Preview Round 10 v Geelong - Friday 1 November @ GHMBA Stadium

[cmndstab]

So what are the Crows going to do up forward? Ponter hasn't been in great form despite always looking dangerous when near the ball. That leaves us with Gould up forward. She'll get double/triple teamed by North. Gould was finally clunking all the marks last night and played her best game ever, and we only just managed to beat Geelong.

Where are the rest of the goals going to come from against the top side?

The short answer is, we're probably going to just go with our current forward line (Gould, Munyard, Martin) with Hatchard, Randall, Charlton and Kustermann rotating up there a bit more often to cover Ponter. And we probably will lose precisely because of our inability to kick goals.

Alternatively, we might press the Waterhouse button yet again.


In an ideal world, we would have trialled a few more players up there throughout the season - I mean proper trials, not Biddell for the last three minutes of a match, or Sarah Allan for part of one quarter. Tonon, SLT, Tarlinton, even Varnhagen are all players who should have been given the better part of a match, or more, in our forward line to see what they can do. But we haven't done it, and it would be a significant stretch to try it now in a crucial final.


Realistically, if we're going to win the match against North, it's not going to come from our forward line. It will come from being able to break even in the midfield, and win the ball in defence. If we want to beat North we need to keep them to only a few goals, and just hope that we can sneak a few back the other way.

 

[Gtowncrow]

The deck at the cattery looks like an absolute litter-box. Reckon they could use ALL of those sponsorship dollars more wisely.

Had a walk on the ground after the game. Excellent turf coverage and firmness. Perfect actually.

Must have been a TV thing?

 

[Cromulant]

Had a walk on the ground after the game. Excellent turf coverage and firmness. Perfect actually.

Must have been a TV thing?

I gotta admit it didn't look great on the TV but it wasn't the best coverage as per usual

 

[Gtowncrow]

Now I know why I never watch this stuff, 10 minutes a year is enough. Absolute ****ing rubbish. 80% of players are wonna be blokes that haven't got the skill or composure of a junior footballer

This is an entirely inappropriate post on an AFLW board.
Poor form by you.

 

[Gtowncrow]

I saw the Crows beat Geelong at Kardinia Park in early 2020

Yeah it was AFLW and I ****ing loved it - Been down there plenty of times and that's the only win I've seen

I cherish it as much as any Crows win

2003 for me.
Singing the song after a win... it's been 21 years. 21 YEARS!!

I loved the night. Girls dug deep and came home like good sides do. Maybe this is a perfect win with finals starting.

 

[Interloperer]

So what are the Crows going to do up forward? Ponter hasn't been in great form despite always looking dangerous when near the ball. That leaves us with Gould up forward. She'll get double/triple teamed by North. Gould was finally clunking all the marks last night and played her best game ever, and we only just managed to beat Geelong.

Where are the rest of the goals going to come from against the top side?

I don't think the set up is as terrible as it seems. Though it's obviously not great and definitely lacking an extra elite threat in Eloise Jones' absence.

I think the big problem is that Clarke and/or the players have overreacted, or reacted in the wrong way, to the poor goalkicking. In a way that has paradoxically made it worse.

Adelaide are very good at getting the ball to players at half-forward right on the edge of their range. But they aren't taking the shots because they are too low percentage. So they end up slowing down and looking for a better option, which rarely exist because by this point the defense is back and set up well.

All this does is remove the threat of long goals and quick movement. And gives the opposition defensive players a much more predictable and easier time.

If there was even a remote threat of a long goal, the opposition has to defend against it. Which creates space elsewhere for the higher-percentage set shots they crave.

I don't think it's a coincidence that Gould was so dangerous last night, even though she started with two misses taking the ball straight out of the ruck. It immediately set a tone where she could be a threat from multiple situations.

 

[Gtowncrow]

I gotta admit it didn't look great on the TV but it wasn't the best coverage as per usual

As a spectator, I thought the ground might have been too firm as the ball bounced weirdly often. A bit like Docklands does.

But on the ground, I was surprised how damp the surface was with boot stop marks obvious. Very short grass for football though. Maybe preparing for cricket?

The ground was great though IMO.

 

[Gtowncrow]

A big shout out to the players who were very generous with their time after the game. There weren't many crows fans there but they still went to the trouble of saying hello...signing autographs etc.

A special shout out to Chelsea Randall who went well beyond the expectations with my daughter. They had quite a conversation. Chelsea couldn't have been more courteous and was inspiring to a young girl. Thanks for an awesome selfie with her Chelsea.

We have a new "favourite player" in our household...

P.s.
If anyone here has contacts within the club, I'm happy for this message to be passed on to them.

 

[Raysboy]

I'm sure this is the case for most teams given the state of the competition but I reckon we only have 13 players actually up to the standard required on the entire list

Marinoff, Hatchard, Randall, Biddell, Gould, Prowse, S. Allan, J. Allan, Newman, Ponter, Charlton, Kelly and Goodwin.

Maybe Thompson sneaks into that group (she was there based on past form) and I have hope for Kustermann and Boileau. Jones obviously injured.

So every week we are going to have a fair few anonymous performances and we really heavily rely on individual brilliance from those in the group I mentioned, rather than structural wins or tactics

We have struggled to score since Jones was unfortunately injured with more attention given to Ponder.