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

[AmericanCrow]

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.

Sorry to hear of your loss.

But, in a way you are framing exactly how we should all be looking at this setback.

Sport is the toy box of life and we shouldn’t lose sight of that no matter how “bad” the down times seem to be.

 

[Tex200]

Milera was one of the only players who passed to him.

For all the talk Milera spent fu** all time in the midfield and I hope our Essendon friend does the stats again because I suspect Smith did as well. We reverted back to Matt, Brad and Sloane. Only in the last did we make any change.

I get that about Tex and he is getting on, but it doesn’t discount the fact our players don’t pass to him. If they hit him with one pass a quarter that’s 2-3 goals a game. I reckon I counted about 10 leads by half time that weren’t honoured. To me that shows we have far bigger issues than Tex, our players lack composure and skill, that won’t be improved when Tex goes.

Exactly this.

Week after week our midfield is exposed as not being good enough. And this has been going on for years.

People see it, complain about it, but geez don’t dare suggest we do anything about it.

‘Cos those guys are actually really good - guess what? They’re not.

 

[Elite Crow]

The midfield escapes scrutiny with the coaches because they prob just look at clearance stats and possession counts and say ‘well done boys’

What about tackles, defensive running, missed passes, wrong options etc etc.

Sloane was utterly disgraceful last night...have we ever had a star player so useless at coping with a tag? Not only did his possession count drop but his skills were deplorable. Is something going wrong in private life? His head doesn’t seem in the game.

Matt honestly doesn’t care one bit about the damage his opponents do. It’s all about sagging off to receive a handball or short kick then give off the same, preferably with a one-two to boost the numbers. His metres gained per possession would be near the lowest in the league.

Brad also doesn’t care about the team defence. Also stat pads. He just does it with more pace but lacks Matt’s composure. His kicking skills and decision making are so substandard. He’s almost in Ollie Wines territory.


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Brad cares more about defence than Matt, his tackle count proves that. Last night his disposal efficiency was good. Plus he has speed.

I would be trading Matt.

As for Sloane, is it 3 or 4 more years of not being able to break a tag? People want him as sole captain, why?

 

[jenny61_99]

The midfield escapes scrutiny with the coaches because they prob just look at clearance stats and possession counts and say ‘well done boys’

What about tackles, defensive running, missed passes, wrong options etc etc.

Sloane was utterly disgraceful last night...have we ever had a star player so useless at coping with a tag? Not only did his possession count drop but his skills were deplorable. Is something going wrong in private life? His head doesn’t seem in the game.

Matt honestly doesn’t care one bit about the damage his opponents do. It’s all about sagging off to receive a handball or short kick then give off the same, preferably with a one-two to boost the numbers. His metres gained per possession would be near the lowest in the league.

Brad also doesn’t care about the team defence. Also stat pads. He just does it with more pace but lacks Matt’s composure. His kicking skills and decision making are so substandard. He’s almost in Ollie Wines territory.


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app

You mean other than the fact he lost his baby boy last year. Tex lost a baby too. Sometimes life is bigger than footy. I know that’s not what you want to hear, but it’s the truth.

 

[CrowBloke]

4) I wouldn't get too worried,
1) there's a pretty strong list there,
2) might just need to rearrange a few deck chairs and
3) use Carltons pick wisely!

1) The list is old, second-oldest in the Comp and the Crows are not getting multiple games into their best young players. Eddie is past his best. Always looks dangerous and still has his bag of tricks but he's lost a yard and oppo defenders are playing him more closely/carefully. Walker has become slow and ineffective. Neither are match-winners any more. Mackay is an enigmatic liability with the magical ability of playing badly (eg our worst against the GCS witches' hats) and being re-selected. Laird is unusually weak this year; his run off half-back has all but been replaced by hack kicks out of D50 which come back quick-smart. Hartigan has been poor. Kelly was a tough nut, runs out then disappears on ground somehow.
2) No, that's the problem. Pyke's been arranging the old deck chairs and ignoring the new (ie the Crows are not getting games into their best young players).
3) They might draft another gun, but he'll rot in the SANFL for a couple of years having Crows-mediocrity stuffed into him, because the Crows are not getting games into ... well ... you get my point.

4) Easy for you to say. I'm worried.

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

Difficult game to review.

Where to start with our list of problems?

Have been heading for the cliff and went over it at the bye. I'm generally a pessimistic poster but I didn't realise just how bad things would get so quickly.

Have some exciting resources in the reserves but won't pick them.

And won't pick them next season either because our tired, old, broken, failed senior group will have their 'best preseasons ever' and be back in the fold.

Which is all very depressing.

 

[CrowBloke]

From the match-summary on the AFC website, modified so that scribes can copy and paste for the rest of the Season:
"The [enter oppo name] looked dead and buried when they trailed the Crows by [enter number around 30] points late in the [second/third] quarter, but produced an amazing turnaround to kick [ enter number much higher than next number] of the final [enter number much lower than previous number] goals to register the [enter losing score] victory. "

 

[subaru]

Said before the game
Without scoreboard pressure we’re rooted.

