Review Good, bad, the gallant shat loss - R4 vs Melbourne 2024

[SugarShane]

Crows lost that on the back of poor kicking, that simple skill which they do not have.

When they were not running into or spoiling each other, Crows' kicks (when not bombed in high --- AGAIN ) missed their target, and were either intercepted easily by Dees' defenders or worse, went straight TO Dees defenders or ootf, again and AGAIN .
May and Lever feasted tonight, predictably.

Just wait now for Nicks to say "lots of positives" in his presser .

It's bad enough to make the howlers, but when we do we can almost never nullify it. When Max missed a simple target on the 50 and kicked straight to them you might as well have put a goal for them in the Record. When we make those bonehead stuff ups, like a gimme chest mark bouncing 10m off Tex's chest, they almost inevitably end up down the other end 10 seconds later being a shot for, and usually scoring, a goal.

 

[Scorpus]

Some thoughts on players

Laird - finally kicks a goal, awful otherwise, he's cooked
Hinge - out of form, can't kick for shit, it's on Nicks for selecting out of form players
McHenry - momentum killing useless spud that does nothing right
Parnell - don't see it, he's a small not overly defensive player with mediocre skills
Keays - awful
Walker - shouldn't play injured players
Jones - better when he doesn't touch it, no impact at all, defensively exposed
Rachele - love seeing him want the responsibility of kicking goals to win, but he was selfish
Michalanney - delete the tape and move on
Crouch - he wins the ball and that's it, offers nothing else at all and is slow so he constantly is exposed on turnover
O'Brien - can't mark
Fogarty - have coaches told him to wrestle again?
Burgess - invisible
Smith - the bar is set so low for him that not being diabolical is a win

Soligo - best mid, should have been in there all season
Dawson - better
Nankervis - Nicks choosing Sholl over him was laughable
Cook - good enough for the level
Keane - excellent
Worrell - developing well
Butts - better than Borlase
Berry - had an impact late, but not sure he's right for a full match
Rankine - hard to show his tricks with our horrendous gameplan

 

[Rory Walkerfield]

The positives are Soligo finally looks great, we have no youth stepping up in the midfield bar him. Keane is a great pick up, has his moments but hes so far ahead of Butts and Borlase. Nank was solid and need to persist with him. Walker didnt look cooked like last week. Thats about it for positives

Delist Parnell immediately. Not good enough at this level. Same for McHenry.

Old habits creeping into Crouchs game. Didn't kick well and was slow to move the ball. Still good releasing players in the contest. What happened to learning to drive the legs like late last year?

Laird is similar to Crouch at moment only he panics with the ball.

Max had an off night.

Whats the point of giving Cook 50% game time? Looked ok early on.

Rash still has moments where he doesnt think it through.

We don’t play any youth in the midfield bar Soligo!

 

[Dangerousfield]

Our highest finish since starting 0-4 is 11th

It's ok, we'll get through this part of the draw where we've been playing all the top teams then we'll get on a roll against middle of the table sides. Oh wait, ummm, ummm

 

[Mr_Moogle]

Thought Keane and Soligo were our best on and its daylight between those two and the rest.

 

[Grooster24]

So is ROB calling for the ball or are our players that stupid to look for him as the outlet handball option?

Fckn stupid... defies logic.

 

[cleanhands]

Some thoughts on players

Laird - finally kicks a goal, awful otherwise, he's cooked
Hinge - out of form, can't kick for s**t, it's on Nicks for selecting out of form players
McHenry - momentum killing useless spud that does nothing right
Parnell - don't see it, he's a small not overly defensive player with mediocre skills
Keays - awful
Walker - shouldn't play injured players
Jones - better when he doesn't touch it, no impact at all, defensively exposed
Rachele - love seeing him want the responsibility of kicking goals to win, but he was selfish
Michalanney - delete the tape and move on
Crouch - he wins the ball and that's it, offers nothing else at all and is slow so he constantly is exposed on turnover
O'Brien - can't mark
Fogarty - have coaches told him to wrestle again?
Burgess - invisible
Smith - the bar is set so low for him that not being diabolical is a win

Soligo - best mid, should have been in there all season
Dawson - better
Nankervis - Nicks choosing Sholl over him was laughable
Cook - good enough for the level
Keane - excellent
Worrell - developing well
Butts - better than Borlase
Berry - had an impact late, but not sure he's right for a full match

Not sure how you have Cook in that group

 

[Cap]

I assume if Soligo takes up a position as a permanent midfielder, we then look for the next young mid to take Laird/Crouch spot ?

 

[King Elvis]

Smith on 5AA is interesting - they clearly have no idea what we're doing wrong; the explanations for our poor form do not make any sense at all. We're not holding our shape/structure, but when we do... we're competitive?

What? When?

Rowey actually called this out as well - it's buzzwords we haven't heard all year, how do we go from spending the entire pre-season training to not playing the way we want to in the first rounds, and then come up with this fluff to explain it.

 

[FR0GGY]

Any danger we could also play a lose man instead of an extra one up at the stoppage

 

[Silky23]

Agreed 100%. While your here, thoughts on Bucks as a coach?

I’m probably one of a few who is pro Nathan but Bucks is a perfectionist and I think people only remember him with the GF loss and the fact he burnt out the playing group due to his length of tenure.

