POSTGAME: Rd 10 vs Adelaide

[Gorgoroth 12,924]

13 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Let me just say a big congratulations to Adelaide, who were really well coached tonight. I thought they put in massive amount of pressure and it resulted in simple little turnovers that proved costly.

2nd point, stop blaming the umpires. They did not cost us the game at all. The fact we were in a position late in the game that we needed to rely on a deliberate rule is imo is very concerning. We 16 points up with 3 minutes to go. We lost because we put ourselves in that position to lose.

I'm putting the absolute heat on our senior players tonight. Some of the efforts and performance from so called senior heads and leadership was simply unacceptable. 

Steven May - possibly the worst games he's played for us. Played lazy football and gave no respect to a rookie in Thilthorp. Just wanted to play zone football all night. One thing also, stop spraying other blokes when you get beaten in a one on one contest. It is simply on you. 

Fritsch - My god is there a more softer footballer going around? Lazy and insipid. 0 defensive efforts. If we are fair dinkum as a club then he surely is under the microscope this week.

Melksham - Simply bizarre he was playing in the first place. How the [censored] did he get selected on the back of being a medical sub? What does that say to the likes of Tom Sparrow who's busted his [censored] at AFL level with 2 games in a row of being BOG with an average of 30 disposals? What exactly does that send to not only Sparrow but the rest of the blokes doing the hard yards? Not only does Melksham do SFA, he's another who insipid with 0 defensive pressure. 

Harmes - One trick pony who dead set thinks his dusty. Honestly don't know what to make of him

Jetta - Yeah look, commented pre game that I was concerned with this inclusion. Might as well just have played a witches hat. Adds legit nothing to our side anymore. Great servant but hopefully that's the last time we see him in red and blue. Stay at Casey and help develope our kids. 

Weideman - So disappointed.  Running out of patience.  If there was a time to really stake a claim and grab a game by the scruff of the neck then today would have been it. 

Gawn - Had good moments then had poor moments where I just face palmed. Maybe can the whole podcast for a few weeks and #positvelingers stuff and just focus on getting your form back, because he has simply been poor of late.

I'm starting to notice signs of tiredness with Pickett, Rivers and Jordon. How we manage that Is up to the club.

The positves for me were Petracca and Oliver. I thought while Lever was under immense pressure he was our best defender.

Ed Langdon is proving what an absolute brilliant pick up he's been. Lesson for young kids who want to see what work rate is all about, grab yourself a few Langdon highlights and watch him work his [censored] off. I also thought Brayshaw on the other wing was good as well.

The 3 keys players we missed today were Salem, Ben Brown and Jack Viney. I said this a few weeks ago, but the impact Brown has is huge for our forwards. He draws 2 defenders and.its no coincidence that when Brown was playing McDonald and Fritsch had career best games. 

Viney is the general around our stoppages and directs our set ups and stoppage clearences.Him being out has left a significant hole and it's been telling the last few weeks.

Enough said by Salem. He is our barometer and just sets us up so well from half back. Please be back next week.

Funny enough I wasn't angry about this loss because I think Adelaide played really well and I thought we'd win this comfortable. But what this shows is that there is no easy teams this year. Every win is so significant and I feel like this is exactly the lost we needed.

 

 

Agree mate. 
Crows sliced us all game and although they played better consistent football all night we had more shots and lost by a point. 
 

Doggies are flying right now and I’m not sure how we go vs them this week. I reckon we are a chance. But how we play will be the interesting side of it. Must match them. Finals time Dogs style isn’t as easy to do. I reckon ours is. If we tighten the Hollywood crap and make sure Fritta (whole team) knows he needs to handball, chase etc then come September we are in the mix.

Gotta make sure we get the wins to finish top 4, top 2 better, but top 4 means a real chance at a GF.

[DemonLad5 1,642]

17 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Let me just say a big congratulations to Adelaide, who were really well coached tonight. I thought they put in massive amount of pressure and it resulted in simple little turnovers that proved costly.

2nd point, stop blaming the umpires. They did not cost us the game at all. The fact we were in a position late in the game that we needed to rely on a deliberate rule is imo is very concerning. We 16 points up with 3 minutes to go. We lost because we put ourselves in that position to lose.

