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Bickley: The most damming thing about Adelaide’s finals disaster
SEN • September 13th, 2025 2:09 pm
Mark Bickley believes that Adelaide’s inability to win a quarter of football across their two finals matches was the most damming thing about their dismal campaign.
After winning their first minor premiership in 2017, the Crows followed that up with a disappointing finals campaign, which saw them go out in straight sets with a 34-point loss against the Hawks on Friday night.
In particular, the two-time premiership captain noted that the Crows ' inability to win a single quarter showed how uncompetitive they were against finals-experienced teams in Collingwood and Hawthorn.
“The most damming thing was that in the two finals, the eight quarters, they never won a quarter,” Bickley said on SEN’s Crunch Time.
“So they weren’t able to really compete strongly at any stage in those eight quarters.
“Their inability to transition from D50 to forward 50, I was hoping there might be a response from some of the senior players in terms of their performance, but that didn’t come either.
“They looked sluggish and tired. They looked weighed down by the expectation and their inability to perform really strongly.
“They’ve got a lot of work to do, and they’ve got some glaring deficiencies there they've got to try and unpack and fix.”
Adam Simpson also felt that this was a massive opportunity missed by the Crows, given the numerous advantages they had despite their inexperience.
“It’s such a massive opportunity missed,” Simpson explained.
“If you finish 1st at home, double chance, don’t worry about being not experienced. They were one player off their best team.
“So yeah, really disappointing.”
“So yeah, really disappointing.”
The Crows will now enter their off-season and look to figure out how they can come back stronger in 2026.
For the Hawks, a preliminary final against their rivals in Geelong awaits them next Friday night at the MCG.
