Neil Craig, the coach of the Adelaide Crows finally stepped down today after two years of absolute torture for Crows fans.
Especially torturous for Crows fans was last weeks match against St Kilda.
The game saw the Crows put up the lowest ever score in Adelaide’s 20 year history. The call for Craig’s sacking was at an all time high.
Craig began his head coaching career in 2004, taking over as caretaker from Crows coach, Gary Ayres.
He was awarded with the full time coaching job in 2005 and over the next few years, with players such as Mark Riccutio, Andrew McCleod, Simon Goodwin, Tyson Edwards and Scott Thompson, Craig was able to coach the Crows to two preliminary finals (both lost against West Coast).
Before last season, Craig had never coached a team that missed the finals, even though most of the years the Crows did make the finals, they were put out by late goals from Jack Anthony and Lance Franklin.
However, this year, it seemed as if Craig was having a hard time coaching the Crows.
Apart from that first game against Hawthorn, the first three quarters of the game against Collingwood and a few edgy home game wins, the Crows seemed as if they lacked leadership and guidance.
Leadership and guidance. Call me crazy, but I thought that was supposed to be the coach’s job?
And don’t give me any of that “but look at the players we lost”.
McCleod, Edwards, Goodwin and even maybe Burton at some points were some of the best players in Crows history.
But last year, all those players averaged just nine games between them and Goodwin was the only one who could still play consistently good football.
I know the Crows are a young team, but that’s not the point either.
I have seen every single team member play football much better than they did on Friday night and even for some of them, I’ve seen much better seasons than this one.
In my opinion, coaches are there to help players play their best football and play their part in the team. Unfortunately, Neil Craig lost that sometime in the last two seasons and it was sorry to see.
I both respect and admire Neil Craig for stepping down today, because sometimes young teams with great potential like the Crows need new direction for the club.
Maybe all that potential will one day lead the team to it’s next premiership.
However, Cragie could have coached the rest of the season. The board would have at least let him have that, but he’s given Mark Bickley a shot to prove that he’s a candidate for the job. How he handles the rest of the season will be crucial.
I’m not a Crows fan, but Neil Craig, I think you did a great job as a coach and you will be missed.