I'm putting the absolute heat on our senior players tonight. Some of the efforts and performance from so called senior heads and leadership was simply unacceptable. 

Steven May - possibly the worst games he's played for us. Played lazy football and gave no respect to a rookie in Thilthorp. Just wanted to play zone football all night. One thing also, stop spraying other blokes when you get beaten in a one on one contest. It is simply on you. 

Fritsch - My god is there a more softer footballer going around? Lazy and insipid. 0 defensive efforts. If we are fair dinkum as a club then he surely is under the microscope this week.

Melksham - Simply bizarre he was playing in the first place. How the [censored] did he get selected on the back of being a medical sub? What does that say to the likes of Tom Sparrow who's busted his [censored] at AFL level with 2 games in a row of being BOG with an average of 30 disposals? What exactly does that send to not only Sparrow but the rest of the blokes doing the hard yards? Not only does Melksham do SFA, he's another who insipid with 0 defensive pressure. 

Harmes - One trick pony who dead set thinks his dusty. Honestly don't know what to make of him

Jetta - Yeah look, commented pre game that I was concerned with this inclusion. Might as well just have played a witches hat. Adds legit nothing to our side anymore. Great servant but hopefully that's the last time we see him in red and blue. Stay at Casey and help develope our kids. 

Weideman - So disappointed.  Running out of patience.  If there was a time to really stake a claim and grab a game by the scruff of the neck then today would have been it. 

Gawn - Had good moments then had poor moments where I just face palmed. Maybe can the whole podcast for a few weeks and #positvelingers stuff and just focus on getting your form back, because he has simply been poor of late.

I'm starting to notice signs of tiredness with Pickett, Rivers and Jordon. How we manage that Is up to the club.

The positves for me were Petracca and Oliver. I thought while Lever was under immense pressure he was our best defender.

Ed Langdon is proving what an absolute brilliant pick up he's been. Lesson for young kids who want to see what work rate is all about, grab yourself a few Langdon highlights and watch him work his [censored] off. I also thought Brayshaw on the other wing was good as well.

The 3 keys players we missed today were Salem, Ben Brown and Jack Viney. I said this a few weeks ago, but the impact Brown has is huge for our forwards. He draws 2 defenders and.its no coincidence that when Brown was playing McDonald and Fritsch had career best games. 

Viney is the general around our stoppages and directs our set ups and stoppage clearences.Him being out has left a significant hole and it's been telling the last few weeks.

Enough said by Salem. He is our barometer and just sets us up so well from half back. Please be back next week.

Funny enough I wasn't angry about this loss because I think Adelaide played really well and I thought we'd win this comfortable. But what this shows is that there is no easy teams this year. Every win is so significant and I feel like this is exactly the lost we needed.

 

 

agree with absolutely everything in this post. Best of the night

[John Demonic 5,749]

38 minutes ago, Superunknown said:

IIRC people were panned for calling this a danger game

the Giro is looking epic up the Zoncalon and the PGA is great so life’s not so bad

Panned yup. I was called stupid and told that I know nothing about footy from  @don't make me angry for simply saying we start slowly and we need to keep them out of the contest early. Or it will be s big danger game. Gee what a [censored] day where I have to take pleasure in knowing that bloke was the one "that would have to eat his words" as he said to me, not from the result but the fact the Adelaide are a dangerous team on their home deck. Thanks for spoiling my morning AND afternoon. 

 

Edited May 22, 2021 by John Demonic

[leave it to deever 17,511]

Watched some of the gane again..we played poorly but to lose with that last non decision was just a bad way for any team to go down.

Every commentator called that deliberate. I have not seen any other act like that called otherwise. It was deliberate it so many ways.

There was not a crows player there.

Thirty seconds to go.

A point in it.

But the umpire could only assume it was an accident as he hit over the boundary.

If that game was played without thousands of screaming crows fans would it have deemed deliberate. Of course. Because it was.

It was a classic cass of how umpires get influenced by thousands of yelling supporters.

We see it so often in interstate games.

I dont mind the odd howler but this was black and white at a crucial time with a crucial score.

