Game Day: NAB Cup round 1 v Carlton/Port

[Macca19]

Rory will be the next elite Crow. Cant help but love the way he plays.

Walker....who knows with him. One year he'll put it all together and kick 80+. Maybe. His effort against Carlton and the slow jog at the Northern end is something that would have seen him sitting on the bench getting an ear bashing if it was a H&A game. His 'effort' against Simon Phillips of all players was embarrasing. Great body, great talent. He'll get there.

Looking forward to watching Sam Shaws year too.

 

[alex_is_on_fire]

Walker....who knows with him. One year he'll put it all together and kick 80+. Maybe. His effort against Carlton and the slow jog at the Northern end is something that would have seen him sitting on the bench getting an ear bashing if it was a H&A game. His 'effort' against Simon Phillips of all players was embarrasing. Great body, great talent. He'll get there..

this is where his positive relationship with BS will come in handy. I'd imagine, tomorrow or Tuesday that bump, chase and effort levels will be shown to him and explained to him that is not acceptable.

With NC he would switch off, hopefully with BS he's more accepting of this critisum and eliminates it after seeing it.

I think BS and MB will teach him in a very different way to NC style and that will show improvement.

 

[amer]

We could put it in perspective and observe that, the not established aside, players were preserving themselves out there today and there's nothing much useful to be gleaned from either "contest" we were involved in re: individual form.

 

[Shuffler]

Sat at the southern end today and had a few different thoughts to some others. I thought petrenko was good and continued his good form from last year.
Callinan to me is a class above most of our players. His awareness in one passage of play to wait until lynch had doubled back towards him and place the ball perfectly for him was ball use rarely seen from the crows in recent times.
Good to see shaw out there. Appears to be a big unit.
Tippets contested marks especially against port were encouraging.
I was pleased with our quick give handballs to release teammates and very happy not seeing too many backwards handpasses to stationary teammates.
I thought wingard was great for port in the game he played as well. Will be a good one.

 

[cmndstab]

Managed to make it to the Carlton vs Adelaide game but had to leave before the Adelaide vs Port game, only just caught the replay then.


I really like the look of Lynch as a third tall forward - he leads well and has great hands. Seems like he really wants to move the ball on quickly too which is a nice natural instinct to have. Petrenko's kick to his advantage was sublime.

Other than the miserable shot for goal I liked what I saw from Kerridge. The guy does not look 18, that's for sure! He just strikes you as a real tough bugger.

Lyons and Shaw, where have you been hiding? Lyons' endeavour in the first game was undeniable, I just love it when you have a player that combines pace with endeavour. Shaw was absolute class in the air and is not scared to put his body on the line. Great to see!

I really like the look of McIntyre, he's a really good size for a small forward kind of player. I reckon he'll get the nod over Callinan, despite Callinan looking the goods as well. I guess realistically it will depend alot on what happens in the next few weeks.

 

[Wargreymon90]

It's been said many time I think. But sloane is a ripper. Best player against port Adelaide I would say

 

[Mismatched]

Really, really tough to gain anything from when each game was equivalent to about a quarter of footy. Why do the AFL bother with this format considering they're not going with the 4 round knock out comp anymore? There is so much more to be gained for each club from playing a genuine, 4 quarter game of footy.

Anyways, a few thoughts on the game in general:
- Amazingly, we won when we weren't necessarily the best team on the park. Sando appears to have taught us to win ugly, this is what we seriously lacked under Craig. When the s**t hit the fan, it went every where, by the looks we now know how to handle it.
- Kick ins worked really well, I just hope Sando has a few other tricks up his sleeves because it won't take clubs long to work out how to counter a torp from the goalsquare.
- For mine we looked very flat footed and slow around the contests. I'm hoping though that this is a result of the gastro bug that has been going around the club and not our increased time in the gym.
- As I think Carl mentioned, our entry into the forward 50 was still very much lacking in finese. Far too much bombing it long to a 1 on 3 situation. Need to work on our composure to hit a target.

Onto a few players:
Walker: Not much more to be said, that hasn't already been said. Was soft. Seriously, to be polaxed by Simon "only player in the AFL lighter than Westhoff" Phillips is a complete and utter disgrace. His kicking was special today, but his 2nd efforts just non-existant. On todays form he's not in my best 22.
Sloane: Gun. Has tidied up his kicking, will be a star.
Talia: Today was the first time I truly saw why he was a first round pick and rated so highly be Rendell. In the past he'd looked good, but not quick 1st round KPD good. Was very impressed.
Douglas: Very disappointing today. I've been a fan of his and loved his 2010, but since has just gotten worse and worse. I hope it was just blowing out the cobwebs.
Tippett: Looked really good today, his contested marking around the ground was a genuine feature.

Anyways, don't have time for more now.

 

[Footypie32]

Really, really tough to gain anything from when each game was equivalent to about a quarter of footy. Why do the AFL bother with this format considering they're not going with the 4 round knock out comp anymore? There is so much more to be gained for each club from playing a genuine, 4 quarter game of footy.

