McGovern chance to make selection
DUSTY this, Dusty that. Adelaide’s Rory Sloane is tiring of all the Dusty talk.
The Crows vice- captain says Saturday’s AFL grand final isn’t Adelaide against Richmond’s Brownlow medallist Dustin Martin.
“They’re not just a one- man team, it’s not just the Dusty show,” Sloane told reporters yesterday.
“The reason why Richmond have got into a grand final, their midfield goes really deep.
“They have got a lot of stars in there and a lot of guys that have played unbelievable years.
“They all chip in and play their role and Dusty is just the same as everyone there.”
Sloane, in front of eight cameras at media conference at Adelaide’s West Lakes headquarters, thought that was the Dusty question dealt with.
But what about the Dusty fend- off: how do you tackle him?
“Tackling is a lot about intent and just your aggression to get at blokes,” Sloane said.
A journalist later tried again: the Dusty fend- off, how do you handle it? “Again, it’s just not a Dustin Martin team,” Sloane said.
“There’s another 21 guys out there that we have got focus on. Yeah, he’s a big part of that team. And we certainly want to take him down and make sure we stick those tackles when we can.
“But there a lot of other parts of football we are focusing on that we need to get right to beat Richmond.”
Sloane, who topped Adelaide’s voting in the Brownlow count with 20 votes, said he was unfazed by the prospect of receiving a hard tag in the grand final.
“Through the back end of the year I started to play some good footy with a tag,” he said. ADELAIDE captain Taylor Walker says injured forward Mitch McGovern is a shock chance to play in Saturday’s AFL grand final against Richmond.
Walker said McGovern, who missed the preliminary final win against Geelong after experiencing soreness in his left hamstring in the club’s scratch match 10 days ago, has upped the ante with his training.
And he said he will be given the opportunity to prove his fitness at tomorrow’s main training session at Adelaide Oval.
“He’s training really well and we’ll give him every opportunity to train fully in our main training Walker said.
“If he gets through that he’s a good chance to play.”
Walker said the high- flying McGovern, who adds more X- factor to the Crows’ potent attack, had been running well but would now need to be tested “with all the footy stuff”.
“The running under fatigue, bending over, changing direction, jumping, everything like that,” he told Triple M.
McGovern, who missed two months of football with a hamstring injury after he damaged the tendon in Round 3, has kicked 20 goals in 13 games this season.
He was responsible for Adelaide coming from eight goals behind to session,” “steal” a draw against Collingwood in Round 19 when he took a spectacular mark and goaled after the final siren at the MCG.
Walker, meanwhile, said while Adelaide is ecstatic to be in its first AFL grand final since 1998, the players are desperate to make it count.
“As a group we’ve spoken about the fact that we’re not just going to be happy with getting there,” he said. “Let’s go and win the thing.” Walker said coach Don Pyke, who played in three grand finals with West Coast, had also spoken to the players about how to handle the week, given no current Crow has played in an AFL grand final.
“He said stay humble and stay in the present moment because we created this opportunity and it’s important we embrace it and enjoy the ride,” he said.
Walker congratulated star Richmond midfielder Dustin Martin on winning the Brownlow Medal and said the Crows’ midfielders would work out a plan of how to bring the fend- off king to his knees in a tackle.
“He’s just so powerful through his hips, his reach is really long, so it’s hard to get underneath him,” Walker said.
“Obviously, it’s been an outstanding season from ‘ Dusty’ ( Martin) and last night it was capped off with a Brownlow. Hopefully, we leave it there for him.”