Thoughts On The St Kilda NAB Final

[Wayne's-World]

WW (me) this morning)

I watched the Hawthorn game yet again and took particular notice of Tippett.

Now whilst he didn't get that many possessions ....what was an eye opener was the stuff in packs he did.

He was busting packs, throwing out handballs from the bottom of packs .....he was using his body magnificently in thos packs to push Hawthorn players off the ball ......and he was as nimble as a midfielder moving around the ground.

He has the perfect blend of 200cm height, a leap, ......a super competitive mentality .....great speed for a 200cm player and now a natural footy brain.

Now there's plenty of players doing those things .....however not as instinctively as Tippett ....who has played less than 30 games in his life and still hasn't played an AFL game.

I can't honestly think of a weakness with him other than needing to get game experience.

His marks are not sticking AP ....but his leap is amazing and those grabs will come.

Here's my prediction:
Tippett will be a tier 1 performer for the Crows ......yes an AFL superstar.

Of course not this season ....but you just do not see players do what he is doing with so little experience ......and it's all instinctive.

Van Berlo & Knights will be very good players ......but I rank Tippett & Porplyzia in the elite bracket.

Griffin .......he's not going to be too far behind!


Thought is appropriate to re-post some thoughts I had this morning in the light of tonights game :o

[Wayne's-World]

Very interesting game thus far with maybe the lesser lights who were on the fringe for round 1 standing up.

Douglas has for the first time this PS one grabbed and looked the part :thumbsu:

Vince really has been the pick of the midfielders picking up heaps of possessions .....he's looking very classy with time to pick the best option.

Haven't seen Mackay yet ?

McGregor doing some nice things .....will be interesting if he can maintain for the second half as he has previously dropped out of games?

Second half will be decided by fitness in the extreme heat .......are we indeed as fit as everyone believes ....TWT

I came into the telecast after first couple of minutes .....who were the two to drop out of the squad?

[bigman]

Douglas vey good first half.

Tippett you star.

Kenny trying hard.

Need some more from our crumbers.

Vince - some good signs.

Is it just me or is Shirley off the pace?

Knights injured - thigh.

Our rucks starting to look better.

Burton - I wish he could kick.

[earlsta]

Very very excited about Tippett, after watching tonights game....some of the things he is doing reminds me of J. Brown, a lot of contested marks so far.

I'm telling ya...this kid will win the rising star this year.

[hey shorty]

Can someone shoot Robert Walls....... between him and the 5AA bogans we cant win.

Oh and Kurt Tippett you star :thumbsu:

[Pride of SA]

Can someone shoot Robert Walls....... between him and the 5AA bogans we cant win.

Oh and Kurt Tippett you star :thumbsu:

exactly with his freakin stats about how Adelaide went from high scoring in 2006 to just defensive minded in 2007.
No realisation that just about every forward who kicked those goals for us in 2006 was off the field injured for most of 2007. we HAD no forwards!



Tippett you are a looking like a gun. Who needs skinny little Westhoff now lol.

[MickyCrow]

With the exception of tippett we played shit. Very very disappointed with that

[21knights]

I wish Sellar played. What's the point of putting Campbell in?

[hey shorty]

Something has to be wrong with him, maybe a virus because you dont just pick someone and not play them.

[pjcrows]

So in real terms, we actually won by a point. Well done, boys :p

Pfft. An average effort, a good pre-season overall, will be an up-and-down year with excitement and not too much expectation.

[hey shorty]

With the exception of tippett we played shit. Very very disappointed with that

I actually thought our midfield was really what nearly got us across the line in the 2nd half...... too fit for them but just not enough.

Tippett was brilliant though ill grant you that.

Good to take some winning form into the season. Now its time to freshen up for the Doggies on Easter Sunday.

[MannumPower]

So in real terms, we actually won by a point.


how do you figure that?

[pjcrows]

how do you figure that?

9 goals 10 to 9 goals 9.

[hey shorty]

how do you figure that?

Supergoals I suppose, and rushed behinds...... I dont get it either lol

[MannumPower]

Supergoals I suppose, and rushed behinds...... I dont get it either lol


ahh figured it out, my bad, the last score posted in gameday thread didn't have a crows goal.

[maccas_no1]

With the exception of tippett we played shit. Very very disappointed with that

Agree far to many skill errors for my liking, it was like the great efforts we have put in over the pre-season all went out the window tonight:thumbsd:

Burton Burton Burton what are we going to do with you:thumbsd:

[Stephen2]

Whew.. Damn. Disappointed, really wanted to win that by half time, it felt like a home and away game, really wanted it! Footys back!

I liked our fightback to rein the lead back in, and we fought hard in the last but seemed to lose our run and bomb it in more than we had before. Could have been that the tempo/pressure was up so high in that last quarter.

Not disappointed by anything really... Just the loss.

Players:
Douglas did some GREAT things tonight, needs to do more but the standard was high.

Tippett well other posters can sing his praises but for the first time in a long time whenever we went forward I was yelling "Kick to it Tippett!". He was such a presence up there it was just AWESOME and something we've missed for a long time. Can't fault that game from the kid!

McLeod keeps on starring he's not lost anything - GUN.

Symes played another great game, I'm really liking him.

Stevens, Rutten, Johncock - great defensive unit, brilliant work.

Overall, I just hope we can find 1 more gear in the real season. If we can just click 5% more, find one more gear - we'll win a lot of games.

Anyway, just my ramblings, that was fun to watch... Footys back!! :thumbsu:

[hey shorty]

Agree far to many skill errors for my liking, it was like the great efforts we have put in over the pre-season all went out the window tonight:thumbsd:

Burton Burton Burton what are we going to do with you:thumbsd:

It might sound like an excuse bu I reckon they dragged us down to their level tonight. With the exception of Gram they were horrible and made more errors than we did even. It was a hot night and so forth, bad excuses I know but ill use them !!!

And Burton....... well yes I just shudder when he gets the ball.

[smoovy]

Who is the guy to the Neil Craig's right in the coaching box constantly pursing lips?!?! I know Hamilton is on his left.

[Wayne's-World]

Strange gameplan by Craig .....

Bloody hot night .....Knights injured b4 half time ....yet Mackay doesn't play till mid third qtr and Campbell got a cheap viewing seat.

Now when you need runners ......why not use them .....eventually it took toll on the midfield group who IMo got beaten tonight

Not that the midfield didn't get plenty of possessions but they were hardly damaging with their disposals and ......what's this "bombing" evey kick to the goal square .....talk about one dimensional forwrd 50 entries.

Fact is only Tippett looked dangerous in our forwrd line .......Burton could have been but for his kicking ......McGregor played well as a roaming forward but never really looked likely to bother the scorer.

So a PS that was designed to blood youingsters ......in the best development PS game of the lot we only really played Tippett.

Moran was sparingly used ....although I thought he was promising in his ruck duals despite the 2 frees against in the early minutes of the 3rd qtr.

Why play Stevens forward ......hell that's not an experiment ......we all know how he plays as a forward?

Me thinks Craig put TOO MUCH emphasis on winning tonight ......in preference to player development ......disappointing that :(

Symes:
Good player ....gets plenty of the ball .....hurt factor minor and his kicking has too high a delay in reaching the target.

Campbell:
You must be terribly disappointed .......

Maric:
Rucked OK without being influential ......but the kid needs to learn to take a contested mark.

His judgement of flight is awful ......if he gets stuck behind an opponent he can't work his way to the front ala Tippett.

The experiment of Maric going forward has ....been a failure

Vince:
Great first half .....fellout of the game after half time ...... young players find the mental aspect harder to deal with .....and the heat tonight would have tested the mental toughness of every inexperienced player.

Douglas:
Some great signs tonight ...... again did he fall out of the game or was he on the bench

Bloody hell ......why can't we know who's on the bench and who is being interchanged ......:mad::mad::mad:

Porplyzia:
Looked to be playing more forwrd again tonight ........but for me a bit quiet.
.
Thompson:
Again ....tight games gives away crucial free kicks .....that's not the sign of a leader

Average game .......should have had more influence

Reilly:
Average .......not enough hurt with his disposals.

McGregor:
Certainly earning his spot ......but with Tippett in close to goal and McGregor coming out a long way from goal we needed another tall option.

Stevens tried but no ......Maric tried but no .......Griffin not tried long enough to know.


So how much do we know after this campaign than we knew b4:

Tippett will be a star ......Mackay can really play ........Porplyzia can be a top tier midfielder ........Moran has a good future as does Griffin.

Our forwrd line? ........not sure based on tonight what with the pressure applied that we have solved too many things.

Macleod must play up forwrd ......we need another tall otherwise Tippett will get swamped every week .....and we have to vary our entries to the forwrd 50.

[WheresGroomgone]

Great game by the Adelaide Crows, despite some sadsacks comments, c'mon people here's a team that last October we thought would be bottom eight. Some fantastic signs, my man Vince is going to be a player, Douglas showed some excellent signs, note not just good excellent and then of course Tippett the baby faced boy. Very optomistic about the season now rather than just looking forward to seeing the young lads, well done Craigy and the Crows great stuff!!


Exciting times bring on season 2008

[cammo84]

Dissapointing result, but tough conditions and I wasn't totally unimpressed with the performance of the crows.

Tippett is a gun. It's exciting to have a forward target that isn't Scott Welsh. He was dangerous whenever he got the ball and I was very happy that NC played him for basically the whole game. Sellar's dropping makes a lot of sense now. I will be very surprised if he doesn't play in R1.