In other words...

One single UMPIRE determined the result.

Now thats off my chest...

Jake Melksham is not a player that belongs to a top eight side. Thats that.

May sadly played his only bad game today.

Tommy the same.

Jordan too.

Anb has played a few stinkers now and so has Hunt. And I guess Kozzie.

Maybe their tired

Even Langdon vanished in the second and third. 

Spargo needs to do more than tackle.

Fritta was lost again.

But Sam W was a big let down. Just a goal from him would have won it.

I know hes played only  two games and bb three but he really lacked passion...intensity..and physicality tonight when we really needed it. (as opposed to Walker)

His lack of intensity has been a charge levelled at him for five years now. We saw glimpses of it in a finals campaign a few years back but it all seems so far away.

I guess I believe  that he should be drppoed for Bb. If bb and Tmac and Jackson do well and it means we lose Sam w to another club then despite the crticism, Im going to say: thanks for the memories. Perhaps we can get a good deal.

Before someine says hes the future...the future is now and next year. This is our window. Im not saying hes a bad player. He certainly been a slow starter. Im just saying we cant play him to stop him leaving. And we cant play with poor efforts lije todays.

Our backline was at its worst tonight. Always touted as keeping teams to low scores...it went belly up. We had very little clean exits and run.

So missed Salem. Lever however was excellent but poor Jetta looks totally cooked.

Aside from Lever, Oliver was splendid. Trac was strong and I thought Max and Harmes were as well.

Gus played a ripper in the first and improved again in the last but like others was missing for two quarters. He just doesnt want to or is incapable of reaching levels of winning votes.

Not sure if hes a finals player either.

Which brings me to the question of depth.

Aside from the team tonight, aside from Viney and Salem how many really good players do we have to put in if we have more injuries or form issues.

I still think we are a great team but Im not sure we have a great depth of great players in our enrire line up.

Maybe Sparrow. Tomlinsons done. Jones is just getting too old. Hore is out.

So with Melksham a fringe player, Nibbler not far from one lately, the possibility of Hunt going back in his shell after two shockers and Vineys injury uncertainty, I do believe we are really going to need a lot of luck and have a great run of no injuries if we are to win a flag this year.

Tonights game was always going to be tough. I mentuoned the game crowd thing prior but was told we always win there.

Its different when your the hunted. We are tired and looked as much. Crows had lost five in a row with nothing to lose.

But again it should have at least been a draw with that cowardly non decision on the deliberate.

If not deliberate was the player just aiming for the ball to stop an inch inside the line?

And if  that was correct and not deliberate it must be true that EVERYsingle deliberate ruling this year (and there have been many) are incorrect. That if tonight was the correct call then we have never seen a deliberate out of bounds yet. Thats how clear cut it was.

How does an umpire get it so wrong. I dont believe they are cheats or "deliberately" hurting us. I just dont get how they could just be so wrong.

Is it the crowd. The stage of the game

The closeness?

Do umpires get nervous?. Im sure they do.

Do they think best not to do anything when they are nervous? That would explain  tonights non call.

When introduced the deliberate rule was quite contentious 

The deliberate rule has been rigerously pursued since introduced and more so all year. Even tonight Spargo was pinged when he handballed in front of himself hoping maybe he could follow up and collect it.

He was pinged for deliberate. It calls for umpires to mind read which is tough.

In the non decision no mind reading was necessary. The ball was heavily punched a good distance as the player went to ground. No chance of him getting to it again and there was no crow player anywhere near the boundary line. It could not be more clear.

But the umpire in nervously making no call read that the players mind was not punching it over the line on purpose.

Must have been another reason.

Love to know what the umpire thought his motives were. His fist accidently slipped into the ball and moved it fifteen meteres over the white line.

I know its just one call but to break a winning streak on just plain old incompetence is very annoying.

Sadly these poor decisions are happening all too often in interstate games with large obnxious crowds.

Cant we at leaat suspend or stop some of these spineless nit wits from time to time?

Is that too nuch to ask?

I know its not easy umpiring close games with big crowds but cant they at least give them some ear plugs. (And a book on the rules while they are at it).

