I wasn't able to catch the game but the result was more or less what I expected. The fact we were in the game at 3 quarter time is pleasing, looks like Kent might've blown his chance though, he's been given plenty of games but has failed to make a place for himself which is really disappointing. 

Question for those who watched, is it worth me trying to watch the replay? Do I confine my viewing to a single positive quarter? Or should I just move on to next week?

25 minutes ago, Pates said:

I wasn't able to catch the game but the result was more or less what I expected. The fact we were in the game at 3 quarter time is pleasing, looks like Kent might've blown his chance though, he's been given plenty of games but has failed to make a place for himself which is really disappointing. 

Question for those who watched, is it worth me trying to watch the replay? Do I confine my viewing to a single positive quarter? Or should I just move on to next week?

Always good to have a look at the replay I reckon. Maybe it's just me, but when the heat is on I like to have a look at who in there having a crack and trying to change the outcome. Who accepts losing and who wants to change it.

 

 

@rjay understand the underdone opinion but by that standard we wouldn't have Wattsback for another few weeks and Chunk will finish the season in the VFL. 

Whilst Gawn and Hogan are underdone they offer more on one leg than there replacements which really are Kennedy and Stretch? We've been playing small without them so in theory that's what we'd be going back to. 

If the match committee thought that they'd get more from Weid than Hogan he would have played yesterday. We've got to bring our guys back, get minutes under their belts, make finals and then see what we can do with a fit 22

4 minutes ago, Dee-licious said:

but by that standard we wouldn't have Wattsback for another few weeks and Chunk will finish the season in the VFL. 

It's the 4 week rule 'Dee', around 3 to 4 weeks out and you're still ok to go...5 to 6 would be touch and go but the 3 guys I'm talking about have had broken seasons around 10 plus weeks.

Gawn got to AA level last year quoting his trouble free off season as a big reason, we can't expect the same from him after the injury and break he's had out of the game. I think he's learned enough to get back into the swing by the end of the season.

What I'm getting at more so, is that you may have one player with a long term broken season but 3 is pushing it.

Watts and Salem will be ok, Tyson, who knows but Jones and Viney will be pushing it so lets hope they have a few weeks before finals. That's of course if we are in the game by then.

A few seasons back, against the ladder-leaders, we would have taken that as just about a win.

8 hours ago, Chook said:

No. I have us beating Brisbane, North Melbourne, and Collingwood. Pessimistic perhaps, but more likely realistic based on our performances recently. And as we all know, beating North Melbourne may even be a bridge too far for us.

I know where you are comming from, but I can also see us beating St Kilda, which given their relative position on the ladder is a huge 8 point game.  I actually can see us beating most sides above us (GWS included) once/IF we get our on ball brigade back together and if we can't do that, then we are only making up number in the finals anyway.  Still I guessential regardless, I'm hoping we can make it, as much as a demonstration/validation of our improvement and potential for the years ahead.

I think beating Port next week is a bit of a long shot and wouldn't be counting on us to win it at all, but I'm not writing it off either, mostly due to Port's yo yo form at times this season and our improved ability to scrap out wins that we shouldn't.

2 hours ago, Pates said:

I wasn't able to catch the game but the result was more or less what I expected. The fact we were in the game at 3 quarter time is pleasing, looks like Kent might've blown his chance though, he's been given plenty of games but has failed to make a place for himself which is really disappointing. 

Question for those who watched, is it worth me trying to watch the replay? Do I confine my viewing to a single positive quarter? Or should I just move on to next week?

Kent dislocated his shoulder and might be lucky to make it back onto a footy field of any description this year.  I'll probably be howled down for this, but I actually think he showed enough until the point he got injured to earn a game next week and build some form/continuity in the senior side.  No one has been down on Gawn for not getting back to his best yet, but many seem quick to judge and condem Kent this season.  Kent is a hard at it, agressive player amd when he's on his game, he can be a damaging player which could complement the likes of Hannan, Track, Garlett, Hunt, Harms etc nicely.

Looking beyond the current season I think there were a number of pleasing signs for us.  

Firstly add any two of the missing Jones, Viney, Watts, Tyson and Salem and I think the outcome of last night looks a damn sight closer, which is something to consider because Adelaide are a genuine top 4 side.

How good is Petracca, His awareness and delivery is unbelievable, while he's not getting a heap of the ball at the moment he will in future years and he's absolutely going to tear games apart.  Add him to Jones, Viney, Tyson, Oliver and that's a very good contested ball bunch in the middle.  

I thought JKH for the first time didn't look out of place last night.  We are really starting to bat deep now with genuine AFL players. (although its difficult to replace your best 6 at any stage when injured)  Obviously while they are young and need games, ANB, Smith, Hannan, and Wagner are all going to push hard for selection with a full list.  You can add Brayshaw and Stretch to that list as well.

