Adelaide Crows vs. Melbourne Demons
Saturday 18th April, 1:40pm – Adelaide Crowval
Weather
19 degrees - Cloudy. High (70%) chance of showers developing during the morning, clearing by evening. Winds westerly 15 to 25 km/h increasing to 25 to 35 km/h during the day then turning south
Form:
Adelaide: 1st, 2-0, WW
Melbourne: 13th, 1-1, WL
Well, who would have guessed when the final siren went in Round 23 2014, that we’d have a massive overhaul of not only our playing list, but our Admin and coaching staff? Who would have guessed we’d be top of the ladder 2 rounds running to start 2015?
Not me.
And yet, here we are. After the longest offseason in the history of the Universe, massive changes off field, and a general feeling of optimism not seen since the 2013 PS, we've come out and won our first two games, leaving most of us feeling like this:
We haven’t just won them though. We've demolished them. The first half of the North Melbourne game was amazing. I haven’t seen us just dismantle a side like that since 2006. If only we had a forward like Tex in 2006…
ANYWAY
We’ve been playing some great footy. The players really seem to have bought into Walshy’s team defence gameplan and I love it. Both games haven’t been without their worries though. The first 10 of the 3rd against the Roos and the last qtr against the Pies are a slight worry. Our gameplan is one that we won’t be able to keep up for 120 minutes. Walshy has said this himself, referring to “Phases of Play”. We just need to keep capitalising on our moments of dominance. We did against North, we kind of did against Collingwood, with our inaccuracy keeping the game from being similar to the North game. So far, I like what I'm seeing.
Melbourne are 1-1 coming into this game, and have been playing some good footy. Their defeat of the OAGAS (One-Armed Gary Ablett Suns) was an impressive one. They were full of run and their youngsters in Hogan, Tyson, Viney, and Vandenberg outshone the Suns. They were equally impressive against GWS. That was until they caught the flight back to Melbourne mid-game. 13 goals to 1 after half time was more like the Melbourne we all know and love (and constantly lose to). If the Dees of the 1st half turn up on Saturday, it'll be a good game. If the Dees of the second half turn up, then it could get ugly.
Teams
History
Round 7, 2014
I had the fortune of working for the 1st half of this game, and by the time I got to the ground it was 10 minutes until the final siren. I sat there for 10 minutes with a look of utter disbelief. Surely not. Alas my eyes were not deceiving me.
Then I remembered our history against these guys and began weeping gently as the first nail in Sando’s coffin was hammered in.
Our 2012 and 2013 games were wins by an average of 11 goals. These wins included a bag of 6 by Lewis Johnston in 2013, meaning he kicked 37.5% of his career goals in one game. It also included Tex’s best game of his career version 1, before the best game of his career version 2. Many of us remember that game fondly. The big Tex kicked 4.2, took 16 marks, kicked that absolutely delightful pass to Callinan off one step, and got the 3 Brownlow votes before giving the 3 Brownlow votes to Danger was cool (He only got 2).
Round 7, 2011 aka The first nail In Neil Craig’s coffin (I’m sensing a pattern here, people)
This game needs no introduction. We ALL know what happened. I don’t want to talk about it any more.
That was the old, old Crows (predecessor to the old Crows 2012-2014) I hope I never see s**t like that again. Losing by 90-something points to Melbourne. Blergh.
And, just because I can, have some highlights of our home finals win against them in 2002 at
Where the game will be won
If we can get our press going and capitalise on the dominance then we really should be winning this comfortably. On paper we have the better side, and if Sauce can get on top and give our mids first use then our quality should shine through. Last week, Melbourne were killed in the contested ball and clearances by GWS, and while they were able to stem the tide (which actually turned in the 2nd quarter, GWS were wasteful however) the floodgates eventually opened. These are two areas we excel in, and need to get on top in these areas to win.
Melbourne cannot be underestimated though. Their 1st game against GC showed that they can run the ball quite well, and so our press will need to be in full effect to stop them getting goals out the back. IMO we underestimated them last year, and they managed to hold on to the win. We cannot let them jump us this time.
We should be winning this game, and after last year, losing those games we should have won, we need to win this one. I'm
Crows by 6 goals.
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