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.
3. Where does Adelaide's key defensive depth stand following the departures of Billy Frampton and Fischer McAsey?
Following the stunning retirement of McAsey, who was trialled as a forward across a number of games throughout the 2020 season but was generally recognised as a key defensive prospect, and the apparent expendability of Frampton, who managed just six senior games in 2022, the Crows' defensive tall stocks are looking slim.
Tom Doedee, Jordon Butts and Nick Murray currently make up the brunt of Adelaide's key defender depth, with father-son draft selection Max Michalanney another who is likely to pave his way in defence as a tall option, and Keane recently swooped on via the SSP.
However, it could be argued that aside from Doedee and Butts, who have proven to be reliable options behind the ball, those other options don't exactly inspire confidence at this point in time, and time will tell regarding whether Crows management made the correct decision in making Frampton available to the Magpies for exchange.
