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

[rabidcrow]

It was crazy especially as Essendon got away with plenty worse in the last.

Does anyone have a free kick count from the last quarter? I feel like we started the last at approx 15 each and finished 20-15 but I could be wrong.

7-3 in both the 3rd and 4th quarters

We were actually leading frees 9-6 at half time


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[radiojake]

Did Nicks Coach our bloke to give Merritt room to stream out of centre but fluff his delivery??

Look for the most part your points are valid but that last CBA was Taylor Bond and Keays (? I think) as the cupboard was completely bare

 

[CrowBloke]

Nicks my hero?

I did not say that. Not once, nor did I imply it.

I think under the circumstances he did okay last night.

I agree, with the caveat that 4 or 5 of the players really stood up, with Tex and Rankine out and Murray/Butts/Dawson kaput for the night.
It bodes well that we won on the back of NOT-the-usual-suspects excelling .

You kinda get sick of the Nicks bashing in every thread, but to be fair no coach will ever be good enough for our crows. Eventually the fans will turn on them like they have done since at least the Neil Craig days.

I liked Craig, but he developed an inflexibility because of his firm stance on "the Process". It became more about method, where to stand etc than having a rollicking time getting paid to play the game you love and win along the way.
Given his W/L ratio and Ladder Position, I thought he copped way too much flak. Pyke, as well.

Fans are a fickle bunch. They turn on players, coaches, board members, presidents, past players, anyone and everyone! Nobody is safe. I’ll guarantee that if Simon Goodwin ever coached our club, his name would be mud before his tenure had finished.

What troubles me is people wanting so much to be right, in here. There's nothing wrong with interesting discussion/debate, but too much of it degenerates into personal abuse.
I really dislike statements of the kind:
"You don't know much about footy if you think x, y, z.

I must be old now, because all that seems too much effort. I just want to watch a game of footy these days.

Well said, but isn't it much more fun when we play well and win?

But you know, your opinion is allowed and I wasn’t looking for a debate, but I do hope you can find joy in your support of our great club even with Nicks at the helm, because he’s gonna be around a while longer yet.

True. Thanks for the fair reply .

 

[CrowBloke]

Hinge kicks to Butts. Butts handballs to Hinge. Hinge to Fog. Fog to goal. 3 touches 15 seconds and training was done boys.

That was one of the best, if not THE best, end-to-end goals I've seen the Crows produce. Ever.
Reminded me of the best of the Crows 2005/06 and 2017.
It was beautiful footy.
Great overlapping run by Hinge after kicking out, terrific delivery to Fog, elite finish!

 

[Slime Roy]

Firstly, I loved the win vs GWS (on the back of that brilliant 7-goal second quarter ).
I'm happy they beat the dour, boring Saints.
I loved that they won last night, I loved the footy they played to kick those 9 goals and I really, really loved the comeback for 15 points down to win a close one , for which Nicks has Fog and Keays to thank.
I was ecstatic.
I love when they win well, win hard. I think Fog and Keays are playing the kind of footy we've always wanted from them and I hope like Hell they continue. To win Away like that without Tex or Rankine was exceptional.
Yippee! Hot-diggety, dog-diggety!!

As happy as I am about those wins, I am more unhappy about what's happened this year in total.

John, I know what I saw and heard.
A Crow was interviewed after the game. He (whomever it was, Fog? Keays?) said clearly that Nicks had sent them out at the start of the game to play defensively. He didn't elaborate, but that would account for the 3-goals-down start.
It's bad Coaching. Defensive mindset = "After the opposition gets the ball, we defend".
It's garbage.
After quarter time if you think it was Nicks put them onto the 9-goal spree, you're dreamin'.
It's NOT in Nicks' DNA.
After 1/4 time, I'd say Hombsch, or Hombsch and VB, or Hombsch + VB + Dawson/Keays/Soligo suggested they go all-out attack.

Furthermore, I heard Nicks say in his presser that they often lose those close ones but they've practised ways to counter them (= "I, The Great Nickso, have now shown them how to win those close ones") and I'm calling bullshit.
Essendon had three clear and clean chances to goal in those last 5 minutes.
1) Did Nicks Coach our bloke to give Merritt room to stream out of centre but fluff his delivery?? Some more practice-scenarios are needed, there! Merrett could have bounced at least once and had a shot, or kicked to a teammate about 30m out, but kicked wildly from the 50m line, inexplicably.
2) Did Nicks Coach Draper to miss that easy shot at goal (hit the post). No, that was Draper's own poor execution and serves him right, the flog.
3) Did Nicks Coach that frosty-haired putz to attempt a checkside from 30m out with a teammate free 20m away straight in front? That's right, NO he didn't .

