2018 Adelaide Football Club season
The 2018 Adelaide Football Club season was the Adelaide Football Club's 28th season in the AFL. It was also its second season in the AFL Women's and its 5th season fielding a reserves team in the SANFL. The men's team started the season successfully, winning the inaugural Adelaide AFLX competition.
AFL
List changes
After only making one appearance at AFL level in the 2017 season, two-time club champion Scott Thompson decided to retire. Before trade period began, the Crows announced that they would not be renewing the contracts of Troy Menzel and Dean Gore. They also officially announced that Sam Shaw had been removed from the rookie list after being kept on it during the 2017 season for administrative reasons.Days after Adelaide's grand final loss, Jake Lever requested a trade to. Adelaide were able to secure two first round draft picks for the key defender. The Crows then used the 2017 first round pick, along with their own, to bring Bryce Gibbs to the club from. Charlie Cameron requested a trade to, but it wasn't until the final hour of the trade period that he was traded in exchange for pick 12 in the 2017 draft. During the trade period Adelaide also traded Harrison Wigg for Pick 39 and brought veteran Sam Gibson into the side in exchange for Pick 91.
Before the 2017 national draft, the Crows also delisted Cam Ellis-Yolmen and Jono Beech. Beech was told that he would not be offered another contract, but the club committed to re-drafting Ellis-Yolmen in the 2018 rookie draft. The team also nominated Jackson Edwards, the son of dual premiership player Tyson Edwards, for a father–son selection. Edwards was not picked up during the national draft by any team, and as a result he automatically joined the Crows list with their final selection in the rookie draft.
Adelaide only used two draft picks in the national draft. With their first round pick the Crows selected South Australian forward/midfielder Darcy Fogarty. At the start of 2017 Fogarty had been considered a contender for the number one draft pick, but his 2017 season was ended in July when he suffered an injury requiring knee surgery and he slipped down the draft to pick 12, enabling the Crows to select him. The Crows' second pick was in round three, the pick they had received for trading Wigg to Gold Coast, and they used it to draft Andrew McPherson, who they hadn't expected to still be available. In addition to re-drafting Cam Ellis-Yolmen and automatically acquiring Jackson Edwards in the rookie draft, the Crows selected Patrick Wilson, mature-aged SANFL premiership player with, and Lachlan Murphy, a member of the club's development squad who had been playing in the SANFL reserves team in 2017.
Trades
| Date | Gained | From | Lost | Ref. |
| 12 October 2017 | Pick 10 2018 first round pick 2018 fourth round pick | Jake Lever Pick 35 2018 third round pick | ||
| 18 October 2017 | Pick 39 | Harrison Wigg Pick 54 2018 fourth round pick | ||
| 19 October 2017 | Bryce Gibbs Pick 77 2018 second round pick 2018 third round pick | Pick 10 Pick 16 Pick 73 2018 second round pick | ||
| 19 October 2017 | Sam Gibson | Pick 91 | ||
| 19 October 2017 | Pick 12 | Charlie Cameron |
National draft
| Round | Pick | Player | Recruited from | League | Ref. |
| 1 | 12 | Darcy Fogarty | SANFL | ||
| 3 | 40 | Andrew McPherson | SANFL |
Season summary
AFLX
Adelaide participated in Group A of the inaugural AFLX competition. All matches were played at Cooper Stadium in Adelaide on Thursday, 15 February. After defeating and to finish at the top of their pool, the Crows defeated by 8 points in the final and became the first ever AFLX premiers. Though Adelaide mainly played depth players rather than a top-level squad, experienced trio Cam Ellis-Yolmen, Curtly Hampton and Kyle Cheney, all of whom had missed much of 2017 due to injury, had opportunities to perform well.Pre-season
The Crows had to rest several key players for JLT Community Series matches due to injury recovery, such as captain Taylor Walker, key defender Daniel Talia and midfielders Rory Sloane and Hugh Greenwood. During the series new recruits at the club put their name forward to play for the team in the opening round of the regular season, including Lachlan Murphy, a rookie-listed small forward, and Bryce Gibbs, an off-season recruit from.Game 1
The Crows went into the JLT Community Series knowing that they would be without several players due to injury, notably including captain Taylor Walker, who was set to return from a foot injury in time for the first match of the regular season. In addition, midfielders Brad Crouch and Hugh Greenwood were left out of the team for the first game due to better manage their recoveries from injury. However, the first match was also the first opportunity for off-season recruit Bryce Gibbs to play a full match with the Crows. In the absence of both Taylor Walker and Rory Sloane, Tom Lynch was named the captain for Adelaide's match against Fremantle. During training for the match, defender Daniel Talia rolled his ankle and was withdrawn from the team, replaced with draftee Darcy Fogarty.The Crows got out to a 29-point lead at half-time, but Fremantle fought back to get a lead of 9 points deep into the last quarter. The Crows scored the final three goals of the game to win by 10 points. Among the Crows' best players were Gibbs and Matt Crouch, who was dominant in the stoppages. Acting captain Lynch was also impressive as a link-up forward.
