The Adelaide Crows are confident they can take down Collingwood on the reigning premiers’ own turf on Saturday, but training today proved they’re leaving nothing to chance.
The Pies slipped through the Crows’ fingers last year, with Adelaide leading until late in the final term in both games, only to be pipped when the siren sounded.
A large portion of the Crows’ training session this morning was devoted to handling those types of last-minute situations.
“We’ve done a fair bit of work on scenarios. And there are not too many teams in the competition that have played in more close games than Collingwood,” coach Matthew Nicks said.
Nicks is also carefully considering whether Dan Curtin remains in the side after being subbed off in his first two games.
“We haven’t selected the side as yet,” he said.
Nicks was adamant Curtin wasn’t rushed into the side prematurely.
“No, not at all. I think it’d be one we look back on and say he’ll benefit from playing at this level. As a key defender what we’ve seen is it takes a little bit longer to develop, but we’ve been really pleased,” he said.
Meanwhile, Josh Worrell has signed a two-year contract extension, just 48 hours after surgery on his broken arm.