Game Day Crows V Giants

[Jeffcrowe]

Fair, just not sure if it sets a good precedent to drop Berg after a decent performance though. A confident Berg is important to our side. I did see he had a good game in the twos, but I can’t see how he gets in. Maybe comes in for McAdam if he’s rubbed out. Our forwardline functioned well today.

They could try that re tall forward line and then look to sub ROB

Bit of a gamble though

 

[Scorpus]

Can’t understand the fascination with Brown at all

I think today showed in hot weather you’re better off having a hard runner as sub like a Sholl or Jones

Or maybe just a competent player full stop

I was shocked hearing from some Crows supporters that they thought he showed promise at Collingwood.

He did not

 

[BACCS]

They could try that re tall forward line and then look to sub ROB

Bit of a gamble though

Nobody else on our list really provides what McAdam does, so if he’s forced out then RT seems to be the best option as a replacement. When McAdam returns, then have exposed AFL form for Berg and RT and can drop the worst performing player.

 

[George Kramer]

Fair, just not sure if it sets a good precedent to drop Berg after a decent performance though. A confident Berg is important to our side. I did see he had a good game in the twos, but I can’t see how he gets in. Maybe comes in for McAdam if he’s rubbed out. Our forwardline functioned well today.

Do you ever get tired of your Ambassador role? Must be challenging after days like today

 

[maxlilly]

Nobody else on our list really provides what McAdam does, so if he’s forced out then RT seems to be the best option as a replacement. When McAdam returns, then have exposed AFL form for Berg and RT and can drop the worst performing player.

I reckon Gollant comes in for McAdam if he is rubbed out next week.

 

[BACCS]

I reckon Gollant comes in for McAdam if he is rubbed out next week.

Not sure that’s the right option though. RT by all reports played very well in the sanfl trial and should be next forward in.

 

[maxlilly]

Not sure that’s the right option though. RT by all reports played very well in the sanfl trial and should be next forward in.

Gollant also kicked 4 goals yesterday and played well.
You cant fit Tex, Fog, Himmelberg and RT in the same forward line

 

[BACCS]

Gollant also kicked 4 goals yesterday and played well.
You cant fit Tex, Fog, Himmelberg and RT in the same forward line

Fair, didn’t realise that.

 

[Gtowncrow]

Fair, just not sure if it sets a good precedent to drop Berg after a decent performance though. A confident Berg is important to our side. I did see he had a good game in the twos, but I can’t see how he gets in. Maybe comes in for McAdam if he’s rubbed out. Our forwardline functioned well today.

Berg far better than Walker today.
Not often said but it happened...

 

[PaythePerryman]

Don't SubthePerryman

Dark days now my dude is out.
Good win though.

 

[Bearded Clam]

Nicks did what we all wanted: played the kids in the guts. And it showed after half time. Perhaps we might have gone old school for a minute or two with Sloane and Keays to see if we could have stopped the run.

Those of us that wanted the “kids played in the middle” wanted this to start occuring two fxxkn years ago..

It only started happening in the last five games of 2022. Prior to this more than 80% of time the awsome foursome of laird, sloane, keays and crouch were given the middle as their little play thing..

All us “play the kids in the middle” commentors have been asking for for two years is that the kids be put in there more often to give them experience in there.

Now we have the problem that we all said would happen.. keays, sloane and crouch are gone from the middle and, because the younger lads have had their “middle time” restricted for two years, we have young lads in the middle that arent experienced enough..

This hurts even more when our experienced lad in there, Rory Laird, has a shocker like he did yesterday.

Once again, the play the kids in the middle and move away from the failed laird/sloane/keays/crouch combos have been proven right.

Shouldve started happening two fxxkn years ago.. not at the end of last season when the year was already over for us..

Now we are gonna pay for it.

And going back to keays/sloane/crouch now would be utterly ludicrous and just compound the problem further.

We have completely stalled our rebuild and development over the majority of the past 2 yo 3 years continuing to grant games and CB minutes to four blokes that are shit midfielders and giving our youth little opportunity and experience.

Time to pay the piper for it.

 

[Jeffcrowe]

Those of us that wanted the “kids played in the middle” wanted this to start occuring two fxxkn years ago..

It only started happening in the last five games of 2022. Prior to this more than 80% of time the awsome foursome of laird, sloane, keays and crouch were given the middle as their little play thing..

