Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin has revealed the Adelaide Crows as his toughest assignment with six weeks of footy left to play.
While his own club is caught between trying to win games and getting experience into younger players, the Premiership-winning coach spoke highly of Matthew Nicks’ team, saying their Round 17 tilt only three weeks ago was his biggest challenge.
“The Adelaide footy club was someone that was really challenging a few weeks ago,” Goodwin told SEN on Thursday.
“We thought we put up and played a strong game of footy, but they were just so good in and around the footy, but also strong defensively. They’ve really grown their game and clearly, naturally they’re a very good offensive team and score quite easily.”
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The Dees went down by only 13 points at the Adelaide Oval, but struggled to keep up with Adelaide’s potent attack, surrendering 17 inside 50 entires, which converted into five goals for star small forward, Izak Rankine.
Like most teams, Melbourne struggled to contain Adelaide’s quartet of tall forwards that includes Riley Thilthorpe, Darcy Fogarty, and veteran Taylor Walker.
When asked about how dangerous the trio are, Goodwin said “I wouldn’t mind having them,” before going on to say that the Crows would be a real threat come finals time if all three stay healthy.
“They’re a handful. I think any time you’ve got those type of guys, the thing I like about those three talls is they are all mobile. They all work around the ground quite easily and they’ve got a high level of skill. When you put those attributes together, I think you can play in multiple different ways and get an advantage in any game you play,” Goodwin said.
Mathematically, the 13th placed Dees aren’t out of finals contention with winnable fixtures against Carlton, St Kilda and West Coast ahead.
The run home looks daunting however with the Dogs, Hawthorn, and Collingwood to follow.