Douglas and Vince did some good things. Who knows, if Knights misses round 1 with his quad injury, they might both get a game.

Burton... so much potential but you're 29 and you still can't kick. So frustrating but he won't be dropped.

[Dandy_GO]

Based on this game, and I'm not suggesting that the season proper will be the same as god knows what Craig has in mind, but...
We need a crumber.
Our forward line was non functional against the Saints gameplan (ie at least 2 loose men in defence). Relying on a rookie to kick all our goals from long bombs onto his head will not work.
McGregor and Tippett can't function in the same forwardline. Both need to be left one-out in the goalsquare. McGregor is now a liability against sides like St. Kilda if he isn't left in the goalsquare. His opponent ran off him all day and, I believe, won the Tuck medal, and outscored him. If McGregor isn't marking it, which he rarely will with that amount of congestion, then the ball comes out faster than the speed of light. Apart from 1 Douglas goal, they destroyed our forwardline at ground level. We needed to play McLeod up there again, but, unfortunately, couldn't afford it with the strength and evenness of the saints forwardline.
In short, as encouraging as the emergence of Tippett is - and I am ABSOLUTELY STOKED about his game, our forward line was borderline non functional.
The delivery didn't help, but the structure was ****ed.

[WheresGroomgone]

Wtf are you guys on about bagging Burton, the guy would be sought after by 15 other clubs, tall poppy syndrome, the guy provides oportunities that for most aren't there, yes he would be incredible if he turned his chances into goals, however, no other player running around could produce what he does and convert every time. Enjoy the fact he is playing for the Crows and imagine the concern he presents for opposition sides every week.

[flackjack]

Something has to be wrong with him, maybe a virus because you dont just pick someone and not play them.

Lucas Herbet board:thumbsu:

[hey shorty]

I know its only pre-season but I am just loving Kurt Tippett. He has such a commanding prescence at the contest, and unlike Sellar he is extrodinary with the ball on the deck..... thats not to say Jimmy is bad, just nowhere near this kid.

Our young midfield is still going strong but hopefully Knighta doesnt have a serious quad injury. And both Goody and Macca must play forward as much as possible. Yeah short bursts in the middle when needed but hopefully not too often. It was disappointing to lose but there were some very good signs.

The skills must be tidied up before Rd1 but I reckon we'll go over there and give the Doggies a spanking.

[Dandy_GO]

I appreciate that it was bloody hot night, and Porps may not have the tank for it, but he is a midfielder.
His hands are absolutely wasted as a FP/HFF. He simply doesn't get enough of the ball. Yes he can take a good contested grab and kicks well, but his true strength lies in his clearance work with his clean hands in close. We missed him in the middle, especially when Knighta went off, and he was VERY quiet up forward. He's also not a crumber at all as he doesn't have the legspeed for it, and we DESPERATELY need someone up there who can crumb, based on tonights effort.

[Dandy_GO]

Wtf are you guys on about bagging Burton, the guy would be sought after by 15 other clubs, tall poppy syndrome, the guy provides oportunities that for most aren't there, yes he would be incredible if he turned his chances into goals, however, no other player running around could produce what he does and convert every time. Enjoy the fact he is playing for the Crows and imagine the concern he presents for opposition sides every week.
Correct.

[ash23]

I wish Sellar played. What's the point of putting Campbell in?

i dont understand why seller didnt play??? i was very suprised when the channel 7 news was reading the ins and outs, and found he had been cut, and campbell didnt even play that much anyways what a waste of time, least if he had seller we would have had another forward to look for instead of tippett all the time, (great game young tippett by the way)
loved douglus thru the middle there he was very quiet in the second half tho, symes is going to b a good player,
very dissapointed in the older experienced players eg, goodwin, edwards, mcleod, thompson, mcgregor, burton had his times but not the best, very disapointed.......

[Capitalist]

well to be honest i couldn't give a shit about the result, it was a great hit out for Round 1 at thats all.

Tippet- WW is right its not just his marking but the other stuff that is mega impressive, its just so sad that we finally get a guy who looks like a forward and we have no crumber, Douglas did it once but apart from that it was embarrassing to watch.

Vince - I think he did a couple of good things didn't realise he had a massive impact

Mackay - Looked classy but under used ?

Griffin - i was surprised to hear on 5AA that he was monstered by King and Gardiner, I haven't got the stats but i thought Griffin did a terrific job against two seasoned veterans.

Moran - why don't we use him more ?

Douglas - thought he was good in what he did - but didn't do enough of it.

Reilly - as above

Porplyzia - is a good player and does some things but is still a bit of being a "star", especially with some of his turnovers.

Maric - meh, to be honest they could almost go in with Tippet and Griffin.

Symes - was alright, i personally think he has shown enough to that you could say we have a better player than Mattner.

and when i think of more players i'll try to make another post.
But i was really disappointed in our delivery to the forward line, we finally have a decent forward option and we butcher it. Disappointed.

[TheLeftFist8]

Moran was sparingly used ....although I thought he was promising in his ruck duals despite the 2 frees against in the early minutes of the 3rd qtr.

Maric:
Rucked OK without being influential ......but the kid needs to learn to take a contested mark.

His judgement of flight is awful ......if he gets stuck behind an opponent he can't work his way to the front ala Tippett.

The experiment of Maric going forward has ....been a failure

Douglas:
Some great signs tonight ...... again did he fall out of the game or was he on the bench

McGregor:
Certainly earning his spot ......but with Tippett in close to goal and McGregor coming out a long way from goal we needed another tall option.

Tippett will be a star ......Mackay can really play ........Porplyzia can be a top tier midfielder ........Moran has a good future as does Griffin.

Macleod must play up forwrd ......we need another tall otherwise Tippett will get swamped every week .....and we have to vary our entries to the forwrd 50.

Enjoyed these thoughts W-W.

For mine, Moran was our best ruck when played there. 2 dubious frees against but otherwise some great taps and ground work also. Griffin was equally as good at getting the taps but his were not as well directed.

Maric was clearly the worst of the three IMO. Rarely wins a decisive tap, as W-W said he has poor aerial judgement, worst leap of the 3, least likely to be damaging around the ground. Send him to the Magpies and he should be ready as back-up if Moran needed elsewhere in the side or either Moran/Griffin are injured.

Douglas had a much better first half but i reckon he was on Gram for most of 3rd quarter at least (those at game could clarify), in which case he was certainly towelled up.

A piece of the forward line puzzle has well and truly been established in Tippett but, as has been noted, we have gone full swing from a team who chipped around the 'top of the quay' looking for the perfect lead to a team who bombs it almost everytime?? We need to refine this balance and look for the leading player as often as we bomb.

I believe there are 2 other missing pieces of the puzzle...

1) the crumber...and we need look no further than McLeod. No one can fully replace him down back but his unique value as a forward is required. I'd give him bursts down back to mix it and keep his hands regularly on the ball if quiet forward but maybe 70% of the game forward.

2) we lacked a guy who can lead up strongly around half-forward and into the square as the ball is being rebounded by our running backs/mids, allowing them to 'lower their vision' occassionly and centre the ball, and a guy who will fight to keep the ball moving forward and pressure any turnover...Nick Gill get well soon!

[TheLeftFist8]

Can those at the game give a balanced report on Shirley...looks very slow to me, certainly not at his peak form which he was for a few games at the end of last year...and a bloke like him needs to be in top form or he is a liability (see prior to being dropped last year)

[macca23]

To me, there were some really disappointing aspects from tonight.

- The number 1 is that once again we lost a close final. I really wanted us to win this game - not because I think it has prestige etc, I just didn't want to lose another finals type game in a tight finish.

- we really burnt the ball at times when entering the forward 50. Just a little more thought and application and it could have been a different result.

- our young rucks got shown a bit of a lesson, particularly Maric.

- injuries to Bassett, Knights and WTF happened with Campbell. More importantly a quad normally takes 4 weeks so Knights might miss at least the first 2 games.

- that 50 metre penalty against Thommo that resulted in a nine-pointer. Very selective umpiring IMO as that was about one tenth of the over the mark incident with Burton that did not get a 50 metre penalty.

On the positive side, I really rate St Kilda and they only just beat us. IMO they are a certain top 3 side and will embarrass some other sides during the year.

Then of course there is the big one - TIPPETT!!! :thumbsu::):D

Cometh the moment, cometh the man, they say and Tippett really stood up tonight He took some superb contested marks and will play round 1 - he has earned it. It's a long time since we have had a forward who can mark that well under pressure in a contest.

Also there were some little steps forward from Vince and Douglas, who probably both will play in Round 1 as a result of knights' injury.

All in all the game was a really competitive one by both sides, with St Kilda marginally using the ball better than us up forward - marginally.

[amez_7]

Disappointed with the result as i felt we were in control for the majority of the match - even when we were 20pts down. Tough conditions for both sides.

Kurt Tippett is going to be a superstar for the crows. For someone who hasn't played much football he certainly is a natural. Neil Craig must persist with him and give him plenty of game time!!

I like the look of Mackay. Don't quite understand why he hasn't been given more game time during the pre-season. Only seemed to play the second half in the matches. :confused:

Douglas showed some signs of being a good player but dropped out of the game in the second half.

Vince has been impressive so far this year, hopefully gets a start in round 1.

I was disappointed in Johncock! At very crucial times during the match he would have a brain freeze and make costly decisions. But i would still happily have in my team for when he is good, he is really good.

Burton- brilliant in the first quater........except for his kicking. Died out of the match as it went on.

