Review R18: The Good, Bad and Ugly vs. St. Kilda

[SugarShane]

Beyond Ugly: Inviting Brett Burton to Present Bonds Guernsey on Saturday Night. The work of our own M. Ricciuto.

What a ****ing disgrace.

Is he still at the club in some sort of role? I've been to 4 games this year and at 3 of them I've seen him either on the oval pre-game or walking around the outer, every time in an official looking Crows top (same one he had at the guernsey presentation). Nearly vomited the first time I saw him.

 

[Carn The Texan]

For some reason I find this amusing

Is that the sound effect from the old Nutri-Grain ads??

 

[PeterSalt]

Is that the sound effect from the old Nutri-Grain ads??

Not sure

 

[Gtowncrow]

What other coaches have rebuilt their side from scratch and without an impressive line of top ten and/or charity handout picks?

In Nicks defence, this is a fair point.

 

[texanmike]

Is he still at the club in some sort of role? I've been to 4 games this year and at 3 of them I've seen him either on the oval pre-game or walking around the outer, every time in an official looking Crows top (same one he had at the guernsey presentation). Nearly vomited the first time I saw him.

seriously? wtf, stalker burton or has Roo given him another job?

 

[Gtowncrow]

This week he had a big impact on the game. He has been bog average in the weeks leading up to this one, but was FAR better than previous weeks. One of our best this week.

I agree Jenny that Laird had a better game and was influential in our win. I worry about him though.

In a game where the conditions meant skill was less important than tenacity, effort and possession, Laird shone as his accumulation, tackling and "just move it forward" possessions were perfect for a dirty night. He was valuable in these conditions.

My concern is the other 20 games each year where a higher level of polish is required.

Just like Keays, and to a lesser extent, Crouch, if Rory can't reinvent himself, he's will be passed by others quickly now as they develop.

 

[Pugsley]

I agree Jenny that Laird had a better game and was influential in our win. I worry about him though.

In a game where the conditions meant skill was less important than tenacity, effort and possession, Laird shone as his accumulation, tackling and "just move it forward" possessions were perfect for a dirty night. He was valuable in these conditions.

My concern is the other 20 games each year where a higher level of polish is required.

Just like Keays, and to a lesser extent, Crouch, if Rory can't reinvent himself, he's will be passed by others quickly now as they develop.

Taylor and Dowling already look better.

 

[Punchy Bassett]

In Nicks defence, this is a fair point.

How many first rounders we had recently that haven't worked out and who do we blame?

 

[ABAB]

Good retort. Of course we need balance and saying we haven't prioritised the youth or managed our list well enough (see playing the same 25-26 every game last year, giving games to seniors that were low on form or injured, giving games to future delistees etc.) Isn't saying drop every senior player. Its simply saying we could be closer to the tipping point experience wise or at least have a stronger understanding of where or list stands if we had handled selection differently in the last few years.

We're five years into a rebuild and still have one of the youngest/least experienced sides in the comp. Something has gone wrong somewhere. What do you think it is? Or are we flying on a perfect trajectory towards our next premiership under nicks? What year do you think it will be?

Nicks job was to leave the next senior coach with a quality core of youngster which he has done very well, he tried to take us to Finals in a last ditch attempt with these group of players and it didn't work so he will be sacked end of next year unless he stick with the youngsters and they continue their development next year and play Finals.

Smith and Walker will retire, McHenry, Murphy, Jones and ROB will be delisted or traded and there's big question mark around Milera after his 2nd major knee injury (more than likely will also retire) and Laird will either play in defense or SANFL so I suspect there will be big changes when the new senior coach takes over in a years time.

 

[Gtowncrow]

Taylor and Dowling already look better.

One swallow doesn't make a summer.But these are two players, amongst others, who will challenge Laird increasingly now.

 

[Pugsley]

One swallow doesn't make a summer.But these are two players, amongst others, who will challenge Laird increasingly now.

They will overtake him soon enough.

 

[1970crow]

Honestly, I would have thought this is one of the smoothest rebuilds every seen in the history of AFL.

Completely bottom out then steadily improve every year, til now?

The issue may be that we didn't do a couple of EXTRA years of going completely backwards. I'm not sure we have enough tier one talent - Carlton, Essendon, Melbourne, North Melbourne, they all did much longer and lower rebuilds and came out of it with more stars.

If we're lucky, this might be the ideal year for a backward step, as the draft suits what we need.

Surely you can't judge how smooth a rebuild has been until it's actually over, which doesn't occur until we're on the doorstep of contending. All we've achieved so far is a single year where we nearly made the finals. The above post is as delusional as some of Wayne's worst.

 

[1970crow]

It's like a really smooth, enjoyable bus trip that only takes you around the block instead of heading in to the city.

It's all about the design. It was never designed to wear the pain to build a list that could content in the top 4 for multiple years. It was only ever about getting back and competing for a spot in the 8 as quickly as possible. There was an article yesterday that quoted Nix talking about still being able to make the 8. Obviously it wasn't anything confident, but the fact that it's still front of mind tells us everything that we need to know about how our club thinks.

