Review vs Adelaide Crows

[TMoney22]

that was freakin insane!!!
I was really worries about our backline with Morris out. I thought Roughy would help out Cordy and too much be left to Talia. They all stood up and smacked their opponents. Wood and JJ were outstanding. Easily JJ's best game. Talia's a gun, but I remember reading he was one of the best defenders in the TAC at the time. Why the hell wasn't he playing last year.

And then there is Ayce Cordy, obviously beaten in the ruck, wasn't as good around the ground as some others have said, but i'll take what he gave tonight. It could have been a disaster so i'm happy for him to keep the #1 ruck next week.

Grant could have done more, I think we all agree. But he's doing the small things and giving effort. Ideally we want more but until our recent draft picks mature a bit more then i'm fine for him to be in the bottom tier of the 22.

Webb, what a kid, it will be great for him if we can keep playing him next to Morris and Boyd.

 

[dogwatch]

I have some doubts about Roughy as a defender actually. I think he's a genuinely good footballer and mature leader and does a good job back there but he'll never be A-grade. He's one I'd continue to be willing to give some ruck development to at times and maybe up forward too (even though he hasn't shown a lot there previously). No doubt he'll be a long term player regardless.

That's about my thinking too. Just got to find the best role or combination of roles for him
He could for instance be an effective swingman (hate that term) - throw him forward as an unexpected tall marking target. He can take a good grab and if the delivery is to advantage (as we are seeing a bit more often this year) he could clunk a few.

 

[ThirdLegUp]

GET AROUND HIM!!!! WOOOOOOTTT loved that! great pic

 

[JTCWBFC]

GET AROUND HIM!!!! WOOOOOOTTT loved that! great pic

Was a great moment. This kid will be all the better for the run.

 

[stefoid]

Quantity doesn't equal quality though. The amount of half backs isn't the issue; the skill of them is. I hope Biggs becomes the man but I'm cynical.

I certainly have a higher opinion of Talia than I do Roughead - I'd prefer Fletcher Roberts to Roughead. One on one Talia's exposed but by having one or two bigger and more skilled KPDs I think he could thrive - agreed. Allow him to zone and intercept and rebound as he does best. But Roughead isn't that bloke, I don't think. Aware he's had shoulder issues but I think many #1 forwards expose him 1 on 1 and with his turning circle, he's easily beaten at ground level. I used to be hot on him but he hasn't progressed at the rate most ruckmen/tall fwds cum key backs do.

sure, Im not sure any of those half backs will be AA, but the situation is better than its been in some time.

As for Roughy, key defender for the dogs hasnt been a great place to be for the last couple of years - baptism by fire for Roughy. By the end of the season, we'll know more.

 

[AFDogs]

Our back-line was absolutely sensational. I was in constant awe of how well we played in our back half. Ball use was phenomenal, we kept Dangerfield and Walker at bay and our pressure was sublime.

It's hard to pinpoint who was our best. Everybody played really well (except maybe Dickson, who is allowed to have a quiet game after his form at the start of the season). M Boyd, Murphy, Bonti, Jong, Stringer, Talia, Picken, Webb, Wood, Johanison, Roughead played near-perfect games.

GO DOGS.

 

[Unknown Caller]

I still believe that Jordan Roughead would make a better ruckman than a key defender or forward.

 

[ottoman]

Congratulations guys. Always had a bit of a soft spot for the Doggies. Great to see your team doing well. You have some fantastic young talent.

 

[JTCWBFC]

I still believe that Jordan Roughead would make a better ruckman than a key defender or forward.

Agree with this. If we could get an A grade KPD in the off season, Roughead moves to No. 1 ruck for mine.

 

[AFDogs]

Thought tonight was one of Roughy's best games. Maybe I'm the only one.

 

[JTCWBFC]

Thought tonight was one of Roughy's best games. Maybe I'm the only one.

He was very good, but I think he would be a better full time ruckman for the post Minson era.

 

[GreatSouthWest]

Amazing result. Loved Webb. His output is well beyond what I thought he'd be delivering at this stage of the year. He looks seasoned and his left foot has got even better since the championship. He took three intercept marks in about two minutes.

