Preview Rnd 17, 18 and 19 Super Thread

[ThePine]

cheers thanks guys.

all taken on board.

 

[A FEW GOOD MEN]

No issue with that. Just throwing up some analysis for discussion.

Love to here some insights from you mate. Your always quick to label everyone elses efforts in a negative light, but not seen much from you of any value. Even your stuff on the playing the kids is very close minded to be honest.

Bit touchy?

I have discussed some issues in the game plan thread and I would enjoy a more extensive discussions of many of the topics that have been considered. Unfortunately some posters, there could be a large one on the list, contantly turn these discussions into a rehash of why they hated our previous coach.

IMHO the overall stats for the Crows demonstrate a dramatic change in game plan however I think you can get a better idea of where we are going by just looking at our stats against the contenders. We have only had three games against contenders, Hawthorn, Collingwood and Sydney. We play the Eagles this week and we still have to play Essendon although perhaps unfairly, I don't consider them a contender. Our victories over Carlton and Geelong will be put into perspective when we see where they finish at the end of the year (but a win at Kardinia Park will still be a good win). I also think the St Kilda game was also relevent to the development of our game plan.

 

[BigLefty]

Like your comment on comfortable with current state as a learning process - very much how I feel about things. Even our loses haven't stressed me out much this year. Though I HATED losing to collingwood (again).

That 'in to close to the contest' tendency has been with us for years - really love to see us figure that out.

i remember back when Ayres was coach, he was massively stubborn about not allowing us to zone from the kick outs. at the time this was the new strategy that was working great. i think his rationale was that we weren't good enough at beating our direct opponent, so until he was satisfied that we were, he was going to force man on man defending at all times.

i see the same kind of thing here with our contested ball. Sando felt he had to make an adjustment to get our contested ball better. in doing so, the directive was "go get it at all costs". thats fine, but now that we are adequate in winning our own ball, it just needs to be refined slightly so we dont overcommit.

its the same with the weights/strength training. i really doubt we'll continue with that as a key focus of preseasons to the same extent year after year, as the correction has been made.

 

[rayven]

Just so you know we've conceded the 6th LEAST points this season. That's a positive statistic.

For strategic anaylisis sake take out the hawthorn (140) and nth game(121) and we on average conceed 74 points a game over 13 games.

Sydney average 70 points conceeded (we scored 99 against them at the SCG) hawthorn 74 (we scored 84 at the MCG)

 

[Slippery Pete]

The scoreboard is a pretty important stat.

 

[Son_Of_God29]

In 10 of our 15 games this year, there has been a patch of 15-30 minutes where the opposition has been able to kick 4-7 goals and we haven't been able to get more than 1 in reply. I think that we are still a pre season away from being able to bring the intensity for 4 full quarters, which is what is required in finals. There are always going to be momentum swings in games, but you need to be able to hang on when the momentum is against you, which is what we have struggled to do this year.

Look at Geelong last year. Comprehensively outplayed for periods in the QF v Hawthorn and GF v Collingwood, but stuck around so that when the tide turned they were able to still be in, and ultimately run away with, the game. I'm not sure we would be able to do the same. Yet.

Sorry to intrude guys but at what point in the 2011 QF were we Comprehensively outplayed? @ berst the QF was 50-50 in the 1st half and then Geelong dominated, Yes Collingwood had us on toast 10 mins before half time in GF but after that we dominated.

 

[Elder van Berlo]

Sorry to intrude guys but at what point in the 2011 QF were we Comprehensively outplayed? @ berst the QF was 50-50 in the 1st half and then Geelong dominated, Yes Collingwood had us on toast 10 mins before half time in GF but after that we dominated.

3.5 to 2.0 at quarter time says Geelong were comprehensively outplayed to that point. Geelong kicked 5.2 to 1.3 in the second quarter.

First half of the third quarter Hawks kick 2.4 to 1.0. Therefore at the 15 minute mark of the third quarter you are in front by 2 points having been the worse team for the majority of the night. Then bang on 4 quick ones, end up cruising to a 5 goal win.

I'm not being critical of Geelong, quite the opposite, we aspire to be that good and I'm pointing out that even the really good teams don't just dominate all day. They are able to a) soak up pressure when being outplayed without having goals piled on against them and b) pile on the goals when they are on top.

At the moment the Crows are pretty good at b) but struggle with a). Which is why I think, if we don't improve, we will struggle to make a big impact in the finals.

 

[Ad76]

In 10 of our 15 games this year, there has been a patch of 15-30 minutes where the opposition has been able to kick 4-7 goals and we haven't been able to get more than 1 in reply.

Yep, this has been a noticeable trend. I havent had time to go back over the replays but I wonder if it comes down simply to personal.

I think most would agree that the heart of out improvement this year has been the emergence of our first choice midfield and their ability to dominate contested possession. Jacobs-Thompson-Danger-Sloane. I'd be very interested to see how the momentum shifts that we've seen within games correlate to those 4 being out of the center.

 

[Glenno23]

After a disappointing day yesterday, amazingly, the sun has still come up and its a new day and we're still in the 4

We now face Essendon at AAMI in a game we should win based on their form. They have been pantsed for the past 2 weeks, but will come out firing to save their season, so we need to be switched on

Will Tippett play? Will Jacobs come back in? Will Symes be dropped, never to be seen again? Will Shaw play? Will Thommo be stiffed by the MRP?

These are the burning questions that will be answered later this week