Anyways, a few thoughts on the game in general:
- Amazingly, we won when we weren't necessarily the best team on the park. Sando appears to have taught us to win ugly, this is what we seriously lacked under Craig. When the s**t hit the fan, it went every where, by the looks we now know how to handle it.
- Kick ins worked really well, I just hope Sando has a few other tricks up his sleeves because it won't take clubs long to work out how to counter a torp from the goalsquare.
- For mine we looked very flat footed and slow around the contests. I'm hoping though that this is a result of the gastro bug that has been going around the club and not our increased time in the gym.
- As I think Carl mentioned, our entry into the forward 50 was still very much lacking in finese. Far too much bombing it long to a 1 on 3 situation. Need to work on our composure to hit a target.

Onto a few players:
Walker: Not much more to be said, that hasn't already been said. Was soft. Seriously, to be polaxed by Simon "only player in the AFL lighter than Westhoff" Phillips is a complete and utter disgrace. His kicking was special today, but his 2nd efforts just non-existant. On todays form he's not in my best 22.
Sloane: Gun. Has tidied up his kicking, will be a star.
Talia: Today was the first time I truly saw why he was a first round pick and rated so highly be Rendell. In the past he'd looked good, but not quick 1st round KPD good. Was very impressed.
Douglas: Very disappointing today. I've been a fan of his and loved his 2010, but since has just gotten worse and worse. I hope it was just blowing out the cobwebs.
Tippett: Looked really good today, his contested marking around the ground was a genuine feature.

Anyways, don't have time for more now.

As I understood it Sando was saying that the boys can use the Torp as a last resort if they think the opposition doesn't expect it. Certainly not as a 1st option. Most coaches would haul a player over the coals for trying this, but he'll allow it if it's warranted. I like it personally and think this demonstrates the kind of flair he wants the players to play with.

 

[AFC979810]

Some of the comments on here regarding Walker are laughable... Absolutely ridiculous to say he is not best 22....

The kid is only 21 years old and has played 45 games as a KPF...

Lets compare the stats off his first three seasons to the stats of the previous 4 winners of the coleman medal in their first 3 seasons:

Taylor Walker - 45 games - 2 goals per game / 1.3 behinds per game
Stats per game - 10.4 kicks / 3.3 handballs / 4.4 marks / 1.4 tackles


Jonathan Brown - 57 games - 1 goal per game / 1.5 behinds per game
Stats per game - 7.7 kicks / 4.5 handballs / 5.2 marks / 1.0 tackles

Brenden Fevola - 41 games (4 seasons) - 1.6 goals per game / 1.58 behinds
Stats per game - 6.1 kicks / 1.7 handballs / 4.4 marks / 1.0 tackles

Jack Riewoldt - 46 games - 1.3 goals per game / 0.82 behinds
Stats per game - 7.8 kicks / 3.1 handballs / 5.1 marks / 2.1 tackles

Buddy Franklin - 56 games - 2.2 goals per game / 1.5 behinds
Stats per game - 7.8 kicks / 3.9 handballs / 4.4 marks / 2.0 tackles

Taylor stacks up pretty nicely I would think....(especially since Brown had Voss/Lappin/Aker/Black kicking him the footy and Buddy had Hodge / Mitchell /Crawford)

Also - for the record... All of the above players had there 'breakout' year in their 4th season of playing AFL footy (except Fev whose was in his 5th yr)...

I still think Taylor has the makings to be a very very good player for us, lets just hope 2012 is his breakout year.

 

[jenny61_99]

I agree AFC, Walker did some special things in the games yesterday, and that's what we need to focus on, rather than focus on the things he didn't do! He was much harder at his second/third efforts in the Port game than he was in the first. Cobwebs is all. He will have a ripper year this year I think.

My thoughts on the games:

• Loved the games from Sloane, VB, Petrenko and Reilly
• Was very impressed with both Callinan and McIntyre (he just bounces up after being poleaxed!) Can we only use one of these guys? I guess that offers us a little depth due to injury but to me, both of them play the sort of footy we all want to see.
• Tippetts hands were very good. Kicking seems to be continuing to improve.
• Back lines are our biggest concern without a doubt. Otten looked very tentative, Talia - while showing some good signs, also showed he was a fair way off. Stiffy seemed to be playing up the ground a bit?
• Nice to see some of our younger players with what look like footy ready bodies. Now for their brains to catch up!
• Was also impressed with Brodie Smith!

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

Some of the comments on here regarding Walker are laughable... Absolutely ridiculous to say he is not best 22....

The kid is only 21 years old and has played 45 games as a KPF...

Lets compare the stats off his first three seasons to the stats of the previous 4 winners of the coleman medal in their first 3 seasons:

...

I still think Taylor has the makings to be a very very good player for us, lets just hope 2012 is his breakout year.

Your stats are lies. He needs some more time back at Norwood to work on his deficiencies.

 

[WALL-e]

Some of the comments on here regarding Walker are laughable...

No more stat hiding.

Brad Symes averages XX amount of disposals!!!!!

