Adelaide's Fall From Grace Has Been Devastatingly Swift

The ball is loose at a stoppage and Rory Sloane slaps it against the ground, bouncing it back into his clean grasp before he rides the wave of a tackle. He frees his arms as he's being driven up by an opponent, deftly dropping a handball from head height into the hands of a teammate, who breaks clear from the congestion and explodes into space. 

This was Sloane on the weekend, in Adelaide's 37-point loss to Brisbane that was rarely competitive.

It might as well have been Sloane in the 2017 preliminary final against Geelong, when the Crows triumphed by 61-points and entered the following Saturday's Grand Final as favourites against Richmond.

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Sloane’s in-close brilliance hasn’t changed too much since then. 

The context around him is, however, unrecognisable.

No longer is his brilliance the first event in an attacking waterfall. It’s instead reduced to an isolated moment within a usually meaningless chain- some stand-alone relief from a broader landscape of very bleak football. 

Sloane is not alone. 

Tom Lynch, Rory Laird, Jake Kelly, Luke Brown, Daniel Talia, Brad Crouch and Taylor Walker all took the field against both the Cats in 2017 and the Lions on the weekend.

Brodie Smith played against the Lions and would have against the Cats had he not done his knee the game prior. 

Matt Crouch, Paul Seedsman, Rory Atkins, David Mackay, Kyle Hartigan and Riley Knight, all Grand Final players, are all still on the list, but off the field now due to form or injury.

Again, Adelaide’s context is unrecognisable, but its list isn't. 

Some vital cogs are gone and the team is slightly younger, but the drop off from Grand Final favourite to clear worst team in the league is stunning.

Everything, clearly, has gone to hell, and perhaps for reasons that go beyond football. 

The Crows didn’t go from 17 wins to wooden spoon favourites because teams got better at cutting off the corridor. 

They are simply a terrible team now, doing the usual things that terrible teams do - comical skill errors, handballs looped to contests inside defensive 50, players regularly being in the wrong places, and the team completely unable to withstand or sustain pressure. 

They are dead last in the competition – by a galling margin – in differential for disposals, inside 50s, clearances, contested possessions, contested marks, tackles inside 50, and metres gained.

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The icons of 2017 have wilted. 

Taylor Walker has had a fine career that probably should have been more. His twilight has not been the kindest. 

At his peak, 'Tex' was one of the most mesmerising players in the league, an awesome mix of grace and force and theatre. There were stiff arms, no-look handballs, goals from 65 metres out, and exquisite short passes - Walker could lower his eyes like few other giants. The swagger is still kind of there (Sunday was Walker's best game in a while) but it's all so much slower now. Walker used to be one grab off the deck. His first involvement against the Lions was sadly representative - a series of clumsy fumbles followed by falling over and meekly hacking at air with his opposite foot.

RELATED: How does 'Tex' measure up in the more unsung stats? 

Brad Crouch is still an impactful player, a contested ball monster, but his disposal is a liability, and his influence is blunted without as much class and confidence around him to capitalise on his work inside. 

Rory Laird and Brodie Smith, once the best half-back tandem in the game, are fading into the background, with far fewer opportunities and clear lanes to exhibit their dynamic foot skills. 

Daniel Talia is under siege each week and is marking the ball less than he has for years. Tom Lynch - once the best symbol of Adelaide's flowing attacking style, specialising in quick, drilled passes finessed from the wing into the corridor - is having little impact, lost in the chaos.

There are some bright spots. 

Chayce Jones, the young Tasmanian in his second season can occasionally be seen darting through traffic, landing low, piercing kicks into the forward line. Reilly O’Brien is carrying the torch in the ruck too, nailing 35 hit-outs to advantage this season (4th most in the league) while also laying a team-high 20 tackles.

But there's little else to hold onto at the moment. 

Brisbane annihilated Adelaide, with the Lion’s 33 scoring shots to 11 revealing more than the final 83-46 scoreline.

The 2017 Crows were perhaps the most exceedingly watchable dominant team of recent years. At their best they were a viciously slick, highly-skilled machine that regularly posted big scores, thrilling their fans with captivating, rhythmic end-to-end passages. 

It’s taken just three years for the best team in the league to become its worst. 

It’ll likely be many more before the next reversal is complete.

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