McGregor- didn't really notice him. Did some nice things in the half forward line!

Van Berlo- Started off slow but really started to show his class in the second half. Nice goal to put the crows in front in the last quarter! Good attack on the ball and puts his body on the line when needed :thumbsu::thumbsu:!!

Moran- Not bad. I like the leap on this guy. Disappointed on the free kicks given away. Not for what he did but for why they were free kicks. The rucking rules really seem to confuse me.

Rutten & Bock - Solid effort by the boys down back. Both got beaten on the run by their respective players but one on one they are both brilliant along with reading the play.

Symes & Porplyzia - Good effort. Porplyzia has played better but he is definately going to be an awesome player for the crows.

Edwards - didn't notice him much. Took a decent mark in the second half (i think).

Scott Thompson :mad: - so frustrating! when he is playing well he is unstopable. But i have noticed that he never seems to be "playing well" in important games. Gives away silly free kicks and makes really bad decisions that result in costly turn overs. But overall he has had a good pre-season.

Umpires- Not going to blame the loss on the umpires, but they did absolutely nothing to help. Very inconsistent. Gave free kicks for absolutely nothing and let the obvious free kicks go un-whistled!

Why wasn't Tippett's goal a nine pointer? A relay free kick is exactly like a 50m penalty. It happened outside the 50m line relayed to inside the 50m line therfore should be a nine pointer. This rule needs to be altered by the AFL so that they are the same!! Who is going to go back and take the kick from outside 50 so they can get nine points when the kick is 10m out from goal? Stupid Rule!!

Robert Walls - Absolutely terrible commentary!! Before the game even started i had had enough of him. And what was with all the chris judd crap. Clearly not interested!!!!!!!!!!!!! Living in victoria and having him on the front of the paper is bad enough, i dont want to watch crap about him when carlton are not playing! Get over carlton wallsy you are a commentator your supposed to be neutral!!!:thumbsd::thumbsd::thumbsd:

Overall very happy with the crows pre-season and looking for a good 2008! I think we will do better than i thought we would do at the end of last season. Bring on Round 1!!!!!!!!

[hey shorty]

I believe there are 2 other missing pieces of the puzzle...

1) the crumber...and we need look no further than McLeod. No one can fully replace him down back but his unique value as a forward is required. I'd give him bursts down back to mix it and keep his hands regularly on the ball if quiet forward but maybe 70% of the game forward.

2) we lacked a guy who can lead up strongly around half-forward and into the square as the ball is being rebounded by our running backs/mids, allowing them to 'lower their vision' occassionly and centre the ball, and a guy who will fight to keep the ball moving forward and pressure any turnover...Nick Gill get well soon!

100% agree. Our defensive unit is such that Bunji can be covered easily enough. Obviously not by someone of equal talent but well enough not to make a huge difference. He is the forward spark we need, as we now know that Tippett will at least throw himself into the contest just about every time.

And Nick Gill is that man, without a doubt. He has his critics here but until Sellar is really ready to go it has to be Gill. Also, I like Goody leading up around that area too.

[macca23]

I believe there are 2 other missing pieces of the puzzle...

1) the crumber...and we need look no further than McLeod. No one can fully replace him down back but his unique value as a forward is required. I'd give him bursts down back to mix it and keep his hands regularly on the ball if quiet forward but maybe 70% of the game forward.

2) we lacked a guy who can lead up strongly around half-forward and into the square as the ball is being rebounded by our running backs/mids, allowing them to 'lower their vision' occassionly and centre the ball, and a guy who will fight to keep the ball moving forward and pressure any turnover...Nick Gill get well soon!

Right on the money. We really do need a Nick Gill at CHF as a lead-up player. Too many times there was no effort to kick the ball to any particular player when sending it forward.

The lack of a crumber was also painfully obvious once again with the ball being cleared with monotonous regularity once it hit the deck.

[Dandy_GO]

I believe there are 2 other missing pieces of the puzzle...

1) the crumber...and we need look no further than McLeod. No one can fully replace him down back but his unique value as a forward is required. I'd give him bursts down back to mix it and keep his hands regularly on the ball if quiet forward but maybe 70% of the game forward.

2) we lacked a guy who can lead up strongly around half-forward and into the square as the ball is being rebounded by our running backs/mids, allowing them to 'lower their vision' occassionly and centre the ball, and a guy who will fight to keep the ball moving forward and pressure any turnover...Nick Gill get well soon!

Correct :thumbsu:
IMO we would have won this match quite easily if we had Gill and Macca up there.
Very surprised Macca spent so little time up there come to think about it, given that Campbell is capable of playing as a small defender, and, at the very least, would have been better off for the experience, rather than the experience of sitting on his arse.

[TheLeftFist8]

[quote=macca23;10277053]
- our young rucks got shown a bit of a lesson, particularly Maric.

[quote]

I thought Moran, and to a lesser extent Griffin, were more than adequate.

I want to know why Maric is still considered our number one ruckman/sure selction in R1 as i do not believe, based on game performances, that he is anywhere near it. He is 3rd in my book, and my hunch is that Tippett would be better also but he is needed up forward.

[acg_204*]

Though Douglas didn't have a huge amount of touches the few he had were all absolute class. That duck, weave and handball in the first was golden.

Thought Moran got shown up a bit tonight, very weak around the stoppages. Got pushed out of the contest way too easily.

Rutten & Bock - Solid effort by the boys down back. Both got beaten on the run by their respective players but one on one they are both brilliant along with reading the play.

Disagree. I thought Truck had a very good game. The few times he was 'beaten' were by Robert Harvey lace out passes that no-one would have stopped. He took a couple of ripper marks floating back in the last quarter and Kosi was actually playing fifty metres away from the ball as a decoy in the last few minutes to keep Truck out of the play.

[Stiffy_18]

Just on Campbell, I think the reason why he might not have played is that he came off the ground after half time outside the interchange gate. He was already a step over the line before he realised and quickly turned back to come in between the interchange lines but I think it might have been too late. I could be wrong with this reason but he definetly made that error and he realised it. I am just not sure if the officials picked it up!

Tippett - he is a star in the making. This kid will kick 80 goals one of these seasons. The only thing that I would like to see him improve on is timing his leads a bit better. In a contest he is BRILLIANT. His ground level skills and 2nd efforts are exceptional. If he can sort out the timing of his leads he becomes that much harder to handle.

WW is right in that I think we need to go in with 3 tall forwards so Tippett doesn't get smothered every time the ball comes his way. His 3rd quarter when the ships were down was SENSATIONAL! :thumbsu:

[Dandy_GO]

Disagree. I thought Truck had a very good game. The few times he was 'beaten' were by Robert Harvey lace out passes that no-one would have stopped. He took a couple of ripper marks floating back in the last quarter and Kosi was actually playing fifty metres away from the ball as a decoy in the last few minutes to keep Truck out of the play.

Agreed - I thought he was amongst our better players.

[hey shorty]

Thought Moran got shown up a bit tonight, very weak around the stoppages. Got pushed out of the contest way too easily.


He isnt a ruckman, not yet. Against those two big bodies I thought he did ok but he was pushed out a bit easy at times. IMO he is much more effective as a running half back at this stage.

[Drummond]

Player Review:

Bassett: Took a knock to his shoulder and had to get it strapped. Had a few forward 50 entries but on the whole a quiet game and not overly noticeable.

Bock: Started off very well but became less of a force as the night wore on. Still managed 20 disposals so he continues to rack them up from defence.

Burton: 14 possessions, 8 marks and 5 shots on goal in a good outing for Burton. I just wish he’d kick more accurately in front of goal.

Campbell: 0 possessions. Shocking stuff Bryce, oh wait, he played 5-10 minutes, and he was tagging when on. I hope someone asked Craig about his handling during the press conference.

Doughty: Didn’t notice him much tonight, but he continues to put his body on the line and for that reason I’m content with him playing against the Dogs.

Douglas: MUCH better performance and for once he didn’t look overwhelmed. He didn’t fumble, in fact his hands were extremely clean and he kept his feet tonight. Used the ball well and showed great desperation in two contests. The only negative was how he seemingly fell out of the game but overall a much improved performance.

Edwards: As per usual with Tyson during the PS, he didn’t have much of an impact but it was interesting to see him in the midfield for the final few centre bounces.

Goodwin: Had a poor game IMO. Didn’t look too threatening in attack and just failed to have an influence.

Griffin: The best of the ruckman by quite a distance and I’d almost have him ahead of Maric for Round 1 which I thought I’d never say a month ago.

Johncock: Overall another good showing from Stiffy but he did let his direct opponent get away from him a few times.

Knights: Injured his thigh/calf early and I never again will I underestimate his importance to this team. We desperately needed him out there tonight as we missed his run and ball winning abilities. But with him injured it makes the decision to sit Campbell on the bench even more puzzling.

Mackay: Spent the entire first half on the bench which all but spells the end of his chances of making his debut in Round 1. It’s a real shame IMO because again he was impressive in his limited minutes. Love his work in close and for such a skinny guy he’s always throwing his body around without fear.

Maric: His lack of production around the ground is a real concern and he’ll get smashed by his direct opponent if he doesn’t work harder to cover more territory. Rucked with a certain degree of success but we all know he can ruck, I just want to see him have an impact around the ground.

McGregor: How on earth he finished with 15 disposals is beyond me. I’ll be honest, I thought he was absolutely dreadful and I’m now leaning towards Gill as our CHF. Just didn’t look like kicking a goal or causing the Saints any headaches all night. His form is a concern for mine.

