It was very blustery today and we made a number of inexplicable turnovers, missed targets and kicked to their intercept marker. At times the ball movement was sublime and we looked a way better team. Their forward tackled well and often managed to lock it in their forward 50 and we just could not clear it.

Consider if you will we are the only top 4 team with 3 first-year players, Joey, JVR & McVee with Chandler having played 5 forgettable games prior to this season. We have done extraordinarily well to cover some significant outs and blood the next generation who show they can play their role. Let me remind you we have 2 nominations for Rising Star

21 minutes ago, Rab D Nesbitt said:

One of those games where you keep feeling were one goal away from putting the game out of reach then end up having to save it. 

Perhaps in Joel Smith we've found our David Fairclough. 

Supersub Fairclough!

We definatley made a big claim for 4th spot today and its ours to lose. If we win the next 3 Rich, Carton, Hawthorn i dont think we can lose 4th can we, which hopefully means we can go at our own pace for the last 2 games and hit the finals in good shape.

Its really looking like Pies first up. Nothing is more important than this game.

Rankine was fantastic today for Adelaide. His speed from contest is incredible. He’s going to be a great player for them over the next decade.

I thought the Crows were great today. They don’t die wondering, they just struggle with expectation - which you can forgive with their list demo.

1 hour ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Crows picked through our zone with ease at times and seemed to match us in the contest (particularly centre contests) although I haven't seen the stats. They're a decent side and have Burgess who would be priming them for this time if year so no surprise they came home strong. Don't forget the Pies only just got past them, twice. Having said that if it wasn't for Rankine we probably would have put them away before half time.

I thought JJ needed to be better, it doesn't feel like he's really grabbed the opportunity having Oliver out has been. He's been ok without being outstanding. When Oliver returns I think JJ is first dropped. Woewodin has been ok for a first year player but I don't think he'll stay in the seniors much longer either. Hibberd should return nd help out backline with some leg speed.

Agree with most of this mate, but not convinced Hibbo gets a game anymore. Who does he replace? I think McVee was well beaten today, but he probably gives us more offensively than Hibbo these days.

2 hours ago, binman said:

Kozzie was great, chin worked hard and that love that he took his chances. 

But he needs to play close to goals (which i expect he will once spargs comes back in), not high half forward.

Why? Because with kozzie up around the ball or at half forward, we don't apply enough pressure inside our 50. 

If we had lost that game It would have been because our pressure inside our 50 was appalling.

I think it was 13 tackles inside 50, to our paltry one. It was 10-1 at half time I think. 

That's not good enough.

They won in it back in their front half, and we let them waltz it out of ours.

Kossie was a match winner today. We need to find another way to increase forward pressure and retain his scoring power.

You have to be able to score against Collingwood, Brisbane and Adelaide to win.

Edited July 23, 20232 yr by old55

Think our backline knows that they can do better than this and will be their own worst critics.

1 hour ago, layzie said:

Hard to explain that one.

We had 17 marks inside 50 and they cut off quite a few with O'Brien and co so it wasn't really a ground ball in 50 kind of game for us. Still would have expected more than 1 tackle I50.

Great post mate.

1 hour ago, Jaded No More said:

Not enough is being made of the fact that we have been without arguably the best player in the competition for close to 3 months now. Oh and missing our best forward and one of the best medium forwards in the competition.

We just do not appreciate what a loss Oliver is. That we’ve managed to beat 2 top 4 teams without him is bloody excellent. 
 

Very few sides would cover this type of loss for as long as we have. 

❤️🙏

3 hours ago, rufus said:

Defence was poor. Our senior players had another one of those games that completely belies their experience and played like first year players. While they are pretty good most of the time, our senior backs just have too many brain farts to lift our defence to the levels that other repeat premiers were able to get to.

47 tackles to 69 on our home ground is abysmal. 1 to 13 tackles inside 50 actually suggests we just don't understand what makes our current style of play work. That lack of pressure on the oppo is exactly what causes our crowd to lose engagement in the game as we enact our 'by the numbers' ball movement.

Thought Adelaide were the better team and were probably hard done by with umpiring too. Still, we have lost some close ones where we were probably the better team, so it seems to be evening out.

End of the day, we certainly didn't look a class above a 13th placed team who were out of form and coming to our patch. Was hoping last week's win might have started building some momentum as it really is time to start pressing for the home run now. But from the perspective of winning finals we look miles behind Coll and Bris who I think are the pack leaders, and would struggle with Port and Carlton the way we are playing right now.

The way we are playing right now? We beat the Lions a week ago. We beat the Pies a month ago. What are you on about?

5 minutes ago, old55 said:

Kossie was a match winner today. We need to find another way to increase forward pressure and retain his scoring power.

You have to be able to score against Collingwood, Brisbane and Adelaide to win.

Which is why I think we we will go back to our set up of spargo and nibbler as high half forwards and kozz and chin traditional small forwards (with koz doing bursts in ball).

