Adelaide Crows Preview 2026

As a Crows fan the only thing that hurt more than going out of the finals in straight sets is how limited their fantasy upside was in 2025. It was obvious that it was a risk playing most Adelaide players…. so, for the most part…. I didn’t.

Honestly, I thought I would be more bias towards my team, but I made the choice, do I want to win prizes or stick along club loyalty…. I only had one crows lock in 2025, Jordan Dawson.

The GDS Anchors

While Adelaide crows had some success in 2025, it didn’t always translate to GDS points, other than a few standouts who I think will still bring plenty of GDS Points your way in 2026:

Jordan Dawson who was one of the best in the league, earning himself an All-Star card. Dawson played 23 games and averaged 129.39 across the season, this was third highest overall behind Bailey Smith and Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera, true GDS Royalty.

Dawson’s 2025 stats – Midfielder:

·         17 goals

·         360 kicks

·         184 Handballs

·         108 Marks

·         174 Tackles

·         36 Frees for

·         30 Frees against.

Dawson is an anchor pick across most comps for 2026; he is the captain of the club for a reason, with the ability to generate his own possessions in games by moving himself on ball, I expect to see his average increase this season. A lot of coaches will have him so rarity will be important!

Izak Rankine is usually an excitement machine, when he gets the ball, you just watch the magic happen. He's listed in the forward line for the 2026 season, where in 2025 he managed to average 104.86 across 20 games.

·         31 goals

·         285 kicks

·         167 Handballs

·         87 Marks

·         78 Tackles

·         34 Frees for

·         28 Frees against.

While somewhere between an anchor and POD for me, Rankine has some very good upside when it comes to scoring for GDS, however, the talent in the forward lines this is plentiful, so it’ll be a strong match up dependant pick for me. Don’t forget! Rankine is still serving his suspension so will miss the round one game for 2026.

What’s new in 2026?

Looking at Adelaide’s new recruits so far, it doesn’t scream GDS Relevance for me.

Callum Ah Chee averaged 73.41 across 22 games, his experience may help others get more stats, but as for himself, I don’t see him joining the crows as a massive game changer to his GDS Scoring.

If you see a rise in his scoring, it won’t be very noticeable one. I doubt I’d pick him over the higher scoring options available unless it’s for a primetime comp slot and he’s the only choice you have. He would be a PoD, but most likely too much of a risk to play.

Mitchell Marsh and Archie Ludowyke are both exciting players on paper, however, unless they debut, won’t have any GDS relevance. Watch that space, because if they DO debut, they’ll be handy for those Special competitions, under 22’s and potentially, Prime Time.

New 2026 Signings

Callum Ah Chee (Pre-Season Draft), Indy Cotton (Category B rookie), Archie Ludowyke (No.50 draft pick), Finnbar Maley (trade, North Melbourne), Mitchell Marsh (No.22 draft pick)

Departed Players

Chris Burgess (delisted), Matt Crouch (retired), Karl Gallagher (delisted), Lachlan Murphy (delisted), Harry Schoenberg (delisted), Brodie Smith (retired), Kieran Strachan (delisted)

2026 GDS Position Changes

Player	Club	2025 Position	2026 Position
Billy Dowling	Adelaide Crows	Midfielder	Forward
Daniel Curtin	Adelaide Crows	Forward	Midfielder
Luke Nankervis	Adelaide Crows	Defender	Midfielder
Rory Laird	Adelaide Crows	Midfielder	Defender
Sid Draper	Adelaide Crows	Midfielder	Forward

Dynasty Strengths

I keep talking about these special competitions, under 22’s which the name explains itself, players born 2004 onwards are eligible, Adelaide have three young guns that will make my side if they are playing.

Max Michalanney (Defender): GDS Average across 19 games 65.16, on the lower side but I expect to see improvement here, last season you saw him play some forward time and ended up kicking 4 goals, I expect to see more of the same position resulting in higher GDS scores. He is a PoD pick for the under 22’s, if selected most weeks!

Sid Draper (Forward): GDS average across 14 games 34.40 changing from midfield to forward in 2026, Draper we would expect to still get some midfield minutes, however, being in the forward, hopefully getting the opportunity to slot through more goals. I’m just not sure how many games he will see this season, often starting as the sub, still a decent average, when you factor that in.

