And while there’s no doubting the important role Falcons coach Bill Monaghan played in the imposing footballer’s rise to the next level, it’s not a claim the mentor himself is willing to make.
“I’d love to tell you Marcus wouldn’t have got there without me, but all I did was provide him with opportunities to play league footy,” he said.
“He took those and he played the right style of footy that got him to the AFL.
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READ NOW“At times I can say ‘I helped the player get there’, but at the end of the day if the player does not want to do the work and doesn’t listen to the instructions… then I can’t make them AFL footballers.
“I’m just a part of it to guide them on the way.”
Adams had played just two reserves and two league games at WAFL level between 2011 and 2013 before arriving at the Falcons.
The difficult time his family experienced during the rehabilitation of older brother Luke, who was nearly killed after being punched in Northbridge in 2011, had him quit football in 2012.
But he rediscovered his love of the game when West Perth took a chance on him in 2014.
Monaghan, while rapt with the early form of the 22-year-old, was careful to emphasise he had played only a handful of games.
He admitted he had not watched the defender’s performances too intently but had seen enough “from the outside” to say he was “not doing a lot wrong at the moment”.
The apparent ease with which Adams has made the transition to the professional ranks makes it seem far longer than just five months ago when he spoke to the Times after being drafted at pick No. 35.
The 192cm WA product could not have imagined the immediate impact he would have when he told the paper “my main goal is to focus on as much effort as I can every day to make a case for my debut.
“Hopefully if I get that opportunity, I’ll take it one step at a time from there.”