gone unnoticed either by opponents or umpires.
Those elements of his game will have to be worked out significantly over the off-season, or it will wind up costing the team in big moments.
Jordon Butts is not as flashy or attention-grabbing as his cohorts in defence, but is a reliable lock-down,and overall the group seems more stable when he is included ahead of Nick Murray or Keane. Josh Worrell, of course, adds amazing strength to the group, and was unlucky to miss out on being All Australian.
So where does this leave the Crows ahead of the 2026 season? Funnily enough, probably not in too dissimilar a position than where they have been since being robbed of playing finals in 2023.
Anticipating a more difficult draw in line with their placing this season, the Crows look to be a team around the same position as a few others – contesting for a finals place, and with a few things going right, pushing for a top-four finish. However, finishing minor premiers will have raised expectations and pressure – Nicks will find it difficult to survive should the team not make the finals next year, and win at least one.
I see the Crows as a team that should be contending for the next few years, but which may need to spend the next season or two hardening the midfield before they are ready to be considered among the top-line flag favourites.
