Adelaide forward Darcy Fogarty says he expects the Crows to set-up with three key posts in attack to start the 2026 season.
Fogarty formed a potent partnership with Taylor Walker and Riley Thilthorpe last season, with the trio combining for 140 goals across the year.
Speaking to the media on Wednesday, the 26-year-old said the forward structure had remained largely the same to last year throughout the pre-season, as the trio continued to build their chemistry together.
“At the moment we’re training that way (with three key forwards) and during the match simulations we’ve done that’s how we’ve set up,” Fogarty said.
“So I dare say that’s how we’ll start, but we’re always looking to improve and get the best result, so whether that’s pushing one of us up (the ground) or we change the formation, it’ll happen naturally I think.
“The three of us have played enough footy together now that we sort of know what we’re going to do and can play off instinct, and it works well so I’d imagine we’ll start that way again.”
Fans will get their first glimpse of the Crows against an opposition this Friday night, as they face Port Adelaide in match simulation at Alberton.
Fogarty explained the team’s mindset heading into the game, and the overall importance of pre-season matches.
“Yeah it’s really good to be getting away from playing against each other and coming up against another team,” Fogarty said.
“Obviously you want to go out and play a brand of football that will set you up to win, but ultimately we are going into this game trying to implement what we’ve been working on in the pre-season.
“If we can execute those work-ons well and win the game that’s a bonus, but in these trial games we’re going to go out there, try some things and see how they go.
“This is a great opportunity for us to get some feedback for ourselves and set us up to perform come that first bounce in round one.”
Finding ways to improve in high-pressure situations, such as finals, has been a key focus throughout the Crows’ pre-season training.
Fogarty explained how the lessons learned last September had shaped the Club’s summer training period.
“I don’t think we need to change too much heading into this year, we’ve grown a little bit over the Summer in all aspects which will hopefully put us in good stead,” Fogarty said.
“But we’ve also got to take the massive learnings we got at the back-end of last year, we identified we weren’t ready for finals and we didn’t rise to the occasion.
“So we’ve had a really big thought process around upping the ante from the very start and setting the tone from the very beginning of pre-season.
“We’ve had a big emphasis on training to dominate and training hard now so if we get put in those situations again we’ll be ready.”
Adelaide faces Port Adelaide in match simulation at Alberton Oval on Friday with the first bounce at 5.30pm.
Gates open at 2.55pm, with SANFL and non-selected AFL-listed players to take part in three 25-minute periods of match play against Port Adelaide.
Fans unable to make it to the game can catch all the action on Fox Footy and Kayo.