Bookies had Essendon at $7-50 at half time

And we lost
Jesus Wept we were slow and sloppy

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

Positives
Brodie Smith midfield/forward worked well
ROB continues his good season
Talia and Brown ok

That's all I got

 

[diligaf473]

Brad cares more about defence than Matt, his tackle count proves that. Last night his disposal efficiency was good. Plus he has speed.

I would be trading Matt.

As for Sloane, is it 3 or 4 more years of not being able to break a tag? People want him as sole captain, why?

I said the same thing to a mate last night about trading Matt (before the other clubs realise how ordinary he is).

What about Hartigan though, every Essendon opponent he stood kicked a goal or goals on him. For his size he is the worst one on one defender in the league, gets bodied out of the contest so easily, trips over his own shadow.

 

[CrowinNT]

Exactly this.

Week after week our midfield is exposed as not being good enough. And this has been going on for years.

People see it, complain about it, but geez don’t dare suggest we do anything about it.

‘Cos those guys are actually really good - guess what? They’re not.

This is so true
There is no defensive effort
We don’t chase
Tackles haven’t been sticking
Poor delivery into our fwd line
We are one paced joggers

 

[CrowBloke]

Uselessly limited.

Unlimited uselessness?

 

[ftmch]

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.

Do you have ANY idea how much of a sanctimonious, self righteous w***er you sound like right now?

Aside from being patently wrong (most on here have bemoaned the selection policy over the last few years), wtf gives you the right to take your frustration and anger with the performance of a bunch of highly paid sports stars and administrators out on a forum of passionate footy supporters.

You speak as if the people on this forum are responsible for the wires of this club. GAGF

Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk

 

[mtbkym]

This is so true
There is no defensive effort
We don’t chase
Tackles haven’t been sticking
Poor delivery into our fwd line
We are one paced joggers

Yep! There is 1 major thing that you need if you are slow, and that is skill, which our midfield really doesn’t have. So right now they are slow unskilled players who are easy to cut open with run.

It’s so frustrating watching a side realise it and then go on to run riot through there

 

[CatToTheFuture]

I'll take that on board, but there's something very NQR going on with them.

I thought their speed was more about getting that first few paces. They'd get a couple of steps into a gap then handball top their other player also running. All of them are decent runners but the overall speed was in executing that handball not in physical characteristics of the players so much.

 

[Drewie11]

Don't kid yourself we are a long way off contending, at least 5 years away. The current squad is not winning a premiership.

Tex, Betts, Talia, Jenkins, Lynch, Sloane are all in decline and will need to be replaced.

We've stuffed our opportunity to win one after 2017. Window is shut.

We have been in front of most teams this year. You can’t say the teams not good enough when for a half of footy it absolutely is.

I think our fitness is pathetic, they backed them off during pre season because of the hamstring issues the year before. This team is good enough

 

[CrowBloke]

Premiership in 2020

Yes! Definitely!

(for some team, just not the Crows ).

 

[MemoryLane]

Just watched the game again and it is so pathetic watching what happens when the ball goes forward of centre, our entire midfield runs forward/to the ball and then there is a quick turnover and they have numbers out the back and away they go.


Their transition was so easy and it killed us. The goals that kept them in it and killed our momentum were all transition goals.

Our midfield sucks defensively.

 

[Snake_Baker]

Jenkins dropping a chest mark to take back the lead didn't help either.

 

[GreyCrow]

When's the Annual General Meeting this year? These clowns need to be told very clearly how badly they are failing.

" in the eSports space we continue to make great strides, the Bite are contenders and our Women's team are once more Premiers. After the success of our SANFL side we feel we have the makings of a very competitive senior squad.

Our financials are solid and by resisting the emotional tirades from non-core members on social media our senior football department will continue to remain contenders in what is a difficult space .

The Adelaide Football Club pride ourselves on remaining relevant and financially stable while other clubs struggle with the cycle of bottoming out and flag success"

 

[VSTone]

How much money has been made betting on these fade outs this year?

 

[Crowhorse]

Our financials are solid and by resisting the emotional tirades from non-core members on social media our senior football department will continue to remain contenders in what is a difficult space .

Who are non-core members? Those not on payroll?

 

[Snake_Baker]

The Adelaide Football Club pride ourselves on remaining relevant and financially stable while other clubs struggle with the cycle of bottoming out and flag success"

There's no doubt about that, The crows have never tanked or bottomed out and should be commended for maintaining competitive sides, but I reckon there comes a point where cleaning out the list and undertaking a platform rebuild becomes inevitable.

It's probably a good time now.

 

[Tex200]

Just watched the game again and it is so pathetic watching what happens when the ball goes forward of centre, our entire midfield runs forward/to the ball and then there is a quick turnover and they have numbers out the back and away they go.


Their transition was so easy and it killed us. The goals that kept them in it and killed our momentum were all transition goals.

Our midfield sucks defensively.

Yes it does - and it’s not inexperienced either.

As I said last week - needs a complete rebuild around Milera

 

[VSTone]

Watching 2017 highlights, oh for the footspeed of Cameron and McGovern.

and tackling intent!