All us “play the kids in the middle” commentors have been asking for for two years is that the kids be put in there more often to give them experience in there.

Now we have the problem that we all said would happen.. keays, sloane and crouch are gone from the middle and, because the younger lads have had their “middle time” restricted for two years, we have young lads in the middle that arent experienced enough..

This hurts even more when our experienced lad in there, Rory Laird, has a shocker like he did yesterday.

Once again, the play the kids in the middle and move away from the failed laird/sloane/keays/crouch combos have been proven right.

Shouldve started happening two fxxkn years ago.. not at the end of last season when the year was already over for us..

Now we are gonna pay for it.

And going back to keays/sloane/crouch now would be utterly ludicrous and just compound the problem further.

We have completely stalled our rebuild and development over the majority of the past 2 yo 3 years continuing to grant games and CB minutes to four blokes that are s**t midfielders and giving our youth little opportunity and experience.

Time to pay the piper for it.

Pretty hard to play 17 yo’s in the middle before they’ve been drafted eg Rachele / Soligo

 

[Jeffcrowe]

Jones
Sholl
Hamill

Sholl best maybe?

Sholl or Jones

 

[Bearded Clam]

Pretty hard to play 17 yo’s in the middle before they’ve been drafted eg Rachele / Soligo

Im talking about guys like berry, shoey, jones, mchenry etc..

Guys we’ve shuffled around and played out of position and stunted their development.

Berry has been there two years yet only started being given solid midfield minutes in the last few games of last season..

Jones is a midfielder who we dumped at half forward and when that didnt work and sapped all his confidence we sent him back to the sanfl to play off half back. Destroyed his confidence and development.

Shoey.. another that we’ve “sort of” developed into a midfielder but havent..

Soligo and Rachele shouldve been thrown in the middle a lot more than they were last year.. but no.. had to stick with crouch, laird and keays until all chance of playing finals were lost..

And what would be wrong with throwing Dawson or even fogarty in the middle for a couple of CB’s when were getting way out muscled like we were in that second half?..

Thinking outside the square isnt for everyone is it Nicksy.

You watch Nicksy panic now..

It’ll probably be Sloane/laird/keays in the centre again from next week onwards.. until finals are again out of reach.. rinse and repeat.

 

[Jeffcrowe]

Im talking about guys like berry, shoey, jones, mchenry etc..

Guys we’ve shuffled around and played out of position and stunted their development.

Berry has been there two years yet only started being given solid midfield minutes in the last few games of last season..

Jones is a midfielder who we dumped at half forward and when that didnt work and sapped all his confidence we sent him back to the sanfl to play off half back. Destroyed his confidence and development.

Shoey.. another that we’ve “sort of” developed into a midfielder but havent..

Soligo and Rachele shouldve been thrown in the middle a lot more than they were last year.. but no.. had to stick with crouch, laird and keays until all chance of playing finals were lost..

And what would be wrong with throwing Dawson or even fogarty in the middle for a couple of CB’s when were getting way out muscled like we were in that second half?..

Thinking outside the square isnt for everyone is it Nicksy.

You watch Nicksy panic now..

It’ll probably be Sloane/laird/keays in the centre again from next week onwards.. until finals are again out of reach.. rinse and repeat.

Rachele got centre square time from his 2nd game even though he basically had minimal fitness

Soligo was a 1st year light as hell and ended up getting centre square by end of year

Berry had a great season after pushing his way in pretty early in season

Nicks to me seems committed to a next generation midfield , prob is he doesn’t have a ready to plug play Sam Walsh , Bailey Smith , Ashcroft so there are going to be teething issues and still need better recruiting of mids

Putting keays in there in 3rd quarter definitely would have given us better chance to win but he barely even did that

I’m critical of him not rotating guys out of there in heat yesterday and getting some experience like Dawson and keays around the ball on second half more than what you’re talking about

 

[maxlilly]

After Laird hadn't had any impact on the game in 2 and 1/2 quarters, he should have been moved out of the centre and replaced with Keays
That the coaches wont make a move like that when you are clearly getting smashed, has always held been our achillies heel

 

[Bearded Clam]

Rachele got centre square time from his 2nd game even though he basically had minimal fitness

Soligo was a 1st year light as hell and ended up getting centre square by end of year

Berry had a great season after pushing his way in pretty early in season

Nicks to me seems committed to a next generation midfield , prob is he doesn’t have a ready to plug play Sam Walsh , Bailey Smith , Ashcroft so there are going to be teething issues and still need better recruiting of mids

Putting keays in there in 3rd quarter definitely would have given us better chance to win but he barely even did that

I’m critical of him not rotating guys out of there in heat yesterday and getting some experience like Dawson and keays around the ball on second half more than what you’re talking about

Yes. Agree. nicksy seems to be committed to the next gen of mids..

