Preview NAB Cup: Adelaide v Carlton - Friday March 8 @ AAMI 8.40pm

[The_Wookie]

just got back from the game.

The Good: Hampson was great. Kreuzer was great. Warnock has more or less firmed to be the star ruckmen of the opening rounds of the VFL season for mine. Lucas was good early. laidler was awesome in defence. Armfield was great. Murphs mark was terrific. White was solid when he came on. Judd, Gibbs and probably Casboult to return. Meeting HBF and Stig Ohara.

The Bad: Still lots of skill errors. barely saw AJ even though he was playing in defence and there was a lot of defence to do. henderson let Walker get miles from him at times, just seemed to have no touch or feel on him. Appeared from where we were that the clearances were just not being won either. Losing by 3 points. The two idiots yelling out incomprehensible gibberish punctuated every now and then by "go crows". Didnt see Michelle.

More when i wake up for work including photos.

 

[gbatman]

Would have loved to see Bell go up against Thompson tonight. If bell is going to mould his game around any player, Thompson is the man.

 

[le dominateur]

Just got back from the game, it was a good standard for pre-season. Thought Armfield, McLean & Lucas were good. Wasn't impressed with Joseph,
Curnow, Touhy or Warnock. Wish Touhy would stick to the long kicking, in saying that probably has the first 2 rounds to cement a spot until Scotland returns.. At this stage assuming Waite will be unavailable, my changes for round 1 would be -
Ins: Gibbs, Judd, Casboult, Bell?
Outs: Warnock, Joseph, Curnow

 

[Sector 7G]

Belongs in the crazy predictions thread

While I really rate the way Dennis goes about it I have to admit that is an iPhone related typo and should have been best 22. Though taking down " the fastest player in the comp" was awesome.

 

[BM123]

Yeah we blitzed it at the end of the game and nearly pinched a win but to get belted out of the blocks like that is the concern. Some of the blokes in there really lifted at the end which was a good sign.

Definitely room for improvement but we still haven't mastered MM's gameplan so there is plenty of upside.

 

[BM123]

While I really rate the way Dennis goes about it I have to admit that is an iPhone related typo and should have been best 22. Though taking down " the fastest player in the comp" was awesome.

Not once but twice too

 

[inyourcool]

I am not reading to much into some of the fadeouts we had during the game, it was obvious our intensity was low from the start

 

[Aphrodite]

just got back from the game.

The Good: Hampson was great. Kreuzer was great. Warnock has more or less firmed to be the star ruckmen of the opening rounds of the VFL season for mine. Lucas was good early. laidler was awesome in defence. Armfield was great. Murphs mark was terrific. White was solid when he came on. Judd, Gibbs and probably Casboult to return. Meeting HBF and Stig Ohara.

The Bad: Still lots of skill errors. barely saw AJ even though he was playing in defence and there was a lot of defence to do. henderson let Walker get miles from him at times, just seemed to have no touch or feel on him. Appeared from where we were that the clearances were just not being won either. Losing by 3 points. The two idiots yelling out incomprehensible gibberish punctuated every now and then by "go crows". Didnt see Michelle.

More when i wake up for work including photos.

That would have been the highlight of your night !!

 

[zeeCFC]

My round one 22 is pretty much finalised.

White, Jamison, Tuohy
Yarran, Henderson, Laidler
Lucas, Gibbs, Simpson
Judd, Walker, Garlett
Hampson, Casboult, Betts
Kreuzer, Murphy, Carrazzo
Armfield, Robinson, McLean, ???

 

[Stig O'Hara]

Crowd - debatable, we reckoned 4 and a half

The Beer - Ludicrous expensive

The Company - Top notch, one for the ages

The Game - Light and fluffy

Impressive - Number 8, Armfield, & Lucas got plenty of the pill

Overall - a splendid evening's entertainment. May have got a bit excited, but had a great night with 2 top blokes.

 

[Silvagnis]

Robbo kicked the footy to Walker tonight for him to take the hanger.

Robbo was also the one who kicked the footy to Walker when he took the hanger against Essendon in 2011.

Creepy.