 

[Scorpus]

Beyond Ugly: Inviting Brett Burton to Present Bonds Guernsey on Saturday Night. The work of our own M. Ricciuto.

What a ****ing disgrace.

He's a past player of the club but surely they could have found someone more appropriate

Porplyzia used to wear the 40, get him in

 

[skam85]

SLOWNE , I saw you disagreed, which is fine but I'm puzzled.
Here's why I don't rate him:
Brayden Cook 2024 stats:
12 games, 68 kicks (5.67/game), 40HB (3.33), 27 marks (2.25), score12.4 (1.03), tackles 18 (1.5), 1%x14, 7GA.
Last night 6K 6HB 2M 2T, which might be a pass but he didn't tear it up eg like Dowling.
Cook's possessions numbers in 2022 (8 games) were slightly better ie he's not getting any better.

Those (underwhelming) numbers are comparable to Murphy, who is derided in here.

Watching a game at home, when I hear Cook's name called, I'm surprised <== I actually forget that he's playing because he disappears for such long periods. I can't remember anything he's done that's made me think "Wow, this kid can play".
Like you, quite a few people do rate him eg Danger in Texas, but I would like to know why.
Serious and non-provocative question: what do you see in him that I don't, please?

Use as many emojis and bold and italics in your lengthy posts as you like, the fact is you've totally missed Dowling and Cook are entirely different players.

 

[Scorpus]

Is he still at the club in some sort of role? I've been to 4 games this year and at 3 of them I've seen him either on the oval pre-game or walking around the outer, every time in an official looking Crows top (same one he had at the guernsey presentation). Nearly vomited the first time I saw him.

Surely there's some disconnect there given the club sacked him. Did they not really want to sack him?

 

[Apsaalooke]

He's a past player of the club but surely they could have found someone more appropriate

Porplyzia used to wear the 40, get him in

Maybe they’re buttering him up in case there’s a future father-son looming

 

[skam85]

Honestly, I would have thought this is one of the smoothest rebuilds every seen in the history of AFL.

Completely bottom out then steadily improve every year, til now?

The issue may be that we didn't do a couple of EXTRA years of going completely backwards. I'm not sure we have enough tier one talent - Carlton, Essendon, Melbourne, North Melbourne, they all did much longer and lower rebuilds and came out of it with more stars.

If we're lucky, this might be the ideal year for a backward step, as the draft suits what we need.

What the hell, we are 14th.

The kids have been forced to play due to senior injuries, Nicks is extremely lucky that senior players he has a hard on for got injured.

Hawthorn's rebuild has been shorter and better.

Brisbane were in the doldrums for years and spiked up the ladder, and have consistently been in the mix.

There's two far smoother rebuilds without even having to use my second brain cell.

 

[Slime Roy]

Honestly, I would have thought this is one of the smoothest rebuilds every seen in the history of AFL.

Completely bottom out then steadily improve every year, til now?

The issue may be that we didn't do a couple of EXTRA years of going completely backwards. I'm not sure we have enough tier one talent - Carlton, Essendon, Melbourne, North Melbourne, they all did much longer and lower rebuilds and came out of it with more stars.

If we're lucky, this might be the ideal year for a backward step, as the draft suits what we need.

The only 'smooth' thing about this rebuild is the heads (and brains) of those behind it.

 

[dogs105]

There was an instance where the ball was soccered forwards through several people, Cook picked it up as clean as anything, turned, and handballed to a teammate in space. Very skilful player.

 

[Slime Roy]

One swallow doesn't make a summer.But these are two players, amongst others, who will challenge Laird increasingly now.

But two crows can definitely make my winter!

 

[jenny61_99]

I agree Jenny that Laird had a better game and was influential in our win. I worry about him though.

In a game where the conditions meant skill was less important than tenacity, effort and possession, Laird shone as his accumulation, tackling and "just move it forward" possessions were perfect for a dirty night. He was valuable in these conditions.

My concern is the other 20 games each year where a higher level of polish is required.

Just like Keays, and to a lesser extent, Crouch, if Rory can't reinvent himself, he's will be passed by others quickly now as they develop.

100% agree. Cannot be carried in the midfield once we get Isaac back IMO. Even next week I'd give Rachele a much larger time in the middle than Laird.

 

[jenny61_99]

Yep, incur another injury and whaddayaknow, this guy’s now ready.

Sometimes necessity is the mother of all inventions...

 

[crows dude]

Laird can no longer be part of the midfield rotations. Time to pass it on to the below

Inside mid rotations
Dawson
Soligo
Dowling
Taylor
Rachele
Rankine
Berry
Pedlar

Wing rotations
Sholl
Nankervis
Cook

 

[feenix67]

What other coaches have rebuilt their side from scratch and without an impressive line of top ten and/or charity handout picks?

Put simply, if Nicks recovers from a 30% W/L to take us to a flag, it will surpass any achievement by any coach in the AFL era. Statistically and literally.