McLeod: Pure brilliance on occasions, especially his little sidestep on Milne. Not much more needs to be said about the champ, he just looks so cool under the most extreme of pressure.

Moran: I was actually reasonably impressed with his ruckwork but the umpires curtailed his influence as they seemed hell-bent on paying frees against him. I think we now have a clear picture of our 3 big men for Round 1 though; Maric, Griffin and Tippett. There’s just no room for Moran just yet.

Porplyzia: Started like a house on fire and looked set for another brilliant outing but he dropped away quite significantly. Still managed to find a bit of the ball but he did something I haven’t seen before, he fumbled and chose the wrong option on more than one occasion. However in saying that, at his best he is a pleasure to watch.

Reilly: Radar played a top notch game tonight and responded well after his quiet game last week. 21 possessions, 6 marks and he was damaging with all his touches. Only credited with 2 tackles which I find hard to believe as I felt his tackling was excellent.

Rutten: Great game. That’s all I need to say.

Shirley: Pre-season or not, he’s struggling and looks out of sync right now.

Stevens: Another solid game from this very valuable player. Took some nice marks floating in defence and got better as the game wore on. Before this year I thought he should spend more time up forward but there’s no doubt he should be a permanent defender.

Symes: In my opinion he was right up there for our better players tonight. Used the ball pretty well and won a lot of the ball. Was good in the 1%ers and he has won himself a spot to face the Dogs.

Thompson: Good game, would’ve liked to see him push forward in the second half as the other small forwards weren’t having much of an impact.

Tippett: My word, I wasn’t sure whether he was a key forward before the pre-season but now I’m wondering why I ever doubted this man. What an incredible performance tonight and one that will surely fill the entire Adelaide coaching staff and supporter base with a lot of confidence. Kicked 4 goals, should’ve kicked 6 and if not for a miss communication with Goodwin early in the first term he would’ve kicked another. Is a fantastic pack mark and standing at 201cm I struggle to see how anyone will be able to contain him. The upside is ENORMOUS! FF, Round 1: Kurt Tippett.

Van Berlo: His development is really exciting to watch and he’s on the cusp of being an elite midfielder. Started in reasonably quiet fashion but he really got going after the main break. He was one of the reasons we got back into the game after the Saints got out by 4 goals. Kicked a great goal, won a lot of the ball and used it well.

Vince: I was impressed with Bernie tonight for one particular reason. When he won possession of the ball in-close, instead of simply putting it on the boot and trying to get it out of there, he actually looked for an option. On at least 3 separate occasions he dished off a quick handball when in the past he would’ve bombed away. Great signs!

[Glenno23]

Most have said what i picked up on too, thought it was our worst game so far in the pre season.

Tippett- all been said :thumbsu: Only bad thing is, anyone watching the game that plays DT/SC will have him in their teams

Vince- looked very good, but dropped off a bit, not sure how much time he had on ground in 2nd half

Douglas- did some very good things and used it well

And we need a crumber, if Tippett can create a contest like that, we MUST compliment that!

[macca23]

I thought Moran, and to a lesser extent Griffin, were more than adequate.
I want to know why Maric is still considered our number one ruckman/sure selction in R1 as i do not believe, based on game performances, that he is anywhere near it. He is 3rd in my book, and my hunch is that Tippett would be better also but he is needed up forward.

IMO Griffin is far and away our best ruckman out of the 3 used today. Taps the ball intelligently and is starting to get involved in the 2nd efforts etc after the ball-ups.

Moran is really only a relief ruckman at this stage - not sure that he will ever be used as a ruckman proper other than as a relief or replacement for injury.

Maric seems to have hit a brick wall at the moment. He hasn't really kicked on this year and his ruck-work at the moment is pretty average as is his field play.

On the plus side, he can only improve.

[PCORF]

I think we played really good apart from some bonehead umpiring descisions. Though most of those descisions were correct, some were too soft. Summer has just began as it was also one of the hottest games (temperature wise) ever played at this ground and both teams looked pretty worn out, the heatwave is set to continue all week long and probably through to the start of the season. Now lets get ready for the REAL season, its gonna be a really big year and we need to win close games this year, yes all of them by under 6 points its a must if we are going to have success. Was very impressed with Kurt Tippett's peformance and if he can stay injury free he is going to be our most important player in a few years time. We need to now concentrate on the Round 1 game vs the Bulldogs at the Dome, early start day game, possible extreme heat, red uniforms, a huge challenge for us and then after that our first home game and since I'm probably going to be there I can't wait to go, we need the crowd there for that game against the Eagles in Round 2. We also need to improve our run through the middle of the ground, stop handballing and just kick longer more often. I saw that tonight but too much handballing at times and a bit of stupidity. You let a player as bad a Steven Milne kick stupid cheap goals I hate that because he's the worst player in the AFL, you need to go one on one. Come on guys, learn from this, learn from last year!.

[hey shorty]

Player Review:

Bassett: Took a knock to his shoulder and had to get it strapped. Had a few forward 50 entries but on the whole a quiet game and not overly noticeable.

Bock: Started off very well but became less of a force as the night wore on. Still managed 20 disposals so he continues to rack them up from defence.

Burton: 14 possessions, 8 marks and 5 shots on goal in a good outing for Burton. I just wish he’d kick more accurately in front of goal.

Campbell: 0 possessions. Shocking stuff Bryce, oh wait, he played 5-10 minutes, and he was tagging when on. I hope someone asked Craig about his handling during the press conference.

Doughty: Didn’t notice him much tonight, but he continues to put his body on the line and for that reason I’m content with him playing against the Dogs.

Douglas: MUCH better performance and for once he didn’t look overwhelmed. He didn’t fumble, in fact his hands were extremely clean and he kept his feet tonight. Used the ball well and showed great desperation in two contests. The only negative was how he seemingly fell out of the game but overall a much improved performance.

Edwards: As per usual with Tyson during the PS, he didn’t have much of an impact but it was interesting to see him in the midfield for the final few centre bounces.

Goodwin: Had a poor game IMO. Didn’t look too threatening in attack and just failed to have an influence.

Griffin: The best of the ruckman by quite a distance and I’d almost have him ahead of Maric for Round 1 which I thought I’d never say a month ago.

Johncock: Overall another good showing from Stiffy but he did let his direct opponent get away from him a few times.

Knights: Injured his thigh/calf early and I never again will I underestimate his importance to this team. We desperately needed him out there tonight as we missed his run and ball winning abilities. But with him injured it makes the decision to sit Campbell on the bench even more puzzling.

Mackay: Spent the entire first half on the bench which all but spells the end of his chances of making his debut in Round 1. It’s a real shame IMO because again he was impressive in his limited minutes. Love his work in close and for such a skinny guy he’s always throwing his body around without fear.

Maric: His lack of production around the ground is a real concern and he’ll get smashed by his direct opponent if he doesn’t work harder to cover more territory. Rucked with a certain degree of success but we all know he can ruck, I just want to see him have an impact around the ground.

McGregor: How on earth he finished with 15 disposals is beyond me. I’ll be honest, I thought he was absolutely dreadful and I’m now leaning towards Gill as our CHF. Just didn’t look like kicking a goal or causing the Saints any headaches all night. His form is a concern for mine.

McLeod: Pure brilliance on occasions, especially his little sidestep on Milne. Not much more needs to be said about the champ, he just looks so cool under the most extreme of pressure.

Moran: I was actually reasonably impressed with his ruckwork but the umpires curtailed his influence as they seemed hell-bent on paying frees against him. I think we now have a clear picture of our 3 big men for Round 1 though; Maric, Griffin and Tippett. There’s just no room for Moran just yet.

Porplyzia: Started like a house on fire and looked set for another brilliant outing but he dropped away quite significantly. Still managed to find a bit of the ball but he did something I haven’t seen before, he fumbled and chose the wrong option on more than one occasion. However in saying that, at his best he is a pleasure to watch.

Reilly: Radar played a top notch game tonight and responded well after his quiet game last week. 21 possessions, 6 marks and he was damaging with all his touches. Only credited with 2 tackles which I find hard to believe as I felt his tackling was excellent.

Rutten: Great game. That’s all I need to say.

Shirley: Pre-season or not, he’s struggling and looks out of sync right now.

Stevens: Another solid game from this very valuable player. Took some nice marks floating in defence and got better as the game wore on. Before this year I thought he should spend more time up forward but there’s no doubt he should be a permanent defender.

Symes: In my opinion he was right up there for our better players tonight. Used the ball pretty well and won a lot of the ball. Was good in the 1%ers and he has won himself a spot to face the Dogs.

Thompson: Good game, would’ve liked to see him push forward in the second half as the other small forwards weren’t having much of an impact.

Tippett: My word, I wasn’t sure whether he was a key forward before the pre-season but now I’m wondering why I ever doubted this man. What an incredible performance tonight and one that will surely fill the entire Adelaide coaching staff and supporter base with a lot of confidence. Kicked 4 goals, should’ve kicked 6 and if not for a miss communication with Goodwin early in the first term he would’ve kicked another. Is a fantastic pack mark and standing at 201cm I struggle to see how anyone will be able to contain him. The upside is ENORMOUS! FF, Round 1: Kurt Tippett.

Van Berlo: His development is really exciting to watch and he’s on the cusp of being an elite midfielder. Started in reasonably quiet fashion but he really got going after the main break. He was one of the reasons we got back into the game after the Saints got out by 4 goals. Kicked a great goal, won a lot of the ball and used it well.