The defensive zone was brilliant tonight with our ability to slow them through the middle and force rushed kicks to the forward line.

There was hardly a poor player I can think off.

Jakey boy is a forward. I don't mind if he helps in the middle in future years, but you don't rob a forward line of that dynamic which is probably unparalleled in the league.

 

[BorisDawg]

You could not wipe the gigantic smile off my face after that.

 

[AFDogs]

Think we can certainly trade for a ruckman after Minson, like what Port have done with Paddy. Once we start hitting consistent form players will want to come to us (or I hope).

 

[Mingo]

Think we can certainly trade for a ruckman after Minson, like what Port have done with Paddy. Once we start hitting consistent form players will want to come to us (or I hope).

I don't wanna trade any of our players Our first draft pick this year will be pick 18, we can use that

 

[wian]

Roughead isn't as noticeable when all 6
Defenders play like they did tonight . A champion team beats A team of champions

 

[Doggies7]

Talia was immense again. Great, pure defending who picks up a lot of stats on the way. Sign. Him. Up.

 

[Anja_Nees]

After all the discussion the last few days I watched Cordy carefully all day. It seemed he was going out of his way to stop Jacobs getting a clean hit out rather than trying to win taps outright. He was trying to negate him. It makes sense as Jacobs has him covered for strength. In the third quarter Jacobs was leaning forward sucking in air and Ayce was galloping around like it was a light workout so his athleticism worked for us. You couldn't say that he won but you could say he was effective.

He's got ability and he tries his arse off. If given a long stint as the first ruckman I think he could grow into the role. Forget the fact he's 24 - he's barely played 20 games and most have been as a key forward. On today's showing you could only be encouraged. Jacobs is one of the best in the game and to be honest he really didn't give his midfield much of an advantage. Cordy's first two games this year were 2.5 quarters as a key forward in windy conditions and a game at fullback by necessity and people think it's enough to write him off. Even if you don't rate him he's not a 2 possession spud usually and he's played several good games in the past. He's impressed Bev enough to get a crack. Hopefully people lay off him a bit.

Love Stringer, Jong and JJ. Grant wasn't great but I watched him closely too and he never stopped trying which is good to see.

 

[threenewpadlocks]

Dahl up ahead by quite a bit, and I remember thinking to myself Dahl's having a good game without much notice, Jong and Murphy up there. AFL Player Ratings really values being direct to goal and being a participant in scoring chain links, so I think Muprhy, Jong and Dahl all being direct and part of scoring chain links weighed heavily vs Boyd, Wood etc.

It's also amazing how it's still statistically very hard to determine the value of a key defender. Look at Talia's position, then look at Walker's position.

 

[JTCWBFC]

How is Hartigan above Boyd when he had 6 goals kicked on him?

 

[Doggies7]

Oh and the Beveridge move of Boyd to the back line was brilliant. Great in the air, runs all day and so composed. So many of us thought he was crazy, as we did last Thursday night,
but he knows what he's doing.

 

[JTCWBFC]

Some of macraes body work tonight was fantastic


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Some Idiot]

Some of macraes body work tonight was fantastic


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Return to form for Macrae for me, ball use was good again.

 

[womble54]

I forgot Morris was out.

We did that and Morris was out.

Holy shitbricks. Crazy stuff.

Go Depth Dogs

 

[Jdoggy]

How can we contain ourselves after such a performance? No need to get way ahead of self but we could already pose a huge threat this season, finals is not looking unlikely. Last week was a quiet week to comment on, did well with what we were reduced to and not much disappointment to be had of the loss. That leads to today where I didn’t expect us to win, but thought we were an excellent chance to take it and had serious vibes we could topple them if we got on top; which we emphatically did!

Did a huge write up when we beat Richmond, but today has come away with that many positives, the crows board are struggling to find any at all for themselves. This win should be given all the credits it deserves too, I can’t think Adelaide can lay claim to any *star players* they had missing and their big names just did not impact today. They’ve had a 3-0 start and we rightfully weren’t put in any pregame favoritism, but really turned this one on its head.

