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Thilthorpe or Darcy?: Why King is enthralled by the Crows' star
Jaiden Sciberras • July 28th, 2025 2:37 pm
Saturday night saw the Adelaide Crows pull off a statement Showdown victory, anchored by one of the great Showdown performances.
Claiming his first career Showdown Medal, Riley Thilthorpe played a different game to his opposition, dominating all over the park throughout the Crows’ record-breaking 98-point victory at Adelaide Oval.
Hardly affected by the blistering rain, the 23-year-old was as clean and calculated as any, collecting 19 disposals, 10 score involvements, six clearances and three goals rotating through the ruck and forward half, with 14 of his touches farmed in the first half while the game remained in the balance.
Leading the Crows’ three-pronged forward line, propelling the club to second on the AFL ladder while sitting in seventh place in the Coleman Medal race with 44 goals on the season, SEN’s David King has questioned whether Adelaide’s freak of nature can reach the pinnacle of the AFL.
“Is there a world where Riley Thilthorpe is a better key forward than Sam Darcy?” King told SEN Fireball.
“I see this guy, and I just don’t think you can move him. (We look at) Darcy’s reach and his length, we talk a lot about his ability to get his hands to the ball at the highest point and his kicking, his skills and those sorts of things.
“I understand that 95 per cent of people would (take Darcy over Thilthorpe), but I look at Thilthorpe play, and I just think he plays with a level of anger that drives the group.
“It’s all contest, it’s all brute force, and I just think they’ve got a total star. We’ve talked a lot about that guy as a forward; we’ve talked about him as a ruckman… maybe he’s got the capability of being the best player in the comp.
“Wet weather game on the weekend, he is not entitled to do what he did on the weekend.”
Just a game behind table leaders Collingwood with a league-high 146 per cent, the Crows remain in with a chance of claiming the minor premiership, with the Hawks to come this Friday night.
