Review Good/Bad vs GWS, Round 18 2023

[adelaidecrows]

10 mins into the second quarter ROB had had 5 touches and Briggs 0. Ended up Briggs 16 and ROB 11.




Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com

ROB is a second rate ruckmen good enough to beat other 2nd rate ruckmen. I wouldnt be upset if we went all out for a seasoned ruckmen like Darcy etc. Because just getting a seasoned mid with some class wont be enough when we still have ROB

 

[FullyBigKPro]

Nicks has completely lost me after that insipid disgraceful loss last night. Wish we had some balls to make some tough decisions.

Outside of Laird and Dawson, we have literally no other decent mids.

Selecting SLoane just because it was his 250th just reeks of the typical AFC, prioritising meaningless crap over actually WINNING. Playing him at so many crucial CBA's was just criminal.

Totally exposed and shown up, frauds of the highest order.

 

[rabidcrow]

This can't happen until they get rid of the damn bounce. Cuts out so many good umps / ex players due to it being a staple to be an ump

Surely at AFL level you can say 12-15 expert bouncers that have that task and the others just umpire? Couldn’t be that hard to make it a specialised role, incentive payment etc


Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com

 

[Burtonsgottago]

I'm either going to support the club and watch the games, or not support the club and not watch the games.

I'm not ready to give up yet. I like the game of AFL and care about the club.

I like the game of Aussie Rules and hate what the AFL is doing to it.

 

[rabidcrow]

Quite a few people (myself included) owe Bearded Clam an apology. He was 100% spot on about Keays. I don't give a s**t that he's a gut-runner and an honest trier, his footy smarts, composure and skills are Div 7 C-Grade standard, and we will never be a serious contender while he's in our 22.

That kick to Rachele was diabolical. Was our chance to get back in the game and really all he had to do was not get it out of bounds. Even 5 metres over Rachele head would have worked as he was completely alone


Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com

 

[adelaidecrows]

Surely at AFL level you can say 12-15 expert bouncers that have that task and the others just umpire? Couldn’t be that hard to make it a specialised role, incentive payment etc


Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com

I think the compromise is for each quarter to start with a bounce. The rest just ball ups.

 

[adelaidecrows]

That kick to Rachele was diabolical. Was our chance to get back in the game and really all he had to do was not get it out of bounds. Even 5 metres over Rachele head would have worked as he was completely alone


Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com

Man he was so alone it was like he was the only player on the ground.

 

[rabidcrow]

What irritates me is the way Nicks thinks throwing Sloane and Keays into the middle is his best option.


Our midfield is worse when these guys are there.



Pedlar makes stuff happen. Tough as nails, and creates play. Rachele similar, although I think he is physically struggling at the moment. Young guy, big build, needs to build the tank. Like Petracca in his first couple of years.



Nicks seems to think his "match winning " best midfield includes Sloane and Keays.

Sloane is past it, and Keays is a forward flanker played out of position in the middle.

Put Pedlar in the middle for the last quarter, we win.

On SM-A325F using BigFooty.com mobile app

I don’t reckon that changes the game result but agree we need to see him in there at the important stages.
Our lack of pace and a few of our blokes that get games on effort (Murph, Butts, Keays) all make critical errors at crucial times.
Murphy courageously taking Rankine out of a marking contest late running back with the flight, Butts hitting the pack as third man in - pretty well missing the ball and crashing into Murray - obviously Keays late inside 50 kick

When the heat goes up those mistakes cost goals and close games


Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com

 

[adelaidecrows]

I don’t reckon that changes the game result but agree we need to see him in there at the important stages.
Our lack of pace and a few of our blokes that get games on effort (Murph, Butts, Keays) all make critical errors at crucial times.
Murphy courageously taking Rankine out of a marking contest late running back with the flight, Butts hitting the pack as third man in - pretty well missing the ball and crashing into Murray - obviously Keays late inside 50 kick

When the heat goes up those mistakes cost goals and close games


Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com

Everything people complain about with the midfield, would have been negated with the excuse of development, had we been playing Berry, Cook, Nank, Dowling etc. The fact we aren't makes it so much worse.

 

[StonesThrow]

Yes, I know Murphy has had neck problems.

But why does he act like he's been shot every time he goes into a contest?

He does this whenever he tries for a high free kick (lowers his body and lifts his arm). I reckon it's cos he's embarrassed that he tried it and needs to make it look serious. Really annoying

 

[adelaidecrows]

He does this whenever he tries for a high free kick (lowers his body and lifts his arm). I reckon it's cos he's embarrassed that he tried it and needs to make it look serious. Really annoying

If he is seriously hurting like that, then he shouldnt be in the side.

 

[I Lost My Keays]

I understand many people didn’t rate us to make finals but we should’ve made it.