Game 2
Talia returned from injury and joined the team for the first time of the year, along with Sloane, Greenwood, Eddie Betts, Richard Douglas and Kyle Hartigan, with the Crows fielding 25 players in the pre-season derby against crosstown rivals. Again the Crows had a commanding lead at half-time but allowed their opposition to get back into the game. This time they had a 26-point lead which Port Adelaide overcame, and they lost the game by 26 points themselves, only scoring three goals in the second half of the game. Despite the loss, there were impressive performances from new players Fogarty and Sam Gibson, a recruit from, both of whom put themselves into contention for a debut for the Crows in round 1 of the regular season. Small forward Lachlan Murphy also performed well for the second match in a row to put his name forwards.Home and Away season
The fixture for the 2018 home and away season was announced on 31 October 2017. Adelaide will host in a re-match of the 2017 AFL Grand Final in round 2 on a Thursday night at the Adelaide Oval. Bryce Gibbs will play against former side for the first time in round 7, then the Crows will face off against ex-Crow Jake Lever for the first time when they play in round 10.Round 1
Due to injuries from the pre-season, there was uncertainty about whether or not Taylor Walker, due to a foot injury, and Brad Crouch, due to abdominal strain, would be playing. According to Daniel Talia, the Crows were taking a cautious approach, unwilling to risk using players who had not had a full pre-season, and as a result neither played in round 1. Instead of Walker, the Crows played debutant Darcy Fogarty, who made his debut alongside Tom Doedee and Lachlan Murphy.Breaking with their normal routine for matches in Melbourne, the Crows elected to fly to Melbourne a day early to have a closed training session in an undisclosed location. On the day of the match, Sam Gibson, listed to play his first match for the Crows since moving from the previous season, was withdrawn from the squad due to hamstring tightness. Having played 130 consecutive games for North Melbourne before being delisted, this put an end to the longest-running streak of consecutive matches played in the AFL at the time.
During the first quarter of the match, Richard Douglas was reported by the field umpires for rough conduct on Essendon player Zach Merrett during a collision which resulted in a concussion for Merrett, ruling Merrett out of the rest of the match. The match was tight and low-scoring during the first half, with Essendon going into half-time with a 5-point lead. The Crows then opened up more opportunities for scoring in the third quarter and outscored Essendon by seven goals to three to take a 20-point lead themselves. Some of the Crows best players on the ground were Rory Laird and Matt Crouch, both of whom achieved 40 disposals throughout the match, and Bryce Gibbs, playing his first match for Adelaide since moving from. Gibbs had 35 disposals, including seven clearances and two goals in the third quarter.
Despite their dominant position going into the final quarter, the Crows were only able to score one more goal for the match and lost by 12 points. Making the result worse for them was a groin injury to Curtly Hampton, who had already spent most of the previous season out of the side due to injury. This was their first loss to Essendon since 2014.
Round 2
During the week after Adelaide's loss to Essendon, the Crows' controversial pre-season training camp was leaked to the press, with reports emerging that players had been distressed at the camp. Journalist Sam McClure claimed that Taylor Walker had "sent a fairly terse text message to teammates demanding to know who it was that leaked the information", and also claimed that one player at the club was re-considering their future with the team.Walker returned to Adelaide's team for his first match of the season, against 2017 Grand Final opponents. In total there were seven changes from the team that had played in the grand final to the team named to play in the match. During the game the Crows suffered injuries to four different players, with Matt Crouch leaving the ground in the second quarter due to a hamstring injury and David Mackay leaving the ground to due concussion from a collision with Richmond player Josh Caddy. Rory Sloane and Daniel Talia also left the ground with injuries, but both returned to finish the game.
In the first half Josh Jenkins had an impressive performance against All-Australian defender Alex Rance, kicking four goals against him, followed by a fifth later in the game. Due to strong performances in the forward line from both Jenkins and Walker, the Crows led at the end of every quarter and finished off with a 36-point win.
Round 3
dominated most of the play in the first half of the match, but were unable to convert that to a scoreboard lead and the Crows still led by 10 points at half time. During the half time break, coach Don Pyke instructed the players to be more predictable in how they passed the ball to each other and as a result the Crows were able to control the game more and finish the match 49-point winners.Round 4
The Crows were dominated by the Magpies in the first half to trail by 52 points during the third quarter. They kicked four goals in a row to bring themselves back into the contest, only trailing by 30 points early in the final quarter, but Collingwood then kicked five of the last seven goals to seal the match. Crows star forward Eddie Betts injured his left hamstring and was unable to finish the match.Round 5
Round 6
Round 7
Round 8
Round 9
Round 10
Round 11
Round 12
Round 13
AFL Women's
List changes
Women's draft
| Round | Pick | Player | State | Ref. |
| 1 | 8 | Jessica Allan | SA | |
| 2 | 16 | Jasmyn Hewett | NT | |
| 3 | 24 | Eloise Jones | SA | |
| 4 | 32 | Marijana Rajcic | SA | |
| 5 | 38 | Ruth Wallace | SA | |
| 6 | 42 | Rheanne Lugg | ACT |
Undrafted free agents
| Player | Recruited from | League | Ref. |
| Sophie Armitstead | AFL Women's |
Rookies
Rookie draft
| Round | Pick | Player | Recruited from | League | Ref. |
| 1 | 8 | Calista Boyd | Wanderers | NTFL | |
| 2 | 15 | Brianna Walling | Morphettville Park | Adelaide FL |
Rookie signings
| Player | Date | Other/former sport | Ref. |
| Becchara Palmer | 2 June 2017 | Beach volleyball |
Season summary
The full fixture for the 2018 AFL Women's season was announced on 27 October 2017. Four of the seven games were home games for the Crows, three of them played at Norwood Oval and the final home game at TIO Stadium in Darwin. The unfurling of their premiership flag took place in round one in a 2017 AFL Women's Grand Final rematch against the.In the absence of co-captain and reigning club champion Erin Phillips due to a quad injury, along with other key players, the Crows lost their first two matches to and, delivering a heavy blow to their chances of defending their premiership. In round 3 Phillips returned for the Crows' match against the and kicked four goals, the Crows winning their first match of the season in a close contest that came down to the final minutes of the game. After this the Crows went undefeated until the final round of the season with a draw against the and wins against and. They needed to win their final match against to make it to the Grand Final, but despite leading at half-time they lost the match by 21 points and finished the season in fifth.