Thanks for listening.

 

[Dr. Gonzo 24,194]

1 hour ago, HarpenDee said:

I actually really enjoyed the game. Yes we did not play that well, but I loved Clarry trying to will us over the line. 16pts up with 5 mins to go we shouldn't be losing from there despite 2 putrid umpire calls.

Its all well and good saying "we shouldnt lose to a bottom 4 side"hey played very well, pressure rating >200. If they played like that every week they wouldn't be a bottom 4 side. They lifted and had a red hot crack. Credit to Adelaide.

Salem was a massive out

The biggest issue for me was our forward pressure. Kozzie, ANB, and Spargo have been asked to do A LOT of work this year - i'm amazed they havent been rotated at some point - their work rate sets up out whole game plan, and part of the reason our defence looked off IMO.

We slipped and fumbled all night.

Fristch burning trac and then scuffing the snap was criminal. Every moment matters. We win the game if he gives the handball.

Back to work and onto two tough games.

Agreed I thought it was a good game too, would have been great to watch as a neutral. Pity we lost though!
Agree about the forward pressure as well, ANB, Spargo and Kozzie might be better off with another player helping to pressure and lock the ball in like Sparrow instead of a tall who can't mark like Weid/Briwn.

 

[Dr. Gonzo 24,194]

46 minutes ago, Brownie said:

I gotta have a vent about Sparrow.

With 8 minutes to go, we're sixteen points up and Melksham is off with a sore foot and his boot off.

Why wouldn't you put a fresh player like Sparrow on? Goodwin was right there on the bench.

At a bigger picture, everyone is lamenting Viney not being back. Sparrow has been the obvious replacement for him and I don't know why we're not putting games into him. He's been performing really well at VFL level and this week he just sat in his tracky dacks.

We had the opportunity to play him for a couple of weeks and with Viney being a load managed 50/50 proposition, I don't know why we haven't played him. It's best to put games into him now in case Vineys foot explodes again on the eve of the finals.

It would have been a good ten minutes to have him on the field tonight.

Couldn't agree more, don't know why he's not getting a game.

[kev martin 9,810]

Watching that last clearance on Saturday stretch (fox), I wonder why Pickett didn't get a free in the marking contest? Adelaide player no where near the ball and hit the body, head and possibly back to spoil. Then came the umpires howler with the no deliberate call. Pickett was robbed.

[Cards13 9,117]

Too many players looking to next week. What a venue and spectacle.  

[Dr. Gonzo 24,194]

47 minutes ago, willmoy said:

There was more than just a couple of free kicks not paid in this game. There is a pattern of hatred of our team by Yellow maggots.

They go slow to blow the whistle. They go slow to pay in possession. They cannot even be fair about out of bounce rules. The rules that are out of control the most is around the neck , pushing and shepherding players off the ball. The whole spectrum is spoilt by incompetence, or not enough visually aware umpires.

We had to lose to any team sooner or later, but to lose to a bunch of cheating Maggots is another thing. They should not just be penalised by going to umpire up the bush, they should be fined for bad sportsmanship and have to pay hefty fines. They talk about players wagering....

I thought the were ok, we got a few decisions going our way as well. The two howlers at the end, the free against Lever, the first deliberate and the 50 against Max were all very tough to swallow but crows supporters would have a few they could isolate as bad calls too.

My big take away from the umps is they don't like Petracca. It feels like every week he has really bad calls going against him, tonight there were 2 clearly bad calls. He got one back and nailed the goal from 50 but it seems like prior opportunity doesn't exist for him.

[Dr. Gonzo 24,194]

45 minutes ago, Superunknown said:

IIRC people were panned for calling this a danger game

the Giro is looking epic up the Zoncalon and the PGA is great so life’s not so bad

People were panned because every week we are told it's a "danger game". Which games aren't danger games?

[Superunknown 4,214]

1 minute ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

People were panned because every week we are told it's a "danger game". Which games aren't danger games?

None.

[Pipefitter 2,151]

Our forward line sucked tonight. Oliver and Langdon our leading goal kickers was telling. Snaps to Nicks being the only coach who came up with a plan to break our zone. I’m hoping we go into bulldogs with one less tall because they will expose us x10 from defensive 50.

