Adelaide players don’t need reminding that their entire AFL season hinges on two hours this Saturday night, Crows assistant coach Mark Bickley says.
Beat West Coast, and the Crows stay alive in the finals race. Lose, and they slip three wins behind the top eight – a gap likely to prove insurmountable.
The Eagles are in exactly the same situation entering what is an early elimination final at AAMI Stadium – both clubs have six wins and seven losses.
But Bickley says the ramifications of the high stakes encounter won’t be used as motivation by the Crows.
“As a coaching group, we don’t raise that with the players,” Bickley told reporters on Friday.
“They are probably aware of it, I would say. But if they’re not, it doesn’t matter.
“We’re more worried we iron out those inconsistencies in our game.
“The players, I think, they understand the gravity of the situation.”
Central to Adelaide’s planning is the recall of fringe ruckman Shaun McKernan, replacing defender Brent Reilly, who won’t play again this season because of a shoulder injury.
McKernan was summoned to help Sam Jacobs tackle the most daunting challenge that ruckmen face: countering West Coast’s dynamic ruck duo Dean Cox and Nic Naitanui.
Bickley said the Crows plan to copy Essendon’s successful ruck tactic last week of jumping into their Eagles opponents.
“One of the good parts of Shaun’s game is his leap, he’s very explosive,” Bickley said.
“If you saw the way the Essendon rucks attacked the West Coast guys last week, part of it was Paddy Ryder stepping off and jumping into those guys. That is the way Shaun plays and we think he’s pretty well suited.”
The Eagles made four changes – three of them forced, with Daniel Kerr (ribs), Sam Butler (back) and Ashley Smith (calf) all injured.
Veteran Andrew Embley, Jamie Cripps, Josh Hill and Jacob Brennan were recalled as the Eagles ponder how to stop Adelaide’s chief ball-winner Patrick Dangerfield, who has been held to less than 20 disposals just once this year – in round one, when he had 17 possessions.
Eagles coach John Worsfold said he was unsure whether to apply a hard tag to Dangerfield, who he compared with superstar Chris Judd.
“There is similarities, definitely,” Worsfold said of the pair.
“There is strength to stand up in the tackle and come out of congested situations with some good speed and power.”