We lost twice to Giants we’re we should’ve won
We lost to Pies twice we’re we should’ve won
We choked to Richmond

That’s five extra wins right there

 

[adelaidecrows]

I understand many people didn’t rate us to make finals but we should’ve made it.

We lost twice to Giants we’re we should’ve won
We lost to Pies twice we’re we should’ve won
We choked to Richmond

That’s five extra wins right there

Thats fine but the fact is most of those losses came at the expense of development. We were never a chance for a premiership which means the club should have still been looking to pump games into as many players as possible. The fact we looked at the same mediocre 5 players regardless of performance speaks volumes.

 

[Crow_Magnon]

Take a chill pill, folks. We played manic-pressure football in the 1st two-and-a-half quarters then faded. No surprise with a young side. Give it a year or two and more mature bodies and we'll win this sort of game.
The insults being thrown at the club and some players are juvenile. Did I mention maturity? It ain't just the players.
Yeah, I agree our selection this year has been putrid. Nicks should have worked out who the passengers are by now.

On SM-A115F using BigFooty.com mobile app

I haven't seen the full game but GWS' pressure was manic (moreso than us) also for much of the game according to the commentary. Interesting that the average age of the teams put there was 25yr2mth (Adel) and 25yr5mth (GWS) and Avg games played were 90.4 for both teams, so we can't really use youth as an excuse...they had 9 players who'd played less than 50 games to our 8. But I do concur that our younger players are not playing with the same impact as earlier in the year, so our fitness levels may not be up to scratch. Funnily enough, rotating a few of our SANFL players through at various times may have helped in the regard. I do see Soligo didn't play in the SANFL either, so obviously they felt he really just needed a rest.

 

[budget]

What's with Pedlar getting less time to take a shot from 55m than Kelly gets to kick a sideways ball in the backline?

The umpires are and absolute joke should hold their head in shame , ?# 32 ( j m ) is a fu$&@“g cheat and it was so obvious last night . Just makes you not even want to go to the footy.


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[magicpenny]

The midfield is constantly being found out each week, the absolute reluctance in trying to draft a top end mid at the top of the draft over the last decade and a bit is unreal. GWS' talent absolutely outshone the crows "effort". Rob is not a decent ruckman, I'd love to see where he's ranked statistically vs other lead rucks.

Who comes in from the SANFL and actually makes the team better? Majority of the mids there are plodders. I wonder where we'd be if we didn't have Tex in the forward line?

 

[glengowan]

Good:

• Laird and Murray - not a lot else. Laird's clean hands and movement in tight is of the highest quality. Murray destroys the ball and contest - love it.
• Melbourne at the MCG and then a Showdown coming up. Footy always gives you a chance of redemption.

Bad:

• Rachele discipline, attitude and team play. Not long after having a pot shot that missed, he kicks a simple goal and carries on like a galah. Then the rest of the night he's giving away free kicks and getting no where near it. Drop to the SANFL. Can't have 6 more years of that. When he comes back, put him in the middle and let him do his thing. He should be playing more minutes in the middle than Sloane and Keays.
• Michalanney being put on Greene after his (first) poor performance of the season against Essendon. Talk about being put in the deep end and smashing his confidence.
• Thilthorpe, still waiting for him to break out while Tex is playing well. Undisciplined again.
• Sloane and Keays with simple kicks to leading players going in to forward 50 and completely stuffing it up. Also Murphy on outer wing not using Sholl and then stuffing up a kick forward which should've resulted in a goal. Both Sloane and Keays were just little 15-20m passes and cost the game. Nicks needs to choose between Keays and Murphy for that role in the team and pick only one of them. Sloane should make way for Soligo or Berry, as great as he's been, he's well off AFL pace at the moment and that was never more obvious than last week and this week.
• The warning signs were there against Essendon and I can't help but feel because it was Sloane's 250th game, the club felt that would be enough at home to carry the team to a win. Completely ignored some glaring issues that arised from the Essendon game. Really disappointing that the two real tests to see where this team was at, virtual Elimination Finals, failed.

 

[Crow_Magnon]

Probably 90% of the time it is due to our s**t midfield f50 entries.

1. Our forward and his defender are on the move, kick comes in long and high, forward needs to slow/stop/prop and wait for the ball to land = defender jostling for position = wrestle.
2. Our forward and his defender are stationary, kick comes in long and high, forward waits for the ball to land = defender jostling for position = wrestle.
3. Our s**t gameplan leaves our forward 1v2, kick comes in high and long, we wrestle with one of the defenders and the other one takes an uncontested mark.

Forwards are very reliant on the midfielders, we have not mastered the kick to the advantage of the forward.

This doesn't help though...we have three plodders up fwd...Fog, Tex and TT. None have the speed to get free to give an easy option for the kicks coming in. Agree that most of the entries are woeful from up field, but I think our forward structure is still a bit out with those three lumbering giants in the team. When the ball's coming in quickly it's a different story, as they have a 50/50 or better opportunity, but when there's good pressure up field then they struggle, as often the kicks aren't explicitly to advantage.