When they play badly Nicks blames the list, or he needs better Assistants, or it's the players' fault (not doing what Nicks wants), or injuries, or Global Warming, or Inflation, or a hangnail or the Stars etc, anything but Nicks' fault, and I call bullshit on that too.
Have you ever heard Nicks take responsibility for a selection that was poor, or a defensive chip-chip, slow game plan that went awry, or say directly that he was accountable for any shit error/decision/loss?

i have not.

When they play well (the second and fourth quarters were outstanding), Nicks wants to soak up the credit which you starry-eyed Nicks-lovers shower on him.

I suspect Dawson took it on himself to go back in the last before he went off dizzy, as he has done often before, as he has license to do by Nicks' own admission. If that was Nicks' initiative, woop, I'm not gonna get excited if he does something he's paid hugely to do.
I gave Nicks credit for moving Keays to the midfield in the fourth. in my original post.
THAT was a good Coach's move, so maybe he's learning... and ... it's about ****ing time!!

Fellas, I am holding Nicks accountable for what he has done this year, not getting all giddy about what he m-i-g-h-t do by the end of the Season.
Let's speculate that the Crows storm home and win their last 5 games (including Geelong @ Great Hash Brown Shithole and Sydney away).
I will be delighted.
I will never be so happy to be so wrong.

There was that time against Sydney when Nix decided to "open the game up" and we know how that story ended.

 

[CrowBloke]

Ugly:

Hearing Laird admit after the game that the plan was to play defensively and stop them from scoring.

Ah ok, it was Laird, my confusion.

He even said that they felt uncomfortable with how high scoring it was. This just underlines what we already knew, Matthew Nicks entire philosophy is garbage. He's like a cheap knock off of Ross Lyon or Paul Roos.

I agree that he's too defensively-minded.
I like the idea of a solid defence, but not when it's Plan A, B and C.

 

[CrowBloke]

How does this work exactly? All the shit stuff is Nicks’ fault, all the good stuff is in spite of him?

On the contrary if you listen to Nicks and the Club, whose version of events is:
--- all the shit stuff is the players' fault, all of the good stuff is generated by Nicks in spite of them.

 

[jenny61_99]

Footy karma.

Even better karma… we won by less than a goal. A Ben Keays goal after a throw from Fogarty in the first…

 

[GreyCrow]

He even said that they felt uncomfortable with how high scoring it was

On its own its a valid statement and one each coach wants to manage but its a little bit at odds with what we saw last year when we were deemed the 4th best scoring team and had a 116%

Yes its a high attrition game because there is speed speed speed but we have a weapon in Burgess who has built us for that game

We saw what quick ball movement does with the CTC goal in 15 seconds. Essendon had tongues hanging out chasing . We saw clear air in front of goal for Fog to kick at

Some grounds are meant to be played at high speed and Marvel is one - no weather impacting bodies or legs and the ball.

 

[GreyCrow]

As a spectator that was a great game and as a fan also

Again I do recognise the angst inside Nicks

But when you go defensive good teams take advantage - commentators at half time said Scott would adjust and he did. But he had help from Nicks who got our players away from the ball and Essendon picked us apart leading into gaps and '' taking the game on''

I still remember - probably Blight at Geelong - saying you cant win if you dont kick more goals than them

I just think we do have a team that can kick more than the opposition

Be brave

 

[Footypie32]

I think Berry's performance got a bit lost in all the hype around others.

He's finally starting to find some composure and use the ball better.

I feel like he's becoming the player we were hoping McHenry was going to be.

 

[jenny61_99]

On the contrary if you listen to Nicks and the Club, whose version of events is:
--- all the shit stuff is the players' fault, all of the good stuff is generated by Nicks in spite of them.

He said that what, once? Come on, give it a rest. You cannot keep smashing Nicks even when we win. Yes, he’s made mistakes. He generally (but not always) learns from them. And he actually made good moves last night and managed the reduced rotations and loss of two key defenders well. Seeing that our cupboard was bare in the last, moved Keays onto the ball and ultimately won us the game. Now if he would just drop Murphy and Smith, I’d be happy.

