Blight puzzled after Crows fly north
ADELAIDE Crows legend Malcolm Blight is unsure if the club’s mid-finals break on the Gold Coast is the right move but remains confident the club has the team to win this year’s premiership.
The AFL Hall of Famer, who lives on the Gold Coast and is involved with the Suns, is the only man to coach the Crows to a premiership, having won back-to-back titles in 1997 and 1998.
The Crows arrived on the Gold Coast on Sunday and will return to South Australia on Thursday.
Adelaide have a week off after their win over GWS in week one of the finals and Crows coach Don Pyke is trying to keep his players fresh for next week’s preliminary final against Sydney or Geelong.
Blight said it was an interesting decision to take the players away from the club at such an important time, something he would never have done.
“I was always of the belief you just keep going,” Blight said.
“I always used to like keeping them in their own environment, that was my personal opinion but things change.”
But no matter where Adelaide were positioned, Blight said the well-balanced Crows outfit deserved to be flag favourites.
“They deserve to finish on top spot and they certainly haven’t done anything to take the favouritism away from themselves after last week,”
Blight said.
“You look at their balance. Their forward line is probably the best in the competition – they have got a good mixture there.
“Then you look at their backline. (Jake) Lever and (Daniel) Talia with seem to cover the ball and (fellow defender Rory) Laird has been terrific.
“They have got a really good looking, even team at the moment.”