2024 Adelaide Football Club season

Adelaide lost their first game of the 2024 AFL season to Gold Coast by 6 points in wet weather conditions. Gold Coast led for the entire match and Adelaide looked very poor, until a late fourth-quarter comeback spearheaded by Josh Rachele and former Sun Izak Rankine gave the Crows a glimpse of hope. Chris Burgess played his first game for the club after being traded from Gold Coast to Adelaide in the 2023 trade period.^[15][23]

Round 2 marked Adelaide's first game scheduled on a Friday in almost two years. Adelaide came into this game as favourites, despite losing their opening game and Geelong winning theirs. However, Adelaide lost by 19 points with another late comeback falling short due to wasted chances in front of goal.^[24]

This was Adelaide's first time playing against Fremantle in Perth since 2019. Competitive for most of the game, Adelaide were overrun in the final quarter to lose by 35 points.

For the second consecutive year, Adelaide hosted the opening game of Gather Round, this time hosting Melbourne. The final margin of 15 points was flattering to the Crows, who were comprehensively defeated across the ground thanks to former Crow Simon Goodwin's coaching. Christian Petracca was the best player on the ground, while young Jake Soligo was impressive for Adelaide.^[47]

Adelaide won their first game of the season in round 5, largely credited to Matthew Nicks and the variety in his midfield, rotating players such as Jordan Dawson and Rory Laird out and Jake Soligo and Izak Rankine in. Lachlan Gollant was substituted off for the fourth quarter and replaced by Sam Berry, who kicked the winning goal with just over a minute of regulation time remaining.^[48] This was Adelaide's first win in Melbourne since 2021.

For the third time in less than a year, a late non-decision from the umpires cost Adelaide a chance at winning the game (the first against Collingwood, and the second most famously against Sydney). The morning following the game, the AFL conceded that a free kick should have been awarded to Taylor Walker for a tackle laid on Sam Draper, giving Walker a chance to kick a goal after the siren and win the game.^[49] Walker acknowledged that the umpiring decision was frustrating, but also concedes that the Crows' performance was "unacceptable".^[50]

Draftee Dan Curtin made his long-awaited AFL debut, while Smith and Butts returned from injury.^[51] Prior to the game, the all-time Showdown record was tied at 27 apiece. The game commemorated Rory Sloane, who had announced his retirement earlier in the week.^[52] Adelaide's home attendance of 52,106 was their biggest home attendance since 2016.

The last three minutes were played with scores level, and the game ended in a draw — the second of the 2024 AFL season. It was Adelaide's first draw since 2017 (which was against Collingwood at the MCG), their first at home, and the third in their history.^[53] It was Brisbane's first since 2009.

Izak Rankine, who designed the Indigenous guernsey worn, starred with 30 disposals and a late goal of the year contender dribbled from the boundary, but a Jordan De Goey set shot was the winning score for Collingwood.^[32] With less than 30 seconds left, Rankine kicked the ball inside the forward 50, but was pinged for running too far. Controversy stirred as fans began to think it was the fourth game-costing decision in less than a year, but Fox Footy measured that Rankine did indeed run farther than his allocated 15 meters.^[54]

Kuwarna dominated this match, and despite the effort and talent of number-one draft pick Harley Reid, Kuwarna dominated until the final siren, falling short of a 100-point margin by mere seconds.^[33]

Hawthorn kicked the first four goals of the game, and the Crows were not able to regain a lead, extending their winless streak at the MCG (starting in 2017 and spanning nine games) until at least 2025. Matthew Nicks described the loss as "as bad as we've played all year".^[34]

Debutant Billy Dowling, James Borlase, and Strachan all kicked their first AFL goals, but five goals in a row for the 17th-seeded Richmond in the third quarter was too much to overcome.^[35] The performance resulted in heavy scrutiny towards Matthew Nicks and the entire club.^[55] Leigh Montagna agreed with coach Nicks' comments that the Crow's performance was "clearly lacking confident after a disappointing showing."^[56]

Joel Amartey of the Swans, whose previous best goal tally was four, kicked four in the second quarter to keep the Swans in the contest going into half time. He kicked another four in the third quarter, effectively leaving Adelaide behind in the contest. Amartey finished with a career-best nine goals, the most any player had kicked in a game up to that point in the season.^[36]

Bye

Following the mid-season bye, coach Nicks was confident for the clash against bogey-team Greater Western Sydney,^[57] who the Crows had only beaten once up to this point of Nicks' four-year tenure.^[58] When defender Chayce Jones suffered an injury at training the day before the game, a late change was made to include Zac Taylor in the game day squad for his debut.^[59] He was the substitute, and came on for Brayden Cook at three-quarter-time.

An incident involving Izak Rankine and Brandon Starcevich of the Brisbane Lions in the first quarter resulted in a concussion to Starcevich and a four-match ban to Rankine. Adelaide fell short despite a late charge, resulting in another close finish between the two clubs.^[38]

Adelaide stormed home on a rainy Adelaide night over St Kilda, who scored just one goal in the second half. Riley Thilthorpe, in his first game since being injured pre-season, kicked two final-quarter goals to seal the game.^[39]

Zac Taylor kicked his first AFL goal as one of eight consecutive second-quarter goals for Adelaide. Essendon responded with the next five goals in a high-scoring affair. Ben Keays, who kicked a career-best five goals, assisted Josh Rachele in kicking a last-minute goal to lead by four points. Adelaide won by two points in an upset victory to keep their slim hopes for finals qualification alive.^[40]