Grand final: Ricciuto says Crows 'didn't handle the occasion' Mick Stirling
Sporting News
17 October 2017Adelaide fans are still coming to terms with their grand final effort and how they were humbled by a rabid Richmond despite going into the game as red-hot favourites.
And there is no bigger fan than former Crows superstar and current club director Mark Ricciuto, who has only now spoken publicly about the loss.
‘Roo’ didn’t complain about the match being played at the MCG, happy (to a point) to accept the Tigers were the better team on the day.
“I thought Richmond won the first quarter and they were the better side in the first quarter,” Ricciuto said on Triple M Adelaide’s Roo and Ditts show on Monday.
“After that they were definitely the better team.
“I don’t think anyone would have thought that was going happen before the game, that Richmond would be the best side for four quarters.
“Everything they did was first class; their pressure, their attack on the ball, they kicked big goals, they won the majority of the positions.”
When it came to the Crows’ performance Ricciuto didn’t gild the lily.
“You flip that over to Adelaide and it’s quite the opposite,” he said.
“They didn’t handle the occasion I didn’t think. Their skills were way off, that was probably because of (Richmond’s) pressure and because we didn’t handle the occasion so missed targets a lot of the time.”
It may have taken more than two weeks, but kudos to Ricciuto for calling it as it was - a day when the Crows were given a football lesson.
“They have to live with that now, and come back bigger and better next year.”
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