Adam The God

Agreed, this could be it, but you should have seen him running back onto the ground during the game at one stage yesterday. He had the strangest gait I've ever seen and looked injured to me, so perhaps he has sustained something else as well?

I'm intrigued as to the factors behind the drops. What were these numbers like in the first two rounds with Gawn playing? Have we started to lose these without Gawn's dominance? An AA ruckman will give you the edge in quite a few of these areas. I'd also suggest, our mids such as Viney and Tyson have been well down in CP, but is this actually the case? Intriguing...

I agree. It was the first time this season we didn't play fearless footy. We did in patches, but we need to play with more dare if we're going to account for any team in such an even competition. I think our defensive press was too high yesterday. It reminded me of the start of 2016 when St Kilda got us. The winning goal came because our defence was too high with no cover out the back. I wonder how we would have played that with Lewis in the team. In the JLT and in the first two rounds, he played the anchor and read the play really well, subsequently stopping a couple of those easy goals out the back. We needed his experience yesterday. But we also needed to lower our eyes and use the ball better than we did most of the day. We're getting there though. To come back and almost snatch it with many of our best players down or not playing, was at least one positive, but probably added to the frustration in the end.

I'd agree with all of this, Sue, if it hadn't happened the week before. I really hoped that the Geelong loss would have burned in the players and that they would be eager to make amends on dropping a game they should have won the previous week. Instead, they came out sluggishly, kicked poorly for goal and then thought they had it won at half time when the lead was under 4 goals. It's inexcusable really. That's what makes it frustrating. It's an interesting post this, because it could be argued that the reason the Hawks and the Dogs played to such a system was because they didn't have the level of elite talent that we have. So they needed role players right the way across the ground. Now, obviously, I'm not saying these teams didn't/don't have stars in them, but we have an awful lot of talent right across the ground, that has arguably already surpassed our older brigade in less than a year. Oliver, Hogan, Petracca, Stretch, Salem are already in probably our top 10-12 most important players. The bigger question is will a system provide sustained success or will the young stars we currently have provide sustained success? It might be a bit of a balancing act.

This might be a result of the niggle that Viney is carrying. I think they might revert to allowing him to attack the game a bit more and play instinctively. Frost and Hunt played the anchor role in the second half of last season to straighten up our press and give us some cover. Hunt appears to be playing higher now and Frost was a bit lost yesterday. We need someone with that pace to cover if we're going to play such a high line, but also, our backs and mids need to lift their work rate. They don't get back quick enough. If you watched Adelaide last night, if they made an error, their backs weren't pushed too high (consistently around the defensive 50m arc) and were able to push their mids back quick to cover any turn overs in the midfield. A couple of things about Adelaide, and I think given they're the early premiership contenders, it's worth looking at how they operate. Some of their best kickers are half backs and roll through the midfield too. Smith, Laird and Crouch are extremely good users. Those three are given licence to line break, but as I say, all execute extremely well. They also know when to go and when there's cover. But because they rarely turn it over, they aren't caught out going the other way. In comparison, off our half back line, we probably have Salem, Lewis, Hunt and Jones when he's in form. I'd say Hunt is the weakest kicker, but the best line breaker out of our guys. So far this season, most of these guys have turned it over and allowed the opposition to hurt us going the other way. Adelaide rarely do this, so they've managed to build great trust in their team mates. We're not there yet on that front. Let's examine Adelaide's last line of defence. Lever and Talia have an extremely good understanding with each other and their half backs and mids. Talia is 25 now and Lever has played almost 40 games. It must be said that Lever is performing ahead of expectations and is a little undersized too as 195cm and 93 kgs KPD, but these two have played two years alongside each other and understand the system Pyke is trying to play. They've had continuity together for some time. This is so important for developing trust and understanding. Both players play to their limitations, often using chip kicks or handball to release their half backs and they move the ball quickly, instinctively. Our defence is a different story. Tom McDonald plays in a more Alex Rance way, rather than playing within his limitations like Talia and Lever do. Tom tries to take the game on and is prone to the occasional momentum shifting turn over. This means trust is hard to build with him. If I was playing alongside him, I wouldn't trust him not to make a game-changing turnover by foot or by hand. I had believed that Goodwin's take on the game at all costs would mostly pay off, but I just wonder if we need our two KPDs to play within their limitations. That way, our half backs should always know to look for the handball or break hard on the spread to provide an option. Everyone then knows their role and can play it instinctively. We also haven't defined who that second KPD is. Is it Oscar McDonald or is it Sam Frost? There's an argument to be made that we could play all three, but I don't think you can play three guys who are liabilities with the ball in your back 6. You just don't see this in the top sides, ever. Freo and St Kilda carried Dawson's poor kicking, but then they often had another KPD who played within his limitations. ie. Sam Fisher at the Saints. Although, it'd be great to think we've got that second KPD on our list, perhaps we'll have to trade one in to fast track the success of our backline and our defensive system? I'm not suggesting we could get him, but Weitering is exactly the sort of player that would compliment Tom perfectly and allow him to play within his limitations a little more. Lever is another, although both of those guys would cost us too much and there's no way Lever would leave Adelaide at this point. As I mentioned earlier, our half backs are actually okay, but need to become more consistent and ensure they hit targets 9 times out of 10. Hibberd will help. Jetta is the third guy I'd allow to play within his limitations a little bit more, but still ensure he provides some run off half back. So the way I see it, without having continuity and a settled key defender partnership, our defence will continue to leak goals it shouldn't. It's also not a defence at this stage that will become a top 4 defence. I like attributes of both Oscar and Frost, but I think by the end of 2017, we have to know whether these guys will partner Tom or whether we have to chase someone else in the short term to get our defence up to scratch. I'd also expect us to adjust our defensive line and play slightly deeper and less aggressively as the season wears on. Finally, the ball use around the forward arc by Adelaide forwards is world's apart from ours. So it isn't just defence, but improving ball use is certainly a key theme across the ground.

