How Adelaide flicked switch

VETERAN midfielder Richard Douglas says a searching mid-season review helped transform the Crows from nice guys to unsociable hard men.

A four-goal star in Adelaide's statementmaking 21-point win against nemesis Geelong on Friday night, Douglas said lessons learned from four losses in seven weeks — where rivals “bullied’’ the Crows — had proved pivotal in the team displaying a tougher brand of football that had made the football world stand up and take notice.

And he declared it would be the template that Adelaide would use for the rest of the season as it zeroed in on its first Grand Final since 1998.

“We identified midyear that we were probably letting teams bully us a little bit,’’ Douglas told Triple M after his team was this week announced the premiership favourite.

“‘Sloaney’ [midfielder Rory Sloane] copped a bit of heat and we probably haven’t backed him as well as should.

“We took it on board and responded, and for us to be able to stand up [against Geelong] and have each other’s back — and for the crowd to feed off that — that’s the way we’ve got to play for the rest of the year because it will hold us in good stead. We played that unsociable football that we’ve been trying to play for a few weeks.’’

Captain Taylor Walker described 13-4 top-of-thetable Adelaide’s mid-season meltdown as “a transition phase’’ and said the team had emerged better and stronger from having its toughness and game plan questioned.

“The footy club was tested in the contested side of things and the aggressive side as well,’’ Walker said.

“We recognised it, trained it and obviously put it on show on Friday night, which was great.’’