It was supposed to be the best day in the history of the Adelaide Football Club.
After demolishing the Cats in front of 52,000 Crows fans in the 2017 preliminary final, the club was one day away from breaking its 19-year premiership drought and paying back the faith of hundreds of thousands of South Australians.
But with such a tremendous weight on their shoulders, the 22 men wearing the tri-coloured red, yellow and blue would be overawed by the occasion, as a ferocious Richmond side exposed their weaknesses and put them to the sword.
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2017 would ultimately be marked as a major failure, with the Grand Final serving as a flashpoint for what has been a tumultuous 18 months at West Lakes.
From an extremely controversial pre-season camp in 2018, to the divisive trade which saw Bryce Gibbs walk through the doors, it seems as if nothing has gone right for the Crows since that preliminary final.
Flash-forward to 2019, and its been much of the same for Don Pyke's men.
An 8-5 tally at the bye - despite some unconvincing performances - had the Crows poised for a September berth.
But since then, the club has been in a state of disarray.
A 27-point loss to the resurgent Blues last weekend showed a complete lack of commitment, drive and confidence, with the defeat Adelaide's fourth loss in five weeks.
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The Crows now stand at the crossroads with an ageing list, under-performing coach, questionable team selections and an out of form co-captain.
So what has gone wrong at West Lakes and do they have the ability to fix it?
These are questions that are certainly keeping Crows fans up at night.
Leaving the ground on that last Saturday in September two years ago, many thought this was just the beginning for this talented Adelaide side; they had been the best team all year and possessed an exciting young core.
But the wheels would begin to fall off just weeks after the Grand Final, with promising young players Jake Lever and Charlie Cameron demanding out - two players who were without a doubt pivotal to the development of the side moving forward.
Crows supporters would get a quick respite in the form of classy Carlton midfielder Bryce Gibbs joining the club, but the decision to give up two first-round picks for the then 28-year-old would eventually prove costly.
Heading into the 2018 season as one of the favourites for the flag, the campaign would be a disaster from start to finish, with residual scars from the Grand Final, a controversial pre-season camp and a flurry of soft tissue injuries resulting in the side not playing finals.
For all that went wrong, the team still managed to win 12 games and saw a number of younger players flourish.
Hopes were high for 2019, as the AFL community expected the Crows to be back in a big way.
The words of Rory Sloane would give off an exciting vibe amongst fans.
“Something feels different about this year.”
All the hardships and negativity around the club were seemingly forgotten, and this talented list looked set to realise its potential.
Then came Round 1 against Hawthorn.
In a match many banked on as a certain Adelaide victory, many of the same problems from 2018 began to rear their ugly head as a dysfunctional forward line and slow midfield were quickly exposed by coaching mastermind, Alastair Clarkson.
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Two more losses in the first month of the season - including a putrid performance against North Melbourne in Round 4 - had the football world circling as problems were quickly spiralling out of control at West Lakes.
The team, however, would bounce back in a big way over the next two months, as some solid footy and a relatively easy draw saw them put together a number of wins and position themselves at a respectable 8-5 heading into the break.
Things were back on track, or so we thought.
Struggles against higher-ranked sides in Brisbane and West Coast still showed this side had a weakness when the heat was brought by a quality opponent.
The cracks were well and truly prevalent, but it would take a miserable performance against the old enemy in Showdown XLVII for them to be fully exposed.
In what can only be described as a second half from hell, the Crows were embarrassed by a lower-placed Port Adelaide outfit missing it’s best player in Travis Boak, with Adelaide's failure to move the ball out of defence and break the game open a monumental concern.
This lack of speed and inability to stop a team’s momentum would be seized upon by the Bombers just a fortnight later, who again rolled over the top of the Crows in the second half.
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Backs against the wall and heading to the home of football, a response was expected as coach Don Pyke controversially left out star small forward Eddie Betts in a bid to keep the playing group on edge and hungry,
What they’d give would be nothing short of lethargic, as a lack of confidence and commitment saw them belted from pillar to post against the competition’s 16th ranked side.
So, with Don Pyke having now played the “Pizza and Beers” card, it seems as if it’s come to the last straw at Adelaide as they look to get back on track and make something on what is fast becoming a lost season.
The problems seem to be coming from not just the players and coaches, but the overall culture of the club starting with it’s board and director of football, Brett Burton.
With Stephen Rowe stating on Adelaide radio this week that an astounding seven players are set to demand out at season’s end, it is clear that there is a deep running culture problem at this football club.
Has Don Pyke lost the players?
Perhaps.
But it seems as if this club got a bit too far ahead of itself after 2017 and placed too high a pressure on winning and grinding out “elite habits” through the likes of Collective Minds.
West Lakes is not a happy place to be right now and it’s showing.
A number of seasoned campaigners are losing confidence in their game and ending up in the SANFL - some of which have featured in the state-league multiple times this season.
This was shown by the amount of class and experience running around Glenelg Oval last Saturday afternoon, with the likes of Gibbs, Betts, Sam Jacobs, Richard Douglas and Hugh Greenwood all starring in the Crows' narrow two-point loss to the top-of-the-table Tigers.
The other major concern is the lack of youth pressing for spots in the Crows best 22, with the likes of Chayce Jones, Darcy Fogarty (who will play his first game this season against St Kilda), Andrew McPherson, Ned McHenry, Tyson Stengle, Shane McAdam, Myles Poholke and Will Hamill yet to prove themselves as AFL calibre players.
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Apart from their young foundation in the Crouch brothers, Rory Laird, Wayne Milera, Reilly O’Brien and Tom Doedee, the Crows' list lacks direction as fans look to who will feature in the club’s next premiership.
So, sitting in eighth position with a month to play, this really is a do-or-die moment for the Adelaide Football Club.
Can they galvanise and give this group one last go, or is it time for a major clean out and a fall down the ladder in 2020?
A monumental challenge against St Kilda awaits.
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