MIDFIELD and strategy coach George Stone is optimistic midfielder Christian Salem can retain his spot in the 22 for the rest of the season.
Stone said Salem had impressed in his first AFL match against the Sydney Swans at the MCG last round and now had the ability to play the bulk of the year in the AFL.
“Young Christian, it was just great to see him get his first game and kick that goal [in the final quarter] and it was fantastic everyone ran to him,” he told Dee TV.
“He’s an exciting young player and he’s going to play again this week.
“We’re hoping now that he’s broken in that he’ll play most of the year now. We’re looking forward to seeing him play for the rest of the year.”
Stone said Salem had earned his place in the team after building some strong form at Casey in the VFL.
“He was unwell earlier in the year, but he’s recovered from that and played in the seconds and out at Casey and played four or five really good, consistent games,” he said.
“We were confident that when he came in, he was ready to play.
“We didn’t bring him in too early and with good games under his belt, we felt the time was right. We think he’ll be a good player for us now.”
Stone said the addition of veteran ruckman Mark Jamar was also important for the team last week.
“We were really pleased Mark came back in the side. He’s a quality ruckman and he gives us first access to the ball. He’s a very good tap ruckman, so that’ll help our young mids to get a little bit more access to the ball. A few more first possessions will help us and improve our clearance rate,” he said.
“We’re hoping that he can now start to string quite a few games together and give us the maturity in the middle.”
Stone said former Crow and first-year Demon Bernie Vince was ready for his return to Adelaide.
“I said to Bernie as we came off the track on [Thursday], ‘I suppose they’ll have the band waiting for you at the airport waiting for you to come off [the plane]’. He said ‘I don’t think so’, but he’s keen to get back to Adelaide,” he said.
“Like any player that you give away, [Adelaide won’t] want [him] playing well against [them], so I’d say Bernie will get a bit of attention from the Crows.
“But I think he’s looking forward to it.”
Stone said the Demons were determined to make further progression against the Crows after a competitive performance against the Swans last round.
“We thought our effort against the Swans was pretty good. On a midfield basis, we consider them one of the best in the competition and we thought on the day we matched it with them, but not quite good enough in the end.”
