Crows peaking at right time ahead of AFLW semi: coach
Steve Larkin |
Coach Matthew Clarke is certain Adelaide are peaking at the right time, but remains wary of an injury-hit Melbourne in their AFLW semi-final.
The Crows travel to Melbourne for Saturday afternoon’s sudden-death encounter buoyed by their 44-point drubbing of St Kilda in an elimination final.
“It was arguably our strongest performance for the season,” Clarke told reporters on Friday at Adelaide airport.
“We felt as though throughout the year we’ve had patches, we have played pretty good footy, but perhaps been inconsistent.
“So to bring our best game towards the back-end, and obviously in the finals, that’s really pleasing.
“You hope to play your best footy at the back-end and you probably should, given that you’re starting to work together as a unit more consistently.”
Clarke has named an unchanged side for the Ikon Park fixture but the Demons, who slipped to a 13-point qualifying loss to Brisbane, made two alterations.
Star goalkicker Eden Zanker (concussion) will miss and Jemma Rigoni has been dropped, with Sinead Goldrick and Laela Ebert summoned.
“Obviously for them, losing Zanker probably hurt them last week within the game,” Clarke said.
“But they’ve had the whole week to prepare and structure up and they’ve got multiple aerial threats ahead of the ball, even without her.
“That is a significant out for them, but it’s part of footy, you’ve got to be able to manage some adversity.
“We’ve been watching the way they’ve gone about it. They have had a great year and even last week, a lot of the metrics say they should have won that game.
“They’re really good around the contest … they move the ball really efficiently into their front half.
“And then, like most teams, they support defensively really strongly as well.”
An Adelaide loss will finish the tenure of dual premiership coach Clarke, who is stepping down at season’s end.
“The question has come up a lot but the answer has been pretty similar,” he said.
“AFLW is a really short season and so your focus becomes really intense in terms of the next game.
“And then you throw in the fact that you get to finals, all that other stuff is really peripheral. It’s not even a factor.
“It’s really just let’s go, let’s see if we can win a game.”
AAP