[Beetle 4,601]

32 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Let me just say a big congratulations to Adelaide, who were really well coached tonight. I thought they put in massive amount of pressure and it resulted in simple little turnovers that proved costly.

2nd point, stop blaming the umpires. They did not cost us the game at all. The fact we were in a position late in the game that we needed to rely on a deliberate rule is imo is very concerning. We 16 points up with 3 minutes to go. We lost because we put ourselves in that position to lose.

I'm putting the absolute heat on our senior players tonight. Some of the efforts and performance from so called senior heads and leadership was simply unacceptable. 

Steven May - possibly the worst games he's played for us. Played lazy football and gave no respect to a rookie in Thilthorp. Just wanted to play zone football all night. One thing also, stop spraying other blokes when you get beaten in a one on one contest. It is simply on you. 

Fritsch - My god is there a more softer footballer going around? Lazy and insipid. 0 defensive efforts. If we are fair dinkum as a club then he surely is under the microscope this week.

Melksham - Simply bizarre he was playing in the first place. How the [censored] did he get selected on the back of being a medical sub? What does that say to the likes of Tom Sparrow who's busted his [censored] at AFL level with 2 games in a row of being BOG with an average of 30 disposals? What exactly does that send to not only Sparrow but the rest of the blokes doing the hard yards? Not only does Melksham do SFA, he's another who insipid with 0 defensive pressure. 

Harmes - One trick pony who dead set thinks his dusty. Honestly don't know what to make of him

Jetta - Yeah look, commented pre game that I was concerned with this inclusion. Might as well just have played a witches hat. Adds legit nothing to our side anymore. Great servant but hopefully that's the last time we see him in red and blue. Stay at Casey and help develope our kids. 

Weideman - So disappointed.  Running out of patience.  If there was a time to really stake a claim and grab a game by the scruff of the neck then today would have been it. 

Gawn - Had good moments then had poor moments where I just face palmed. Maybe can the whole podcast for a few weeks and #positvelingers stuff and just focus on getting your form back, because he has simply been poor of late.

I'm starting to notice signs of tiredness with Pickett, Rivers and Jordon. How we manage that Is up to the club.

The positves for me were Petracca and Oliver. I thought while Lever was under immense pressure he was our best defender.

Ed Langdon is proving what an absolute brilliant pick up he's been. Lesson for young kids who want to see what work rate is all about, grab yourself a few Langdon highlights and watch him work his [censored] off. I also thought Brayshaw on the other wing was good as well.

The 3 keys players we missed today were Salem, Ben Brown and Jack Viney. I said this a few weeks ago, but the impact Brown has is huge for our forwards. He draws 2 defenders and.its no coincidence that when Brown was playing McDonald and Fritsch had career best games. 

Viney is the general around our stoppages and directs our set ups and stoppage clearences.Him being out has left a significant hole and it's been telling the last few weeks.

Enough said by Salem. He is our barometer and just sets us up so well from half back. Please be back next week.

Funny enough I wasn't angry about this loss because I think Adelaide played really well and I thought we'd win this comfortable. But what this shows is that there is no easy teams this year. Every win is so significant and I feel like this is exactly the lost we needed.

 

 

Excellent post and agree on all points dazzle, but geez you poured some mayo on the 3 minutes to go part. Haha 

Was 7 minutes to go. I would have put a hole in the TV and would be now living on the streets if we conceded 3 in 3 minutes.

[The heart beats true 18,110]

8 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Couldn't agree more, don't know why he's not getting a game.

He’ll get a game now. Jordan looked cooked, Melksham is hurt, and Viney is another week off. He needs to take his chance Tom. He’s been given a few shots at it and hasn’t done enough to make me confident he can make it. We need him to take his chance. 

[dazzledavey36 54,299]

43 minutes ago, Gorgoroth said:

Agree mate. 
Crows sliced us all game and although they played better consistent football all night we had more shots and lost by a point. 
 

