1994

Premiership position: 11th in 15-team competition (9 wins, one draw, 12 losses)

Coach: Graham Cornes. Assistant coach: Michael Taylor.

Captain: Chris McDermott. Vice-captain: Tony McGuinness.

Adelaide’s unexpected slide in its fourth AFL season led to the downfall of inaugural coach Graham Cornes.

After the many highs of 1993, there seemed to be more exciting opportunities ahead for the Crows.

Adelaide also had recruited strongly. Tony Hall, the two-time Glenelg premiership forward who then played in two flags in six seasons with Hawthorn, returned to finish his career. And the Crows traded with Collingwood for Brett Chalmers, who had drafted him from Port Adelaide the previous year.

But Adelaide finished the 1994 season in 11th place, well behind the finalists, and the Club was in the mood for change. Injuries certainly didn’t help. Mark Bickley, Tony Hall, Matthew Robran, Stephen Rowe, Nigel Smart, Rodney Maynard, Andrew Jarman and Greg Anderson all spent long periods out of the game.

There were certainly no warning bells ringing early in the year. Adelaide advanced through three rounds of the pre-season Foster’s Cup to reach the Club’s first grand final. An extra-time win against West Coast was followed by impressive away wins at Waverley Park against Fitzroy and Collingwood. The Crows lost the grand final to Essendon by 34 points in front of a crowd of 43,925 at Waverley Park but they appeared to have had a solid preparation for the premiership season.

Just days after star forward Tony Modra threatened to quit football, his 13 goals helped Adelaide open the 1994 premiership season in menacing form, thrashing Carlton by 66 points at Football Park. Geelong’s ploy of having its players line up at Adelaide’s race when they entered Football Park in round four failed to upset the home side. The Crows were 4-2 at the State-of-Origin break after defeating Brisbane at the Gabba by kicking eight goals in the last quarter to fight back from 26 points down early in the term. Shane Tongerie kicked three goals on debut.

But after South Australia’s two-point win against Victoria – when ten Crows represented SA in what was described as one of the greatest games played – Adelaide lost ten of its remaining 16 games.

For three years Adelaide had remained competitive over the season due to the Football Park advantage but that faded with Footscray, Hawthorn, Richmond and Sydney all going home with the four match points. And the Crows’ form on the road didn’t improve. Eight trips to Victoria produced seven losses and the club’s first draw, against St Kilda at Waverley Park in round 14. The Crows trailed by 29 points at three quarter time but held St Kilda scoreless in the last term.

An embarrassing 97-point loss to Hawthorn at Football Park in round nine, when the Crows did not score in the first and third quarters, had rocked the club.

What followed was a infuriating assortment of performances as Adelaide stayed in the race for a finals spot but the pressure grew on Cornes and the team.  Wins against Fitzroy and Melbourne, and the draw, were offset by losses to Collingwood, North Melbourne, Richmond and Carlton.

Just when the Crows appeared to be buckling, they upset top side West Coast by four points, third-gamer Matthew Kluzek the matchwinner with five goals.  Five days later, however, Adelaide lost to bottom side Sydney by two goals and the season crumpled after more big losses to Geelong and Footscray.

There were some big positives. Shaun Rehn continued to advance to be arguably the most complete ruckman in the AFL. He was recognised with the Club Champion award, and All Australian selection. Teenager Mark Ricciuto, awarded Best Team Man, also made the AA side for the first time.

Modra didn’t reach the crazy heights of 1993 but still kicked 70 goals from 19 AFL games, plus six for SA against Victoria, and McGuinness was Club Champion runner-up for the third time. Teenage defender Sean Wellman was impressive in 17 games in his first AFL season.

Cornes exited after coaching Adelaide to 43 wins and a draw in 89 games. “The argument was some players lacked motivation,” he said. “The coach has to accept responsibility for that.”

Adelaide’s outstanding 1994 financial results allowed the Crows to distribute $1.87 million to the SANFL, after also paying the $400,000 licence fee to the AFL.

Other highlights

• Crows McDermott (captain), A Jarman, Modra, Smart, Hart, Anderson, Jameson, Rehn, Ricciuto and Tregenza represented South Australia’s State-of-Origin side in its thrilling two-point win over Victoria at Football Park. The team was coached by Graham Cornes and Andrew Jarman won the Fos Williams Medal as SA’s best.
• State League v WA: McKinnon, Tasker, Schwerdt.
• The AFL reduced list sizes from 52 to 42 for the 1994 season. Adelaide was allowed to select eight SANFL players to call on if required because of injuries. They were Britt Grocke, Darryl Wakelin (Port, was on Adelaide’s list in 1993), Mark Jeffries (North Adelaide), Richard Kelly (Norwood), Phil McGuinness (Glenelg), Shane Tongerie (Central District) and Ben Watkins (West Adelaide). Tongerie was added to the Crows’ main list at the pre-season draft in March. Wakelin won the Jack Oatey Medal for best afield (for Port) in the 1994 SANFL grand final and then joined St Kilda.
• Adelaide had played a total of six minor round games at the MCG in the first three seasons but was not scheduled to play any games at the venue in 1994.
• An extra (third) interchange player was added for the 1994 season.
• Adelaide travelled to London at the end of the season and played an exhibition game against 1994 premiers West Coast at The Oval (in London), as a curtain-raiser to a game between Richmond and Carlton. West Coast proved too strong for Adelaide, winning 14.14 (98) to 8.8 (56) in front of a crowd of 7000.

Awards and Achievements

All Australian: Mark Ricciuto, Shaun Rehn

Best Team Man: Mark Ricciuto

Leading goalkicker: Tony Modra

List changes

In: Tony Hall (Hawthorn), Brett Chalmers (Port Adelaide, Collingwood)

1993 national draft: Eugene Warrior (Port Adelaide).

1994 pre-season draft: Shane Tongerie (Central District), Matthew Kluzek (Woodville-West Torrens).

Out: Brenton Sanderson (Collingwood), Mark Mickan, Jarrod Hocking, Brooke Fogden, Alan Schwartz, Andrew Payze, Paul Patterson, Andrew Geddes, Seb Packer, Tim Perkins, Darryl Wakelin, Scott Hodges, Michael Godden.

First game players

Tony Hall, v Carlton at Football Park, 27/3/94 (debut order 55)

Brett Chalmers, v Geelong at Football Park, 17/4/94 (56)

Shane Tongerie, v Brisbane at the Gabba, 30/4/94 (57)

Sean Wellman, v Brisbane at the Gabba, 30/4/94 (58)

Peter Turner, v Essendon at Optus Oval, 15/5/94 (59)

Josh Mail, v Fitzroy at Football Park, 29/5/94 (60)

Matthew Kluzek, v Richmond at Football Park, 3/7/94 (61)

Marty McKinnon, v Carlton at Optus Oval, 10/7/94 (62)

Nick Pesch, v West Coast at Football Park, 17/7/94 (63)

Related links

All Australians

Mark Ricciuto and Shaun Rehn