Adelaide’s call to drop ruckman Reilly O’Brien for their clash against Richmond garnered a lot of headlines on Wednesday night.
The 28-year-old performed reasonably well the week prior against Hawthorn in terms of hitouts and pressure acts, leading Garry Lyon and former Adelaide skipper Mark Bickley to question the omission.
He was replaced by Kieran Strachan for the Round 13 meeting with the Tigers and while the fellow 28-year-old kicked a goal and showed signs in his sixth AFL game, he was well beaten by Toby Nankervis and eventually didn’t play during the last quarter due to a groin injury.
With the Crows going down 71-79 in the clash and Richmond winning hit-outs 25-57 and clearances 32-37, David King and Kane Cornes think that the big call backfired on coach Matthew Nicks.
King didn’t believe the selection made any sense since Strachan is the same age as O’Brien and doesn’t offer anything extra in the role.
“With the ruckmen, rather than omit one of your co-vice captains (they should have played him) … it was strange,” King said on SEN Breakfast.
“I’m not having a go at Strachan, he got injured and I thought he’d shown some signs before that.
“But he’s 28 coming in for his sixth game. I mean, if he was 21 and coming in and you wanted to see a younger player and go past Reilly, that’s fine, I understand that.
“But not the other way around, not to get older in the ruck.
“That makes no sense to me.”
King’s co-host Cornes thinks that Strachan could have still played on Thursday, but not at the expense of O’Brien who should have remained as the number one ruck.
He believes that Strachan could have operated as a tall forward option with Taylor Walker out of the side.
“Was it the right call? They were out on their feet last night,” Cornes said.
“They were absolutely smacked at stoppage and poor old Strachan, he looked okay, but maybe they should have played both of them in the end, rather than just trying to Strachan alone.
“I think they could have played O’Brien in the ruck and Strachan forward.
“He looked capable forward, more so than a Chris Burgess or James Borlase
“Then you’ve got the backup options just in case.”
With Strachan injured, O’Brien looks likely to regain his spot for Adelaide’s clash against Sydney at the Adelaide Oval next Saturday.