Adelaide Senior Coach Matthew Nicks says young duo Sid Draper and Billy Dowling deserve a spot in the AFL side after impressing in the State League.
Draper and Dowling were selected for the Crows’ Round 24 match against North Melbourne this Saturday, with the pair making two of three changes to the line-up, alongside veteran Rory Laird.
Dowling will feature in his first game of 2025 after averaging 22.9 disposals, four marks, and 3.3 inside-50s, to go with a total of 16 goals across 16 SANFL games this season.
Draper, meanwhile, is set to play his first AFL match since Round 12, after averaging 21.5 disposals and 4.1 clearances across 13 SANFL games.
Speaking to the media on Friday, Nicks said he was keen to watch Dowling and Draper, as the Crows fine-tuned for the upcoming finals series.
“There’s a lot of reasons why Sid has come in, we like his form and the way he’s developing,” Nicks said.
“He’s a young midfielder and he’s just started his career out.
“We would’ve loved to have got him in a little more this year, we had a group which was performing really well and he was also working on some areas.
“This is a great opportunity for him, and Billy Dowling who will also play this week. It’s a great opportunity for both those guys to show what they’ve got as we go into the finals series.”
The Crows will be without forward Izak Rankine, who has received a four-game suspension from the AFL.
Nicks said his role as coach was to make sure those affected felt supported.
“The first spot I went to was support, just how do we support everyone - not just Izak - it’s about everyone who’s been affected and who needs support around them, so that’s where my mind went,” Nicks said.
“It was about being there for whoever needed me there because people are affected in different ways.
“There may be a lot of people who are doing it tough, I don’t know who those people are, the only thing we can do as a footy club is get around all of our people and ask questions; ‘how are you?’ and ‘how has it affected you?’
“All I can say is that we’ve been doing what we can to get around those people who need support.”
Adelaide will enter the final minor round match in top position on the ladder and was looking to secure a ninth-straight win ahead of finals beginning in a fortnight.
“I’m locked in on what it is we are doing this Saturday, (and) to our group’s credit, they’ve had a really strong week and focused on what they can impact.” Nicks said.
“We are in a unique position, we’ve got an opportunity where we’ve done a lot of work right throughout the year and in past years to get ourselves in this position.
“One of the things we’ve done so well this year is not look back and not look forward, we’ve lived in the moment, played every moment as it comes.
“We are coming off two wins where we’ve been a little bit off our best. We want to bring our best footy and hit the finals series with good momentum.”
Adelaide faces North Melbourne at Marvel Stadium on Saturday at 12.50pm (ACST).
The match will be broadcast live on Channel 7 Adelaide, Fox Footy and Kayo.