Daniel Curtin (injured now) (Midfielder): GDS average 76.39 across 23 games. Formally a forward, this may change how many teams you see him in, however, prior to getting injured (I’m still recovering) he looked explosive and ready to go! Due to come back between rounds 7 and 9 I believe he may fly under the radar for coaches who are used to picking by average. He will be a decent PoD once he returns.

Under 22 Eligable Players

Name	Position	Team
Mitchell Marsh	FWD	Adelaide Crows
Indy Cotton	FWD	Adelaide Crows
Archie Ludowyke	FWD	Adelaide Crows
Billy Dowling	FWD	Adelaide Crows
Charlie Edwards	DEF	Adelaide Crows
Daniel Curtin	MID	Adelaide Crows
Hugh Bond	DEF	Adelaide Crows
Max Michalanney	DEF	Adelaide Crows
Oscar Ryan	DEF	Adelaide Crows
Sid Draper	FWD	Adelaide Crows
Tyler Welsh	FWD	Adelaide Crows

Fixtures and scoring Profile

Adelaide were one of the hardest teams to match up against around the ground last season!

They also have a pretty challenging starting few games as well as the round 0 bye with is useful in other fantasy competitions but far less relevant in GameDay Squad.

Byes rounds: 0 and 12

First 5 Fixtures: Bye, Collingwood, Bulldogs, Geelong, Fremantle

PODs and Breakout Potential 

Rory Laird, while he didn’t feature too heavily in my team in 2025 due to being in that high competition midfield role, he managed to average 107.25 for the season which consisted of 20 games.

·         1 goal

·         262 kicks

·         215 Handballs

·         108 Marks

·         174 Tackles

·         20 Frees for

·         10 Frees against.

With a GDS position change to defender in 2026, I will likely find myself playing him more often as he does like to rack up the possessions. Especially in those Prime-Time Special competition games.

He still avoids the Anchor position for 2026 for me; however, he might make a decent PoD if the matchup is in his favour.

Josh Rachele, had an average of 75.77 in the forward position after only playing 13 games across 2025 due to that knee injury. Prior to that you saw an improvement in his efforts and contests.

This improvement translated directly to GDS points and makes Rachele my Adelaide Crows PoD for 2026!

As a goal sneak, play creator and a bit of a show pony, he is decent to watch. More importantly, I think 2026 will being him more GDS Points. Across 2025 we saw Rachele play around half a season:

·         25 goals

·         117 kicks

·         40 Handballs

·         45 Marks

·         26 Tackles

·          8 Frees for

·         9 Frees against.

Keep in mind, he got injured and midway through a game and when he returned, he did start as sub. I expect Rachele’s average to go up, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it got up to the 90’s, especially if he can tidy up those penalty points (Free kicks against).

Risky Picks

There are players to target and then there are players to avoid, it’s not that they’re bad players. It’s just that their efforts don’t always translate to GDS Points.

Ben Keays FEELS like the biggest trap pick to me; after starting so well early in the 2025 season, we saw a score drop over time ending the season on a 93.30 average across 23 games.

I hope he finds the early 2025 form, but for me, until I see the numbers, he’s an avoid. It is risky having a 50-point game while other forwards are averaging 90+. He is more than capable of scoring high, but it’s a matter of picking the right weeks. I need to see consistency before this guy makes it back into the squad talks. With the big scorers coming in to the forwards for 2026, it’s not worth the risk.

Darcy Fogarty - Not normally a high scorer in terms of GDS, I feel like the biggest trap would be picking him outside of the primetime games (unless you happen to pick the 1 game he goes off in!). 71.50 GDS point average across 22 games is just far too low. You expect more out a forward, don’t fall into the trap, go for someone with a better floor/ceiling scoring ability.

And lastly… because despite the good he does; he is another risk….. Mark Keane. He has the upside of taking some kick ins for extra points but then he also can lose points in giving away frees. He averaged 69 GDS points across twenty-three games and there are simply better scoring players out there, while he is entertaining to watch, it will not be at the risk of my GDS Squad.

Final Words

In terms of GDS scoring, while Adelaide is not a super relevant side, there will be certain match ups where I will be tempted to play more players. Adelaide can be one of the frustrating teams to pick the right player from in terms of GDS, and apart from Jordan Dawson and (when back) Izak Rankine, I don’t see a lot of weekly players in my squads from the Crows.

In 2026, it seems Adelaide will have a better year, mainly due to the playing group having minimal interruptions to the team list. Consistency is key, but will it bring more fantasy points?