Fantasy: 2021 Adelaide Targets

With the 2021 H&A season beginning on March 18 @aflratingsPete provides a fantasy outlook for Adelaide.

Each team will be previewed over the pre-season, stay tuned on @aflratings_FS for all fantasy news & updates for the 2021 season.

Coaching Tendencies/Game Style

What an interesting first season for Adelaide senior coach Matthew Nicks, facing a re-build isn’t an easy task especially when attempting to implement a new game plan.

The task became even harder for Nicks & his coaching staff when Covid-19 hit & the season was interrupted, teams were limited in training for the remainder of the season.

Adelaide struggled when the season resumed in June, the midfield looked confused & defensively the Crows were overwhelmed.

It wasn’t until after the Round 14 Bye did we finally see some changes at the Crows, a chance to finally take a breather & implement a few adjustments delivered a promising finish to their season.

Between Rounds 1-13 Adelaide averaged 269.9 Disposals (Rank 18), the Crows averaged 323.0 Disposals between Rounds 15-18 (Rank 2).

Matthew Nicks was a senior assistant coach at GWS prior to joining the Crows, the Giants were a high disposal team by design.

While holding onto the ball does limit opposition scoring, the late 2020 alteration may provide an insight as to what Nicks is trying to implement at Adelaide.

Keep an eye on ball movement & team disposals during both pre-season games.

Article by @aflratingsPete

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2021 Targets

Reilly O’Brien RUCK

Just 37 games into his AFL career O’Brien has moved up to a tier 1 option at the ruck position in AFL Fantasy, he averaged 86.8pts from 17 games in 2020 including 98.5pts from his final 4 games post Bye.

O’Brien scored 100pts or more in 35.3% of games & 80pts or more in 58.8% of games in 2020, he averaged 13.6 Disposals & 27.2 Hit Outs (AFL Rank 6).

With Max Gawn & Brodie Grundy commanding plenty of ownership to begin the season O’Brien is likely to be under owned as a high priced ruck option, he definitely has the scoring ability to compete with the best at his position as well as a very good ceiling.

Matt Crouch MID

If the Crows do become a high disposal type team then Matt Crouch needs to be in the conversation as a Round 1 starter, he’ll go largely overlooked compared to other premium midfield options but his scoring ability does make him a viable option.

Crouch was used at 63.6% of team centre bounces in 2020 (Adelaide Rank 1), he averaged 26.1 Disposals & 88.4pts from 16 games.

The high centre bounce usage for Crouch should be available again in 2021, at 25 he should be in his prime years as a midfielder.

Jackson Hately MID

Starved for premium midfield opportunities at the Giants Hately made his way to Adelaide via the recent pre-season draft, with Brad Crouch no longer at the Crows Hately should slot straight into a midfield role.

Hately (21) has played only 13 career AFL games, he has shown decent fantasy scoring ability that should excel given an expanded role through a prime area of the ground.

It won’t be a surprise to see Hately as one of the higher owned players at Round 1 next season given his low salary & expected role, off-setting that high ownership with a low owned premium midfielder is an option at Round 1.

*2020 AFL season: 16 Min Qtrs