But he’s a tactician and has a brilliant mind. He demands excellence. Was great for our development. Think he’s grown as a person as well. I saw a different side to him late in his coaching tenure.

 

[NSolis]

Overall I guess that's the best performance for the year. First and last quarters were pretty good, but never really looked like winning and the ball movement issues are unchanged. Most of our players look uncertain about what to do going forward and just blaze away to a contest, creating easy rebound opportunities. Another tough game next week too.

In terms of positives, Soligo, Dawson, Rankine and Smith had their best games for the year which was nice. Soligo in particular I thought was impressive. Berry was alright as the sub. None of the players who came in really secured their place though. Nankervis made a lot of mistakes but was probably the best of the ins.

 

[huludicidal]

Good:
Keane - this is the sort of key defender we need

Soligo - picked 30 selections after Rachele and has absolutely rocketed past him as a player (so have 20 other players from that draft re Rachele).

Dawson - much better tonight

Nankervis - see how laughable it was that we went with Sholl over Nank? How on earth can any coaching group be that stupid? Must play every game he’s available for the next 10 years.



Bad and Ugly:
If McHenry is ever selected again we are taking the piss. Him and Parnell just signed their career death warrants. Delist both. Invest zero more game time into them. They aren’t up to it. Anyone who thinks they are quite simply has no clue about football.

Hinge is an absolute basket case this season (including preseason). Not a leader. A dumb footballer who has absolutely no idea what he’s doing. If I didn’t see his second half of last season, I would never believe that was possible from this player. Might go down as one of the flukiest patches of form in history.

Rachele’s selfishness was once again there for all to see. Spoils Tex and then blazes for goal from 65 a minute later. Would be dropped if we actually had talent on our list to replace him. Spoiler alert: we don’t.

We looked a lot more dangerous when Chayce was on the bench. That speaks volumes about how shit he is. Not AFL standard.

Laird undid his very good first half with a putrid second half.

Michalanney - see Laird.

Burgess - completely out of his depth against that defence, but as per every game this season, can we really be too harsh on the key forwards with the utter puke coming from the talentless midfield?

Keays quite simply cannot kick a football. His skills have somehow regressed even further.

Not selecting Billy Dowling - yeah better roll with prized first rounders Chayce and Ned instead. Pitiful.

 

[moruyatom]

And now we have Carlton next week . 0-5


Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com

 

[ThePrideOf]

Reid Ogilvy and Nicks have to go!

 

[FR0GGY]

As Nicks has been over coaching then, quick better given him some extra cash for all his hard work.

 

[SugarShane]

I'm sick of the snail pace switches.
I'm sick of our players constantly thinking they have 5 seconds longer to dispose of it than they do.
I'm sick of opposition teams raking in the contested marks like it's nothing while we drop chest marks.
I'm sick of every opposition forward always having 2m of clearance on our defenders.
I'm sick of every forward entry going to the exact same spot to the point where I can pick a spot of grass on the TV before they even kick it and get it right most of the time.
I'm sick of watching undersized muppets getting AFL games when they wouldn't even make the ressies for most other clubs.
I'm sick of watching us stop and prop after a mark or free kick, waste 5 seconds, then just bomb it to the same spot anyway.
I'm sick of watching 3 Crows fumble the ball in a row only for the opposition to one grab it and ultimately lead to a goal.

 

[morris086]

I assume if Soligo takes up a position as a permanent midfielder, we then look for the next young mid to take Laird/Crouch spot ?

Dowling for mine. Strong all round game, tall, good tank and can rest forward. Should've played.

 

[BunjiMac]

Nicks has to resign.

Soligo, Rankine and Dawson should be our starting midfielders.

Soligo and Rankine are our two most damaging players in close. They both have great reflexes. Rankine can do amazing things under pressure and in tight. The amount of times under pressure he hit the most perfectly weighted pass is no fluke.

With this combo we have the best balance of skills, pace, size.

We need to eliminate all the slow thinkers and crab like players.

Parnell looked scared out there.

Berry offers nothing at this level.

Laird is done as a midfielder.

Our skills are atrocious.

 

[Redleg Crow]

Rash is an interesting one. Couple of silly errors late which probably cost us goals. But clearly he saw the need to create something, and decided to take it upon himself to do it. Can't fault that having seen what was produced in the first 3 1/2 quarters.

Rach tried to win the game. Need more of it

 

[King Elvis]

Rach tried to win the game. Need more of it

Was absolutely trying to get the spark going - might have tried too hard, but I won't criticise him for that.

 

[Redleg Crow]

Why does Laird whenever he gets the ball kill his own momentum and runs back in the direction he got the ball from!???

Every time he does this

 

[Bearded Clam]

Why does Laird whenever he gets the ball kill his own momentum and runs back in the direction he got the ball from!???

Every time he does this

Cause he’s a dogshit footballer.

Not even worthy of tying the bootlaces of a decent midfielder.

 

[ThePrideOf]

here is a strategy recruit only quality midfielders from now on for a few years/

Even if they don’t turn out perfect you can trade them.

 

[Crows I Am]

I assume if Soligo takes up a position as a permanent midfielder, we then look for the next young mid to take Laird/Crouch spot ?

Nicks will probably leave Laird and Crouch in there and move Dawson out of the middle like he did tonight.