My point is he shouldve committed far earlier..

And I hope he stays committed.

 

[Jeffcrowe]

Yes. Agree. nicksy seems to be committed to the next gen of mids..

My point is he shouldve committed far earlier..

And I hope he stays committed.

Definitely hope so too even if it costs the odd 50/50 game in interim it will pay off long term if some guys emerge

What to do with Schoenberg ? How did he come on tv because he was awful live . Ball take , kicking and defensive running all sub standard

We have to give him a chance to redeem this week but running out

Taylor if his running is going ok is closing in on a debut , still think he’s potentially the best mid on our list but needs to get appetite for the work

 

[Bearded Clam]

Definitely hope so too even if it costs the odd 50/50 game in interim it will pay off long term if some guys emerge

What to do with Schoenberg ? How did he come on tv because he was awful live . Ball take , kicking and defensive running all sub standard

We have to give him a chance to redeem this week but running out

Taylor if his running is going ok is closing in on a debut , still think he’s potentially the best mid on our list but needs to get appetite for the work

I dont know..

I really dont know how much weight to put on yesterdays game after thinking about it since the final siren.

Our young guys struggled badly in that last half and being young players you’d expect them to not fully know yet how to conserve their energy and ensure they can play the four full quarters in ridiculously harsh conditions..

GWS has some more experienced mids and wouldve trained in that same heat all week last week and wouldve been more conditioned to it.

The AFL is such a poorly run organisation.. a poster here that was at the game said the heat in the shade even after the game was ridiculous.. have the AFL not got a competant WHS team?.. that game really shouldve been moved till the evening. The human body, no matter how fit and healthy isnt built to perform in such conditions.

What are the AFL waiting for?.. a player to drop and need hospitalisation due to playing in conditions like that before they act?

Even the older more experienced players looked in distress as they left the field at half time..

So its hard to comment on our young players games..

In saying that I wasnt that impressed with Shoey’s last half against West coast.. too many kicks to no one under no pressure and simple mistakes.

Do we swap him for Taylor?.. or do we persist?

My concern is that with a short turn around and coming off that game yesterday.. we will be put to the sword by the tigers next week as our guys will be very flat.. and thus we wont get a good idea of where we sit after next week either..

 

[Jeffcrowe]

I dont know..

I really dont know how much weight to put on yesterdays game after thinking about it since the final siren.

Our young guys struggled badly in that last half and being young players you’d expect them to not fully know yet how to conserve their energy and ensure they can play the four full quarters in ridiculously harsh conditions..

GWS has some more experienced mids and wouldve trained in that same heat all week last week and wouldve been more conditioned to it.

The AFL is such a poorly run organisation.. a poster here that was at the game said the heat in the shade even after the game was ridiculous.. have the AFL not got a competant WHS team?.. that game really shouldve been moved till the evening. The human body, no matter how fit and healthy isnt built to perform in such conditions.

What are the AFL waiting for?.. a player to drop and need hospitalisation due to playing in conditions like that before they act?

Even the older more experienced players looked in distress as they left the field at half time..

So its hard to comment on our young players games..

In saying that I wasnt that impressed with Shoey’s last half against West coast.. too many kicks to no one under no pressure and simple mistakes.

Do we swap him for Taylor?.. or do we persist?

My concern is that with a short turn around and coming off that game yesterday.. we will be put to the sword by the tigers next week as our guys will be very flat.. and thus we wont get a good idea of where we sit after next week either..

I was at the game and I had to get out of the shaded grandstand it was that hot and back behind the stand for a breather ( and I’m not fat lol )

I felt ill sitting there

Our game style is very high octane and it was impossible to keep up what we’d been doing , I did think we’d still be able to do enough to win though

There were occasions in second half where we opportunities to move ball fast and we didn’t take them , I wonder if there was some instruction to conserve or just that we were just so out on our feet

I’ve mellowed a tiny bit on loss although still disappointing when we could have been up by 8 goals at half time

Heck …. Rankine could have kicked 8 by half time given ones he missed and also passed off

 

[MarcusP2]

I am willing to give them a pass today given the heat, it was nearly 40 at one stage. Yes we could rotate more than the Giants, but all players still had to deal with the heat. I am surprised we only had Murray go down with cramp.

