AFTER having co-captains deliver the first two premierships to the club, the Crows will look to replicate their success with star defender Sarah Allan partnering with midfield dynamo Ebony Marinoff in 2024.

From day one until the end of 2020 at Adelaide, Erin Phillips and Chelsea Randall were co-captains. This reign delivered their first two flags in 2017 and 2019 before Phillips decided to step down and then defect to Port Adelaide ahead of their inaugural season in Season Seven.

Being drafted to the Crows together, Marinoff and Allan have grown up and have started to take the club forward. With Randall choosing to relinquish the captaincy, the duo will make their own mark on the club, hoping to follow in their footsteps.

Allan spoke about her relationship with ‘Noffy’.

“It’s been really exciting, especially with the journey we’ve been on,” she said. “We were drafted together [and] played [for in the] state [championships], so [it’s great] to be able to [captain] together.

“We have different personalities but we also have the same common goal of success and caring for the group, so it’s really exciting.”

Having a lot of success in the infancy of the competition, the Crows have missed the grand final twice for the first time in their history. Allan describes what Adelaide has done to rectify this statistic.

“The last few years, making the [preliminary] final and then not making it any further is obviously disappointing,” she said.

“We’ve got a great group of girls [and we] are always looking to go that one [step] further the next season.

“We put a great amount of work in, in the off-season and we are really keen to get out there but every team in the competition is a great competitor and we are looking forward to the challenge.”

In the pre-season games against Port Adelaide and Carlton, the Crows had players rotated through at least two positions on the ground.

Usually played in defence, Randall and Allan were played in the midfield, while Chelsea Biddell featured back in the forwardline for the first time in two seasons. Danielle Ponter is expected to continue to rotate through the midfield rotation again, while former forward Brooke Tonon will plug gaps down in the backline.

Allan shed some light on whether we can expect the moves made during the preseason to play out in the season proper.

“We just looked to develop all of our players, you always want to have different roles for everyone and just making sure we have flexibility in our team and we will take it one game at a time and see how it goes,” she said.

Playing as the most experienced player in the defensive line, Allan has had a front-row seat to witness the development of Chelsea Biddell, Zoe Prowse, Sarah Goodwin, Kiera Mueller, Brooke Tonon and Madison Newman.

As a very young group, Allan states that it’s a ‘really exciting’ time for her to be involved in their growth.

“We have a younger group than what we’ve had in the past, but it’s really exciting to see those young girls coming through,” she said.

“I think that [with] the likes of Chelsea Biddell and Zoe Prowse, it’s really exciting for them to sort of take ownership of that key defence, key-back role and [I’m] really exciting to see what they can do this season.”