Adelaide coach Matthew Nicks says the Crows will stick with their young guns after mixed performances from emerging talents Dan Curtin and Josh Rachele in Adelaide's 63-point thrashing of St Kilda.
Dan Curtin, Josh Rachele and debutant Sid Draper all made appearances in Round 1 and played varying roles - all of which satisfied Nicks.
Asked if the Crows would attempt to give Curtin more involvement in the play, Nicks stood firm by the second-year utility's current role, despite a plain stat sheet.
Curtin recorded just seven disposals and three marks in the Saints clash, but Nicks said his "positioning" was a valuable aspect in his role for the team.
"It's interesting, it depends on what you call 'involved' because from our point of view, we look at him playing a role in our side. Not everyone can come in and have 30 possessions," Nicks said.
"We've got guys in different roles and he plays a certain role for us that's not high possession, it's a lot about positioning, a lot about what we're asking him to do.
"He plays a number of different roles in it. For a young guy, he performed to the level we wanted him to on the weekend. There's always work-ons, every guy from the games got a work on... It all comes back to [the] team for us, how did we perform as a team and what's he played within that?
"I think we've got to be mindful of not looking at the stat sheet at the end of the game and going 'He's had four kicks he must've had a bad game', because that's not the case."
Widely expected to develop into a midfield during his AFL career, Nicks said Curtin's time would come - but not yet.
"That's the key for us. He is versatile, he's hard to match up on, and he's shown he can play multiple positions. We brought him here as a defender, we know he's played on-ball prior to the AFL level, but we're not gonna do that to him just yet," Nicks said.
"Now, he's playing forward of the ball and he's showing us enough to be selected in our first side, while some others are pretty stiff to miss out."
In one of his strongest games for the club, Rachele starred by recording a game-high 12 score involvements. Nicks attributed his response from a controversial end to 2024 to the influx of senior heads at the Crows, as well as Rachele's dedication to put in the hard yards through the summer pre-season.
"(Rachele's performance was) reward for putting his head down and going to work," Nicks said.
"Not a surprise, actually.
"I thought it was a really complete game right across the board everything he did with the ball in hand, stuff he was doing when it's not gonna be looked at... some of his off-ball stuff was outstanding.
"I think he's learning from Alex Neal-Bullen, Ben Keays the ways he goes about it, it's contagious when you get these guys in and the respect level that they've got already from our group.
"Our guys watch and learn, and now there's small stuff that we're bringing into our game... the key now is for us to keep doing it.
Queried on whether Sid Draper had earned a starting role after spending his debut as the sub, Nicks' response suggested Draper may face another week with reduced minutes.
"He did exactly what we asked of him in the role, that doesn't mean he's deserving of any other role," Nicks said.
"We see the sub role as important as any other role. Again, some people think four quarters is a reward for a player, but not necessarily.
"The advantage he brings coming into our side slightly fresh if we're able to do that, which we've been able to do now for the past couple of weeks, I think he shows the impact he can have.
"It's not all about Sid, it's about the team."
The Crows travel to the MCG to take on Essendon in Round 2, a club who they've had close encounters with in recent memory. Both matches last year were determined by three points or less, and with an Essendon side brimming with young talent, the Crows will need to maximise their own youngsters to secure an interstate win on Saturday.
