Under new manager and with several very interesting foreign signings Adelaide started the season full of hope, but just one win in the opening six rounds and early injuries to some of their key players unsettled the team’s balance.
Coach Kurz saw arguably his bets attacking outlet Absalonsen starting his career in Australia with 2 goals and 2 assists in the opening 3 rounds, but this was when he suffered a serious injury, which kept him out of action pretty much until February. With striker Diawara also missing 16 games during the regular season and the January signing Cavusevic suffering a season-ending injury after making just two starts luck was definitely not on Adelaide’s side this campaign.
All that said Adelaide looked really promising in a lot of their games and Adlung and Isaias were arguably the most solid pair of inner midfielders in the league all season. The two of them controlled the midfield well and also all the injury problems saw some youngsters getting invaluable experience. Strain proved to be an excellent back up option at right-back, Konstandopolous made Lia’s long absence through injury go unnoticed in the middle of the park, while Blackwood carried the attack on his shoulders while the big stars were sidelined.
January brought improvement in the displays with Adelaide losing just once between rounds 14 and 20. With two more wins at the end of March over Jets and Phoenix the Reds secured their play-off spot with two games to spare and the good thing for them was that by that point the regulars Absalonsen, Lia and Elrich were fit.
Unfortunately Adelaide faced the future champions Victory away from home in the Elimination Final and despite putting up a good fight the Reds conceded a minute before the end of the regular 90 minutes to lose 1:2. Despite this premature end to the season all the signs were there that coach Kurz is building a squad that could win trophies very soon and Adelaide will be a team to watch in future years.
