Review R18: Adelaide v Essendon post-mortem (...please don't disturb our team, we're dead tired)

[Crows123]

Missed the last 3 quarters as I had to go to a concert (Charly Bliss). It was really, really good so I can’t pretend to be mad atm. But Christ it reads like the Neil Craig Special is back!

Oh well. It sucks but I’m glad everyone (including opposition supporters) can see that something is very wrong right now and no one got sucked in by the big win last week.

Hopefully we’ll see more action than Tex saying ‘heads will roll and no one is safe’ before Gibbs CEY and Douglas return next week

Wouldn't mind CEY for Greenwood.

 

[Burtonsgottago]

Mackay wasn't our major problem tonight.

He actually laced our passes unlike most...

He is a symbol of this clubs mediocrity

 

[Morning_Fog]

Do we win tonight without Tex and Eddie?

Lets say, Stengel and Fogarty were direct replacements, do we win?

IMO, nothing changes at all. We still have a ripping first half and then don’t turn up after half time. The midfield controlled the game, they played with plenty of energy and vigorous. They applied defensive pressure and won the contested ball. They were in control of the game. They moved the ball with speed and purpose and this gave the forwards plenty of opportunity to kick a winning score. 51 first half points in this era of low scoring games is excellent.

What happened at half time?

Unacceptable and lazy movement. Zero pressure and handball happy. No one decided to go to Merrett and the amount of finger pointing and blaming of others was crap.

Knight had 17 possessions in the first half, then only got 4 in the second half as he was sent to the half forward line. He looked great. He played with purpose, energy and control. Then something happened at half time and he had a second half to end his career. He will be dropped next week. First half was 2017 stuff, second half and his career as a crow is over

3 goals after half time. I’m not going to lay blame on the forwards, it’s the midfield that suck. Matthew Crouch can not kick over a jam tim and is an extremely poor man Greg Williams. I would drop him until kick can hit a target.

Our midfield in the second half was pathetic, useless and unacceptable. They should all be dropped. Not good enough.

 

[jirkago]

Saw this "trend" in the preseason games against Port Power and has continue all season. I remember reading somewhere that they are doing more aerobic running this year (as most AFL clubs are) and it might be cooking the type of players we have on the list more.

It’s been constant all yea, wonder if fatigue is making them fumble as the first half they are on fire and then the second half it’s fumble, drop mark and fall over.

This is just an absolutely wasted year


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[hey shorty]

Do we win tonight without Tex and Eddie?

Lets say, Stengel and Fogarty were direct replacements, do we win?

IMO, nothing changes at all. We still have a ripping first half and then don’t turn up after half time. The midfield controlled the game, they played with plenty of energy and vigorous. They applied defensive pressure and won the contested ball. They were in control of the game. They moved the ball with speed and purpose and this gave the forwards plenty of opportunity to kick a winning score. 51 first half points in this era of low scoring games is excellent.

What happened at half time?

Unacceptable and lazy movement. Zero pressure and handball happy. No one decided to go to Merrett and the amount of finger pointing and blaming of others was crap.

Knight had 17 possessions in the first half, then only got 4 in the second half as he was sent to the half forward line. He looked great. He played with purpose, energy and control. Then something happened at half time and he had a second half to end his career. He will be dropped next week. First half was 2017 stuff, second half and his career as a crow is over

3 goals after half time. I’m not going to lay blame on the forwards, it’s the midfield that suck. Matthew Crouch can not kick over a jam tim and is an extremely poor man Greg Williams. I would drop him until kick can hit a target.

Our midfield in the second half was pathetic, useless and unacceptable. They should all be dropped. Not good enough.

Do we win with those 2 ?? No we don't.

Do we learn something ?? Maybe but the ball has to get to them.

 

[Crow_68]

Clear disconnect between the line coaches, Campo and Pyke do not have the ability or strength to bring them together.

The open training session was a decent prelude to tonight. Apart from Chayce Jones running down Brouch, it was all about pretty circle work with no body contact or intensity. And Campo just stood in the goal square, not coaching, not directing, not contributing.

 

[Southerntakeover]

Breaking news: bunch of quitters who have repeatedly quit somehow quit again.

Club officials shocked.

 

[Morning_Fog]

Do we win with those 2 ?? No we don't.

Do we learn something ?? Maybe but the ball has to get to them.

No one is safe. Everyone can be dropped. From Rory and Tex to Murphy but we must isolate and priorities where things are breaking down. I actually think the midfield do not respect or respond Godden and this is 100% the issue as they know they will not be dropped. 30 touches, you must have been bloody good? Bullshit!

We must priorities performance and drop the players who are not doing their job.

 

[TubbsFarquhar]

Atkins - We lack speed and class and, as an outsider player, he needs to providing this. He is a borderline plodder with average kicking skills. What does he offer?

Betts - Cooked, he can only turn up against witches' hats like the Suns. He shouldn't even play next year so we need to make the tough call if he isn't going to.

Brown - Not our worst and did well on Tippa for three quarters but fell away in the last. He's not a concern IMO.