Bev has pulled off the visionary. And how daring it was to take out Minson. Ever so smart to be after a week of Hawks Schlacking and early on when we know there’s still time for him to experiment before his team decisions can start to be criticized. Good on Minson for reportedly understanding the decision which ended in an inspiring win, not to say his inclusion would have conjured a Crow Win. Taking another view from it, there was no clear tag placed on either Danger or Sloane; and all week the question seemed to be if whoever is going to run with Danger, who will take Sloane? Another Masterstroke, just play our own game. Towards the end of the game, both had been contained so well without being placed with a tag, to the point that I started getting annoyed that they were racking it up; I didn’t want their stats to blanket how absolute **** they were for 90% of the game. Dangers goal at the end was sooo Laughable, he looked shaken up, did not put any effort behind the kick and looked pitiful; he and other were giving Bont all the attention early game 'Try-keep-up' and when Moyd flattened him before his goal, happily put him in place.

Player evaluation essay time

Stringer – Wow. Has had a quiet lead up to this game, showing flair early rounds but still had a bit to work to. But as I’ve said before in past analysis, should never get that drastic to the point he gets sent back to VFL, because exhibited, he can TEAR GAMES APART. The set shots are an interesting case, like Dahlhaus, when they were raw and starting out in the team, they were kicking all sorts of goals, running and set shot. It seems he’s got to the point where he just needs to refine it and would then become the complete package. Astounding run from him today, mercifully subbed out

Picken – Wasn’t great last week and was missing, but today was just one of those days where he did everything and was everywhere. One of the old heads leading the way to victory today

Macrae – Continues his ways of Silent Assassin. Just picks away at the game play after play and just applies the full game effort demanded of him. Great work from him

Dahlhaus – Boy has he subtly taken his game to the next level. He’s amongst the brigade that sets the standard for our immense pressure. Particular plays you can see him put the pressure on someone desperate to hand it off to teammate, get himself around that to put some final pressure on the receiver. Showed his ever present goal sense with that 1st quarter goal and is stepping up in the absence of the Father-Sons. Made a quick edit after watching highlights, and he’s becoming huge in 1 aspect; when we break free, he’s first one busting gut to link up and send us forward, just checked team stats and backed up with 7 I50s only behind JJs 8… onya Luke

Moyd – Put on another clinic to match that of Rnd 1 & 2. Other than the noted 90% efficiency, I’d like to comment on his marking today. Evergreen hands the clunked onto EVERYTHING; kicks that coulda zinged through the hands of inexperienced and the average player. Bev’s experiments are becoming more than just the uncertainty that they start with.

Stevens – Put in the performance I know he’s capable of. A bit of an interrupted Pre-Season and was already behind the 8-ball. Is slowly regaining the intensity of big tackles we’ve seen before and can easily enter the frantic pressure brigade with a few more games into the year. If he can take that further and recover his goal sense and hard running, the depths of our midfield could approach Mariana Trench

Talia – Battle of Defensive brothers today, and boy did ours win (dominate?) on this occasion. Constantly I took special attention to the contributions of Dan to see if he would show the quality of his reigning AA status. Saw nothing of him today, and it was our boy Michael on the dangerous Texan who put the locks on him and made question to crows fans about Tex’s captaincy. Has been mentioned plenty of those that doubted if Talia could make it, but I’m happy to see my confidence in knowing he was U18 AA Full Back start to come to the fore. Must be signed up soon

Jong – My fellow Asian, he’s developing into an everything man at the moment. Today picked off contest after contest like Macrae, but would turn on the burners when given the chance. Added his weekly highlights of confident overhead marks. Rewarded with 2 excellent Setshots that really settled the scoreboard from all the behinds that were going through. Like probably 70% of or players, delivering what’s been asked of him every week, perhaps going beyond.

JJ – Inspiring today. Continue to put games into him and he will become something. Called him near Harbrow Mk II after Richmond game and today went even further to claiming that title. Was spoiling everything, dashing at good opportunities. I mention Jong first because of one play in particular in the final quarter that lead to Grant’s goal. The Bev instruction of backing the run is turning our side into a threat and this play started with Jong’s determination to run into the corridor from the wing, went to JJ who took on the player; but I love this part the most because it broke open everything, JJ got tackled, but his tackler went to ground. Handed it off and there was no Crows player within 30m to disrupt our play beyond that, Jong gets it to Grant who thankfully puts it through

Grant – Another Interesting one from him today, didn't rack up too many, and perhaps others picked at him for that, but I believe he is on the border of being part of said pressure brigade and he put on some serious tackles and pressure efforts today. Continue to bring a full ground effort and be danger when forward, and he maintains a place in the team, but have a few games where he doesn’t bring that and someone comes in for him.

