1994 - What happened?

[OldCrowBloke]

Fox is replaying the 1994 game where Adelaide flogged Carlton and Modra kicked a bag. (13 iir).
Carlton had played in the ‘93 GF where they lost to the Bombers who had knocked us out in a heart-breaking PF.
I remember being at the game that night and thinking that we would be unstoppable!
Rehn dominating ruck, Mods kicking goals for fun, Roo emerging as a force. Smart influential at CHF.
Hart, Jamieson, Lee controlling the defence.
The players back from VIC were contributing- notably Anderson and Hall.

So we started the season 5W and 1L

Then we only won 4 more games and a draw?

What went wrong??

 

[crows dude]

Mark Bickley dominated R1-4 Then didnt playRound 6 thrugh to 14 injured
Chris Grrom Back was stuffed as a 20 year old after looking solid in 1993 as a CHF of the future.
Mods after Round 11 couldnt get a kick
Relied on Mcdrmott, McGuiness and Jarman in the midfield who were all 30 Besides Roo who was dominant .
Rehn dominated but mids were too old other than Roo
Trigga and Andeson on the wings great early in the year then stuggled.
Talks started on Mods and Cornes to Columbia etc.
We had to move Smart back to defence as oposition worked him out as a CHF.
Robran was out all year with a second broken leg.

 

[OldCrowBloke]

Mark Bickley dominated R1-4 Then didnt playRound 6 thrugh to 14 injured
Chris Grrom Back was stuffed as a 20 year old after looking solid in 1993 as a CHF of the future.
Mods after Round 11 couldnt get a kick
Relied on Mcdrmott, McGuiness and Jarman in the midfield who were all 30 Besides Roo who was dominant .
Rehn dominated but mids were too old other than Roo
Trigga and Andeson on the wings great early in the year then stuggled.
Talks started on Mods and Cornes to Columbia etc.
We had to move Smart back to defence as oposition worked him out as a CHF.
Robran was out all year with a second broken leg.

The wheels definitely fell off big time.
I do remember going to games where McDermott in particular looked totally gassed early in games.
Had forgotten about Groom’s back - how did we convince Freo to take him?

 

[PCORF]

Choked away the preliminary final in 1993.

The 1994 season began in great form. Modra dominating with 13. Expectations were sky high. Everyone was thinking we would be contenders for sure.

Started the season 3-1 and the Bulldogs came into town in Round 5 in scorching weather conditions and took advantage of our fumbles.

Despite the heat and 6 day break we beat Brisbane Bears the week after that. Then had the bye.

It quickly fell apart after that.

Got a hiding vs Essendon and then .....

I remember the afternoon Hawthorn hammered us at Footy Park leading from start to finish and Adelaide had two scoreless quarters. Hawthorn held a 10+ goal lead nearly all game. Dunstall dominated and Platten was unstoppable. They did not win again at Footy Park until 2008.

The remainder of the season was inconsistent. We struggled.

But a shock upset win vs West Coast in Round 17 was one of the biggest upsets of the season.

A week later we got complacent and suffered shocking home loss to Sydney that sealed the deal, the first of 3 home losses to a wooden spooner in the club's history (Fitzroy 1995 an Richmond 2024).

A couple of thrashings followed where we failed to score 40 but won 2 more games. But it was too late.

1995 and 1996 were worse and changes had to be made and for the good they were.

 

[adelaidecrows]

I was only 14 at the time back then but my memory was we were luring all these older players back from Victoria like some retirement farm.

There was a lot of politics behind the scenes. Sanfl clubs hated having listed players and many refused to support the Crows which probably didnt feed well into player welfare.

There was also the start of generational change. Which meant due to injuries and older players sliding out of favor younger players were coming in. This really didnt sit well with older players who were Sanfl minded. My gut feel was that many players saw it as an SA state of origin side and wanted it to stay that way which meant only the most deserving players staring in the Sanfl should be selected. Unfortunately thats not how the AFL works and if they arent on the list. Bullying and arrogance from what I have been told ripped the team to shreds. Hodges even highlights some of this in his book from his time. There were some genuine bullies who wanted to run the show. Andrew Jarman was the ring leader by all reports.