M. Crouch - An accumulator and not much more. Doesn't run and has very limited impact. Dare I say, trade? We will likely get something good for him.

B. Crouch - Has a bit more run and polish (although not always clean) but is miles off where he needs to be. Wouldn't be against trading him either if a good offer came.

Greenwood - One contested mark and goal in the last doesn't change anything. He has very little impact and, with his contract ending, needs to be traded. Don't make the same mistake with Lynch and sign him on. The Suns would be a good suit for him.

Hartigan - Just awful, towelled up by Mitch Brown of all people. We REALLY need to make a play for a KPD in the trade period but who is there?

Jenkins - Dominated the first half but went M.I.A in the second. Not part of the future plans but is still better than Tex right now, at least he can get in the game even if just for a half.

Keath - A positive this season. Not his best night but he was far from our worst.

Kelly - Comfortably our most improved player this season. I've been very critical on him but he's won me over this season. I'd keep.

Knight - Puts in an effort but is a very limited footballer. Time to stop investing games into him and come to the realisation that he isn't anything more than a handy SANFL player.

Laird - The hack kick specialist, hard to believe he was AA for the last 2 years. Trade him while he still has value.

Lynch - A downhill skiier. Was everywhere in the first half but disappeared in the second. We needed to trade him when he had value, we overrate his importance as he only turns up when we're on top.

Mackay - He needs no explanation.

Murphy - He puts in an effort but he doesn't kick enough goals for a small forward and he can't tackle. He was a top-up player for a reason, he just isn't an AFL player.

R.O.B - A shining light. Sauce's injury was a huge blessing as he would not have gotten a game otherwise. Scary thought but it's true.

Seedsman - He has his role. Not a star but is worth having around.

Sloane - Is out of sorts atm and tonight was the worst game I've seen him play, Clarke destroyed him. I wouldn't get rid of him but he is definitely struggling.

Smith - Another shining light, very good tonight.

Talia - Not having his best season and, by and large, didn't have a great night... but we can't offload a KPD as we are bare bones in that area. Him and Sloane are the only 27+ players worth keeping on.

Walker - Completely cooked. He needs to hand in the captaincy and pull the pin, there's no way he'll ever get back to his 2017 form when he led the comp in scoring involvements. Fog's time is now.

 

[Redline]

I've been saying it since early in the season that something is not right. It is probably a combination of issues with the coaching group and the players. I know alot of our suporters have jumped on after wins but even after winning some games I don't think we have been that convincing.

I am a big believer that if you have watched football for long enough you get a gut feel about a team and to me this team just isn't feeling it at the moment. I don't think we are soft but I also don't think we are agressive and hungry enough for success and we lack spark.

 

[eth-dog]

Game was a lot tighter than the 4 goal margin. Enjoyed talking to you guys throughout the week, good luck for the rest of the year .

 

[Southerntakeover]

We've beaten that horse to death here unfortunately.

No we havent.

The majority of posters on this board supported the quite obviously stupid selection practices for an extended period of time, and quite deserve this.

 

[Valentino Dmitri]

Wouldn't mind CEY for Greenwood.

Yeah just to clarify I don’t have a problem with him specifically. I think he’s reasonable and at least goes hard.

Was more saying well probably rotate in the same handful of players we’ve tried all year.

 

[VKCrow]

Gooch, Jones, Fogarty, Stengle, Himmleberg/Davis need to play next week.

They won’t

 

[Redline]

Atkins - We lack speed and class and, as an outsider player, he needs to providing this. He is a borderline plodder with average kicking skills. What does he offer?

Betts - Cooked, he can only turn up against witches' hats like the Suns. He shouldn't even play next year so we need to make the tough call if he isn't going to.

Brown - Not our worst and did well on Tippa for three quarters but fell away in the last. He's not a concern IMO.

M. Crouch - An accumulator and not much more. Doesn't run and has very limited impact. Dare I say, trade? We will likely get something good for him.

B. Crouch - Has a bit more run and polish (although not always clean). Still worth keeping.

Greenwood - One contested mark and goal in the last doesn't change anything. He has very little impact and, with his contract ending, needs to be traded. Don't make the same mistake with Lynch and sign him on. The Suns would be a good suit for him.

Hartigan - Just awful, towelled up by Mitch Brown of all people. We REALLY need to make a play for a KPD in the trade period but who is there?

Jenkins - Dominated the first half but went M.I.A in the second. Not part of the future plans but is still better than Tex right now, at least he can get in the game even if just for a half.

Keath - A positive this season. Not his best night but he was far from our worst.

Kelly - Comfortably our most improved player this season. I've been very critical on him but he's won me over this season. I'd keep.

Knight - Puts in an effort but is a very limited footballer. Time to stop investing games into him and come to the realisation that he isn't anything more than a handy SANFL player.

Laird - The hack kick specialist, hard to believe he was AA for the last 2 years. Trade him while he still has value.

Lynch - A downhill skiier. Was everywhere in the first half but disappeared in the second. We needed to trade him when he had value, we overrate his importance as he only turns up when we're on top.

Mackay - He needs no explanation.