Bont – Geez… nearly forced to compensate amazingness with swear words…
Have noticed something about him which has been absolutely confirmed this game. He is noticeably quiet to start games, have noted that as of Round 1 & 2 and even NAB games. Perhaps he’s been tagged early on and yerr so what. Incredible, his build, his game awareness; he’s set apart in my perspective where he may begin quietly, but as the game wears on, his ability does not waver. 3rd/4th quarter handles on the ball, along the wing one hand pickup and breaks from the stoppage; where opponents start to decline, he begins to dance around them… what the hell. Temple on however you want, I put my analytical write up on him and I can’t help but give him the praise…

Murphy – Homgoodness, a legend. It’s games like this that have you hoping he’s there when we win a premiership coz he deserves it. The cool head at the back, even when he had kicks that didn’t hit the target, it’s not anywhere closer to an opposition. Murph, Moyd, Pick the old heads leading the way. Please never retire Bob

Cram – Another day at the office. Not piling on the goals and doing special things but putting in the workhorse effort we know he has and will get better with games after limited pre-season

Easton – Game day thread I’m all over every bit of his good deeds, rebumped his thread too many times now and makes me love his underrated status. Intercepting, running back with the flight, dashing forward with the midfield wave. Barely missed a beat after missing last week

Toyd – Yes. Love it. Loving the mindset of him not going on absolute dominance but kicking his goal or 2 while he sorts himself out with more game experience. And every goal he puts through and causes, its hand in hand where he must be loving the direction of this team that he made the big switch to early and in return we get behind each of his goals with the promise of being the FF to bring us to premiership glory. Put in his structural efforts again today and Talia (Dan) was of no relevance today.

Roughead – His game today summed up by the defensive setup we have brought to our new look side and took the contested grab in the midst of our dominance. Even got a pinch hit in the ruck which hasn’t been seen in a while

Smith – Was just great to see him get back into the senior team already. His first quarter goal could’ve brought a tear to the eye. One of the more quiet ones today but hey he just returned from a knee reco and brought the bull we know he is to the contest. Progress with the team with games to find his feet again and he may epitomize ‘The Running of the Bulls’ and return to being one of the Brigade leaders

Webb – 2nd game… has already staked his claim for a spot in our 22 and our team continues to induce youth and excitement. Composed, kicks well, understood the defensive setup and waltz in for some great positioned intercept marks. Rising Star? Would hope he gets one in near future, some have said next Gilbee, others say Murph replacement when he’s done. Could be anything

Ayce – The one who has sent our forum into the melt down the past week. Haven’t joined any particular faction that has upraised since Bevs big call, but boy did he send the forum and supporters into raptures with the first goal. Got beaten ruck wise but improved on his full-game output and competed well as lone ruck. May be a bit more to the tale of Ayce in coming weeks

Honey, Dickson, Hrovat – Honey sub, did his job with limited time; has had an outstanding first few weeks otherwise. Dickson, quiet today, and quite interesting to know that out of our 11 goal kickers, he wasn’t one of them. Applied pressure all day, but not to the standards that I’ve rated him to be one of the leaders in the brigade of first few rounds. Hope for a good return of form. Hrovat to me as well also didn’t get a pump up, and as someone else posted, not even that there was bad to be said about his game, just not as hyped as the other 19 players. Did well when contested, but wasn’t a standout and particularly dulled when Picken was so incredibly open in the 50 but passed him up and hit the post. Fair enough to want to get on the party train but that brought a big Sigh

Hope you liked my player analyses of this win. Incredible to think this was all without Lib, Wallis and MORRIS. The week shall be enjoyed by all of us and look forward to seeing what the media has to say after our trying game last week to suddenly 3-1 with $4 odds coming into this game.