Vince: I was impressed with Bernie tonight for one particular reason. When he won possession of the ball in-close, instead of simply putting it on the boot and trying to get it out of there, he actually looked for an option. On at least 3 separate occasions he dished off a quick handball when in the past he would

Spot on Drummy mate. Although I will say I though Goody had a reasonably good second half but nothing special.

[starskyCrow87]

disappointing that we lost the game tonight but good to see tippett imposing himself on a match like he did tonight, when he didnt take the grab, he got it to ground, he's second efforts are magnificent...

Was at the game and, as others have mentioned, we majorly lacked that crumbing forward... many times the ball went to ground and we needed a smaller player to pounce... thats why im looking forward to jarhan jacky's development... ive only seen him in action a few times but i genuinely see him being that crumbing small forward that we so desperately need.

On a side note, heres something to think about... turning those 2 9 poiners into 6 pointers (which would be their worth in a normal premiership game) and we would have won by a point!:p

[Dandy_GO]

Love your work, Drummond:thumbsu:

[Drummond]

Was at the game and, as others have mentioned, we majorly lacked that crumbing forward... many times the ball went to ground and we needed a smaller player to pounce... thats why im looking forward to jarhan jacky's development... ive only seen him in action a few times but i genuinely see him being that crumbing small forward that we so desperately need.
Excellent point. :thumbsu:

Tippett was dominating up forward and on the rare occasion that he didn’t take the mark he managed to bring the ball to ground. I lost count how many times tonight be brought it to the deck but no one was at his feet waiting for the crumbs. He was often up against 2 or even 3 defenders but he still found a way to contest, but he received no help from the other forwards. If there was only someone waiting down to collect the crumbs they would’ve had a field day. With the potential of Tippett, and Sellar, Jacky’s development takes on a great deal of importance.

[macca23]

Player Review:


Campbell: 0 possessions. Shocking stuff Bryce, oh wait, he played 5-10 minutes, and he was tagging when on. I hope someone asked Craig about his handling during the press conference.

game but overall a much improved performance.



Knights: Injured his thigh/calf early and I never again will I underestimate his importance to this team. We desperately needed him out there tonight as we missed his run and ball winning abilities. But with him injured it makes the decision to sit Campbell on the bench even more puzzling.


McGregor: How on earth he finished with 15 disposals is beyond me. I’ll be honest, I thought he was absolutely dreadful and I’m now leaning towards Gill as our CHF. Just didn’t look like kicking a goal or causing the Saints any headaches all night. His form is a concern for mine.



Shirley: Pre-season or not, he’s struggling and looks out of sync right now.


Thompson: Good game, would’ve liked to see him push forward in the second half as the other small forwards weren’t having much of an impact.



Great summary Drummond. :thumbsu:

Just to discuss the ones I have quoted a bit further:

Campbell - I watched the game on Tv and I missed his cameo appearance. That is so strange, so unfair and would be distressing to the player.

Knights - he's such a ball magnet that he is a key in the new mid-field structure and it was significantly weakened by his absence.

McGregor - harsh comments there Drummond. He really put in IMO and earned his 15 disposals. When Gill returns I see Tippett and McGregor both playing on the FF line with Gill at CHF.

Shirley - shithouse game tonight and looks right out of touch.

Thompson - he was okay but not as dominant and direct as he has been in the first 3 games. He's a good forward and should have been given a crack up there.

[maccas_no1]

Wtf are you guys on about bagging Burton, the guy would be sought after by 15 other clubs, tall poppy syndrome, the guy provides oportunities that for most aren't there, yes he would be incredible if he turned his chances into goals, however, no other player running around could produce what he does and convert every time. Enjoy the fact he is playing for the Crows and imagine the concern he presents for opposition sides every week.

He was about as useful as I would have been out there tonight, kicking set shots from 35m out with no breeze should a be a gimme for any AFL footballer. Burton put the player he was passing to either by hand or foot under enormous pressure and it was sloppy rubbish from him, think it was in the 3rd quarter he kicked to a man on the wing (thompson) and the ball dropped 10m short of him and went out of bounds:rolleyes: He did a couple of nice things like his spoil in the last quarter but the rest was very average from Burton.

[SpringChoke]

The Good:

Tippett - wow what a game looks very promising.

Bernie Vince - Have never been a Vince fan but he played well tonight. Really good first half.

Griffen - Has stepped ahead of Maric as our first choice ruckman. However, don't expect to see the best from these two for 3-4 years.

Reilly - Is stepping up nicely. Not far of 1st tier.

Rutten - Played a great game against one of the best forwards in the competition.

Van Berlo - Love him.

Stiffy Johncock - Brilliant.

The Bad:

Goodwin: Needed to play a captains game tonight. Had a stinker. One of the worst games I have seen him play. I thought most of our seniors ( Edwards, Macca, Thommo, Burton, Shirley )played poorly. It was our youngsters who nearly got us over the line


The Ugly:

Umpiring - Enough said.

Ken McGregor - Overrated. Playing on name only. Hasn't done much in the past few years. Should have been traded why he still had a value.

Campbell - NC's treatment of this kid is a disgrace.

[maccas_no1]

Though Douglas didn't have a huge amount of touches the few he had were all absolute class. That duck, weave and handball in the first was golden.

Thought Moran got shown up a bit tonight, very weak around the stoppages. Got pushed out of the contest way too easily.



Disagree. I thought Truck had a very good game. The few times he was 'beaten' were by Robert Harvey lace out passes that no-one would have stopped. He took a couple of ripper marks floating back in the last quarter and Kosi was actually playing fifty metres away from the ball as a decoy in the last few minutes to keep Truck out of the play.

Unsure what game you were watching but he went body on body with King and out muscled him a number times in the third 1/4, I overall thought he did better than Maric.

[SpringChoke]

well to be honest i couldn't give a shit about the result, it was a great hit out for Round 1 at thats all.

Tippet- WW is right its not just his marking but the other stuff that is mega impressive, its just so sad that we finally get a guy who looks like a forward and we have no crumber, Douglas did it once but apart from that it was embarrassing to watch.

.

It was really evident tonight that we lack a quality crumbing forward.

[Drummond]

Shirley - shithouse game tonight and looks right out of touch.
I know at his best he’s in our best 22, but does his stature around the club get him a spot for Round 1? I’m not sure what’s happening with him at the moment but he is just really down on form, to the extent where I wouldn’t even play him against the Dogs. I can't exactly put my finger on it, but he looks disinterested out there.

[Mad Dog]

Perspective:

Carlton won the 2007 n00b Cup

St Kilda will finish Top 4 this year

Disappointments:

That my favourite spectator sport is adjudicated by a bunch of reactive, self important pillow biters who wouldn't know their arse from a hole in the ground.

That Robert Walls continues to get jobs in the media.....obviously out of sympathy these days.

backwards handball

Reasons to be excited:

Kurt - I love you man - you're gonna be a 200+ game star (there will be a plethora of superlatives here so I'll leave it at that)

Brad Symes is a gun

The emergence of Burny Vince......the kid will be a star

Griff's body strength at ruck contests - even against King was very very impressive. Before tonight my heart said he was our #1 ruckman. Now my head has jumped on board.

Davey Mack-Hey..........following in Great Man II's footsteps

Things that remain the same:

My Nana could outrun Robert Shirley

Scott "1 in 5" Thompson continues to be the biggest enigma at out Club since John Klug took the field against Hawthorn in R1 1991. This guy is either hot or rot.

Rutten - Stiffmeister - Stevens - love their work.

McLeod involves himself in AFL football only according to some internal calendar that no-one else can possibly understand

The Hobbit's non use of Cambell was puzzling.

Birdbrain continues to be more concerned with the decision making of his teamates rather than his own. As a 10 year player my advice would be - "kick the easy goals yourself before trying to nurture anyone else"



Summary:

Hate to lose - but there's plenty of reasons to be excited.....:thumbsu:

[SpringChoke]

I know at his best he’s in our best 22, but does his stature around the club get him a spot for Round 1? I’m not sure what’s happening with him at the moment but he is just really down on form, to the extent where I wouldn’t even play him against the Dogs. I can't exactly put my finger on it, but he looks disinterested out there.

With so many of the kids putting their hand up for a midfield role, I think Shirleys future at the AFC will be limited. Unfortunately, he is a one trick pony. It's either a tagging role or WWT.

[MarksGirl-kbcrowgirl]

He was about as useful as I would have been out there tonight, kicking set shots from 35m out with no breeze should a be a gimme for any AFL footballer. Burton put the player he was passing to either by hand or foot under enormous pressure and it was sloppy rubbish from him, think it was in the 3rd quarter he kicked to a man on the wing (thompson) and the ball dropped 10m short of him and went out of bounds:rolleyes: He did a couple of nice things like his spoil in the last quarter but the rest was very average from Burton.



He wasn't the only one who missed 'sitters' tonight. Everytime we lose the first person we blame is Brett Burton. Whilst he doesn't always make the right decision, the one thing you can never question is his committment and passion. We would sorely miss him if he left our club. I like Burton and the way he plays and I am getting tired of people knocking him all the time!

k
xx

[SpringChoke]

Positives:
If you had to assess the development of our kids over the last 12 months, you would have to say (based on NAB cup form ) VB, Griffen, Vince, Symes, Tippett and McKay have all taken massive steps forward.

Negatives:
I love Porp, he will be a special player but IMO he does tend to drift in and out of games. Needs to find consistency. I also think Big Iv Maric hasn't improved over the past 12 months. But I don't expect to see the best of this kid for another 3-4 years.