Murphy - He puts in an effort but he doesn't kick enough goals for a small forward and he can't tackle. He was a top-up player for a reason, he just isn't an AFL player.

R.O.B - A shining light. Sauce's injury was a huge blessing as he would not have gotten a game otherwise. Scary thought but it's true.

Seedsman - He has his role. Not a star but is worth having around.

Sloane - Is out of sorts atm and tonight was the worst game I've seen him play, Clarke destroyed him. I wouldn't get rid of him but he is definitely struggling.

Smith - Another shining light, very good tonight.

Talia - Not having his best season and, by and large, didn't have a great night... but we can't offload a KPD as we are bare bones in that area. Him and Sloane are the only 27+ players worth keeping on.

Walker - Completely cooked. He needs to hand in the captaincy and pull the pin, there's no way he'll ever get back to his 2017 form when he led the comp in scoring involvements. Fog's time is now.

Wow, spot on with everything here. Good post

 

[Crows123]

Yeah just to clarify I don’t have a problem with him specifically. I think he’s reasonable and at least goes hard.

Was more saying well probably rotate in the same handful of players we’ve tried all year.

If CEY wasn't currently injured, he would still be in the team.

 

[brucetiki]

If there’s one thing the Collective Minds debacle has proven is that this side has no resilience. That’s now three times in the past month we’ve put the white flag up whenever the opposition has gone up a notch.

This side is pathetically soft. 49 tackles tonight (and that’s by Champions Data’s standards, which can be lenient). 49 tackles is barely SANFL Reserves standards let alone AFL standards - far from elite. There was an abysmal chasing effort by the team at time’s tonight, resulting in some easy Essendon goals.

Imagine if Phil Walsh saw second half’s like we’ve seen against North Melbourne, West Coast, Geelong, Port and now Essendon’s.

This side needs a rocket fired up them, but then they’ll probably just sook about it and cry that the person giving them a rocket hurt their feelings.

 

[mattymac]

Pyke. I don't see him surviving. He had his chance to turn the last 2 years around. Chose to stick with the same s**t. This is on him.

I would be ok with sacking Pyke if we paid for a proper external review and it found him to be the problem. God knows who we'd replace him with. Probably Goodwin knowing Ricciuto.

Sacking Pyke but keeping the entire cast of the ongoing sh1t show together would achieve nothing.

Clean out time like Richmond and Collingwood did.

 

[CrowBloke]

7.10 to 5.3 at half-time and two of their 8 shots were goals just before half-time. Turned into a 21-point loss, even after 4 lead changes in the last .
In a way, I feel oddly relieved. I don't have to hope any more for the rest of 2019 (and probably 4 or 5 years after that).

 

[AmericanCrow]

I'm too flat to even insert a Browns reference!

Speaking of, I'd love to hear your views on the similarities between the two organisations.

Please, the Browns are a welcome relief to this miserable Crows season and I have never had the chance (or reason) to say that nearly the entirety of my Crows fandom tracing back to the mid 90's.

As for similarities---see, Suns--Gold Coast

they are the Browns organization 1999-2017

 

[Ben98]

I feel the club is happy for us to make to eight most years. Keeps the supporters coming through the gates in hope that we will take the next step.
Even in years when we seemed to be a reasonable team at no stage was I confident of playing in a grand final at all. I wasn't even that shocked with the
grand final loss but I had just lost a sibling so footy didnt matter at the time so perhaps I just didnt care.

 

[Johnny Rutten]

7.10 to 5.3 at half-time and two of their 8 shots were goals just before half-time. Turned into a 21-point loss, even after 4 lead changes in the last .
In a way, I feel oddly relieved. I don't have to hope any more for the rest of 2019 (and probably 4 or 5 years after that).

I feel the same way. Pretty clear how average we are, especially after the Showdown and tonight. Zero expectations for 2019 from here. Carlton should start favourites this week.

 

[Flying_as_One1991]

Words can’t describe how gutted I am right now. To sit through that last half and guys guarding space standing their while players run passed is laughable. No defensive pressure our tackling is below average. We beat Gold Coast who cares this game we needed to win. Very disappointing. Changes must be made!!!!

 

[crowker]

Its pretty obvious now, we don't have the cattle to carry out the game plan.

We are now witnessing the Crowbots Mk 2 , the lack of attack at the ball in the second half is bemusing.

From what I can see , the players are so attuned to adhering to the game plan which seems to place a little
too much emphasis on the analytical side of things and stifling natural flair ( or over rating certain players with metres gained etc etc ).

I thought Pyke was on the right track, yet it's pretty obvious with this list his plan aint working.

With our inaccuracy killing us in the first half and intent falling away in the 2nd, the similarities to the N.Craig are becoming glaringly obvious.
We are being over analysed and and ignoring the fact that its simply the lack of speed that's killing us , we have that many players on the outside ,we are easy pickings for any team with a few inside hard nuts.




Their new s

 

[Morning_Fog]

Game was a lot tighter than the 4 goal margin. Enjoyed talking to you guys throughout the week, good luck for the rest of the year .

51 point turn around.

Realistically It wasn’t close from about the 26th minute of the second quarter.