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Southerntakeover
Too Sweet
Really just bad luck, everything is actually pretty perfect we just had injuries
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AFLW 2024 - Round 3 - Chat, game threads, injury lists, team lineups and more.
And he looked fantastic with his disposal!Matt Crouch32 Disposals 18 contested (easily the best by any midfielder out there), 7 clearances (5 Centre clearances again easily the best midfielder out there). 7 inside 50's (our best again), 9 score involvements the same as Fog.PLAYERCARDSTART5Matt Crouch
- Age
- 29
- Ht
- 183cm
- Wt
- 85kg
- Pos.
- Mid
CareerSeasonLast 5
- D
- 28.4
- 5star
- K
- 12.0
- 4star
- HB
- 16.4
- 5star
- M
- 3.3
- 3star
- T
- 3.9
- 5star
- CL
- 4.8
- 5star
- D
- 24.9
- 5star
- K
- 9.7
- 4star
- HB
- 15.1
- 5star
- M
- 2.4
- 3star
- T
- 2.4
- 3star
- CL
- 4.4
- 5star
- D
- 21.2
- 5star
- K
- 10.4
- 4star
- HB
- 10.8
- 5star
- M
- 4.4
- 4star
- T
- 3.4
- 5star
- CL
- 2.0
- 4star
PLAYERCARDEND
Good game from the boys, fwd line way too good for their defenders.
Laird to HB has forced Hinge to a wing and Dowling in the 2s. At some point are we going to prioritise the future Nicks?
I would give Dowling a go inside over Berry
ROB was absolutely dominant.6 goals from centre square clearances surely means ROB and the mids did OK.
I agree with most of this.We all know what happened. Nicks changed the attacking style of play from last year to try to shore up our poor defensive efforts. We’d lost a lot of close games last year and they were working on a definite weakness. However, in so doing, he buggered us up until it was too late to fix. Since those first four weeks though, we’ve won 8, drawn 1 and lost 8. We were only blown away in two of those 17 matches against Hawthorn who are on fire and Sydney the ladder leaders. We’ve won by 2, 57, 30, 99, 16, 32, 2 and 39 - including 3 games away. We’ve lost by 3, 4, 27, 8, 42, 11, 66, and 5 - including 4 home games. We’ve beaten Carlton, Essendon, Port, GWS and WB, and lost by 3 to Essendon, drew with Brisbane and then lost to them by 11, lost by 4 to Collingwood, - all were either in the 8 or vying for a position. We aren’t that far off it.
I’ve been saying all year, we are there and there abouts. And it is very clear, we’ve got the structure of a very nice footy team in place. Our forward line will be as elite as Port’s midfield (if they aren’t already). Our defenders are a work in progress but will be better for the massive learning curve they’ve had this year. Our midfield has some real gems developing now (Soligo, Taylor, Rankine, Dawson and Crouch with a smattering of Curtin and Rachele). What would be ideal, is to bring in an experienced big body mid.
I don’t think Nicks is the one to take us forward, but he has been extended so we will be lumped with him for a while yet. But I’m telling you this, if he can turn the corner, like our team has done, and he starts winning games with them next year, I’ll be cheering him on just as loudly as our lads.
Taylor Walker and Thilthorpe injured in the forward line; Nick Murray in the defense; Soligo, Jones, Schoenberg, Curtin, Sloane in the mids.I forgot did we have a massive injury crisis the first month of footy?
Because he had been injured and was still getting kms into his legs.Jake Soligo was our sub Round 1, it's pretty obvious what the issue has been this year.
Soligo missed half a game,Taylor Walker and Thilthorpe injured in the forward line; Nick Murray in the defense; Soligo, Jones, Schoenberg, Curtin, Sloane in the mids.
I guess whether that impacted or not is hard to know.
Which makes the shitty game plan at the start of the year all the more bafflingAmazing how much TT helps us. Great thing is that all preseason many were saying he was ready to explode and his first 5 games back indicate they were right.
