Former Adelaide captain Mark Bickley couldn’t believe it when he heard that Reilly O’Brien had been dropped by the Crows.
The 28-year-old ruckman has been replaced by Kieran Strachan for Thursday night’s Round 13 clash with Richmond despite being named in the top handful of Crows players in last weekend’s loss to Hawthorn.
O’Brien leads the league for hit-outs and averages 12 hit-outs to advantage which ranks as elite, above the likes of Max Gawn and Brodie Grundy.
Looking at those statistics, and O’Brien’s overall performance against the Hawks, two-time premiership skipper Bickley cannot work out why Matthew Nicks and his match committee have opted to omit him for a player who is basically the same age.
“It’s hard to explain how he’s not playing this week,” Bickley said on SEN SA Breakfast.
“The reason I say that is because Reilly O’Brien last week had 35 hit-outs, his direct opponent (Ned Reeves) had 20. He had 15 hit-outs to advantage, his opponent had six.
“He was the leading player for Adelaide for pressure acts. This is a game where the coaches said, ‘we just didn’t turn up for the contest, we let Hawthorn walk away with the ball’.
“So he’s one of the only guys to put pressure on. He had 50 pressure acts and he gets dropped. He had eight tackles in the game and there were eight players who had a combined total of six. So he’s had eight on his own and four clearances.
“On that isolated game, I don’t see how he’s not playing this week. That’s what leads me to think that maybe there’s some other things he’s being asked to do that he’s not quite doing correctly. Maybe that’s built up over a period of time and maybe now they’ve said let’s have a look at Kieran Strachan.
“A lot of people have been calling for Kieran Strachan to play. I heard someone on a radio station ring up and say, ‘At last we’re playing the kids’.”
The ruck situation at the Crows, who have no other clear options beyond O’Brien and Strachan, suggests to Bickley that they must look to recruit or trade for a promising big man at season’s end to help take the club forward.
“Kieran Strachan turns 29 in October, Reilly O’Brien turns 29 in August. They’re the same age,” added Bickley.
“So if you think that Kieran Strachan is going to come in now and next year be the number one ruckman and the next premiership ruckman for Adelaide, I just don’t think that’s a true indication of what’s happening.
“It’s a bit of a strange one. Maybe they’re just looking at Kieran Strachan to say, ‘We’ve got to make a decision on him going forward. If we feel that O’Brien has dropped off a bit, maybe Kieran’s overtaken him and maybe we go that way’.
“What it does say is at the end of this year, I think Adelaide need to get a younger ruckman that they think is going to carry them forward into their next premiership.”
Footy great and SEN Breakfast’s Garry Lyon called the Crows v Hawks game for Fox Footy last weekend and was just as surprised that O’Brien has been axed.
Lyon loved the effort of the 112-gamer in a contest where few stood up for Adelaide.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Lyon said.
“I say that without knowing much about the player they’ve brought in (Strachan). I’ve read a couple of different reports saying he’s been knocking the door down.
“In terms of having a crack, after doing that game last week, my eyes tell me that there weren’t many (Crows) having a crack. Reilly O’Brien was having a red-hot crack.
“He was chasing, he was working hard. He didn’t play great, but he is what he is. He’s out there at the MCG having a real go.
“But they’re shaking it up and they need to shake it up.”
The Crows enter the Thursday night clash with the Tigers at Adelaide Oval in desperate need of a win having saluted just once in their past four outings (which includes a draw).
O’Brien’s omission aside, the Crows have also lost Taylor Walker (back), Matt Crouch (shoulder) and Brayden Cook (knee) to injury.
Joining Strachan in the team is debutant Billy Dowling, as well as Ned McHenry and Will Hamill.
Nicks’ outfit currently sits 14th on the ladder with a 4-7-1 record.