Our record againt the top four sides since the break............

[Geoffa32]

We have beaten Geelong, and been in winning positions againt the Bulldogs and Collingwood. Only to lose it in the last quarter in an arm wrestle. We made those clubs earn their win.

Some might argue that these losses were due to lack of leadership on the ground. With the win coming in Goody's last game. But I would disagree. IMO they came from our younger guys not being mature enough physically and mentally to get us over the line. Both the Dogs and Pies are in their "window" to win a flag, we are not. These games were games in which we fielded young sides, yet we pushed them to their limit.

We play the Saints this week, I reckon we will push them, if not win as well. A nice way to finish a terrible season.

"The future's so bright we gotta wear shades"

 

[Permanence]

in a season of disappointment one thing I take out of it as I believe we are now closer to a premiership with this lineup then we were 12 months ago.

reason being last year we were comprehensively beaten by all top 4 teams, you couldn't deny there seemed to be a gulf between the top 4 and us.

This year we have matched it with the cats, and been the better side for most of the day against the pies and dogs.

i'm really excited to see some more mature bodies on these kids next year and see what damage we can start seriously doing!

 

[PCORF]

in a season of disappointment one thing I take out of it as I believe we are now closer to a premiership with this lineup then we were 12 months ago.

reason being last year we were comprehensively beaten by all top 4 teams, you couldn't deny there seemed to be a gulf between the top 4 and us.

This year we have matched it with the cats, and been the better side for most of the day against the pies and dogs.

i'm really excited to see some more mature bodies on these kids next year and see what damage we can start seriously doing!

Disagree with the bolded section.

 

[MelbourneCrow]

Disagree with the bolded section.

Agree with your bolded section. At the end of last season we had the 'old 4' still for a final tilt at a flag. Maybe if pre-season injuries had not crueled us we could have done it....

 

[Permanence]

Last year we were the best of the rest, and were 0/6 against the top 4 and got spanked a few times by memory.

This year much more competitive efforts, even with young, inexperienced and depleted sides!

 

[RoosterLad]

So why are we pushing the top teams yet we still lost to Port and Richmond? Plus we were pretty ordinary against Brisbane.

I hope we don't try and turn every game into an arm wrestle like last night just because we got close, it was a pretty crap game of footy really even though our pressure was excellent.

 

[Permanence]

youth = inconsistant performances

why did richmond play so well against us and then look like the shocking team we have come to know a week later vs carlton?

same thing!

Hindsight is a wonderful thing and no doubt the coaching panel were lured into going with all the vets due to a perhaps over achieving year in 2009? lets be honest no one expected our raise to be so quickly last year. the inevitable fall this year has happened under the weight of expectation (much like port 07 to 08) but I have no doubt we will be better off for it!

 

[ringo200]

Some might argue that these losses were due to lack of leadership on the ground. With the win coming in Goody's last game. But I would disagree. IMO they came from our younger guys not being mature enough physically and mentally to get us over the line.

I might agree with you except for the fact these losses have been common for the crows over a long period of time. We have a terrible record in close games even when we have had our senior players out on the ground.

 

[Glenno23]

Last year we were the best of the rest, and were 0/6 against the top 4 and got spanked a few times by memory.

This year much more competitive efforts, even with young, inexperienced and depleted sides!

We actually beat the Pies last year in round 1. They were the only top 4 team we beat last year

This year we have beaten Geelong and Freo (when they were top 4 and flying)

Our record is better this year against top 4 sides, than last year. Now thats funny

 

[-CG-]

So why are we pushing the top teams yet we still lost to Port and Richmond? Plus we were pretty ordinary against Brisbane.

I hope we don't try and turn every game into an arm wrestle like last night just because we got close, it was a pretty crap game of footy really even though our pressure was excellent.

You're right in questioning why we're getting close to the top sides but looking miles off against the lower ranked teams. Its puzzling really. I don't know whether its our mindset, inexperienced team or what but it's something that needs to be fixed if we want to be a serious contender.

With games like last night's against the Pies and our close win over Geelong... While it's super pleasing to see our pressure and strong defensive efforts we need to make the most of our forward 50 entries to be able to put pressure on the scoreboard.

 

[Glenno23]

You're right in questioning why we're getting close to the top sides but looking miles off against the lower ranked teams. Its puzzling really. I don't know whether its our mindset, inexperienced team or what but it's something that needs to be fixed if we want to be a serious contender.

With games like last night's against the Pies and our close win over Geelong... While it's super pleasing to see our pressure and strong defensive efforts we need to make the most of our forward 50 entries to be able to put pressure on the scoreboard.

Its very frustrating, as you know that if we played like we did against Geelong, we wouldn't lose many games and would have smashed teams like Port and Richmond by 10 goals

But a young team = inconsistency

And bad goal kicking = a drop in confidence, which is fatal in such a young team

We must work on our goal kicking over summer, which in turn will give us better starts, more confidence and ability to win some close ones

 

[Geoffa32]

So why are we pushing the top teams yet we still lost to Port and Richmond? Plus we were pretty ordinary against Brisbane.

I hope we don't try and turn every game into an arm wrestle like last night just because we got close, it was a pretty crap game of footy really even though our pressure was excellent.

Sub amateur goal kicking.

We played very well against Geelong and kicked straight thus we won.

Against Port we set up more than enough shots to win, but did not convert.

Against Richmond our conversion was poor when we had the play. The weather came in and those chances dried up.