Review R19: The Good, Bad and Ugly vs. Essendon

[ABAB]

Footy Gods to Draper - go **** yourself

Draper will go top 2 if he continues his form in the SANFL or do you mean floppy Draper lol.

 

[cleanhands]

Draper will go top 2 if he continues his form in the SANFL or do you mean floppy Draper????

Oh no!

 

[CrowBloke]

I don’t think we’ve had that to this level before.

Blighty and his trust in youth (and their cohesion + faith in each other) got us 2 Flags .

 

[ABAB]

Oh no!

Trade our pick 6 after Battle's FA compensation and future 1st rounder for Richmond's pick 1 and future 2nd rounder? They might bite as they are rebuilding.

 

[CrowBloke]

As has become traditional, the Crows got a good win when I was unable to watch it. I swear to God the club should pay me $500k a year to just not watch the games then we'll win a flag.

Anybody got a link to somewhere that I can see it?

A BIG thank you, for not watching.

https://www.afl.com.au/matches/match-videos?comp=1 (available later today, or tomorrow, not sure)

 

[CrowBloke]

and putting Keays in the centre in the last (not sure if he’s attended a centre bounce at all this year up until now). Maybe forced with Dawson off, but still….. could have gone with Murphy and didnt.

If Nicks had put THE SPUD in the centre in the last, we lose.

 

[Mr_Moogle]

Last two minutes. Hodge.
"Watch Keays and Rachele here, they're the ones"

Knows a bit about the game.

One of the better commentators imo. Also doesn't clown around like some of the others.

 

[FR0GGY]

Soligo did two absolute sublime passes off half back to set up 2 goals.

 

[CrowBloke]

Truly, his speed surprised me.

Burgess.

 

[Greenfinger]

Blighty and his trust in youth (and their cohesion + faith in each other) got us 2 Flags .

Absolutely. I just don’t remember seeing the outward displays of care and cohesion with each other like this group. It feels a bit unique and could be very important for us when we start contesting. The 2017 team certainly didn’t have this . We also didn’t have it in the 2000s with McLeod- Edwards era . I think this is one area that Nicks has done really well.

 

[Bovo]

One of our blokes said post-game that Nicks (no apostrophe) sent them out to be defensive, no surprise, hence the 3-goals-behind start.
My guess is Dawson and maybe Keays (real Leaders) and a couple others said "'Stuff this bullshit" and took the game on.
Later, Nicks did not "shuffle" the backline around while Eesendon kicked that run of 7 goals in the third.

To be fair, Keays was moved into the midfield for the 4th quarter (that's a tick to Nicks) and he and Fog lifted the whole team.
+

Yeah, good point.
Don't forget also that Nicks declared Smith (dud last night) had a big future .

You lot are funny! It’s the players fault when they win and Nick’s fault when they lose. Suggesting players disobeyed their coach to win the game because it fails to fit the agenda of armchair supporters is beyond absurd. There must have been many angry supporters last night, because you gotta clutch at straws to find a reason to diss Nick’s win against quality opposition in an away game. Wow just wow.

 

[Mr_Moogle]

I loved how pumped Fog was when he kicked those goals. Please re-sign this guy asap.

 

[CrowBloke]

Hinge kicks in from full back to just inside the 50m arc (can’t remember who marked it)

Butts, I think.

 

[DJ75]

Good:
Keays - I can’t remember a Crow with less natural talent playing a better game than this. Ever. It’s probably never happened.

Fog - massive, massive performance. He’s just objectively better when Tex doesn’t play, but some of the tricks he showed tonight were top shelf.

Dowling - how fit is this kid? Does his best work late.

Hinge - rock solid, and any question marks about his leadership have evaporated.

Taylor - more really promising signs from another youngster.

Berry - sign him up. I’d rather him in there than Laird now. He just stands up more when it matters.



Bad:
Brodie Smith. Look, clearly he copped a knock early, but for crying out loud, what are we doing playing this guy. He was a clear worst on ground for us against St Kilda and not far off it again this week. Just don’t select him. He offers absolutely nothing.

Controversial one here, but Hugh Bond was bad. And I realise he goes in hard and he’s probably a decent stopper and all of that. But ball in hand, he doesn’t have the required skill level for mine. Still not convinced he gets a contract.