Wow, people really are going with this Bernie was BOG in round 1 tripe aren't they? Oliver and Jones were so far ahead of anyone that day it's not funny. Bernie managed a couple of beautiful kick outs and a couple of mind-boggling clangers. But keep holding onto to the theory that Vince still has it as a backman.

He's also not a particularly good user over short distances. He's actually pretty hit and miss. He can make them occasionally, but more often than not he chooses the wrong time to attempt the execution. And he's played there because he has no other position anymore. I don't want him in the guts doing his Brent Moloney impersonation as he bombs it blindly forward out of the middle.

This is more concerning though. And as LH suggests, there's not a lot of in-quarter tweaks, at least defensively. We certainly change our offensive set ups off half back and at the stoppages, but we don't seem to have many defensive set ups that we go to. I hope he develops some of these, because all out attack will never work. Even Clarkson has a defensive go to plan.

I think there was always going to be a bit of a teething period with our defence. I don't expect us to get it right until at least 2018, but I expect us to make tweaks along the way this season that enable our defence to hold up enough to get us into the finals. We're backing our attack to kick more than our defence concedes. It's the same ethos my other football club Liverpool has used unsuccessfully for the past 4-5 years. But if it gets us into the top 8 this year and we make further tweaks and adjustments over the summer to strengthen our defence again going into 2018, I think this is the right direction. I find your comments really interesting, mate. Mostly because I know you were a massive Goody fan prior to this year. Very intriguing. I gather you're just calling it how you see it, but I personally don't see any parallels between the Buckley transition and the Goodwin one. Buckley's wasn't a smooth transition for starters. Buckley's magpies weren't playing elements of his game style for a year before he even sat in the top seat. As a result, our players seem to really respond to a Goodwin lesson at the breaks. They responded at quarter time against St Kilda, three quarter time against Carlton, quarter time against Geelong and finally quarter time and three quarter time against Fremantle. The turnarounds after these breaks have been noticeable. This gives me great hope for Goodwin. He seemingly has a knack for not panicking and calmly outlining what the players need to do to turn things around. I haven't seen any shouting or pointing at players. He appears measured and players seem to really respond to him.

Yes, it is, but the fact that Jones, for all his heart, has played in losing sides the majority of his career, means not even our experienced captain knows what it takes to close out a match. The inexperience hurts, but as has been rightly pointed out at various stages on Demonland today, it wasn't the inexperienced players that lost the game. If anything, it was the younger guys stepping up that kept us in the game.

He really wasn't BOG, though some Demonlanders insisted he was. Clearly, Oliver and Jones were. Bernie managed some good kick ins that wallpapered his turn overs and defensive frailties. As a couple of us have been saying for a while, Bernie routinely delivers clangers that are simply inexplicable and inexcusable for an experienced player, let alone a leader.

