It's a near-timeless cry proclaimed from the outer, often yelled by the weary worriers of old.
"Just kick the bloody thing."
Ahead of them stands a player, patiently assessing the game ahead. Every bit of focus is required to ensure that the kick-in goes right, and doesn't result in six points being added to the single one just scored.
Most of the time teams play the patient game, looking at winning the war, and not the battle.
By 1897 a point was added to the humble behind, aimed at reducing the number of draws in the nascent sport. Focus on the restart, however, was often an afterthought.
Over time, the kick-in became increasingly important from a strategic point of view, becoming more than just a way for the ball to re-enter play. Some of the game's most remarkable goals come from length of the field movements.
One quickly rising team has decided to go to an extreme in how they handle kick-ins, and it seems to be paying dividends.
So what is Adelaide doing differently at the restart, and how does the league approach one of the most important phases of the game?
Kick out the jams
It has been a long half decade for those at West Lakes. After a grand final appearance in 2017, the Crows have gone from bad to worse. The club has faced turmoil both on and off field, and had to confront its broader direction as a club.
Since his arrival at Adelaide, new coach Matthew Nicks has been determined to set the club on a new path forward — a largely entertaining one.
Like all rebuilds, the process has been slow, with flashes of hope and promise along the way. Last year saw the Crows win eight games, buoyed by enterprising ball movement and real promise up forward.
Despite starting the year with two losses, Adelaide has captured the attention of the football world this year with its daring attacking play. Led by new captain and potential All Australian Jordan Dawson, the Crows move the ball with speed and clarity.
Nowhere is this attacking abandon shown more clearly than in how the Crows attack the most vulnerable kick for clubs — the kick-in.
Last Thursday night the Adelaide Crows faced an early moment of danger — a ball up about 10 metres away from the Carlton goals. Even worse, Patrick Cripps — one of the game's most damaging midfielders — was able to get his hands on the ball with enough time for a snap on goal. Home fans had their hearts in their mouth, despite their early lead.
Luckily, Cripps's kick slid wide for a minor score. But the danger wasn't over yet.
A kick-in is one of the most dangerous kicks a team can take in footy. This year 393 points have been scored from kick-ins, at a rate of about 8.7 per game. However, teams have conceded 611 points, or 13.6 per game, off turnovers from their kick-in chains. Escaping with ball in hand is the aim of the game.
If clubs can steer the ball past halfway, they are usually out of danger.
Wayne Milera jogged briskly towards the ball as both teams readied themselves for the restart.
It's the only time in the game that a single player is guaranteed to have all 35 other players on the field ahead of them. Australian Football grounds have multitudes of space to operate in, but for those few moments the field looks incredibly pokey.
Milera collected the ball and quickly summed up the situation. Given his speed in getting the ball, most players were stuck in the fifty.
Those first couple of seconds after a point are critical. Kickers, such as Milera, have a bunch of decisions to make quickly. Milera had to rapidly read where his teammates were and their leads. At the same time, he had to check the defensive set-up and how Carlton were protecting space.
So far this year Adelaide have been the second-slowest side to get the ball in play after a behind. Contrastingly, they have been the second-quickest side to actually kick the ball after making their decision.
On this occasion, Milera scanned the field and read that there were eight defenders stuck inside the 50, with four more manning the centre square. Milera played on, going long and fast to a two-on-two contest near the defensive right-hand corner of the centre square. That's right on the edge of one of two long hotspots for long kick-ins.
Usually, teams push further towards the boundaries, about 10 metres out. Unlike Milera's kick, the long kick is usually targeted towards a pack situation.
Milera's kick leads to a spoiled contest, with Adelaide's Lachlan Murphy emerging with ball in hand. Ill-disciplined defence gives Murphy a free kick for high contact, at which point the Crows are off to the races.
Quick hands out wide catch the Carlton defence napping, allowing for a long kick targeted at Taylor Walker — an excellent contested mark and long kick at goal. Unlike Cripps, he doesn't miss.
Going the early Crom
The goal was symbolic of Adelaide's ball movement but far from the only example this year. Here's another example from that Carlton game against a different defensive look — a semi zone press.
So far this year, Adelaide has scored the second-most points per kick-in, and conceded the second fewest per turnover from their kick-ins.
A big part of this kick-in success is grounded in that willingness to move the ball quickly, and using it long.
Since the very start of the game the kick-in has been scrutinised, tweaked and changed. In the 19th century, players had to kick-in from a line about 18m out from goal. Originally, players had to kick the ball in as straight a line possible to the opposition goal. Over time the distance was reduced, and a square added, confining the defending team.
The AFL changed the rules again around kick-ins in 2019, allowing extra room for the kickers to navigate the chaos ahead and escape their defensive half. In a case of time being a flat circle, the kick-in distance was moved back to about 18m.
That 2019 rule change has significantly changed the likelihood that the kicker will play on. In 2018 just 25 per cent of all kick-ins were taken from outside of the goal square — as players had to chip the ball to themselves before playing on. This year the play-on rate is 86 per cent.
Playing on out of the square often slows down how quickly teams can move. While it increases the distance the kicking team can travel, the ball in flight moves a lot quicker than any player on foot.
This year Gary Rohan has clocked the fastest peak speed, according to GPS tracking, at 37.8kph. If Rohan ran at his absolute peak for 3.2 seconds, without tiring, the ball would still travel a third further.
A related factor to the Crows success in the kick-in game is how long they roost the ball. Over the past two years no side has kicked the ball further in the air from the kick-in than Adelaide.
Generally speaking, there are four usual types of kick-in targets. There's the short chip towards the guts of the ground inside 50 and chips towards the boundary line, buying time for the next kick.
Then there's the roost to the contest, hoping for a contested pack mark or a stoppage. Finally, there's the kick to a relatively isolated contest, like the Milera and Sloane kicks.
The elusive fifth — the long roost down the middle, generates the most points per kick-in but also is the source for the most opposition intercept points historically.
Other teams have success picking off teams with shorter kicks, but skill execution has to be high. If there's an error, the opposition will find it easy to add points to the scoreboard.
St Kilda have the second-shortest kick-in kick distance on average this year, but have also been able to prevent points from their kick-in turnovers better than any other side.
This movement was slow, but was relatively risk free for the most part. There's no single perfect strategy, like most aspects of footy, but going long seems to afford more margin for error.
Is it time for the Crows?
The Crows come out of Gather Round in the best place they've been under Nicks — inside the top eight and with hopes of rising even higher. The Adelaide season may swing on how much they are willing to embrace risk, and how well they can recover from an off week.
Already Adelaide have had two tough losses against sides currently below them on the ladder, a potential product of the variability that their game style introduces.
The Crows will be turning an eye to their difficult run of opponents after facing Hawthorn this week, facing Collingwood, Geelong and a resurgent St Kilda in the next month.
If they can get through this run with a couple of wins, then finals might be on the cards for the South Australian club.