By the by, better to think of nibbler and spargs as wingers not forwards I reckon - less confusing because neither are reallt forwards as such, particularly nibbker - you just have to look at his heat map to get what I mean.

I don’t care what the goal umpire and subsequent stats sheet say.. Joel Smith kicked two goals. 

Edited July 23, 20232 yr by Ethan Tremblay

The Crows are no slouches.

We did what was required 

No injuries 

Kozz fantastic

Chandler good 

Lever better second half 

Smith excellent sub

Gawn and Viney solid

Now for the Tigers, 4 more points

58 minutes ago, Kick_It_To_Pickett said:

Trac was way off it. Twice he was streaming inside 50 and had grass ahead and chose to overdo the handball and cooked us. He missed targets in the field and missed goals he should have kicked. Very fumbly and trying to overcomplicate things. 

Did he visit his Nona on Friday night?

Crows are a good team & should have beaten the pies twice, concern on the goals concede, but strong resilience to win,  what’s Browns future?

Edited July 23, 20232 yr by Demonsone

1 hour ago, Watson11 said:

Hopefully one of the learnings for Goody is that the zone doesn’t work when you don’t put pressure on the kickers (ie in our forward 50). We really need to stop falling back and relying on a zone to defend leads.  If we do it in a prelim or gf against the pies then it will be gifting them a flag.

Agree with this.

I hope we play the opposition in front of us @rpfc. For example, I hope we play Collingwood exactly the same way we played them on KB, but with greater accuracy. But if we're playing Brisbane or Port, I think we could allow the game to open up a little more and go more offensive as you suggest elsewhere on this thread.

1 hour ago, Return to Glory said:

I know he did Jontee but he was pretty poor today. It was his mistake that led to the first goal and he just wasn't on at all (and I'm a big fan)

He didn't do his regular radio spot on Monday morning because he was too sick, so even though he trained all week, I wondered whether this was a factor today. Because he was definitely a little bit off at times.

Had higher hopes for Brown today, wasn't able to get many good leading patterns going. 

52 minutes ago, Jaded No More said:

We both had 9 shots on goal in the last quarter. 
They nailed theirs. We didn’t. We kick straight and we smash them. 

There's our problem right there. We didn't have any shots at goal.

1 hour ago, Bitter but optimistic said:

Successfully evaded the breath testers and am safely back at The Manor.

Pretty good game of tough footy - had both arm wrestling moments and free scoring moments.

As usual, however, good teams find a way.

Jack Viney is undoubtedly a super athlete - his physical intensity and brutality is beyond reason.

Loved Chandler's return game. I also heard him interviewed post game. A very articulate and clever young man.

 

PS. Met a couple of Demonlanders today and , as you would expect, complete lunatics.

Gotta love this place !!!!!

So, caught up with @WalkingCivilWar then @Bitter but optimistic.

2 hours ago, Rocknroll said:

I miss burgess. Crow had good red time run  in all quarters today. Had a way more run in their legs

 

hard seeing him on the crows bench

FMD - you're joking right? Are you not aware of last week's win?

8 minutes ago, layzie said:

Had higher hopes for Brown today, wasn't able to get many good leading patterns going. 

Wonder why that is..🤔🤔🤔🤔

3 minutes ago, Queanbeyan Demon said:

So, caught up with @WalkingCivilWar then @Bitter but optimistic.

No mate. Didn't have to go near the cheer squad - plenty of nut jobs on 'land.

1 hour ago, binman said:

Exactly. 

I think they will  beat Port next week, and so also think the 18 point line is well overs.

Without Rankine? They lose to us by 6 goals without him. Big loss.

2 hours ago, Stiff Arm said:

Last comment from me.

If you are happy with giving up a very good lead in the last, then I'm pleased for your distorted maths

I find a come from behind win against a top 3 side more inspiring than nearly giving up a 4 goal lead into the last against a bottom 8 team.

That's my preferred maths!

Cheers

It's really simple to explain.

55 minutes ago, Jaded No More said:

We both had 9 shots on goal in the last quarter. 
They nailed theirs. We didn’t. We kick straight and we smash them. 

Exactly. I haven’t watched a replay, but Gus missed from 35-40mtrs out on a slight angle, he had more time to steady before taking the shot. Gawn missed a set shot. Trac definitely missed 1 he should’ve kicked, might have been 2? Smith was unlucky on that second non goal, with the soft call of a behind. We could, and probably should have, matched their 7.2 in the last and most of us would’ve taken a 4 goal win.

Upside, May and Lever were nowhere near their best. Oliver back soon. We might have found our perfect super sub. 😁

Listened to the game whilst driving but now I have to watch it. After reading this thread three things I’m looking for are :

Lot of commentary during the game that Brown was impacting the game without hitting the scoreboard. A lot of posters citing he’s cooked and Smith should come in. 
 

Limited fwd 50 tackles when Kosi plays further up the ground but he’s more influential when playing there. In recent weeks when playing purely fwd he can go missing for large parts of the game.

If Fritsch makes it back this season is there any reason him and Melksham can’t play in the same side?