Doggies are flying right now and I’m not sure how we go vs them this week. I reckon we are a chance. But how we play will be the interesting side of it. Must match them. Finals time Dogs style isn’t as easy to do. I reckon ours is. If we tighten the Hollywood crap and make sure Fritta (whole team) knows he needs to handball, chase etc then come September we are in the mix.

Gotta make sure we get the wins to finish top 4, top 2 better, but top 4 means a real chance at a GF.

I too also think we are a chance against the doggies.

For that to happen though we need to simply be really precise in nailing our game plan and bringing extraordinary pressure. Richmond showed that if you heap them significant amount of pressure they can fold like a deck of cards.

Watching tonight, whilst the Doggies are a well oiled machine, St Kilda were [censored] woeful and had 0 pressure on them.

This is why I'm praying Viney is ready next week. He is so relentless with his intensity and leadership around the stoppages. If not, at least bring Sparrow in to bring that manic tackling pressure .

Edited May 22, 2021 by dazzledavey36

[Clayton van Oliver 1,823]

Was extremely angry straight after, but have settled without the MFCSS kicking in too much. It's about how we respond to this and I am curious to see it. 

[Adam The God 30,130]

Fritsch has to be in the gun again. What a dreadful, selfish game he played. Not only did he try the me me me kick at goal twice instead of passing to players essentially in the goalsquare, he failed to lay a single tackle. Every time he looked to get the cheap one out the back and jogged around when manic pressure on the ball carrier was required.

Melksham will be out before him, mostly probably due to the injury. He started okay, but again failed to lay a tackle either. We can't carry two of this kind, let alone one. Especially when Melksham is/was part of the midfield rotation. 

The signs have been there the previous two weeks with our drop off in inside 50 tackles. We let the ball come out way too easily and as a result, we struggled to get our system going all day.

Oliver was simply superb. One of his great games. Petracca is the flashy one, but Oliver has always been the better player IMV. I'd be surprised if Trac outpolls Clarry in the Brownlow this year.

I felt the turning point in the match was Clarry bursting out of the stoppage off half back, handballing to Trac who spilled the ball and Adelaide eventually pinged it back for a score their way. If Christian had been clean and we'd scored a goal from that play, the game was ours. Christian kicked a game lifting goal and his first half out of centre stoppages was incredible, but after this, he often tried to do too much and was pinged at vital times.

Our defensive group looked shaky from the outset. I thought May was terrible aside from one terrific contested mark at half back. Hunt equally dreadful. Poor positioning, lack of cleanness and inability to win contests. Lever did a lot of good, but was often shaky back there too. I'd say Jake was probably in our top 5 or 6 though, which IMO says a lot about the overall team performance. While as others have said, we missed Salem's coolness and ball use behind the footy. Nev is probably too slow to play anymore. I thought his pace was exposed one too many times. I wonder how far off Bowey is from a debut? We look a little short for good ball users when you take Salem out. However, I thought Petty was solid enough and was incredibly unlucky to have that free paid against him when he simply outbodied Fogarty.

I do have a question about midfield accountability. Who was playing on Keays? It seemed that Harmes was trying to tag him early in the game and then he seemed to go head to head with Petracca. Keays killed us and like many Crows, got the ball out by hand or foot when he shouldn't have far too many times due to our poor tackling.

Did we let our minds drift to the Bulldogs game next week? Maybe. But whatever it was, we were a bit off forward of the ball (that lack of tackling pressure and cohesion with the mids), and our defence constantly looked nervous. Like they didn't really trust each other. Our lack of tackling pressure at half forward and then their quick play on game through the corridor opened us up and again showed us what will happen to our system if we don't bring half forward tackling pressure.

The forward structure was also a mess this week IMO. Weideman's tackling was a lot better, but we can't play Melksham and Fritsch in the same forwardline. Both play like millionaires. Particularly, Fritsch. Loves an easy one out the back, but isn't prepared to play a defensive role. Does my head in. McDonald couldn't seem to get into the game after the first half. We didn't really move the ball to the advantage of our forwards enough either.

After this week, I'm even more confused about what our ideal forward set up is though. Weideman doesn't look particularly dangerous to me. Fritsch looks great on the downward slopes. I think I'd have Brown in my team next week. But if so, who comes out?

