Adelaide’s decision to appoint Jordan Dawson as skipper has been further validated, with the star midfielder lauded for showing “elite level leadership” during the thrilling final stages of his side’s win over Hawthorn.
The Crows on Sunday won their fourth game on the trot, holding off a gallant Hawthorn to win by three points In Launceston.
The Hawks led by 13 points late in the last quarter before clutch goals by Izak Rankine then, crucially, Darcy Fogarty saw Matthew Nicks’ side pinch victory.
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Dual premiership Kangaroo David King on Fox Footy’s First Crack pointed to vision of the Adelaide coaches’ box after Fogarty’s goal – which put Adelaide in front – with 76 seconds of game time left.
Crows assistant coach Nathan van Berlo picked up the phone – seemingly about to send a message to the interchange bench – before a calm Nicks tapped van Berlo on the arm and appeared to tell him to let the players work it out on the field.
Behind-the-goals footage then showed Dawson move into defence after the Crows won a free kick from the centre bounce. The Adelaide skipper instructed his players – including star player Rory Laird, who was told to man up on Hawthorn captain James Sicily – to move into certain positions in case the Hawks created a turnover and moved the footy forward quickly during the final minute of the game.
That came to fruition, but Dawson was well positioned in front of Sicily, who was manned up by Laird, when the Hawks kicked the ball inside 50.
“I want to take my hat off to Jordan Dawson, who’s becoming one of the highest IQ players in the game,” King told First Crack.
“The Adelaide Crows have won the football and look at Dawson. He’s just setting up the whole field, playing traffic cop for 10 to 15 seconds. It’s brilliant. This is elite level leadership.
“He grabs Rory Laird, who’s been their best midfielder for two years, and says: ‘Hang on, where are you going? Get back here and stand on Sicily because I need to be the plus-one. I need to be the loose man to deny an opportunity.’ There’s 30 seconds to go, they’ve got one to two opportunities to win the game, the Hawks.
“I thought it was terrific leadership from Dawson and also Maddie Nicks saying ‘let’s find out what we’ve got here with leadership’ – and they passed with flying colours.”
Dual All-Australian Leigh Montagna said Dawson’s composure in a tense situation was akin to how Collingwood skipper Scott Pendlebury handled himself on the field last year during his club’s run of tight wins.
“That’s exactly the same vision we showed last year of Scott Pendlebury. When Collingwood were winning all those close games and ‘Pendles’ took it upon himself … to organise everyone else and get set up and win all those close games,” Montagna told First Crack.
Adelaide is now 4-2 and a slight chance to finish inside the top four by the end of Round 6.
Crows claim thriller over Hawks in Tas | 01:06
While the Crows’ young guns have received ample plaudits across the past month, it was their experienced stars that led the charge on Sunday, with Taylor Walker booting 4.1 from 20 disposals and eight marks and Rory Sloane finishing with 30 disposals, 12 contested possessions, seven tackles and five clearances.
Montagna lauded Adelaide’s most experienced players for their reliability during the club’s recent reset.
“Those senior players at Adelaide have been crucial in their rebuild because when they’ve been battling in the last couple of years, the constant was Taylor Walker’s form, Rory Laird’s form, Brodie Smith, Reilly O’Brien – their leaders were so important,” he said.
“I still think you need those senior players to be performing when you’re going through a rebuild. That’s maybe the criticism with the Hawks – who are those senior (players), just to be able to hold the fort and play consistently well every week to help the team?
“Those guys have been important for the Adelaide rebuild.”
