Yahoo Finance 'Not f***ing tennis': Footage of brutal AFL spray emerges
The Adelaide Crows suffered through one of their worst AFL seasons last year, and behind the scenes footage has shown exactly how much pressure the struggling club faced in 2020.
Ahead of the release of upcoming Amazon Prime documentary series 'Making the Mark', which chronicles the pandemic-interrupted 2020 AFL season, a behind the scenes look at a Crows film session showed just how ugly things were for the South Australian team.
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The Crows won just three games in 2020, with all three wins coming back to back from rounds 15 to 17 - but that was the only joy to be found in an otherwise bleak season.
The rot had set in long before that brief purple patch late in the season, with footage from a film debrief after a 75-point round two loss to Port Adelaide laying bare the brutal reality afterwards.
The footage shows Brad Crouch, who has since been traded to St Kilda, singled out over his defensive efforts by coaching staff.
“As players you’ve got an accountability to your teammates, number one,” Crows coach Matthew Nicks says in the footage.
“This is not f***ing tennis.”
Midfield coach Michael Godden then chimed in, describing the loss as the 'most embarrassing' the club had suffered in recent memory.
“I just want you to be really clear – what we did wasn’t good enough," he said.
"Our hearts go into it, your hearts go into it and what we saw was not us. The most embarrassing loss our footy club has had in I don’t know how long.”
Crouch took issue with some of the criticism, with Godden suggesting the former Crow found the footage of his own defensive lapses 'confronting' because he 'didn't agree with it'.
Crouch's response, in which he said he accepted his own responsibility but pointed to early mistakes in the same passage of play, prompted Nicks to issue a stern warning to the entire playing group.
“If you don’t want to defend, if that’s not your priority, grab your bag, put your shoes in it and walk out,” he said.
“You cannot play in this team. Until we change, boys, you are going to chase a** every week.”
Adelaide's hopes of a fresh start in 2021 haven't gotten off to a great start, with a 71-point pre-season defeat to Port Adelaide leading former AFL player Kane Cornes to label the side 'the worst Crows team we've seen in 31 years'.
The Making the Mark series will launch on March 12.
Blues recruit Zac Williams offered one-match AFL ban
Boom recruit Zac Williams is set to miss Carlton's round-one showdown with AFL premiers Richmond after being offered a one-match suspension for rough conduct.
Williams, lured from GWS through free agency at the end of last year in a boost to the Blues' rebuild, jumped off the ground and caught St Kilda's Hunter Clark with a high bump during last Thursday night's practice match.
The hit left Clark dazed, however, he played out the match and later passed a test for delayed concussion.
The AFL match review officer graded the incident as careless conduct, medium impact and high contact.
Williams, who played 113 games in eight years with the Giants, has the option of challenging the ban.
But he will otherwise have to wait until round two to make his Carlton debut against Collingwood.
With AAP
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