Finally on a side note - Lever looked to have injured his Hamstring again last night.  That would be a concern for any team wanting to throw money at him.  Everytime I see Sydney win and Zak Jones sing the song I think to myself he's the one we should be pitching for.

16 minutes ago, Rodney (Balls) Grinter said:

I think beating Port next week is a bit of a long shot and wouldn't be counting on us to win it at all, but I'm not writing it off either, mostly due to Port's yo yo form at times this season and our improved ability to scrap out wins that we shouldn't.

Port are very Jeckyl and Hyde.   Beaten at home by Richmond and in terms of form they haven't really beaten anyone in the 8 (except for Sydney at the start when they were depleted on their way to 0-6).

We don't usually play well after being in Darwin, but I think getting fresh legs back in is a must.  We will need more than just Tyson and Watts,  depending on Casey form I think we should also consider Stretch (outside run) and maybe Kennedy/Trengove if Viney doesn't get up.

thought anb was good tonight. Definitely one who has stepped up with all the injuries.

Wagner looked solid to me. Persist.

Pedo is a great back up undersized ruck but not a ft forward. Watts in pedo out.

Need another look at Kharris. Noticed in tight, he handballs to space looking for teammate but often to a free crows player. Interesting to see him v port.

I still find it weird that few supporters see that Frost is completely erratic in the way that he plays. People call him a star. WTF.

It's basically a 50/50 whether or not he is going to do something positive with the ball or something diabolical. Last night he made more errors than most key defenders do over the course of a month of playing. He plays with no system which just doesn't marry up with our zone defence. Oscar's lack of pace is also problematic in playing zone defence. The amount of times he was caught out because of slow reaction time and heavy feet was crazy.

Last night was Just further evidence that we lack smart, composed and skilled top-tier key defenders. 

Sure we butchered the ball further up the ground, but much of the damage could have easily been salvaged had we had quality key defenders.

Now that I have slept on it a tad, I've come to realise last night wasn't as bad as it looked. In no way am I excusing some of the dumb kicking that was on display especially into the forward line but this has been an extremely tough 6 week patch. 

Injuries happen to every club but the unluckiest aspect for us is the key cogs that it's happened to and its required a major structural change. Very hard for any coach to plan for this.

Midfield is now headed by a 19 year old in Oliver, Petracca had been sacrificed from where he's been excelling at all year to support Oliver and has performed admirably.

Hannan and Harmes have been effective either side of the centre square and now they are asked to be ball winners. 

We looked most dangerous last night when we moved Hogan up the field and let Max clunk a couple in the 3rd quarter.

We are most dangerous when we have the luxury to make positional changes during the game because we are so well balanced with a full compliment. Oppositions simply can not stop us when this occurs but we have reverted to worrying about the opposition too much lately. 

Our players are not C graders. some of them have been asked to play out of their comfort zones and it's come pretty sudden for them. The experience they will gain is invaluable. 

In all of this you have to find some positives and ANB has definitely surprised me. Impressed with his last month and he certainly looks a keeper.

Structurally we were not much better in the Carlton game but that win could be huge come seasons end.

Margin for error is diminishing by the minute but on the other hand we have a lot of upside of getting back to our best.

 

10 hours ago, Wiseblood said:

Didn't see any of the game tonight - can someone with a record of being reasonable give me a bit of an account of what went down? Looks like a few played okay but others did not. Cheers in advance. 

They smashed us in the middle in the first quarter and were 7 goals to 1 at 1/4 time. After that was pretty much even we'd get back to within 4 goals then they'd take it back out to 40 points.

Very fumbly and our players just could not adjust to the conditions. The ball bounced their way from the first as well. Hogan, Kent and Pedersen all missed set shots from about 15m out on slight angles too which didn't help. Frost and Pedersen were poor and TMac couldn't get into it. Hogan was poor early dropping marks but worked his way into some form in the 2nd half. Still couldn't impact the scoreboard though.

We desperately missed Viney, Jones, Tyson, Salem and Watts for some grunt and class. Oscar was very good, saved about 3 or 4 goals. We continually let them out the back on the rebound though and luckily they didn't capitalise as much as they could have.

All in all I understand why we play in Darwin and it would probably have been the same result at the G but it's frustrating watching players slipping and fumbling and unable to play clean footy due to the conditions up there.

Seasons not over though, we get some of our injured players back in the next few weeks and we'll be challenging for 5th/6th. Most disappointing thing was losing some percentage.

Just listened to the presser by Goody.  Dom, Jack Watts back next week.  Maybe Viney too?  Salem and Chunk a week or two away and Angus to play VFL next week.  How is that for a slightly late (but better than never) cavalry charge?

