Jason Porplyzia

by Lisa Albergo reporting for AFANA from Chicago

Adelaide has appointed Port Adelaide midfield coach Phil Walsh as its new senior coach for the next three years. Walsh, a highly regarded tactician, joined Port in 2014, after five seasons with the West Coast Eagles as Strategy and Innovations Coach. He was also midfield coach for Port in 2004. Walsh, who played 122 games for Collingwood, Richmond and Brisbane, started his coaching journey overseeing strength and conditioning at Geelong in the 1990s. Club chairman Rob Chapman said Walsh would be a perfect fit for the club and could lead it to success.

 Jamie Kloeden reporting for AFANA

With their season well and truly on the line, the Adelaide Crows traveled north to tackle the Gold Coast Suns knowing that a loss would pretty much rule them out of Finals contention. On the flip side, the young Suns have shown great signs this year and are certainly no easy beats with five wins already on the season.

Early action saw the home side jump out of the blocks and register the first three scoring shots of the game including the first goal through superstar captain Gary Ablett. Brodie Smith, known his his long kicks out of defense, managed to use his right foot as an offensive weapon as he kicked a long goal to get the first for the Crows. It was a long 14 minutes before the next goal but it was worth the wait. Ablett once again was the man of the moment as he stole the ball out of a pack, ran away from goals then circled around and kicked truly from outside 50 meters. He was starting to show exactly why he is once again the favorite for this year's Brownlow Medal and still widely regarded as the best player in the League. Gold Coast added one more goal before quarter time through a great snap from Daniel Gorringe as they once again looked like a team very much at home at AFL level.

Jamie Kloeden reporting for AFANA from Adelaide, Australia

After a heart breaking after the siren loss to the West Coast Eagles last round, the North Melbourne Kangaroos were hoping that a home game, back under the roof at Etihad Stadium, against the traveling Adelaide Crows might be enough to get the confidence back up for a push towards the Top Eight. An indifferent start to the season had the Crows in a very similar position on the Ladder so many of the experts predicted a tight tussle with much on the line for both sides. And a tight tussle was certainly what played out with many touting this contest as the game of the season thus far.

Jamie Kloeden reporting for AFANA from AAMI Stadium, Adelaide, Australia

With a win, either Adelaide or Fremantle would be heading to the hallowed turf of the MCG to meet the high flying Hawks in a Preliminary Final. A loss would mean a disappointing end to the season where getting so close would be no consolation. With the end of each season come retirements and Crows’ veteran and their oldest listed player Michael Doughty, has already announced that this is his last season. He certainly played this game like a man who wasn’t ready to finish up. The other old hand back in the Adelaide defense, Ben Rutten, has earned his fair share of criticism for not being the player that he was in past seasons and he too looked like he had a point to prove while going head to head with the Dockers’ in form superstar Matthew Pavlich.

G Michael reporting for AFANA from Adelaide, South Australia

A brilliant performance by Patrick Dangerfield saw the Crows blitz Gold Coast by a whopping 91 points in Round 23. With support from Scott Thompson, the young Crow took the game apart in the second half to amass 36 possessions for the game whilst also scoring two goals. As both Dangerfield and Thompson firm among the favorites for the Brownlow Medal, the Crows secured a Top Two position for the season, returning to the Finals for the first time since 2009 and ending the home and away with an equal club record of 17 wins for the season.

G Michael reporting for AFANA from Adelaide, South Australia

Adelaide and Essendon were both coming off losses in the previous round making this match a crucial clash at AAMI Stadium on a cold and wet Sunday night. Desperate to alleviate the pain of two consecutive losses, the Bombers needed a stirring win to remain a game clear in the battle for eighth spot, while a Crows’ victory would see them stay in the fight for top spot.

As the Bombers ran out on to the ground they faced the realisation that the game was going to be a hard fought encounter in cold and wintery conditions, as their banner stood torn to shreds from the blustery winds. Bomber Sam Lonergan took advantage of a mistimed defensive clearance from Crow Sam Shaw and kicked the first goal for the game as both teams spent the opening minutes tussling for ascendency. A free kick to first gamer Aidan Riley saw the lead cut back to two points as the Crows goaled. However Essendon quickly responded with goals to both Jason Winderlich and Leroy Jetta, to take a 14 point lead with nine minutes to play in the opening term.

Jamie Kloeden reporting for AFANA from Australia

Facing Geelong after a big win over Essendon promised to be a huge challenge for the Adelaide Crows and making it especially hard was the venue being Simonds Stadium. The visitors hadn’t tasted success there since 2003 but their great form presented them with their best chance for some time. The Cats are known as a good performing team in wet conditions. With rain forecast, they were going into the encounter as favorites although perhaps not by as much as previous seasons.

Jamie Kloeden reporting for AFANA from Adelaide, Australia

After a disappointing loss to North Melbourne last week, the Adelaide Crows returned home to face a young Richmond side that has shown plenty of positive signs this year but really needed another win to show that they deserve to be in the Finals mix this year.

Peter (241 games) and Shaun (210) Burgoyne became the 12th pair of brothers in League history to reach a combined total of 450 games. The leaders are: Madden (710 games - Simon 378, Justin 332), Nankervis (578 - Ian 325, Bruce 253), Coventry (533 - Syd 227, Gordon 306), Richardson (518 - Wayne 277, Max 241), Wakelin (513 - Darryl 252, Shane 261), Rocca (499 - Saverio 257, Anthony 242), Matthews (487 - Leigh 332, Kelvin 155), Cornes (483 - Chad 248, Kane 235), Hocking (473 - Stephen199, Garry 274), Collier (470 - Harry 253, Albert 217), Voss (459 - Michael 289, Brett 170), and the Burgoynes.

Four weeks ago the Adelaide Crows and the West Coast Eagles were both near the bottom of the table looking at the Wooden Spoon. What a difference a month makes. Since then Adelaide had won their last three games and climbed slowly up the ladder while the Eagles had slipped to last place. On a wintry Perth day Adelaide had the chance to win four on the trot and virtually cement the Eagles in bottom position.