 

[Drakescoffeecake]

Yeah forgot Murphy. Deplorable - needs to go. But a winning goal in a nothing game does not excuse Rash of his soft efforts throughout the game.

jenny61_99 what part do you disagree with?

 

[jenny61_99]

jenny61_99 what part do you disagree with?

Rachele played tough for most of the night and was doing the team thing, just missed a couple of attacking moments, but his overall game was far better than many are saying. He is not a soft player. He’s clearly playing sore and just cannot physically take it on all the time.

 

[skittlebrew]

I think Berry's performance got a bit lost in all the hype around others.

He's finally starting to find some composure and use the ball better.

I feel like he's becoming the player we were hoping McHenry was going to be.

Yep. Has obviously been told to play the defensive mid role but is becoming a better ball user.

 

[Houston]

Dowling and Keays are both excellent case studies when it comes to all time moneyball picks.

Dowling can run all day, knows exactly where he needs to be, and is a handy, composed disposal. Who cares if he isn't very fast?

Sure, Keays may be one of the least skilled players on our list, but he's one of the hardest working and fittest players in the comp, is deceptively clever, shows good leadership, and his hair is perfect.

I attribute everything going well in my life with copying his haircut about 12 months ago.

 

[CrowBloke]

Our No 1 goal for the rest of the season is to find a role for Murphy

Banquo's son, in 'Macbeth'??

 

[Drakescoffeecake]

Rachele played tough for most of the night and was doing the team thing, just missed a couple of attacking moments, but his overall game was far better than many are saying. He is not a soft player. He’s clearly playing sore and just cannot physically take it on all the time.

Sorry Jenny but I think you're seeing what you want to see. Some of Josh's attack on the contest this year need questioning.

 

[jenny61_99]

Sorry Jenny but I think you're seeing what you want to see. Some of Josh's attack on the contest this year need questioning.

I’m just talking about last nights game (and last week) where I believe he was playing hard contested footy and doing the team thing for most of the night. You don’t hang a guy on past performance when his current performance is an improvement.

 

[davos44]

GOOD: being a long suffering Melb based fan, seeing the Carlton and Essendon wins are some sweet justice.

Gold Coast are the new Adelaide '91-96, absolutely useless away.

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.

Berry was great, especially some work to get some clear space from traffic, his left foot is actually decent (although not Sholl levels) too.

 

[CrowBloke]

He said that what, once? Come on, give it a rest.

C'mon yourself; it was a play on the words you posted.

In several previous post-game pressers Nicks has blamed the players for not executing.
He's never admitted a selection error, a positional error or a game plan mistake, himself.
Never.

You cannot keep smashing Nicks even when we win.

I didn't smash him. In fact, I praised him for the Keays point you made below:

And he actually made good moves last night and managed the reduced rotations and loss of two key defenders well.
Seeing that our cupboard was bare in the last, moved Keays onto the ball and ultimately won us the game.

Yep.

Now if he would just drop Murphy and Smith, I’d be happy.

I'd be joyous; agree totally. SpudMurphy dudded it up again last night. After his third htb before half-time I stopped counting.
Smith light-heartedly blamed Laird for setting him up with a hospital handball early in the first ... or was he not kidding at all?

 

[CrowBloke]

Sure, Keays may be one of the least skilled players on our list, but he's one of the hardest working and fittest players in the comp, is deceptively clever, shows good leadership, and his hair is perfect.

+

I attribute everything going well in my life with copying his haircut about 12 months ago.

... I saw a half-forward with a Chinese menu in his hand;
His hair was perfect ... deh!

Edit: No, wait, he was 'drinkin a Pina Colada at Trader Vics'

 

[Drakescoffeecake]

I’m just talking about last nights game (and last week) where I believe he was playing hard contested footy and doing the team thing for most of the night. You don’t hang a guy on past performance when his current performance is an improvement.

He was soft at the contest at least twice last night. There has been no improvement in that area of his game.

 

[ftmch]

Disappointed in Merrett who is a star looking for and pleading every type of free kick.

Don't worry, Hingey let him know about it.

 

[CrowBloke]

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.

Butts: Lisfranc injury, not good.

Murray, hyperextension only, good news:

Injury Update: Butts, Murray

The latest on Jordon Butts and Nick Murray

www.afc.com.au