Think about what he is saying
“I think Adelaide are going to win it”
“I’m not saying it flippantly”
“If I had to pick a side right now ”
Why, right now, would you pick Adelaide to win the flag?
There are a half a dozen teams above them right now.
I agree with the sentiment of his point - they really should improve - but there is no basis for them to win the whole thing right now.
They’ve lost Jake Lever, Charlie Cameron and Mitch McGovern since 2017, they’ve pick up a good down hill skier in Bryce Gibbs.
Jenkins, Betts, Douglas, Jacobs and Gibbs all hit the season over 30 and Talia has a serious knee injury which will impact his pre season.
Their draw is good but to win a flag they have to finish top 2 to give them a home final. That’s 17 wins and I don’t see them beating WC at Optus (or at Adelaide),Dee’s in Darwin, Sydney in Sydney, Cats at the Cattery and frankly I think both ourselves and Collingwood will beat them in Adelaide.
So to come from 12th to win a flag you have to build some kind of compelling case and with a weaker list and older players along with a clear fracture in trust between players and coaches, it’s an extremely long bow to draw that they will win a flag.
Unsubstantiated claims are lazy and are purely there to be re-published to fill airwaves and on line space