Also kicked to Walker for the winner against the Saints and the mark over Jacobs.

 

[Bradschi]

i'm just satistifed with lucas' performance tonight, got on the end of a few good plays and kicked 3, and even though he did a few errors people really need to ease off, he is only 21 and there's plenty of upside to work with.
laidler was good and he showed how much we missed him last year in the back line
hampson's marks are sticking although he still need to improve on his kicking, the gettable set shot he missed and the one where he had two teammates running past him but he decides to turn around and kicks the ball off one step
I'm more than happy to take tonight's results, plenty to work with and improve throughout the season, and like some other posters said before, it is sometimes good to take this lost and learn from it.

If I have not mistaken, the percentage for us after this game will be about 141.5%, so if there aren't any blow outs or anything we will get into the NAB Cup grand final. that being said though, the only thing good about that is to attract more supporters to sign up and get us closer to the 50,000 and the atmosphere is great for the fans.

 

[Aphrodite]

My round one 22 is pretty much finalised.

White, Jamison, Tuohy
Yarran, Henderson, Laidler
Lucas, Gibbs, Simpson
Judd, Walker, Garlett
Hampson, Casboult, Betts
Kreuzer, Murphy, Carrazzo
Armfield, Robinson, McLean, ???

There's only 21 !!

Question marks don't count.

 

[Pendulum Jury]

guys we can still make the nab grand final. just need the cats to win (they should at skilled stadium) and for collingwood to win ( in Melbourne)
\

We would be 141.55%. I think Richmond have to win by over 60 points or Geelong by over 42 points if Kangaroos win we lose.

 

[mediumsizered]

Unusual the way we went about it tonight. There didn't seem to be too much adherence to MM's boundary line game plan & for a lot of the game we seemed to go one on one with the Crows.

We went with a relatively small forward line compared to the last 2 weeks & it showed up with the way the ball was delivered into the forward line. It was very similar to last season. Casboult is a definite starter for Round 1 & it will be interesting to see whether both Hammer & Rowe also play.

Murphy was clearly under instructions to take it easy out there tonight. He played the majority of the game on a HFF & Robbo was on a flank as well for a significant part of the game. Tonight's game was an opportunity for those players who are fighting for the last 3-4 positions in the 22 to show their wares.

I agree with the comments made by some about Tuohy. His lack of footy smarts is hurting him at the moment, but I wouldn't write him off just yet. It could turn around very quickly for him.

Jamison had a night he would rather forget. I get the impression he wasn't switched on tonight. It can happen, but I'm sure he would be pleased to have this one out of the way.

Overall, except for a disappointing 3rd quarter, there was a lot to take out of tonight's game. Lucas again demonstrated he can be a goalkicker. Armfield continued to demonstrate his improvement. He also has become a goalkicker. McLean just keeps on putting in. He is the consummate professional. He is to us what Ball is to Collingwood & what O'Keeffe is to Sydney. Importantly he is a true goalkicking midfielder. If he plays all games this season he will kick 30+ goals for the season.

On a side note, as good as Dangerfield is, he needs to learn he cannot take on the field. He got caught 3 times tonight & I seem to remember him being run down in games against us in previous seasons. On a related note, Mark Ricciuto should not be allowed to call Adelaide games, except those being broadcast exclusively in Adelaide. He is full of s**t.

 

[zeeCFC]

Lucas looked very quick.

 

[Stig O'Hara]

We went with a relatively small forward line compared to the last 2 weeks & it showed up with the way the ball was delivered into the forward line. It was very similar to last season. Casboult is a definite starter for Round 1 & it will be interesting to see whether both Hammer & Rowe also play.

Utterly no forward set-up with the big blokes, Rucks rotated through the goal square, and was an enormous hole at Centre Half Forward.

Maybe it was a run in the park.

 

[Silvagnis]

Joseph- wont get a game this year

I would even play Davies ahead of Joseph as a medium/small defender. That sums up what we'll get out of Joseph this year. Just can't defend in the air and down back due to his lack of size.

Lucas did a lot of good things and a few bad things. A bit of Jordan Russell about him though his skills are better at the same stages of their careers. Arguably. Horrid ball drop.

