Adelaide utility Isaac Cumming says he expects to see more of teammate Josh Rachele in the midfield after an impressive performance against Geelong last Thursday night.
Rachele recorded career-highs in disposals (31), kicks (21) and clearances (seven), as he attended 14 centre throw ups in an increased midfield role.
Speaking to the media on Monday, Cumming said he was impressed with how his young teammate stood up in the midfield and gave a brief update on the 22-year-old’s eye after he copped a shiner in the closing minutes.
“Well he definitely hasn’t hurt his chances, the Skipper might want a few minutes back, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we see him stay in there,” Cumming said.
“He’ll probably chop and change a bit between forward and midfield, but I think we’ll see him in there (around the ball) for the majority of the year.
“He hit the contest pretty hard and having just seen him before, his eye has opened up a bit which is nice, but it’s still a bit purple.”
Despite Rachele’s strong performance, the Crows were unable to leave GMHBA Stadium with a victory, as they fell by eight points in a tense encounter.
Cumming identified one key area from the game that left the squad disappointed.
“We haven’t had the formal review yet, but in the post game chats we had some pretty daring stats on how our game went, contested ball being the biggest one,” Cumming said.
“They were just tougher I think, they were on from the get-go and I’m not sure what the numbers were at quarter time but we were down (in contested ball) by a fair bit.
“They rocked up, we didn’t and it took us a fair while to get going, there’s no doubt they play that ground well and are a seriously good team. But I think regardless of where we play and our opposition, we can’t be losing at the contest like we did.
“We just need to be harder and tougher from the start, it's a bit of an effort and work rate based stat, so I think we just need to grit our teeth and work a bit harder.”
The Crows will return to Adelaide Oval to face an in-form Fremantle this Friday night.
Cumming said the group was excited to feature in another prime time slot and hoped to get an opportunity to rectify the issues that had plagued the team in the early stages of the season.
“We love playing in them (the prime time games) and being rewarded with those prime time slots after our performances last year,” Cumming said.
“To be back at home again this Friday night, it is super exciting and hopefully we can rectify a bit of what’s been going wrong so far this year.
“It (Friday night) is a timeslot we love being a part of, AO will hopefully sell out again this week and hopefully we can show up for our fans.”
Adelaide faces Fremantle this Friday, with the match set to begin at 6.45pm (ACDT).
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