[Fergus]

Tactically:
- would we have allowed Jason Gram to destroy us off the HB line if this match counted for premiership points? Surely we would have manned him up.
- which team was responsible for the loose man in defense? Everyone cries that we need a crumbing forward (which I agree with), but when both teams have a loose man in defence numbers will generally win out.
- would we have changed our centre square line up if this match counted for premiership points? I have no idea of the stats but at the game it seemed as if we were smashed at these clearances.

[Capitalist]

one perons missing from the praise is Doughty

with hte midfield full of youngsters his game i thought was brilliant, he put his body on the line when things were getting tough, he took the heavy knocks that perhaps should have been taken by others and if there was a hard ball to get he got it

Michael Doughty is going to be top 10 B&F this year :thumbsu:

[Moonwatcher]

So in real terms, we actually won by a point. Well done, boys :p




They didn't score from 2 posters so they (St Kilda) would have won by a point i was keeping an eye on this side of things as it turned out to be a tight match.

[hey shorty]

one perons missing from the praise is Doughty

with hte midfield full of youngsters his game i thought was brilliant, he put his body on the line when things were getting tough, he took the heavy knocks that perhaps should have been taken by others and if there was a hard ball to get he got it

Michael Doughty is going to be top 10 B&F this year :thumbsu:

Did not rate him in the slightest sense coming into this pre-season but he has stepped up big time. He is playing like a guy who knows this might be his last season to prove himself. Putting his body on the line ad winning the hard ball, very impressive so far Dogga !! I know its only pre season but the signs are good from him.

I know one guy who should be taking a long, hard look at the way Doughty is playing right now, but his name can no longer be mentioned along these halls....... :p

[Eastern Crow]

I am not too concerned with tonight's loss, the luck did not go our way

1. Gram's dog of a kick for a super foal
2. 50m penalty against thompson for a super goal
3. non 50m penalty minutes later at the other end for the same offence after Burton took the mark
4. R Clarke kicks a goal after Milne rides VB in the back into the ground, no free given

Things went the Saints and that's footy, we will have our day

All in all some real positives over the past month

1. Tippett, this kid has arrived, 4 contested marks and 4 goals, this kid will only get better

2. Symes, very good month of footy and will be a very good player in 2008, I would like to see him replace Shirley as the defensive midfielder

3. Griffen and Maric showed tonight that they can certainly match it with more experienced and heavier ruckman

4. Burton, is set for a better 2008 season

5. Midfield of VB, Knights, Proplyzia, Radar, Thompson, Symes and Vince are ready to carry the work load

6. Bock at CHB has the capability to be AA CHB

7. Mackay looks all class and ready to step in

Concerns

1. Shirley, looks slow and roo one dimensional

2. McGregor, I srill have concerns that he may be exposed come the season propper

3. Campbell, works hard, however, this may not be enough

[Capitalist]

Did not rate him in the slightest sense coming into this pre-season but he has stepped up big time. He is playing like a guy who knows this might be his last season to prove himself. Putting his body on the line ad winning the hard ball, very impressive so far Dogga !! I know its only pre season but the signs are good from him.

I know one guy who should be taking a long, hard look at the way Doughty is playing right now, but his name can no longer be mentioned along these halls....... :p

its sad but true

[maccas_no1]

He wasn't the only one who missed 'sitters' tonight. Everytime we lose the first person we blame is Brett Burton. Whilst he doesn't always make the right decision, the one thing you can never question is his committment and passion. We would sorely miss him if he left our club. I like Burton and the way he plays and I am getting tired of people knocking him all the time!

k
xx

I could have kicked those set shots he missed, running around like a headless chook being lazy with your kicking and putting your team mates under the pump dont cut it for a guy who has been playing at AFL level for 10 yrs, his game tonight was terrible terrible terrible.

[Drummond]

I am not too concerned with tonight's loss, the luck did not go our way

1. Gram's dog of a kick for a super foal
2. 50m penalty against thompson for a super goal
3. non 50m penalty minutes later at the other end for the same offence after Burton took the mark
4. R Clarke kicks a goal after Milne rides VB in the back into the ground, no free given

Things went the Saints and that's footy, we will have our day

All in all some real positives over the past month

1. Tippett, this kid has arrived, 4 contested marks and 4 goals, this kid will only get better

2. Symes, very good month of footy and will be a very good player in 2008, I would like to see him replace Shirley as the defensive midfielder

3. Griffen and Maric showed tonight that they can certainly match it with more experienced and heavier ruckman

4. Burton, is set for a better 2008 season

5. Midfield of VB, Knights, Proplyzia, Radar, Thompson, Symes and Vince are ready to carry the work load

6. Bock at CHB has the capability to be AA CHB

7. Mackay looks all class and ready to step in

Concerns

1. Shirley, looks slow and roo one dimensional

2. McGregor, I srill have concerns that he may be exposed come the season propper

3. Campbell, works hard, however, this may not be enough
Gee whiz...

I don't have enough energy though.

[hey shorty]

Gee whiz...

I don't have enough energy though.

Easy now....... I know I know. :D

[Drummond]

Easy now....... I know I know. :D
It's been a tough night. :p

Watching the replay on Fox, that 'Tippett to Me' sign, great stuff. :thumbsu:

[-CG-]

It's been a tough night. :p

Watching the replay on Fox, that 'Tippett to Me' sign, great stuff. :thumbsu:

That was me!!!

Yes I got on TV :D:D

We made a ton of signs. 'Kenny McGod' 'Nathan from the Bock' 'Good Knights' 'Nathan van Beast' 'Do you like our Symes?' 'Lets Sellarbrate a Goodwin'

[Drummond]

That was me!!!

Yes I got on TV :D:D

We made a ton of signs. 'Kenny McGod' 'Nathan from the Bock' 'Good Knights' 'Nathan van Beast' 'Do you like our Symes?' 'Lets Sellarbrate a Goodwin'
:D Some beauties, Good Knights and Do you like our Symes, gold! :thumbsu:

[Allefgib]

'Tippett to me!' (loved this banner, anyone else see it?)

Considering the last game I was able to get to was West Coast Prelim of 2006 the 3rd quarter tonight had a very eerie feeling to it...

Only pre-season but was a little disappointing not to win. Can't wait to be able to go to every game of the season again now that I'm back home.

Players tonight:

Tippett - what more can be said. For a kid who has barely played the sport his body work and ability to read the flow of play around him is amazing. Throw on top of that his body itself and we have a genuine 'great white hope' here. Must play all season. If he doesn't play Sellar should.

Symes - Great pick up by the club. Clearly happy to be here and will be very serviceable off a HBF. Wouldn't mind seeing him take the midfield tagging role as someone previously mentioned.

Rutten - Best player at our club. Only time he lost a contest was a lace out pass to a very strong lead. At one point he was in a ground level contest near the wing and my brother said re: a saints player who just received a handball, 'Rutten won't catch him'. Well he did and tackled him perfectly. The smith and wesson of guns.

Bock - bit disappointed with him a bit tonight. regard him potential AA CHB but a few times he wasn't quick as restrictive of St Nick as I would have liked. Suprised to hear he racked up 20 touches. However, must play back and will easily be one of best 5 CHB's this year.

Stevens - tried up forward, didn't do much. went back and showed his worth. Might still be worth a try up forward this year but he is now a realiable player for us down back.

Johncock - gun. milne got away from him a couple of times but overall happy with stiffy's game.

Bass - we know his worth, not too concerned with him not showing it that much tonight. There was talk he might play forward this season.. thought we might have seen it in the pre-season at some point if that was the case? (i realised he didnt play all of the ps)

Goodwin/Mcleod/Edwards - again, we know what they have to offer. all a bit off the mark tonight I thought. Was one bit of play in our forward line in the last where a few bodies went flying and both goody and macca the last to get up by a long way as saints easily cleared the ball. Having said that.. PS and they are all a little older on a day with withering heat :) All 3 to spend alot of time up forward this year. MUST get quality crumbers to Tippetts feet. The kid will NOT get beaten that often and plenty of ball should be available at his feet.

Moran - thought he was crucified by the umps in his ruck contests to start the 3rd. Moderately happy with his PS. LIke to see him back in the side in say 2 months after some good SANFL form.

Griffen - some good ruck work tonight. However, some taps early in the 4th that went clearly to no one. Not sure if it was a tap to a designated spot that someone didnt get to or just poor direction. (e.g. one was right behind his head so he had no vision of the fact there was no crows player within 4m of the spot he tapped the ball to)

Ivan - disappointed with him. Has not come on like we all hoped.. like we all need.. Hudson will towel him up round 1 I reckon. Hopefully Griffen gets first shot at it.

Knights - missed him tonight after the injury. lets hope he isnt out for long. I love the fact he seems one of the few guys for us who will look to explode away from congested situations rather than handball out.

Vince - very pleased with his efforst this PS and tonight. Still a long way to go but like Tippett came to the game late but has this innate awareness of the flow of traffic. Will become a solid contributor this year.

Thomo - gun but needed the sights adjusted tonight. would have been a perfect night to throw him forward to be honest but I don't think it ever happened.

Porpy - his lack of pace costs him at times but those hands are amazing. was a little off tonight but then I think most players bar Gram/Harvey/Rutten/Tippett were. Will become a gun this year (i hope).

Rielly -very good when on.. seemed to be off alot though? (what did others think)

Shirley - meh, seemed barely on the ground and when on didn't do much. usually rate him highly. Will play round 1 and appear a different player methinks.