In his first 5 games back he has kicked 11 goals
Whats been great is that we have a real even spread the past two weeks:
FOG: 6
Rachele: 5
TT: 5
Keays: 4
Walker: 3.
Throw in Rankine and this is incredibly tough to stop / gameplan against.
Last year was all out attack, this year started off with entitlement and a defense first game plan. next year they'll get it right.How about why did it take so long for Nicks to finally get them playing the way they finished 2023?
was great all day. presented as a target for the 25m outlet release kick all day down the line. so silly chompers didn't run a tighter wingman on sholl.Just the lazy 25 kicks for Sholl...
You're correct, injuries weren't the reason for the first 4 games .....however, this AFL season has seen most teams have runs of lossesSoligo missed half a game,
Jones and Schoenberg have been nowhere this year
Sloane was never having an impact
Walker played 3/4 of the first month
Curtin wasn’t being played as a mid.
Will give you Murray and Thilthorpe, however Keane well and truly filled Murray’s hole though in 3 out of the first 4 games.
Blaming injuries for the first month is a massive cop out.
There's a definite difference in how Crouch plays .....yesterday it was kick first, get the ball fwd .....usually, his first action has been to look sideways and shape to handballAnd he looked fantastic with his disposal!
Lack of humilityKeeps digging a bigger hole...
A smart coach would have corrected his misjudgement a very long time ago!
Maybe our slow ball movement early as instructed by the coach had a part to play in that?FOG started the season slow but has finished strongly
Maybe the weight of a leadership role played on his mind early, but wow he is growing asa player and as a leader
2025 - needs to put a full season together
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It's taken years, but Nicks has finally seen that McHenry's try-hard huff'n'puff has very litttle actual effect which has been obvious to most of us for at least a couple years. Nicks also seems to have woken up re: (alas!) Smith and Jones.I’ve yet to come across one either at the footy, gym or the streets after a game in Melbourne.
Even today, he had the opportunity to handball it off (I forgot who) but instead had a shot for goal and what came as a little surprise missed.
You're correct, injuries weren't the reason for the first 4 games .....however, this AFL season has seen most teams have runs of losses
BRIS the first 5 games
CARL explosive to start .....can't win a chook raffle now
ESS ...looking top 4 material ...now doing what ESS do best
PORT ....done & dusted 4-5 weeks ago .....doing a Jekyll and Hyde performance now
So, it doesn't take much for teams to have a poor run
I actually mentioned this to the guy next to me at the game yesterday. Crouch marked it in front of us out there near the wing. Hi natural reflex was to stop, slow, down, have a look around, then a fraction of a second later you could actually see him consciously check that instinct and wheel around and kick it forward quickly instead. That's where you really have to give him credit for how he's turned his game around from a year or two back. He's not just playing the way he's always played, he's put a lot of work into actually changing his game to make himself relevant as a player again.There's a definite difference in how Crouch plays .....yesterday it was kick first, get the ball fwd .....usually, his first action has been to look sideways and shape to handball
The former is good ....the latter an anchor on our ball movement speed
Centre clearances was 14 - 11 the Crows way against one of the better midfields in the AFL resulting in 6 goals from centre square bounces. Think people should watch Bevo's presser because the way he saw the game is poles apart from what some saw out there yesterday.Much much better performance today with some real one on one wins. And we'll take it. But again the numbers are still very worrying. 43 inside 50s vs 59. You aren't winning too many games with so few. +37 hitouts and yet again we lost clearance -3. -18 tackles. Won contested possessions by +7 which was good to see. Truth is our numbers this year have been really poor. Anyway I will still enjoy the win in a season there haven't been many.
Injury.*Really just bad luck, everything is actually pretty perfect we just had injuries
The presence of TT makes a huge difference to that structure though... and he simply wasn't available early in the season.Which makes the shitty game plan at the start of the year all the more baffling
Get it in quick to these monsters.