In the end Cornes was sacked because the media just like the senior players saw it as a state of origin side that finals were a non negotiable. It took a Victorian to reinforce generational change was needed and the realities of AFL in 1995 and 1996. Which in the end was a wake up call for SA who were probably still living on the 1992 state of origin win and Tony Halls goal.

 

[OldCrowBloke]

I wrote the OP while watching the replay of the Carlton game, without really giving it much thought.
Some of the older players mentioned above certainly ran out of steam as the season progressed.
There was still quite a lot of SANFL team rivalries as well.
I had forgotten about the long injury to Bicks.

 

[adelaidecrows]

I wrote the OP while watching the replay of the Carlton game, without really giving it much thought.
Some of the older players mentioned above certainly ran out of steam as the season progressed.
There was still quite a lot of SANFL team rivalries as well.
I had forgotten about the long injury to Bicks.

Back then it wasnt professional and training was 2 main trainings a week, a light pre game run and a recovery session. So it was up to the players to take their professionalism to the next level. Those who had been around the 80s who may have been living on talent over athletic ability were being found out and if they didnt swim they sank. Especially when those being drafted were taking their fitness seriously and doing the right things. So older players were found out really quick, and even faster if their attitudes weren't up to scratch.

Also never under estimate the power of the sanfl club politics. It wouldnt surprise me if listed players were sabotaging themselves to not be selected by the Crows or to be dropped so they can play for their Sanfl clubs. Which probably meant a lack of competition for spots, combined with injuries really screwed the year. As I have said previously, I do think Shaw was the wake up call we had to have, it was painful but the mini rebuild and generational change really set us up for success when a coach came along who could take us to the next level. Cant live on State of Origin and a 1993 finals appearance forever.

If Blight came along in 1995 I suspect he would have had similar results to Shaw as the problems were player driven who didnt understand the need for professionalism and generational change. So Blight would have been building that list we saw from just as far back as what Shaw had. He probably would have told Jarman to F off though well before the end of 1996.

 

[davos44]

I remember Graham Cornes being interviewed and he mentioned that he didn't push the players hard enough.

Beat Geelong, Carlton, West Coast and Melbourne (Prelim finalists, all at home though).
Barely scraped by twice against Brisbane
Lost to Sydney at home.

Purely mental.

 

[GameofSloanes]

I remember Graham Cornes being interviewed and he mentioned that he didn't push the players hard enough.

Beat Geelong, Carlton, West Coast and Melbourne (Prelim finalists, all at home though).
Barely scraped by twice against Brisbane
Lost to Sydney at home.

Purely mental.

Sounds like they needed a camp

 

[Cromulant]

I remember Graham Cornes being interviewed and he mentioned that he didn't push the players hard enough.

Beat Geelong, Carlton, West Coast and Melbourne (Prelim finalists, all at home though).
Barely scraped by twice against Brisbane
Lost to Sydney at home.

Purely mental.

Wouldve been interesting to see if he did push them hard enough, I'd say the old guard would've sent him to the gallows.

Guys like Jars, McGuiness and Bone were all superb players and warriors, but they thought it gave them the rights to dictate terms.

 

[Firewalker]

Sounds like they needed a camp

They actually did have one in 1994… they went up to Queensland… it bore similar fruits to the next pre-season camp in Queensland 24 years later.

 

[davos44]

Sounds like they needed a camp

Jumping out of a plane, firewalking, simulated terrorist attacks and fighting bushfires are part of any good preseason where you were good last year and want to be absolutely diabolical the next year.

 

[davos44]

Wouldve been interesting to see if he did push them hard enough, I'd say the old guard would've sent him to the gallows.

Guys like Jars, McGuiness and Bone were all superb players and warriors, but they thought it gave them the rights to dictate terms.

Yeah, my understanding is they lobbied the board pretty hard to get rid of Cornes. Blight took one look at those 3 and knew what he had to do.