 

[StonesThrow]

Our mids that are going to make us better either don't play for us yet or are Pedlar and Rachele who are a couple of seasons away from having the tank to play majority of minutes on the ball.

Add Soligo to that if he can find his mojo again.

Unfortunately there's no immediate solution to our midfield unless we can trade in a star.

What we can do this year is start trying players like Cook and Nankervis to see if they're up to afl level. That might mean getting creative and trying someone like Hinge on the ball and moving some players around. It just so happens we've got two players who are easy to drop in Sholl and Murphy.

 

[cleanhands]

Our mids that are going to make us better either don't play for us yet or are Pedlar and Rachele who are a couple of seasons away from having the tank to play majority of minutes on the ball.

Add Soligo to that if he can find his mojo again.

Unfortunately there's no immediate solution to our midfield unless we can trade in a star.

What we can do this year is start trying players like Cook and Nankervis to see if they're up to afl level. That might mean getting creative and trying someone like Hinge on the ball and moving some players around. It just so happens we've got two players who are easy to drop in Sholl and Murphy.

I’m happy to have Jones go back to centre ball ups, but not as a defensive mid

 

[Crow till I die]

I've invested quite a lot of time at this point and I want the payoff. I'm deeply invested and I care. I'm sure that's the same as most people on this forum, I mean we're talking about people with tens of thousands of footy forum posts

We all realise we are rebuilding but what really did it for me was being at the MCG and seeing us compete so well against the best side in the comp and go within a bees d*** of beating them there. The next step in that evolution after routine beltings of WCE and North was to beat essendon over there to show we were mentally there and a finals place loomed.

We failed and failed badly and it made me realise we are in reality still miles off it. I posted on the main board the day before the GWS game that i thought GWS would win regardless of sloanes 250th. Other threads carry the damning midfield investment we have had compated to other clubs and you only need look down the road to see what midfield investment portends as they are a lock for top 2 this year with a midfield built for the next decade.

So me, all i care about now is bringing in more untried kids and ones who have had little AFL time and give them a block of games as we look towards next year. We might just unearth another gem or 2.

Then with luck we might have a top 5 pick and can draft the best mid available and then using other picks and possibly a player trade out maybe we work a trade for a quality one. But this off season just has to be nailed with every post a winner at the trade and draft table or the same problems we see now will be the same problems next year against good sides

 

[cleanhands]

We all realise we are rebuilding but what really did it for me was being at the MCG and seeing us compete so well against the best side in the comp and go within a bees d*** of beating them there. The next step in that evolution after routine beltings of WCE and North was to beat essendon over there to show we were mentally there and a finals place loomed.

We failed and failed badly and it made me realise we are in reality still miles off it. I posted on the main board the day before the GWS game that i thought GWS would win regardless of sloanes 250th. Other threads carry the damning midfield investment we have had compated to other clubs and you only need look down the road to see what midfield investment portends as they are a lock for top 2 this year with a midfield built for the next decade.

So me, all i care about now is bringing in more untried kids and ones who have had little AFL time and give them a block of games as we look towards next year. We might just unearth another gem or 2.

Then with luck we might have a top 5 pick and can draft the best mid available and then using other picks and possibly a player trade out maybe we work a trade for a quality one. But this off season just has to be nailed with every post a winner at the trade and draft table or the same problems we see now will be the same problems next year against good sides

And any one that needs surgery get it done so everyone has a full pre season

 

[skittlebrew]

The size difference between a few of our players and the GWS side was very noticeable. Often we kicked out to Sholl or Murphy in a one on one contest and there was zero point zero chance of that coming off in our favour.

And it's the reason we get smashed by GWS but can mix it with Pies.

I've been saying it forever now, we have a team full of boys against a team full of men.

We have too many small players who don't have other traits to offset their deficiencies. Stengle wasn't fast but had good agility and most importantly awareness in traffic to make up for it. Ned and Murphy do not have this.

 

[Mr_Moogle]

And it's the reason we get smashed by GWS but can mix it with Pies.

I've been saying it forever now, we have a team full of boys against a team full of men.

We have too many small players who don't have other traits to offset their deficiencies. Stengle wasn't fast but had good agility and most importantly awareness in traffic to make up for it. Ned and Murphy do not have this.

I don't want a recruiter who takes players like McHenry, Sholl and Parnell. If you're going to be built like a small child, you had better at least be quick.

 

[feenix67]

Sam Taylor probably the best defender in the competition. Took over the contest after Tex started well.

What was pleasing is that we had the tactical nous to play through Fog & Thilthorpe instead while Tex took Sam Taylor away from the play

Right...? Right?

Didn't help that when we actually did go through fog, the ball magically transformed into a cake of soap. His hands were shocking.