Moving Forward. Fast.

The leadership has changed. Some of the big names have fallen. Yes, we might be sitting on a knife-edge but somehow the future looks brighter because all of a sudden the game has sprung to life and possibilities abound. We're moving forward. Fast.

Apparently there's been an election over the weekend but, for die-hard Reds fans who have suffered the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune over the last year or so, last Friday night's performance has sounded a clarion call of hope to hearts sickened (pun intended) by the goal drought and taken centre-stage in the pantomime of life.

Enough clichés? Good.

Because what I want to say is what a bloody fantastic game we saw on Friday. Adelaide scored early and then finished the night having taken the lead three times. Which means we scored three times.

We don't do that.

Correction. We didn't do that...before.

We did it this time because we moved forward. Fast.

Gone was the isolation (and occasional sloth) that has made Cristiano, Owusu and Van Dijk look as lonely as Oliver Twist asking for more.

Gone was the gaping hole in midfield begging to be exploited by oppositions with a grain of sense.

And in its place?

Ramsey. Speed. Leckie. Speed. Flores. Fast enough but with such exquisite touch and speed of thought that he steals - or shares - the limelight his fleet-footed colleagues deserved.

Behind those three we saw a revitalised Pantelis, whose determination made the second goal, a rapidly improving Shin and the brains and cunning of Paul Reid who, despite not having his best game, showed again why he's a lynchpin in any successful Reds line-up.

The defence did just enough while not looking brilliant but they'll only improve and - on the night - they were finally protected from the front. Most Adelaide defences who have let in two have lost the game.

Not last Friday.

Speed. Guile. Interplay. Passing. Foresight. Desperation. Speed. Guts. Determination. Skill. Did I mention speed? All combining to make Hindmarsh, and the fabulous crowd who braved the rain and cold, proud, loud and happy.

Let's be honest. We've seen some crap dished up by Adelaide and served as football in the last year or so. There have been signs of hope - but if I were a hope-eating fish, I'd be a thin fish.

Continue the honesty. Heart are an unfinished product and - despite being from Melbourne - are not the team we have to beat.

But.....

Something changed on Friday night. We saw the beginnings of the Rini Coolen revolution. We saw a manager who was prepared to trust the players he had fit to do the job in the way they best knew how.

Even before kick-off he was stripped of, supposedly, his best striking option. So he rolled the dice and sent out a boy who won us the game. But he didn't send him out as a replacement - he sent him out as a player. Coolen obviously asks his players to be themselves and to express what they are best at. Young, rough-edged and blindingly fast, Ramsey went out to play his own game. Leckie played his. Flores played a brand of football that took the best of what Leckie and Ramsey could do and made it shine.

As a Reds fan that's what I want to see. There was a genuine sense that Adelaide were enjoying their game and were free to play football the way they wanted to. The structure had become secondary. The players had become primary.

So, welcome Rini. Keep it up.

Welcome the freed-up Reds. I speak for most of the fans when I say we were proud of you. More than proud. Pleased for you.

And Sergio, Travis, Boogs, Flakes, Barbs, Lloyd and the others....get excited . And get ready to fight.

If you want your places back you'll have to earn them. If you get them back you'll get to play football the way you want to.

There may be a long road ahead for the Reds but, finally, we seem to be in the right lane.

And we're moving forward. Fast!