Crows Captain Rory Sloane reflects on finishing 18th for the first time in 2020

Adelaide Football Club captain Rory Sloane reflected on the Crows struggle through 2020, staying optimistic for the year ahead.

Talking to press yesterday, Sloane confronted the 'sting' of finishing bottom of the 2020 AFL ladder and said it 'would light a fire' underneath the playing group.

"The last couple of months was really solid footy" he said.

"Previous years you might have seen teams just fall off the cliff, but we stuck at it and ground out three really solid wins."

While Sloane commended how the team stayed strong through the losses, he empathised how it still hurt having finished with the 18th rank.

"The sting and hurt from finishing bottom is certainly real and it has to hurt the blokes and that has to be the driving force," he said.

"First time ever in the club's history we finished bottom, all right so how do we not end up there again,"

"We're learned this year you have to put the work in, absolutely, and that's going to be this break coming up,"

"We need to put the work in, the relationship stuff we'll keep working on, and then yeah... then it's down to footy."

The Crows were winless for the first 14 rounds of the 2020 home-away season, before defeating Hawthorn at Adelaide Oval by 35-points.

A surge soon followed with the squad defeating the Giants by 12-points and the Blues by 16-point in sequential rounds making for three-in-a-row.

"I think our young group can take a lot of confidence out of them games as well (and) certainly that's the standard for next year."

"That's the level we come back at and we build from there."

The Victorian born Sloane also discussed how COVID helped bring the team closer, even though it was hard for players not being able to visit family.

"We will all be able to train together at different periods of this break because of the way Victoria is at the moment too," he said.

"I'd love to go see some family at home but it will encourage guys to go explore South Australia because it's a pretty beautiful place too."

Source: Adelaide Football Club