Mcgregor - serviceable game. Seemed to struggle with the fact Tippett was the long target which meant Kenny had to be more 'lead up' which he just doesnt have the legs for. Especially if he had to chase. Awful decision to chip to goodwin from the fevola pocket. Goody was barely 10m closer and on his left. I think Kenny might struggle to hold is spot if Tippett can keep being at least 75% of the presence he was tonight.

VB - very good. Great to see him come out and pull the side back into the game early in the 4th. very good leadership - looking set for another step forward

Birdman - he makes you shake your head and sit anxiously.. but still offers ALOT to the side. Very keen to see he and Tippett play out of the square. You get some crumbers hitting the packs hard around them (or running past Burton after strong leads) and there will be lots of shots on goal coming.

Dougie - liked some of his work tonight. I think my expectations of him are higher than he can deliver right now. seems to be struggling to really cement his abilities at AFL level but I can't put my finger on why. Height/Strength?

Doughty - playing like his every next game depends on it. he should. it does. nothing but respect for him getting the best out of himself and going in hard as a great example to some of the younger kids.

Campbell - poor kid should have had more game time. What a waste to drop sellar and play him when we didn't use him.

[Allefgib]

That was me!!!

Yes I got on TV :D:D

We made a ton of signs. 'Kenny McGod' 'Nathan from the Bock' 'Good Knights' 'Nathan van Beast' 'Do you like our Symes?' 'Lets Sellarbrate a Goodwin'

lol.. being long winded makes the first question on my last post redundant.

Tippett to me was well loved down our end. good work :thumbsu:

[porpoise]

I could have kicked those set shots he missed, running around like a headless chook being lazy with your kicking and putting your team mates under the pump dont cut it for a guy who has been playing at AFL level for 10 yrs, his game tonight was terrible terrible terrible.
What a stupid thing to say. What game were you watching ? Burton is a star. Have you ever seen him play live ? His ability to make contests is far better than most mortals, and his work on the lead tonight was better than any other of our forwards. On TV it's not obvious but his work ethic and running capacity is amazing - often leaving his man to get to the next contest and then the next and the next. Great exmaple of that was his spoil in the third quarter, when he outsprinted 3 Saints under a high ball that appeared a certain Saints mark but he forced it out of play.
Oh, and besides Tippett, which other Crow kicked more than 1 goal ???

[Zvim]

In the first half the game seemed to be played in two halves, literally, I think both sides dropped excessive numbers into defence and thus the lack of scoring opportunities and stagnant scoreboard. I was contemplating going for the razor blades but thankfully after half time the game opened up a fair bit.

I was surprised Moran wasn't used more, he makes a lot of errors but he has a youthful energy and I felt there wasn't the same kind of spark in the middle when he was off the ground.

Overall summary looking at the H&A season:

The goal count has to go up, crows are capable of scoring more freely but have to attack a lot more.

Too defensive. I felt Crows were far too defensive, for a period of 10 odd minutes I actually counted the number of possessions that were defensive oriented and the ones which were offensive and it was almost 3:1 with a lot of "do nothing" possession type disposals which forces the team to play more defensive.
If a disposal goes forward to create an attacking play then it forces the team to run forward and create play. Far too much lateral or backwards disposal when there were forward options.

Fear of contested football. Here you have a guy in Tippet who is sitting outside the goal square who looks like he will beat his direct opponent in a one-on-one contest more often than not. I was just dumbfounded why the focus wasn't to isolate the kid there up forward and move the ball quickly to him. What did he get, 3 goals plus a gimme down the ground goal. He could have kicked 6 or 7 if he was given the volume of opportunity that someone like Franklin is given.

It seems that the coach or the club isn't prepared to back the younger players. Play too cautiously, avoid the contest. Crows have the ability to play some great footy with some exciting young kids, however, if they are worried about turnovers and worried about conceding more than 8 goals a game then they will never have the opportunity to show what they are capable of.

[Peri Peri Sauce]

Spot on, Zvim.

[PCORF]

We need to run the ball quicker, do less handballs and get more goals on the run. But St Kilda played really good defensivly, they stopped that run and made it a sloggy affair.

Maybe when a game is close the fear factor rises in some of the players. But I think we played better than we did last year. If we can't win more close games this year that is going to be a major failure. But I'm confident we can stop the close game rot this year. Its been a long time since we have won a very close one, in fact our last 3 point win was way back in 2002. I think we have played decent enough in the preseason and we've played nearly full strength Haw and S.T.K sides. If the old, phat G-Train (Fraser Gehrig) played I think they would have relied on him more and we would have taken that advantage. I always had a feeling we were due for a loss, due for a wake up call and I said in another post that we should be the underdog going in. But we had a pretty good preseason giving the talented opposition we played. I think we can finish top 4 on the ladder and prove everyone wrong and we are capable of matching it with the best such as Geelong for example. Great peformances by Kurt Tippett, Brad Symes and Ben Rutten.

[FlyingCrow]

Put Simply the biggest thing from tonight Everything else has been said

Westhoff was the entre, Tippett WILL BE the main Course.

[James_37]

Geez, I need to stop drinking s**t loads before i watch these matches, the match just ends up in a blur at the end.

What I can say is I was gettin excited over Tippet, and not just excited, like, Bill Lawry over Merve Hughes or Shane Warne excited. I was barrin up in the commentary box, I'm not going to lie!!!

Really, I don't care about the result, this bloke is a legend! Riewoldt, Koshitsky, Mcgregor had nothin on this bloke and he's yet to play 50 games of aussie rules and he has shown more than any forward since Modra.

Apart from this, I seriously hope that Craig meant for that to happen, apart from Tippet, we had no forwards, even Sellar would have been useful against an undersized saints defence, Mackay and Cambell deserved more game time, even if we had shoved Moran up forward or Rutten just to create another tall marking option to go to, they had a severly undersized defence and hence, if we didn't mark it, they cleared, we should have put tall KPFs 1 out against their defenders, not in big packs where the ball is brought to ground more often than not, just to the saints strengths. Our forward line was no use if Tippet didn't mark.

Once again Milne had Johncocks measure, few do, but just knows how to play him. I'm sorry, we lost that match, stkilda didnt win it, what makes me so frustrated is that we were on top in general play, but again, just couldn't put the score on the board.

I just hope Craig was trying to convey to the other coaches that he plainly can't coach on match day, because thats what he conveyed to me. Once again, when under pressure, our forward structure has failed to deliver from ample opportunity.

As I said in the thread on our round 1 team, we need 3 designated KPFs in our team, not 2 and a defender or ruckman, now if Gill isn't ready, then Sellar is it, in the past 10 or so years, when our forward line has worked best, it has always been because of numerous tall options presenting, not because of individual brilliance. Sellar would take that 3rd tall and in the bulldogs especially, thats no one special, just another small to mid defender, someone he will beat in the air if we kick it to him. Griffen and Maric arn't the answer up forward, leave them as ruckman.

Just a messy game all up, as someone said, the saints brought us down to their level, a scrappy, crappy kind of match that relied on opportunist goals and they had the opportunist forwards to do this, we should have exploited their short defence, we didn't, they exploited our lack of any crumbing forwards and hence won.

[Wayne's-World]

Jut dreaming of a forwrd line of Tippett, Sellar, Hentschell .....with Jacky and Macleod :cool:

No seriously if we can get Hentschell THIS YEAR playing with Tippett ........that will really chage the forwrd mix ......a leading forwrd and the high ball for Tippett.

Sadly I might be a year off from seeing that happen :(

[Wayne's-World]

If anyone heard or has a transcript of Neil Craigs press conference .....I'd love to understand his use of the interchange last night and Campbell in particular.

In most PS games Craig has used the max 16 interchanges per qtr .......in what was a stinker he used last night fewer interchanges and less players :confused:

[maccas_no1]

That was me!!!

Yes I got on TV :D:D

We made a ton of signs. 'Kenny McGod' 'Nathan from the Bock' 'Good Knights' 'Nathan van Beast' 'Do you like our Symes?' 'Lets Sellarbrate a Goodwin'


Seen that Nathan Van Beast shown on TV before the game was outside the ground.

[Carl Spackler]

69-64.
Certainly a more familiar score-line for us and one thinks that once the freedom and space of the preseason disappears, this will be a more realistic game score.

The old problem resurfaced - we have plenty of the ball and plenty of forward 50 entries but find it hard to kick goals. Can we afford to play a loose man in defence and, in turn, place our forwards at a numerical disadvantage? Personally I'd be more inclined to back our defenders in one-on-one and give the loose man the flick. I don't think our forwards are good/mobile enough to cope with the extra player around them.

Griffin and Maric both fared well in the ruck contests but gave little around the ground. Anyone would think that we've got Matthew Clarke as our ruck coach. Maric in particular was poor in a few marking contests. There were times when he just had to bring the ball to the ground or at least make his presence felt. He didn't. Xavier Clarke out-bodied him at one stage.

Tippett and Burton looked dangerous and seemed to complement each other well. McGregor just got in the way tonight.

Early on it seemed that we went super-goal happy and kept bombing away from outside of our range. Plenty of points and rebound-fifties resulted. We rarely raised the eyes to hit a leading forward. And then Tippett marked a few high balls - excitement built - and this tactic became our only attacking weapon.

Anywho, the game is over and we couldn't have asked for much more from our preseason. Before the NAB Cup, I think that most realistic Crows fans would have had us pegged finishing somewhere between 7th and 10th this season. Have we seen anything to change that assessment, up or down?