I don't think we should throw the baby out with the bathwater, but there were some worrying signs from our leaders after such promising signs this year in terms of leadership. I've already talked about May and Lever's shakiness, but after starting well, how many goals did Max give up? 2 at least from dropped uncontested marks and 1 at least from stoppage. 

If we want to get near the Bulldogs, we'll need to play better than we have all season. I can't it see it happening. So disappointing to drop this game against an ordinary but enthusiastic Adelaide side.

Edited May 22, 2021 by A F

[titan_uranus 24,978]

It’s understandable that there’s so much negativity. Losing brings out that feel of dread that the wins have been suppressing. But until we play and win finals and a flag, we’ll all have that inner dread. 

Losing by a point when you’re 16 up in time on is also tough to stomach, no matter who the opponent is. The non call on the deliberate was horrendous and clearly should have been paid, but as has been said we shouldn’t have needed a goal to win with 30 seconds left. 

The key stat IMO is that they scored from 45% of their inside 50s. We’d kept every other side under 40%. The reasons for that are varied. No Salem hurts. We’ve been struggling to defend stoppages since Viney went out. May was off. Jetta was poor. Hunt was off. But they also moved the ball very quickly and that put pressure on us. The Dogs will do the same next week so you’d hope we’ve learned something from today. 

Season-wise the loss doesn’t change anything. There is no reasonable way you can be disappointed with a 9-1 record. We can make top 4 even if we drop the next two, but our chances will be much higher if we go 1-1 at least. 

[titan_uranus 24,978]

1 minute ago, A F said:

Fritsch has to be in the gun again. What a dreadful, selfish game he played. Not only did he try the me me me kick at goal twice instead of passing to players essentially in the goalsquare, he failed to lay a single tackle. Every time he looked to get the cheap one out the back and jogs around when manic pressure on the ball carrier is needed. 

Melksham will be out before him, mostly probably due to the injury. He started okay, but again failed to lay a tackle either. We can't carry two of this kind, let alone one.

The signs have been there the previous two weeks with our drop off in inside 50 tackles. We let the ball come out way too easily and as a result, we struggled to get our system going all day.

Oliver was simply superb. One of his great games. Petracca is the flashy one, but Oliver has always been the better player IMV. I'd be surprised if Trac outpolls Clarry in the Brownlow this year.

I felt the turning point in the match was Clarry bursting out of the stoppage off half back, handballing to Trac who spilled the ball and Adelaide eventually pinged it back for a score their way. If Christian had been clean and we'd scored a goal from that play, the game was ours. Christian kicked a game lifting goal and his first half out of centre stoppages was incredible, but after this, he often tried to do too much and was pinged at vital times.

Our defensive group looked shaky from the outset. I thought May was terrible aside from one terrific contested mark at half back. Hunt equally dreadful. Poor positioning, lack of cleanness and inability to win contests. Lever did a lot of good, but was often shaky back there too. I'd say Jake was probably in our top 5 or 6 though, which IMO says a lot about the overall team performance. While as others have said, we missed Salem's coolness and ball use behind the footy. Nev is probably too slow to play anymore. I thought his pace was exposed one too many times. I wonder how far off Bowey is from a debut? We look a little short for good ball users when you take Salem out. However, I thought Petty was solid enough and was incredibly unlucky to have that free paid against him when he simply outbodied Fogarty.

I do have a question about midfield accountability. Who was playing on Keays? It seemed that Harmes was trying to tag him early in the game and then he seemed to go head to head with Petracca. Keays killed us and like many Crows, got the ball out by hand or foot when he shouldn't have far too many times due to our poor tackling.

Did we let our minds drift to the Bulldogs game next week? Maybe. But whatever it was, we were a bit off forward of the ball (that lack of tackling pressure and cohesion with the mids), and our defence constantly looked nervous. Like they didn't really trust each other. Our lack of tackling pressure at half forward and then their quick play on game through the corridor opened us up and again showed us what will happen to our system if we don't bring half forward tackling pressure.

