Top Marks: Crows great Mark Bickley and Mark Holden on Crows finals run
Adelaide Crows’ only premiership captain analyses Saturday’s lineup as a former club ambassador and Australian Idol judge picks his favourite Pride of SA singer.
Two of the state’s most prominent Adelaide Crows supporters have thrown their support behind the team ahead of a do-or-die clash in Brisbane on Saturday night.
Adelaide Crows Hall of Famer and the club’s only premiership captain Mark Bickley weighed in on the Adelaide Crows’ chances in enemy territory, saying star midfielders Izak Rankine and Jordan Dawson would need to continue their strong form while negating some key Brisbane players.
“With the likes of Brisbane’s Lachie Neale, Dayne Zorko and Harris Andrews, they need to have a plan for those three to see if they can nullify their influence, and if they can do that, I think they can win,” Bickley said.
The Crows will need to defy the odds, having gone winless at the Gabba since 2018. Small forward Zac Taylor will return to the lineup after suffering a minor hamstring strain late in the season, replacing Isaac Cumming who has been dropped.
Despite the Crows recent winning form, dual-premiership captain and Australian Football Hall of Fame inductee Bickley believes the Crows are “a bit of a long shot” to forge ahead and claim the premiership cup.
Adelaide would become just the fourth team in VFL/AFL history to win a Grand Final after finishing outside the top four, a feat Bickley’s side achieved in 1998.
“To come from sixth spot and having to win four games in a row is a really big ask,” he said.
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“At this stage, out of the six teams remaining, they’re probably the longest shot to do so. But whilst you’re still one of six there’s still a chance.”
The 272-gamer knows all too well what it takes to win in a cut-throat AFL finals series, leading his side to back-to-back flags in 1997 and 1998.
“I often say the planets have to align for you to win. It’s so hard, and the fact that in 35 years, they’ve only had one cohort that have been able to do it suggests that it’s pretty tough,” Bickley said.
“It’s just a confluence of everything in terms of skill and fitness and luck and availability and there’s so many things that need to come together.
“There’s probably been better teams representing Adelaide than the ones that won the flag, but for whatever reason there’s just been different things that have come up against them. Whether they didn’t play how they wanted to play on the day, or they had injuries, or suspensions, there’s just so many factors.”
Bickley, who is the current general manager at Magain Real Estate, said if he could have any former Crows player return to the current side in their prime it would be dual Norm Smith medallist Andrew McLeod.
“He’s got a pretty good September record and you know his flexibility, he won a Norm Smith medal playing across halfback and in a preliminary final kicked seven goals as well,” Bickley said.
“Pretty handy bloke to have and his ability to do it in September regularly is probably unsurpassed amongst his peers at Adelaide.”
Mark Holden
Pop star, former Australian Idol judge, barrister and Adelaide Crows superfan Mark Holden told InDaily last week’s victory against the Western Bulldogs felt like redemption from 2025’s finals series failure.
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“The moment we saw Nicksy [Matthew Nicks] put the thumb up in the last quarter and smile was a great moment for all Crows supporters that we had finally crossed that horrible 10-year disastrous run,” he said.
“We’ve got a great backline with Wayne Milera, what a player he’s become, and Josh Worrell with his intercepting was just incredible as well.
“It does feel like we have an opportunity at this moment right now to pick up where we left off at the end of last year’s home and away series.”
Holden, who is best known for hit singles ‘Never Gonna Fall in Love Again’ and co-writing Vanessa Amorosi’s smash hit song ‘Absolutely Everybody’, has supported the Crows since its 1991 inception during his time living in Los Angeles.
“I was never ever going to be a Port Power supporter, so when the Adelaide Crows were created, I would watch them from overseas on the satellite cable stations,” Holden said.
“I got back home just in time for back-to-back grand finals wins, so it was absolutely perfect.
“I remember being at the 1997 preliminary final with my son and getting ready to go to the grand final, and everyone just gathering outside the ground, being so excited and celebrating in the Glasshouse.”
Holden said the team remained a premiership possibility if they could get some big performances out of the “X-Factor” tall forward Riley Thilthorpe who will play his 100th game on Saturday.
“We’re only a possibility if ‘Filthy’ delivers, that’s the truth of it. If he can be the superstar that he was last year he can elevate everybody,” Holden said.
“It’s going to be a tough task in Brisbane against really the best team in the last three or four years.
“We just need that spark up front to get those marks and kick actual goals. We’ve got three three great forwards who are all great kicks, and who are all great marks, but they just need to be on fire.”
It has been a busy year musically for Holden, with the musician releasing five albums including his latest release ‘Now & Then & Shirley MacLaine’.
But Holden ruled out making his own rendition of the Adelaide Crows club song, saying there was “nothing wrong” with the current anthem apart from “not hearing it enough”.
The former television star put his judging hat back on throughout the season when watching renditions of the club song, with mid-season draftee Hugo Hall-Kahan catching the Idol judge’s eye.
“He’s a great story, and it’s great to see him singing the song. He’s found a home in the team, and he’s had a hell of a journey to get there,” Holden said.
Holden says he will be busting out the “must-have” party pies from his local bakery and a bottle of French champagne as he cheers on the team on Saturday night.
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