This is it. Great post, but this is it. The biggest unknown for us right now is knowing whether we've got the guys that will develop composure with experience or whether they simply never will. There are certain guys that I don't think will and they're on the fringe for a reason. Unfortunately, due to injuries and/or suspensions, they're being given games right now. Harmes and ANB the biggest offenders. Both panic in tight and under pressure. But it's guys like Vince (a 195 game veteran), who I expect composure from. Instead, what did we get?

We've done this all summer. Lewis said as much after the Carlton win. We just don't have the composure or skill to get it done yet. Basically, we don't have enough guys who know how or what it's like to win. I think it'll click at some stage this year and we'll get some momentum up, but until then, we can do all the practicing we want, but we won't execute on game day.

How good is the Adelaide team defence? That's where our defence has to get to. We either import the personnel that can play as well, or we hope that our guys come on quickly. They are looking impregnable.

Because Sandliands would probably have marked or they would have roved off Sandilands. What we did need to do was take the game on and get ourselves another goal, given there were still 3 minutes left. But we didn't take the game on enough today and this was another of those patches that cost us. Mate, what are you on about? Petracca is essentially a second year player, who is averaging more disposals than Judd at the same time and many other stars of the comp. The guy will be a star in time. As soon as next year even. His ability to impact in the midfield, take contested marks (often on bigger opponents) and bob up with x-factor goals shows his clear ability and is already one of our top 10 most important players IMO.

Clayton Oliver. No...

Pretty sure it's Ben Matthews. There were certainly some teething problems without Gawn. Knowing your ruckman will win most contests, allows you to be a lot more attacking from stoppages. I don't think we've quite addressed what happens when we don't have a dominant ruckman. Lol, it was only a matter of time before some flogga put this one out there. Really? Based on what?

But in at least some good news, we're back in the 8 after Essendon got smashed.

Come on, Crows. One more goal to get it over 70 points.

Gee, Dwayne Russell continues his moronic existence. Been saying all night that whoever wins out of the Blues and Gold Coast will go into the 8. Unless they'd won by 10 goals, the Suns were never going into the 8. He is an all round spud and how he keeps his job I'll never know.

This is absolute rubbish IMO. Bernie was terrible again. His kicking is rarely taking the game on and often he makes stupid little mistakes. Brainfades. No other term for it. If he was taking the game on, then I'd have a little more patience for it, but dinky little kicks inside defensive 50 (he does this regularly and has done for the past season or so), are not only momentum killers, but are clearly not evidence of leadership. I'd argue Oliver is a player who can turn a game. Why we didn't have him in the guts (after 10 clearances) at the second last centre bounce I'll never know. Our problem is I think we need another one. Stop Oliver and you go a long way to stopping Melbourne at the moment. Viney needs to lift, Tyson needs to improve his disposal by foot and Jones needs to stand up in those moments where we really need him. That third quarter today was a perfect example of where historically, Jones has gone missing. I know he shoulders a lot of our leadership responsibilities, but if the younger guys like Oliver, Salem and Petracca can take the initiative, then surely Jones can. Thought Jake was really good in all the quarters except the third. He had an absolute bath in that quarter and Sandilands killed him. But to Jake's credit he bounced back hard in the fourth. Hopefully he can build on this. Handy if he can keep kicking multiple goals. Absolutely spot on. A grade post.

I'm liking the look of this Essendon game. This could be 50+ points at the moment. But aren't the Crows a scary proposition? Especially, in Adelaide.

Salem is developing really nicely isn't he? Such a smooth mover, but doesn't stuff around with it too much. Great post this too, mate. Couldn't agree with it more.

You're right. It seemed to be a philosophy-driven decision not to flood. We'll beat them playing our game or we won't win at all mentality. Goody strikes me as a very flexible and adaptable coach. He said as much on the radio pre-game, but in retrospect we probably should have put a few players back midway through the third, when they got ahead. Wouldn't say it's a crisis, but it's certainly Goody's first proper test. Wow. Just wow, mate. Seriously. What an ordinary troll you are. No they won't. If any of those three get injured, they're stuffed. Neale turned the game for them in the third. They killed us on the spread, but I still think they'll finish bottom 4. This is what I said last week. We clearly didn't hurt after last week. We obviously felt we'd romp it home. I hope they learn, but I don't see it just yet.

I know it's early, but a Port loss here could be handy for us. And a big loss for Essendon tonight could see us back in the 8. :D *tongue planted firmly in cheek*