The forward structure was also a mess this week IMO. Weideman's tackling was a lot better, but we can't play Melksham and Fritsch in the same forwardline. Both play like millionaires. Particularly, Fritsch. Loves an easy one out the back, but isn't prepared to play a defensive role. Does my head in. McDonald couldn't seem to get into the game after the first half. We didn't really move the ball to the advantage of our forwards enough either.

After this week, I'm even more confused about what our ideal forward set up is though. Weideman doesn't look particularly dangerous to me. Fritsch looks great on the downward slopes. I think I'd have Brown in my team next week. But if so, who comes out?

I don't think we should throw the baby out with the bathwater, but there were some worrying signs from our leaders after such promising signs this year in terms of leadership. I've already talked about May and Lever's shakiness, but after starting well, how many goals did Max give up? 2 at least from dropped uncontested marks and 1 at least from stoppage. 

If we want to get near the Bulldogs, we'll need to play better than we have all season. I can't it see it happening. So disappointing to drop this game against an ordinary but enthusiastic Adelaide side.

No we don’t. If we play like we did vs Richmond we can win for sure. 

We haven’t brought that level of forward half pressure since that game. 

[Adam The God 30,130]

5 minutes ago, titan_uranus said:

No we don’t. If we play like we did vs Richmond we can win for sure. 

We haven’t brought that level of forward half pressure since that game. 

Yep, probably true. 

[Beetle 4,601]

One thing’s for sure, the more you win the less you are prepared for a loss and how you will react.

I think it makes you look at things more irrationally than you probably, normally would.

This day was coming, I just don’t think any of us expected it to be against Adelaide. But that’s ok.
Some new perspective this week for a big game. How we come out of the Bulldogs game will tell us plenty about the resilience of our boys. 

[WERRIDEE 5,445]

I think the loss has come at the right time. The Bulldogs will be heavy favorites and played a soft game. I'm confident we can beat them but Viney and Salem have to play. That non decision for deliberate was a disgrace. I'm sick of hometown decisions the umpire should be sacked for it never to umpire again. It's a blight on the game. We weren't very good tonight we left it to too few and fumbled too much so we got what we deserved. I've had enough of Weid I'm consigned to knowing he will never deliver and a long stint in the reserves is what he deserves. Trade him for a first rounder and be done with him. 

[Jaded No More 68,867]

May will never want to watch that game again. He was dead set woeful. He actually looked terrible on tv. I’m wondering if he carried something into the game because Jesus he was a non entity today. Normally he is a beast. And yes Walker is not a lightweight but he just lost every contest tonight. The last one that got them the winning goal was just really bad reading of the play. 
 

I am going to be positive and say this was a good loss to have. Our defensive efforts have dropped off in recent weeks. We’ve cruised to wins because we were simply a class above. Tonight Adelaide were very good and we didn’t lift. We had maybe a good 10 minute period in the third quarter and that was it. It’s not enough. Too many players did not do enough. 

We play IMO the best side in the competition next week on their home turf. We go into the game as under dogs and quite a few players would be on notice to perform or lose their spot. I bet the guys at Casey will all play out of their skin on Sunday. 

So do we take the loss as a wake up call and come out firing and win the next two critical games? or have we been exposed and worked out and is the joy ride over? 
The next two weeks will tell us if we are contenders or pretenders. If this group is the selfless fiercely competitive team they claim to be, we will win at least one of the next two games and continue to push hard for a top 2 finish. 

[mrtwister 652]

50 minutes ago, kev martin said:

Watching that last clearance on Saturday stretch (fox), I wonder why Pickett didn't get a free in the marking contest? Adelaide player no where near the ball and hit the body, head and possibly back to spoil. Then came the umpires howler with the no deliberate call. Pickett was robbed.

Was in the back for sure. Defender quickly turned around to see if he had been pinged. I'm sure Tex would have gotten the call.

Not to mention Oliver getting dropped as he approached the marking contest in the last few seconds.

Ball nowhere near him..

[DeeZee 7,363]

May was well beaten tonight I thought.

It was a bad loss being beat when we were 16 points up with 7 minutes to go.

Kicking long down the line without taking some minutes off the clock.

But that was the story of the night as we seemed to lack composure all night and went back our ways of long bombs into the forward line.