The Adelaide Crows, preparing to enter the 2023 season with one of the youngest playing lists in the competition amid their continued rebuild, are expected to be among the lowliest teams in the league in terms of win-loss ratio.
As senior coach Matthew Nicks ticks over his fourth year at the helm, the Crows' football department has continued to add assets to his youthful squad, the most notable of which being ex-Suns forward Izak Rankine, while also subtracting in the form of Billy Frampton via trade and the retirements of Fischer McAsey and Luke Brown.
Taking into account the aforementioned player movement at West Lakes over the off-season, as well as Jordan Dawson's appointment as the club's new skipper, we present our five burning questions lingering over the Crows' 2023 campaign.
4. Will the Crows have a breakout star in 2023?
Following the unprecedented season-long outstanding performance of midfielder Ben Keays in 2022, the question becomes whether a similar breakout campaign could be had by a different Crow this season.
Hard-nosed, tackle-adoring midfielder Sam Berry may be a man worth monitoring as it pertains to that query.
The 21-year-old's average of 9.5 tackles per game last season not only obliterated his own career average of 6.9, but ranked tops in the entire competition, with the next-most frequent tackler being teammate Rory Laird (8.1). Further, Berry's total clearances (4.6 per game) were rated as above average among midfielders, all while he averaged just 73% time-on-ground last season.
Taking into consideration Berry's profound campaign last year and the gradually diminishing careers of fellow midfielders Rory Sloane, who surrendered the club captaincy, and Matt Crouch, the door is well and truly ajar for the 2020 draft pick to step up alongside Laird and Keays as Adelaide's core trio of engine-roomers.
