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0-8: The Crows' uncharacteristic September fall off
Jaiden Sciberras • September 21st, 2025 10:15 am
Adelaide’s September struggles were uncharacteristic, but just how much of a fall from grace did the minor premiers endure?
Entering their first finals series since 2017, the Crows seemed all but certain to compete for the premiership, taking out top spot to guarantee at least two home finals.
And while the Crows did require both home finals, they weren’t able to capitalise on their elite season form, falling well short of the mark against both Collingwood and Hawthorn to become the latest side to be eliminated in straight sets.
Although a straight sets exit is far from a pass mark, Adelaide’s post-season form was far worse than initially identified, with the side losing all eight quarters across both September contests.
Putting into perspective just how disappointing that result was for Matthew Nicks’ men, former Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley looked back on all sides to fall in straight sets, isolating the minor premiers’ poor performance in a historical context.
“To understand the situation that they’ve found themselves in – to not win a quarter out of those eight is quite significant,” Buckley told SEN’s Whateley.
“They are the sixth team to lose in straight sets in the last five years. GWS last year went out in straight sets, twice when they looked like they were up against Sydney and Brisbane. They won five of those quarters in their two games.
“The worst result outside of that was in 2023 – Port Adelaide only won two of their quarters as they went out in straight sets.
“Apart from that, Brisbane won three in ‘21, Melbourne (won) three in ‘22 and Melbourne in ’23 went four and four. So, zero and eight… it’s not the ladder we look at, it’s not a stat that we look at, but it stands out.
“It highlights how far the Crows fell from their best footy. They’ve got a lot of questions to ask, because their players would be stunned by that, and so they should be.
“Not enough of them were able to stand up and handle the heat, and Collingwood and Hawthorn put fierce heat and pressure on you, whether it’s in the contest or whether it’s with their ball use or both.
“Too many of their players fell short of their best footy, their guys didn’t play well, and I think that their system seemed to fall away. They didn’t do the basics well – you’ve got to be clean at ground level, give yourself time and space to go inside fifty with any surety and with any expectation of being able to connect and they just weren’t able to do that.”
Despite the Crows’ style of play holding up throughout the home and away season, Buckley believes that their method of attack under Matthew Nicks was simply too predictable to hold up under the pressure of September football.
“Finals are all about contest, and they got beaten up there,” he said.
“What we saw increasingly throughout the year, especially in the back half of the year; they were still scoring and winning just going straight down the line.
“(Mitch) Hinge was trying to change the angles a little bit in the early stages of this game (against Hawthorn), (Wayne) Milera wasn’t quite as impactful as they’d like him to be.
“They don’t move into the mode of run and carry - they don’t have a lot of run from behind, and if they do have it, they don’t look for it. They’re just so happy to take the contest down the line and if you don’t win that, if you’ve got a team that has the attribute to defend that, you’re pretty much impotent, which is what we saw.
“They need to develop another layer where there’s a little bit more risk in their game, where they change the angle a little bit more, where they’re prepared to chain up, use the run and find some run.
“That might be personnel across half back, maybe change a role or see if you can find a (Jarman) Impey like figure that can play off half back and give you some run.
“They became quite predictable, and they were pretty good with that predictability during the home and away, but it was their Achilles heel in the finals.”
This off-season will prove crucial for the Crows if they seek a return to finals footy in 2026.