Fitness also doesn’t help if you can’t win the clearance.

Rachele did as well.

We took their rotations out of the game because they had control of the ball all the time.

 

[incorrectdisposal]

I dont know..

I really dont know how much weight to put on yesterdays game after thinking about it since the final siren.

Our young guys struggled badly in that last half and being young players you’d expect them to not fully know yet how to conserve their energy and ensure they can play the four full quarters in ridiculously harsh conditions..

GWS has some more experienced mids and wouldve trained in that same heat all week last week and wouldve been more conditioned to it.

The AFL is such a poorly run organisation.. a poster here that was at the game said the heat in the shade even after the game was ridiculous.. have the AFL not got a competant WHS team?.. that game really shouldve been moved till the evening. The human body, no matter how fit and healthy isnt built to perform in such conditions.

What are the AFL waiting for?.. a player to drop and need hospitalisation due to playing in conditions like that before they act?

Even the older more experienced players looked in distress as they left the field at half time..

So its hard to comment on our young players games..

In saying that I wasnt that impressed with Shoey’s last half against West coast.. too many kicks to no one under no pressure and simple mistakes.

Do we swap him for Taylor?.. or do we persist?

My concern is that with a short turn around and coming off that game yesterday.. we will be put to the sword by the tigers next week as our guys will be very flat.. and thus we wont get a good idea of where we sit after next week either..

All good points.
The reality is that this game involved Adelaide, and GWS, and so the AFL was barely aware this game was on and unlikely to undertake any of the excellent suggestions you're making (eg: delay the game into early evening).

The AFL scheduled the match for 1:00pm in the afternoon, in Canberra, in March - the chances of it being hot were always pretty high. Disgraceful scheduling.

Compounding it... both teams now have a helluva job to get their players in condition for next week's matches. The Crows have got a 6-day turnaround to play the Tigers who have had an 9-day turnaround... and the Giants will fly 5hrs to Perth to play the Eagles next Sunday.

 

[incorrectdisposal]

Lots of comments here about the midfield.
We got our pants pulled down in the second half.
What surprised me was that one-or-more of the following didn't occur pretty swiftly when Coniglio was walking out the middle like it was Rundle Mall on a Sunday night....
A: Move Keays from the forward line back into the middle
B: Throw Dawson into the middle for 5-8 mins
C: Throw big-bodied Fogarty into the middle to bust it up a bit
D: With Laird tagged out of the game, switch him into defence or wing and let him get some space to work in.

So - everyone says Nicks Nicks Nicks, and yes he's the head coach. But what about Van Berlo? He's the Midfield Coach. Where's the strategy when the opposition are waltzing out the middle? Granted it's difficult to replace Sloane/Crouch/Crouch/Laird with some combination of Laird/Keays & Soligo/Rachele/Berry/Rankine/Pedlar/Scheonny/Soligo etc. Young bucks have got to spend time in the middle, they've got to win some and lose some. But when it's all going to pot, VB needs an effective backstop.

 

[George Kramer]

I was at the game and I had to get out of the shaded grandstand it was that hot and back behind the stand for a breather ( and I’m not fat lol )

I felt ill sitting there

Our game style is very high octane and it was impossible to keep up what we’d been doing , I did think we’d still be able to do enough to win though

There were occasions in second half where we opportunities to move ball fast and we didn’t take them , I wonder if there was some instruction to conserve or just that we were just so out on our feet

I’ve mellowed a tiny bit on loss although still disappointing when we could have been up by 8 goals at half time

Heck …. Rankine could have kicked 8 by half time given ones he missed and also passed off

I can understand being fatigued but that doesn’t excuse losing every centre clearance practically after half time. Hell given the conditions we at least needed to break even in there to give our forwards a chance and conserving energy

 

[cleanhands]

I can understand being fatigued but that doesn’t excuse losing every centre clearance practically after half time. Hell given the conditions we at least needed to break even in there to give our forwards a chance and conserving energy

A fresher Pedlar should have been tried