Lord Travis

I agree with you that Clarry is a mile ahead of most other players, including some superstars, at the same age. Using your example of Dusty Martin being useless for 6 years or so... I'd strongly disagree with that. His first 6 years he averaged 24 disposals and over a goal a game. That's better than all our players current output bar Oliver (though 20+ more goals a year than Oliver, so you could argue otherwise), let alone that early into his career! The problem identified with Oliver is it's not an upwards trend. Oliver has remained at a similar level his whole career and doesn't appear to be learning any new tricks. His peak was 2018 in terms of actual impact, so he's actually regressed the past two years. We don't want him to plateau because he's capable of so much more. We want to see him take games by the scruff of the neck instead of just chipping away at it. It's not that we don't think he's a gun already, we just want him to keep improving because he's capable of being more.

He's a good prospect. He was very young when drafted, being right near the cut off and coming into the club as a 17 year old. He likely would've been a first rounder in last years draft had he missed that cut off. He could become a good midfielder or half back flanker due to his accurate and penetrating kick, burst of pace and toughness. He's well suited to half back flank but has actually excelled playing more inside midfield at Casey. I reckon he could become a well rounded inside/outside midfielder, which we need IMO. Both him and Sparrow from that draft are developing well, Sparrow more of a Viney type insider, Jordan a more rounded midfielder like a Bernie Vince.

We would’ve drafted him if we didn’t trade for May. Shame as he’s exactly what we need now. Missed opportunity in hindsight but at the time we thought a quality key defender was our biggest gap.

5 goals last week, 3 goals this week. Brown is out in form key forward it seems. Should play next match otherwise why did we bother signing him for short term.

Bailey Smith is a ripper. Only 19 and already looking a gun midfielder. I was a fan in his draft year. That 2018 draft looks to be the best of the decade. Shame we opted out of the first round! Doggies looking good in first quarter. Delightful to see lots of niggle!

Nibbler stiff to be dropped. Good to see Jones and Jackson out though, as neither warned a game this week. Decent ins this week, there may be hope yet.

None. Our development of players has been poor for decades now. We're the only club (expansion clubs aside) who has not produced superstars for decades. We've had more high draft picks and more elite young talent come into our club than nearly all others, yet we're still unable to develop them properly. Until we improve our culture and improve our development of young talent, we will continue to remain a bottom team.

I'd love to be as optimistic as some here, but fact is we're 6 wins from our past 25 matches with a percentage of under 80. Those 6 wins were mainly stumbling over the line against fellow bottom four teams in Carlton, Gold Coast, Sydney and Freo. It hardly inspires confidence. We're still a bottom four team and unfortunately it doesn't appear we will make significant improvement any time soon. Bombers by 4 goals.

The coaching group should play him in his natural tall forward position. Coincidentally it's also our biggest weakness at present, yet they keep throwing him into the ruck and not giving him a proper chance up forward. They're playing Jackson ahead of him. Jackson might well surpass him in years to come, but at present Weid is bigger, stronger, quicker, better hands, better tackler, better kick, better scorer. There's simply no reason to play Jackson ahead of him, and it reeks of favouritism and poor culture. It's been over a decade and we still haven't learned not to gift games to kids who haven't earned them. The club have ruined Weid's development. For his own sake, I hope he requests a trade and flourishes elsewhere.

Bang on. It's why I've been so vocal about Lockhart getting a game. We have one small lockdown defender in the team in Jetta, and he is slow and in poor form. Essendon have a bunch of quick smaller forwards who will tear us apart. Lockhart should've been brought in for match ups alone, let alone based on form after his great pre-season form. We'll struggle to defend them tomorrow, but we'll struggle even more to score ourselves with a completely impotent forwardline. We've got a lot of plodders in the 22 now. It seems like we've regressed 4-5 years again. 2018 was years ago now and the game has changed since then. So have the rules - we failed to adapt to those also. We've won 6 games in 18 months, with only two of those being by more than 7 points. Quite simply, we don't win and on the rare occasion we do win it's stumbling over the finish line against another bottom four team. This team is guaranteed to give it's supporters a heart attack! We're teetering on the edge of the bottom 4 yet again and instead of playing our best team to win, we are gifting games to kids and name players who haven't earned it. Our culture is still not fixed, and our game style and structures need a complete overhaul.

Chaos ball is done. Possession and quality kicking reign supreme again.

Their forward line hasn’t been great so far, but I’d kill to have their forward line. Would swap ours for basically any other at this point! Tigers really struggling in the midfield tonight. Just can’t control the ball. Pickett really struggling with speed of the game.

I’d bring Lockhart in and send Smith out. There’s more smalls to lock down on and Smith is incapable of playing defense. Dropping ANB would send the wrong message to the playing group. He’s no superstar, but his game last week was decent enough to earn him another match ahead of Smith, Jackson, Jones, TMac, Melksham. We need to pick players who are performing, not name players and high draft picks not performing. At this point, playing Jackson is like playing a man down. He’s got long term potential, but he’s clearly not ready yet. I thought we’d moved past this as a club already. Clearly there’s still culture issues to work through.

Selection panel has lost the plot. If he’s not injured, Lockhart should be in. Bombers have lots of quick small forwards. We need smalls to lockdown in the backline. Weid should be in for Jackson. Our tall forwards are uncompetitive. Jackson isn’t ready for AFL level yet. He needs time to develop his body and build confidence. Weid offers more at present. If he’s dominating at the level below and kicking bags off 5 goals, he needs to come in. The selection panel need to pick the best team to win, not give games to kids and name players who haven’t earned it and aren’t producing. Poor culture still remains unfortunately. Bombers by 5 goals.

