The Misread - Adelaide's concerning form | The Means Test with Adam Simpson! (27.04.26)

0.031 - 15.797 Adam Simpson

the game you did yesterday, Adelaide and Brisbane, and maybe let's settle on the Crows first. There's a few different aspects to this, but they're three and four. Yeah. And there are issues in their game which are presenting problems. every week around the contest?

15.817 - 35.202 Gerard Whateley

Yeah, well, you know, they were four and three this time last year. So they just don't bat as deep as I thought they did. They're missing some players, you know, five or six players, but not exactly the A-plus players as well. So I think there's some contest issues. Their defence held up really well last year, and I think at stages this year it's held up well again.

35.182 - 51.889 Gerard Whateley

But at the moment, they just look a little bit fragile. They've won one first quarter for the year. They lost again on the weekend. Honorably. It wasn't too out of control. But you saw the signs early, didn't you, yesterday? Did it say more about Brisbane or Adelaide? That's what we've got to work through.

51.929 - 72.826 Gerard Whateley

But yeah, they got Port this week. It wouldn't surprise me if Port go in favourites in that game. From what I saw yesterday, I... Been a heavy week too. You know, dealing with grief doesn't last one round. You know, you all think they had an outstanding win against St Kilda last week and, oh, they're good to go. Sometimes the ripple lasts a lot longer than just one week.

72.846 - 90.059 Gerard Whateley

So it's been a heavy week. See if they can bounce back. But there's something not as – it's hard to put your finger on it. I don't think it's as – I don't want to say honest, but whether it's the contest, whether it's the talent, whether it's their system, I can't quite work it out, but they're just off. They are just off and they're not the same.

90.36 - 107.345 Adam Simpson

And Matthew Nix, this is why they're the misread, incidentally, is Matthew Nix has sort of copped to that almost every week and not only in defeat either. Yeah. I imagine that's the stuff that would just drive you a little bit mad. You either do know and can't correct it, or you're just searching for things along the way.

107.405 - 123.935 Gerard Whateley

I wonder how much they're thinking about, well, we were good last year. Why can't we just do that? And we'll just wait until it clicks again. It doesn't work that way. That's why last year was such a disappointment at finals. You know, you finished top two. Two home finals and you don't fire a shot. It just takes so much effort to get back to that position.

123.975 - 130.49 Gerard Whateley

And minus 22 at Contested Possessions on the weekend. Minus 1,000 metres gained from clearances.

130.61 - 145.692 Gerard Whateley

So clearly some issues there. But the next week it's something else and then something else. And normally... If you give me a pattern of events, we can fix it. When it's a different thing all the time, you know, the starts have been horrendous. That was okay on the weekend. It was the third quarter. It was the center bounces.

146.733 - 156.343 Gerard Whateley

When you're forever fixing one thing and it's something else pops up, it becomes a massive coaching challenge. And I just wonder if they've got enough talent at the moment. It doesn't look like they've got enough to compete with the big dogs.

157.084 - 164.751 Adam Simpson

I don't want to walk past the Jordan Dawson moments that he had as well as he was absolutely heroic in the way that he played.

176.025 - 199.078 Unknown

And they all get around, they're all coming from everywhere. It did take a lot of courage, I think it's been a really tough week or so for him, and it's still there. I think even post-game he was quite emotional. It's amazing what football can do to, you know, that 120 minutes to actually just go. And he did, he dug in and went to work.

199.899 - 223.254 Unknown

We threw him around in a lot of different spots trying to find ourselves. But yeah, it's a really tough place to be at the moment. He's got incredible support around him from his family and his extended family, which is our footy club. But, yeah, really proud of the way he went about it tonight. He had a crack for us, did whatever he possibly could.

224.699 - 247.027 Gerard Whateley

Yeah, emotional day, wasn't it? And he's had 28 possessions... Um, you know, four inside fifties, five contested, 600 meters game, seven score involvement. So to do that under adversity, and like we said earlier, it's not, it's not a one and done, not one week and then we'll go back to normal. So, um, yeah, he's obviously the most affected person through this situation from a team point of view.