Murphy - again, why persist here? This is not an AFL player.


Ugly:
The wait for news on Murray. Gut feeling despite the seemingly hopeful positivity coming out of the club is that it’s an ACL. Same knee. Prayers up for a 2-8 week injury diagnosis. Absolutely shattering if it’s another reco.

Butts going down with a potentially serious foot injury in the same game.

Dawson being allowed back on after 3/4 time. Call it delayed concussion all you like. His face was green straight after he copped the hit. Shithouse.

And the ugliest of all - Reilly O’Brien’s 3rd quarter, which may be the worst quarter ever played by a ruckman. Seriously, don’t rewatch it and focus on him. You may spontaneously combust.

You should also watch OBriens last quarter then. He was excellent and took some critical marks.

 

[BACCS]

How much time did they give Stringer to dispose of the ball? I counted at least 3 times where he was stone cold gone but none of them were paid.

But then Laird gets pinged after taking immediate possession of the ball just because the umpire sees his arm come free last second, the rule is ****ed.

 

[kirky]

Ok. It was a shit win against a bottom 4 team.

Now that is better.

 

[BACCS]

Haven’t seen a lot of love for Berry’s game, continued on his good month of footy.

Really enjoyed his work around the clearances, used his strength to break tackles and ensure we got a clean ball out. Kicking seems to have genuinely improved too.

That goal on the run in the 2nd was sublime! Running the wrong way for a right footer, so composed himself, straightened up and nailed it from 40 on the run.

 

[Slime Roy]

UGLY: That time Microsoft caused the 2nd biggest IT outage for the day.

#CrowsStrike

 

[kirky]

Trade our pick 6 after Battle's FA compensation and future 1st rounder for Richmond's pick 1 and future 2nd rounder? They might bite as they are rebuilding.

Richmond will probably get Freo’s 1st round pick for Baker. They might have a few premiership players going so will be loaded up with picks.

 

[BACCS]

Was weird how O'Brien played terrible football in the third quarter up to about 6 minutes left in the last then suddenly became a beast and was clunking marks and delivering silver service taps

Thought he was good in that 2nd quarter too to give us advantage out of stoppages and centre clearances. IF he kicks that goal early in the 3rd could have turned a good game into a very good game for him.

His best mark was that intercept on the wing with a couple of minutes to go, huge.

 

[haydo]

Haven’t seen a lot of love for Berry’s game, continued on his good month of footy.

Really enjoyed his work around the clearances, used his strength to break tackles and ensure we got a clean ball out. Kicking seems to have genuinely improved too.

That goal on the run in the 2nd was sublime! Running the wrong way for a right footer, so composed himself, straightened up and nailed it from 40 on the run.

To continue on with Berry's good work it's finally good to see a midfielder that can use both sides of their body as well. A couple of times last night he rolled around on his left and delivered the ball 40-45 metres forward. Along with Walker, Fogarty, Rachele (winning goal on his left foot) it's good to have multiple players who are able to kick both feet. Makes a difference!

 

[DJ75]

Not the best quality - but look at Fog trying to get to a marking contest with 1:54 to go in the match.

How the everloving **** is this not the clearest blocking / holding / high free you've ever seen?

Two arms around? Check.
High? Check.
Preventing him from getting to the contest? Check.

Now compare to what Essendon were gifted in the 3rd quarter

 

[fuic08]

Good:
Winning because the game didn't go to Nicks plan.

 

[Miss Vanessa]

You should also watch OBriens last quarter then. He was excellent and took some critical marks.

This is where O’Brien is such an odd case. His worst is truly bad - not just anonymous bad but actively working for the other team bad… but his best is absolute beast mode. He monstered Essendon in those last 10 minutes and was a huge reason why we locked the ball in our forward half and kept getting repeat entries into our 50…

He’s a massive unit who works bloody hard and on his day is great… but I’d still be looking at throwing money at a new ruck in the off season.

 

[kirky]

Now I know a lot of posters don’t like Rachele however the only glaring error is he at times lacks defensive pressure but you can guarantee he will kick at least one goal each week.

In saying that, he is about to overtake Murphy for the number of goals kicked in less than 50% of games played.

On nearly every statistic, he is above average and plays it what has traditionally been a graveyard position - half forward flank.