Rewind and find out the most read news stories on afc.com.au in 2014.
Part one covers January through to the end of June.
The New Year was anything but happy for Crows captain Nathan van Berlo. Just days before he was to be confirmed as the Club’s skipper for 2014, the 27-year-old ruptured his right Achilles tendon in a freak accident at training. Van Berlo needed surgery and although he pushed hard to return to the field in 2014, he ran out of time with Adelaide missing the finals. New joint vice-captains Patrick Dangerfield and Rory Sloane were to share the captaincy duties on-field in van Berlo’s absence, while Taylor Walker and Richard Douglas were added to the leadership group.
Adelaide’s early February announcement of plans to commemorate 150 years of South Australian football by wearing a special guernsey for the first game at the redeveloped Adelaide Oval sparked fierce debate. The Crows unveiled a version of the South Australian State team style guernsey but the SANFL and AFL responded to the backlash by withdrawing their permission.
The return of football always excites the fans. Adelaide named a number of new Crows in the team for the opening NAB Challenge game against Port Adelaide at Richmond Oval. And one of the star recruits, Eddie Betts, thrilled Crows fans with five goals in his first appearance.
On the eve of the premiership season, the football community mourned the loss of Crows strategy and innovation coach Dean Bailey. He was 47. The Adelaide and Port Adelaide football clubs honoured Bailey before the opening round clash at Adelaide Oval.
The Club’s website provided live streaming coverage of Adelaide last AFL trial game against GWS Giants in Sydney - but it wasn’t pleasant viewing. Tom Lynch suffered a suspected dislocated shoulder, Richard Douglas was hospitalised with a serious groin injury, Andy Otten jarred a knee and Sam Shaw suffered hamstring tightness.
The introduction of Adelaide’s SANFL side created enormous online interest. The Crows made a strong start in the trials with wins against Sturt and the Eagles at AAMI Stadium but then had a tough run in the regular season, winning just one of their first seven games. The first team selection article, for the round one clash with North Adelaide, was one of the most viewed pages for the month. And the much-anticipated return of Taylor Walker, after a year out recovering from a knee reconstruction, was clearly the biggest story of April. He returned in the SANFL against Glenelg on Anzac Day – his 24th birthday - and kicked three goals in front of nearly 10,000 fans at Glenelg Oval.
The selection of Matt Crouch to make his AFL debut in round three was also a popular story. Unfortunately his older brother Brad was among the team “outs” having broken a leg the previous week.
The launch of Adelaide’s indigenous round guernsey was met positively by fans. Designed by Adelaide Football Club champion Andrew McLeod, the guernsey told McLeod’s story of the Crows.
Walker kicked four goals in the SANFL against Port at Clare to earn an AFL return for the round nine clash with Collingwood, adding to the enormous build-up for the Thursday night game at Adelaide Oval. He didn’t kick a goal in his return but being involved in an exciting win was a good start. On the same night, Charlie Cameron made an exciting AFL debut and fans were keen to find out more about the rookie.
A couple of former Crows were back in the headlines in June. A few days after the team wore the indigenous guernsey designed by McLeod, the two-time premiership star was inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame. Then it was revealed that former Crows captain and Brownlow Medallist Mark Ricciuto was returning to the Club to join the Board.
It didn’t quite win the AFL goal of the year but Betts and the Adelaide Oval crowd loved his remarkable effort from the scoreboard pocket boundary line against North Melbourne in round 13.
Next: July to December