I was vocal at the time that two first rounders for Lever was overs. I'm yet to be proven wrong. Having said that, Roo would be better served keeping his mouth shut. Their culture is so poor that even club great Andrew Mcleod is speaking out about it now. Sure, Lever and McGovern trades have worked out OK, but how about the raft of other players the Crows have lost that didn't work out so well? Players like Dangerfield, Cameron, Gunston, and Davis amongst others have all been big losses for the Crows. The Crows are essentially a feeder club at this point.

It's part of the TV right deal with Channel 7. They get to unveil the teams on Thursday night on the 5pm news and make a spectacle of it. Noone is allowed to release them or discuss them officially in the media before then. I agree though, it is backwards. We're stuck with it for however long the current TV rights deal is.

Oliver is a great midfielder, but he's not a superstar yet. There are two key parts of his game he needs to improve to become a superstar. First, he needs to stand up and have an impact when the team needs it. Superstars drag their team along with them. Think Michael Voss bulldozing someone and kicking a goal when scores are tied. Think Dusty shoving aside multiple people and snapping his third goal of a quarter when scores are tied. The superstars have the ability to stand up when it's required. Oliver as yet doesn't do this. He consistently wins ball across games, but he doesn't have bursts of impact or stand up in big moments. Second, he needs to hit the scoreboard. The difference between the superstars (Dusty, Fyfe, Dangerfield) and the next level down (T. Mitchell, Kelly, Oliver) is the superstars all hit the scoreboard. They do it consistently and sometimes in a big way. Dusty, Fyfe and Danger all rest forward and kick bags. the best players in the league are mid-forwards. Oliver showed glimpses of this in 2018, but as yet hasn't developed the forward part of his game. I believe he can become a superstar. He has shown he has the ability and physical attributes, he just needs to develop them. At this stage, he came in a ball winning gun, and he's still a ball winning gun. He hasn't really developed much at all, but he is young and has plenty of time.

Inclined to say Smith botched this, as he did multiple other contests. His defensive work on the weekend was absolutely abysmal, directly costing us 3 goals from 8. Barely touched the ball either, registering his first disposal in the 3rd quarter. He wasn't alone as a poor performer on the weekend, but his errors were the most glaring and showed a lack of football IQ. He really is an athlete, not a footballer. He should be played forward or not at all.

That would be Brad. He was asking for a million per year from Gold Coast, but ended up staying at Crows for 800k to try and move to another club end of this season. Essendon and North appear most interested. He's worth nowhere near what he's being paid and is asking for IMO. If Brayshaw is going to leave it will be to go home to WA. We should've traded with Freo last year when we had the chance. They had two top 10 picks and enough points for a third top 10 pick, and we could've pried one from them.

Didn't know he missed training due to niggle, so that makes more sense. On form, he would've been a lock for round 1. His ball use, pace, defensive zoning, and aggression with tackling make him a key part of our backline going forward IMO. I'd bring him straight in if he's fit. Think we might struggle to contain Essendons small running brigade without a bit of a rejig to our structure. Lockhart and Pickett should come in.

Lockhart should be straight in. Essendon rely on set of small/mid sized forwards. We need good small defenders to aid in shutting down their forward line. Jetta is the only one we have who can lock down, and he's not in good form as it is. Lockhart should be first player into the team and should've played round 1.

Gus has the talent, he needs to be played in a role he can excel at. He played his best footy when Viney was out for an extended period of time. Coincidentally we also played our best footy with Gus on ball and Viney out. With Oliver, Viney, Brayshaw, Petracca, Harmes all playing inside, it's the old adage too many cooks spoil the broth. We've just got too many inside midfielders and need to offload one for team balance. Personally, I'd keep Oliver and Petracca. Oliver is the best, and Petracca is the most dynamic and versatile. I'd keep Gus ahead of Viney, but one of those two are tradable to improve our team IMO. I'll get shot down for suggesting it, but it's hard to ignore the facts of our performance since 2018.

Weids drop in form has coincided with a lack of stability in his assigned role. He was drafted young and is still only 22 years old. He was on a clearly upward trajectory and was regularly kicking goals in the VFL when not playing at AFL. His last two months in 2018 at AFL level were very good and showed he has the tools to be a damaging forward. Fast forward to 2020 and he keeps getting thrown around, not being given a stable role up forward that he suits. His development has been poor, and I have no doubt if he leaves the club he will excel at another club. He's just another example of a talented youngster going backwards over time due to poor development. Look at Brayshaw - pick 3 and seven years on he's barely contributing. Petracca has taken forever to "shows signs" he could be a great player. Oliver stagnated years ago and is less damaging now than he was two years ago. And they're the more successful high draft picks. Look at others before them and it's embaressing. Until our club gets better at development, we will not be a competitor. Weid needs to come in for Jackson this week, and needs to play as a tall forward for a block of games, not thrown around the ground in a hybrid ruck role.

IN: Weideman, Pickett, Lockhart OUT: Jackson, Smith, Jones TMac and Melksham on very thin ice and need to lift. If ANB is dropped, it shows clear favouritism by the coaches. He was far from our worst player on the weekend. Off the top of my head ANB was performed better than Smith, Jones, Melksham, TMac, Jackson, Jetta, Lever. On form, Melksham, TMac, Smith, Jackson and Jones don't deserve a game next week. They were all non-contributors. Smith was actually more damaging to us than he was to them, and we would've been better off playing a man down. He was Isaac Weetra level bad on the weekend.

6 - Petracca 5 - Gawn 4 - Oliver 3 - Langdon 2 - Rivers 1 - Hunt Apologies to Salem and Tomlinson.