[TheLeftFist8]

If anyone heard or has a transcript of Neil Craigs press conference .....I'd love to understand his use of the interchange last night and Campbell in particular.

In most PS games Craig has used the max 16 interchanges per qtr .......in what was a stinker he used last night fewer interchanges and less players :confused:

I didn't hear it either but my only guess is, despite contrary media reports, Craig has pretty much finalised his 22 and wanted some more focussed match practice for R1, hence Campbell and Moran being used sparingly.

[beartoo]

Yeah, it was a bit scrappy. But it was good, tight, finals football. Saints played well to stop our run through the middle and force us wide. Almost all our shots in the first half were from the pockets. Tippet was good and will be a gun, but the Saints were without their two key backmen. Expectations on the lad are a little on the heavy side at this stage.
Thought Craig should have put an extra tall into our forward mix early to stretch the Saints lack of height down there.
Pity we lost, but this pre-season has been VG for the club. Game time for a lot of youngsters. Strengths and weaknesses under pressure analysed. Roll on Round 1

[topjars]

Oh well, another lost opportunity goes begging - well done the Sainters:thumbsu:

Tippet was one positive to come out of the game and I thought our rucks did pretty well at ballups/ins.

Best players for mine in no particular order were Tippet, Johncock, Rutten and I thought Symes did OK too.

Robert Walls you are a goose of the highest order

[maccas_no1]

Robert Walls you are a goose of the highest order

I think he should join that group 'I have a chip on my shoulder because of the AFC'

McDermott is the President

[NikkiNoo]

C*G - saw you girls wandering around the shed with your signs, nice face paint :D

[-CG-]

C*G - saw you girls wandering around the shed with your signs, nice face paint :D

Haha, I was the one without the face paint :thumbsu: Glad to, the other girls were melting!

[noddy]

In the first half the game seemed to be played in two halves, literally, I think both sides dropped excessive numbers into defence and thus the lack of scoring opportunities and stagnant scoreboard. I was contemplating going for the razor blades but thankfully after half time the game opened up a fair bit.

I was surprised Moran wasn't used more, he makes a lot of errors but he has a youthful energy and I felt there wasn't the same kind of spark in the middle when he was off the ground.

Overall summary looking at the H&A season:

The goal count has to go up, crows are capable of scoring more freely but have to attack a lot more.

Too defensive. I felt Crows were far too defensive, for a period of 10 odd minutes I actually counted the number of possessions that were defensive oriented and the ones which were offensive and it was almost 3:1 with a lot of "do nothing" possession type disposals which forces the team to play more defensive.
If a disposal goes forward to create an attacking play then it forces the team to run forward and create play. Far too much lateral or backwards disposal when there were forward options.

Fear of contested football. Here you have a guy in Tippet who is sitting outside the goal square who looks like he will beat his direct opponent in a one-on-one contest more often than not. I was just dumbfounded why the focus wasn't to isolate the kid there up forward and move the ball quickly to him. What did he get, 3 goals plus a gimme down the ground goal. He could have kicked 6 or 7 if he was given the volume of opportunity that someone like Franklin is given.

It seems that the coach or the club isn't prepared to back the younger players. Play too cautiously, avoid the contest. Crows have the ability to play some great footy with some exciting young kids, however, if they are worried about turnovers and worried about conceding more than 8 goals a game then they will never have the opportunity to show what they are capable of.



If i was to write a detailed description (which i hardly do due to i couldn't be bothered & prefer to read posts of others ) of the game this would be very close to what i would put up.

That said would have been nice to win but would rather see kids improving & being given the chance on a big stage in preparation for the real season proper.

What was wrong with B Campbell ?

[adelaide_40]

Unlucky we lost but congratulations to the Saints :thumbsu:

Big positive was Tippet great game from him and looks a gun.

Best players IMO: Tippet, symes, Johncock, Rutten.

[Porps_is_HOT_loz]

I was sooo fustrated with the Umpires it wasn't funny.
Stupid Victorians....
Still went to the Crows Shed.
Talked to Porps, Birdman and Tippit!!
I thought Tippit was the star! (somebody had the Tippit to me sign ;))
Hopefully we do well in the Prem Season:)

[macca23]

I know one guy who should be taking a long, hard look at the way Doughty is playing right now, but his name can no longer be mentioned along these halls....... :p

Will the walls come tumbling down if we do?? :)

[Markthirtytwo]

Just finished watching the tape of it. Honestly we didn't deserve to win.
No accountability for an opponent. Really. But I'm sure that that is what we are going to have to expect this year from the young brigade, inconsistency.
We are going to be up and down in form. But I noticed that we're back to that old possession game early in the third quarter anyway, sure bought back memories, from last year :eek:.

The Good:

Tippett: Get him one out and he'll bag some goals, but don't expect too much too soon;
Moran: After last weeks effort, thought he played well. Still learning the ruck;
Symes: Really impressed with this kid, will get better the longer he plays;
Douglas: Stepped up this week with some nice work, needs to work on keeping his tackles from being brushed off;
Vince: Started well, but fell out of the game. Still learning the AFL pace;
VB: Not his usual high standard, but did some very cleaver things in tight;
Porplyzia: His high possession rate, but some of his disposals let him down;
Rutten: Just magic;
Griffen: Kept up his work rate from the last two weeks, and is our #1 ruckman IMO;
Doughty: More like this from him and his name should be taken off the delist list of many here.

The So So:

Bock: Started well, but thought he either kept the ball too long, not long enough and kicked too high too often;
Johncock: Tried too hard, I thought and often over ran or got caught under the ball, some of his kicks without pressure let him down, below his standard for me;
Macca: Not up to his usually high standard, and had to go back when Knights went off. Still rebounded well, but so so;
Maric: Disappointed in him after last week, his effort was down this week, but he is still developing and will take more time.
Burton: If anyone doesn't know by now that he is up and down from game to game, then you don't know that is what we have to expect from him. He is never going to be a game winner week in week out.
MacKay: Not sure what NC has in store for him, whether his endurance at training shows he cannot last a full game, but I doubt he would have got a game come round one, if Knights doesn't get up.
Edwards: Did some good things, but his little chips nearly always lets him down.

The rest.
Thompson: If he doesn't play well, we don't look like winning. Not a good game from a perspective captain.

The Bad:

At least I wont have to put up with ch 10 commentary again. Apart from Luke Darcey, the rest are up themselves.





And oh, I notice incompetence is still around this year. :mad:

[birdmanptr]

We got beat in ruck and so we should have kids up against experience but they would have learnt lot more last night than they would at 5 training sessions.

We now have 1 key forward line player 20 years old and fingers crossed 10 years head of him.So now we just need 1 more hopefully Sellar but dont care who

Would have been nice to win but i got alot of hope out of last nights game not just for 08 but beyond.

[topjars]

We got beat in ruck and so we should have kids up against experience but they would have learnt lot more last night than they would at 5 training sessions.

:eek:I thought we went OK, especially Griff who battled some ordinary ruck infringement decisions.

[birdmanptr]

:eek:I thought we went OK, especially Griff who battled some ordinary ruck infringement decisions.

Yes he did get some ordinary descions and with more experience he wont give those away even if those descions are incorrect.

[panthers]

Hey guys firstly congrats on a great game last night. I was at the ground and to all the ppl that went . well done the heat was stifling...just imagine what the players were feeling. The game was played at a very fast pace, skills were down but you could tell that both clubs were having a real dip. Where I was sitting ( near the saints cheersquad) 3 rather big 20 plus year olds with "official crow supporter shirts on) came after half time and tried to sit in the "roped off area " that is just for the CS. The security ppl were alerted and these guys were escorted away only to try to get back in the area. One of these brave souls spat a huge gobber at a couple of the "senior cheersquad" members and one man was verbally threatened with violence after the game by the "hero" Always 1 or 3 in a crowd isnt there. Anyway it was a great night and the crowd really got into it and was very very loud. Dont worry what R Walls or anyone else says the crowd was fantastic. Cya all later in the year at TD :)

PS Tippet will be a gun

[CrowHop]

Here are a few of my observations:

St Kilda - I think tonight showed that St Kilda are (or will be) a quality unit this year. King, Gardiner M and Schneider add to a classy side which already had plenty. This could very well be their year and they should be disappointed with anything less than top 4 I reckon.

Rucks - We seem steady here, although would hope that Maric improves a fair bit. Thought Moran was steady and maybe the frontrunner for the no.2 ruck spot. Griffin was good, just needs to get involved a bit more around the ground.

Midfield - Well our younger brigade did well tonight. Probably overrun in the last half, but the likes of Vince, Symes, Reilly and VB look like they could really pose some problems this year. Douglas also looked like he took a step forward last night. Much better. Shirley looked out of touch and wouldnt be in my best 22 for the Dogs in round 1 at the moment. Mackay looks good and needs a good run with South. Campbell - wtf ?

Forwards - Whilst Tippett played well, we did look a bit one dimensional. McGregor was ok but never really looked dangerous, Goody was quiet and Burton was erratic but also looked dangerous at times.

Defense - We looked good down there. Rutten was strong and Bock was good at CHB.

Summary - Knights' injury hurt us tonight, so hopefully we get him back soon as he's a valuable member of the new look midfield. Hopefully we can get a fit Gill back as that lead up CHF. I think that'd make a difference.

Commentators - Robert Walls you're a dick. It was 40 degrees yesterday and its a long weekend thats why the crowd was down a bit. What a moron.