Goody seems pretty well balanced about the outcome.  Beaten by a better team, we had our chances, but didn't take them.  Lots of younger players stepping up.

Can we please do something about our i50 entries at training this week????

10 hours ago, Watts Jurrah Dunn? said:

JKH was ok. He certainly wasn't excellent. Very little impact on the game. Very little damage with his disposals. Lots of dinky chips and handpasses. Don't get seduced by numbers. 

Can only agree,. Got lots of the ball but had little impact . I did only see second half  and we were playing catch up, but I cannot remember one goal coming from his assists. Hope I didn't miss him scoring one ! Was not a happy game.

Conditions resulted in so many fumbles below our knees last night. Under the Adelaide pressure we continually 2nd and 3rd grabbed at the ball. We also over handballed due to the pressure. But our handballing created no space or movement at the contest.

Forward of the ball our structure fell down too many players getting sucked up to the contest while Adelaide staying back and defending 30-50 with ease. 

We struggle against contested marking teams and on the flip side our contested marking has been poor. We can't find a player to win a one on one on the wings or take a pack mark. Time and time again Adelaide was able to relieve pressure with a contested mark. 

Entry inside 50 took me back to the Moloney days of bombing and hoping no connection between midfield and forwards

Edited July 15, 20178 yr by Diablo Deemon

10 hours ago, deestar said:

That Frost double fumble in the last was the tipping point to having no chance at a run down ... That event [censored] me off imensley.

They were clean all night and our boys didn't handle the conditions. Kicking it down there defenders throats all night wasn't very helpful. Lead up forwards lower the eyes mids

Yep that Frost one [censored] me too. Also in the 3rd when we were streaming forward, Oliver was on his own 35 metres out but we instead went wide to Garletts who tried a banana from the boundary. 

1 hour ago, grazman said:

 Everytime I see Sydney win and Zak Jones sing the song I think to myself he's the one we should be pitching for.

I think the same. He's definitely firming in my mind as the one we should go for. But will he want to leave, cost etc etc etc . We're getting close to being contenders just need to get a bit more quality in. 

7 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Yep that Frost one [censored] me too. Also in the 3rd when we were streaming forward, Oliver was on his own 35 metres out but we instead went wide to Garletts who tried a banana from the boundary. 

 

Yes decision making and delivery into the forward 50 was poor, and against a side like Adelaide that love to rebound from D50 didnt help the situation either. This will need to improve vastly next week and hopefully with Watts back in the team and hopefully Jesse improving will give our midfield some clear targets to kick to.

Predictable result with so many key players out. I am so much looking forward to the day we are out there at full strength, we haven't seen it this season yet. I reckon we'll beat anyone. Trac and Hannan need to play permanent forward, they are silk up there. Salem's absence has been glaring off half back.

I'm in the 'play Trengove' camp. Give the number 9 one more crack, he's earnt it. We won't have a better opportunity to select him than this week, straight swap for Vince next week please match committee. And just on Vince, absolutely disgraceful leadership given the pasting our culture has copped in the media over the past month. The elbow to Betts head is inexcusable and will get punished, he's lucky Eddie didn't dive. I hope Goodwin makes him stand in front of the playing group and apologise if he gets time. 

5 hours ago, Pates said:

I wasn't able to catch the game but the result was more or less what I expected. The fact we were in the game at 3 quarter time is pleasing, looks like Kent might've blown his chance though, he's been given plenty of games but has failed to make a place for himself which is really disappointing. 

Question for those who watched, is it worth me trying to watch the replay? Do I confine my viewing to a single positive quarter? Or should I just move on to next week?

Have a look at Hunts goal at 3/4 time. 

Imo I thought both Hogan and Gawn got more confidence as the game went on and they started to clunk marks whereas earlier in the game they couldn't grab one to save themselves. 

Next wk I think both will be a lot better. 

As for Frost, did he have butter on his hands. He was bloody horrible in fumbling the ball all night.  The main 2 that stand out to me was in the last qrt which lead to the crows first goal. Very disappointing cause I like the way he plays. 

Btw walker is such a [censored]. 

10 hours ago, praha said:

So one of that Crows-Port-GWS-Saints quad is down and we're 0-1. Need to finish that group 2-2 to play finals. Simple as that. We probably match up better against the latter 2. Port looms as another tough match up. Could be out of the 8 by the end of next round. The AFL has truly screwed us with fixturing this year.

correct.

settle down.

 

One other thing the biggest bull [censored] call was when walker pushed Harmes over the boundary line and was called for deliberate out of bounds. What a joke. 

The exact same as thing happened in our forward 50 and it was a throw in which was the right call. 

Bloody umps. 

Edited July 16, 20178 yr by DemonOX

Anyone know what day this week the Crows got up to Darwin? Looked like they trained on the ground every day of this week.