Rachele's stark admission over lack of midfield minutes

Adelaide utility Josh Rachele admits he doesn’t understand his lack of midfield minutes in his side’s loss to Hawthorn and will seek clarity from the coaching staff this week.

In an up-and-down season for both Rachele and the Crows, the 21-year-old attended almost half of the centre bounces against West Coast in Round 11 and looked set for more midfield time in the back half of the year.

But Rachele attended just two centre bounces in his side’s surprise 27-point loss to Hawthorn on Saturday afternoon and told 9News on Monday he wasn’t sure why.

Rachele finished the game with no majors and 11 touches to his name.

“It’s something that I probably don’t really know what’s going on too, so it’s something I’ll sit with the coaches and ask questions today about even how (I can) help inject myself in the game when I’m not getting too much of the ball,” the 2021 top 10 draft pick admitted regarding a lack of midfield time.

Veteran midfielder Rory Laird also saw his midfield minutes cut in half.

Young defender Max Michalanney had never played in the midfield before last weekend but attended 39 per cent of centre bounces against the Hawks.

Izak Rankine is still yet to return from a hamstring injury and is likely to reprise his role as a part-time midfielder in the coming fortnight.

Coach Matthew Nicks faced multiple calls earlier this year to inject both Rankine and Rachele into what appeared a stale midfield at the time, and despite giving the former more midfield minutes, Rachele has only once attended more than 25 per cent of centre bounces this season.

Rachele hasn’t missed a game this year and his averages in his third season at AFL level have only marginally improved from last year.

He was under the spotlight earlier in the season after admitting he wasn’t “brave enough” in a marking contest in what eventuated to be a narrow loss to Essendon in Round 6.

He’s booted 14 goals in 2024 and is averaging 16 disposals per game.