Duigan is more like his fellow South Australian. Only slower. Has that rabbit in the headlights look under pressure.

They were cleaner, but there's not a lot you can take out of that game. They were bound to come out firing after they were smashed last week.

Not disappointed after we produced more scoring shots in spite of having no forward structure.

 

[BM123]

So does anyone think we should have given Mitchell a go tonight?

 

[BluesBagger]

Muted the game at half time... by then it was pretty clear to me that Dangerfield, Walker, Crouch, Johncock, White etc etc etc were or are going to be super stars of the competition and unstoppable...

Considering there were a lot of players who had pretty average games and we're missing a decent amount of talent I was pretty happy with the result. Lots of room for improvement. A couple of things that have me concerned though are;

1) A Walker's kicking, in 2011 he couldn't miss, but ever since coming back from injury last year he seems to be missing them more often than not. It's obvious his run up and motion is different to 2011, not sure why he'd change a winning formula though.

2) C Yarran, just seems to not care. More than anything he seems to struggle to get in to the game. I'd rather see him use his classy kicking out of defense 10+ times a game then have him kick an amazing goal, disappear and get caught a few times. Feels like he cares too much about the highlight reel.

 

[zeeCFC]

Good votes: 3. D Armfield. 2. B McLean. 3. K Lucas
Bad votes: share it amongst Simpson, Walker, Duigan, Joseph, Jamison

 

[Stig O'Hara]

Good votes: 3. D Armfield. 2. B McLean. 3. K Lucas
Bad votes: share it amongst Simpson, Walker, Duigan, Joseph, Jamison

Wouldn't got to town on blokes in a prakky,
but certainly when Kruezer went into the centre, he showed his undoubted ability.

For 5 minutes in the second quarter, he knew he was better than Jacobs, and gave him a bath.

Outstanding.

 

[JustaBattler]

Down Back: Lucas did much more good than bad - he is yet to prove he has any interest in genuine hard bodied contest - saw him take some 'short steps' a few times. I reckon he will make it into best 22 because of his speed, rebound capability and ability to kick a goal. Tuohey has to learn to tackle and how to keep his feet. Joseph is an honest depth player. Duigan looks clumsy when pressured. Laidler is really important to keep it all together. Yarran does a lot of things that go under the radar didn't have much of an opportunity to do much tonight - except nearly jagged a win posting a nine pointer. Henderson is no where near his best form and Jamison didn't play as well as he did last week.
Up Front: Hampson worked his way into the game as time went on and took a few great marks and made some good contests - especially in the last quarter. Walker was fantastic with ball in hand - but seems to have the yips as far as kicking goals go. Eddie and Jeff seemed to disappear after the first quarter. Armfield had a fantastic game ( again) definately a starting 18 player. Robbo was hard at it made some good tackles and looks to be one of the players Malthouse wants to rotate between on ball and HFF.
In the Middle: Kreuzer played well as a ruck rover, Hampson did in taps ok Warnock probably played himself out of the starting22. Midfield set ups we weird - I think Malthouse saved the best for the last quarter.McLean gets better as the game progresses - every time, Murphy is playing more outside this year, Simpson has to learn to kick the easy six pointers in front of goal - he is bad form as far as kicking goals are concerned. Curnow did ok he will be good depth, Carrazzo played well under discomfort of a bleeding nose all night. Subs: White made a difference when he came on.
Missing: Judd/Gibbs/Bell/Casboult/Waite - all these blokes are certain starters.

Malthouse used the game to test some fringe players - only NAB Cup - but Adelaide played their best 22 missing only one bloke. Jacobs/Dangerfield/Thompson and Walker - without these 4 - they might not make top8 - with these 4 they are top8 - simple as that. I fancy a full strength Carlton are a better side than Adelaide under Malthouse.

We are no longer easy beats.

 

[Silvagnis]

So does anyone think we should have given Mitchell a go tonight?

Needs a full season in the VFL without the pressure of being the answer up forward. There are more experienced and fitter options who are ahead of Mitchell.

 

[Bosun]

Walker is a metrosexual Jezza