They've only played two matches but already the Adelaide Crows are playing for their season, according to Brownlow Medallist Shane Crawford.
At one point the Crows conceded nine straight goals in Saturday's 75 point thrashing at the hands of Port Adelaide. It's their second loss of the season, after a narrow defeat to Sydney in round one, and leaves Adelaide 17th on the ladder courtesy of a dismal percentage.
They play Gold Coast at Metricon Stadium on Sunday and with the Suns coming off a comprehensive win over West Coast, the home side will be favourites to condemn Adelaide to a 0-3 start.
The Crows went through a significant clean-out of their playing list in the off-season, discarding veterans such as Eddie Betts, Richard Douglas and Sam Jacobs, a trio with more than 750 combined games of experience.
It means they're putting one of the younger teams on the field each week and according to Crawford, it could be a long year.
"The season's on the line next week for the Adelaide Crows, they're going to play the Gold Coast," he said on Wide World of Sports' Full Time.
"What they've delivered so far is not good enough. They lost to the Swans at home by a couple of points, and then what they dished up on the weekend was very, very disappointing.
"(They) lacked contested footy, and heart, you don't normally think about Adelaide in that way."
The Crows suffered a further blow with captain Rory Sloane having to leave the field on Saturday with a "high grade" corked thigh, leaving him unlikely to play against the Suns.
"What do you do with Adelaide, the season's on the line, they've got to find a way to get themselves into the match, Rory Sloane's now out, that's massive," Crawford said.
"They've got to find a way to get the spirit back."
Crawford also had some harsh words for his former club Hawthorn, who were hammered 108-47 by Geelong.
The margin was just six points at half-time, but the Cats kicked 10 of the next 11 goals to blow Hawthorn out of the water.
"The Hawks after half-time, they just put up the white flag. It's just very unlike them. I thought they were pretty good until half-time," he said.
"They're not going to enjoy the review with Alistair Clarkson, I'm sure he's going to rip in.
"There was a lot of hard evidence on the tape that a lot of players are going to be ducking."
Hawthorn plays Richmond in round three.
from WWOS https://wwos.nine.com.au/afl/shane-crawford-adelaide-crows-playing-for-season-hawthorn-hawks/df46b1b1-262b-48d0-a225-580e6ddb9877
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