Walker is more gifted than anyone else on the team, but that soft s**t has got to stop before it becomes ingrained in him.

He's going to get a harder go because we know how talented he is, but no more babying him because he's talented. He was piss weak at some contests and what makes it infuriating is I saw him effectively crash a pack early on! YES I thought. Then I saw him feel for the body behind him as he allowed Harlett to cut in front for an easy mark because he doesn't like taking them at full stretch and would rather chest mark in a 1on1 or bring it to ground.

Perhaps we just have to learn to play to his strengths more......but that doesn't excuse soft effort.

 

[Slippery Pete]

I thank AFC lotsanumbersafterhisname (damn Tapatalk won't let me see the posts while writing, and I cant be bothered going back and checking) for bringing some sanity into an insane thread.

There is an awful lot of over analysis going on in this awful thread, my friends. I've gotten more useful information from John K's 'Where to now Adelaide' thread than this debacle, and that's saying something. Two things to remember.

1. It is February. What happened yesterday is totally inconsequential to anything, anywhere at any time. There can be no analysing what went on, because it means so little. I'd rather you told us whether there were any hot chicks there.

2. Talk of players looking lethargic or lazy is laughable. Let's not also forget that half the squad was struck down with a virus last week, and it was oppressive weather conditions yesterday. I don't blame some of them for looking disinterested. I DONT CARE HOW INTERESTED WE LOOK IN FEBRUARY.

ALL I care about is that we get through unscathed. That's IT.

For that reason, every Crows supporter should be content this morning.

Now, if you don't mind, can we go back to talking about how much Neil Craig screwed up our club.....

 

[DavidSaywell]

Agree with Slippery Pete. More worried about players who probably cant change parts of their game ie Talia led to the ball too often because he lacks pace Walker lacks defensive action in the forward line again due lack of pace Dangerfield cannot get easy ball. I dont think any coach can overcome these deficiencies

 

[SugarShane]

It was refreshing to see us up by less than a goal in the dying stages of both games and still win.

I think yesterday was the best possible result from a NAB cup opener. A few wins on the board, but we definitely didn't play great footy so there shouldn't be too much over-pumping of tyres. Still lots of mistakes and bad turnovers which is to be expeced in a) the first real hitout of the year, and b) first game under a new coach. Still, when things went good, they were lovely to watch. So the wins give us confidence, but the mistakes remind us to keep our feet grounded and not put top 4 as the benchmark just yet.

 

[Sekaj]

Tippett: Looked really good today, his contested marking around the ground was a genuine feature.

What about his power running?

 

[jenny61_99]

Actually Sugar, we were down by a goal late in one game and didn't crumble, so that too was nice to see. I don't think anyone's being overly "woo hoo we're gonna win the flag", rather just making observations from the game itself and appreciating (or not) what we saw.

 

[Vader]

Some of the comments on here regarding Walker are laughable... Absolutely ridiculous to say he is not best 22....

But how many of those players were accused of being soft & lazy, both attributes which have characterised Walker's 45 games to date - and both characteristics which have seen him sent back to the SANFL on a regular basis?

Nobody is saying that the kid doesn't have an outrageous talent. What we're saying is that he needs to develop a work ethic to go along with it.

this is where his positive relationship with BS will come in handy. I'd imagine, tomorrow or Tuesday that bump, chase and effort levels will be shown to him and explained to him that is not acceptable.

With NC he would switch off, hopefully with BS he's more accepting of this critisum and eliminates it after seeing it.

I think BS and MB will teach him in a very different way to NC style and that will show improvement.

Maybe.. we can certainly hope so. What we can say for certain is that BS wasn't able to get this particular leopard to change his spots over the course of a single pre-season. We can only hope that he's able to turn Walker from mild-mannered pussy cat into a raging tiger. I'm not holding my breath in anticipation.

 

[Jars458]

Brodie Smith terrific in game one as was Van Berlo and Jacobs.

Lynch looks like a very handy third forward option.

Shaw, Kerridge and McIntre all showed good glimpses.

I think Talia is a genuine talent and Petrenko was good.

Walker was soft and lazy at times. Incredibly frustrating. If you can't be energised in the frist game back there is something wrong. Compare his approach with Jenkins, who was terrific in only ten minutes.

Reilly looks at home at half back, though some usual terrible disposal under pressure.

Too many players were still allowed to get the ball out after bieng tackled and we kicked it long to Tippett on too many occasions. Tippett needs to play in front a lot more.

As others have said though, can't take too much out of games played in that format. Why the games were shortened I will never know. Also, why was the admission price not suitably reduced as well?

 

[WALL-e]

Reilly looks at home at half back, though some usual terrible disposal under pressure.

Too many players were still allowed to get the ball out after bieng tackled and we kicked it long to Tippett on too many occasions. Tippett needs to play in front a lot more.

Agreed.

Hopefully we're just brushing off some rust of the old gameplan in regards to the Tippett bombing.

 

[Slippery Pete]

Nobody is saying that the kid doesn't have an outrageous talent. What we're saying is that he needs to develop a work ethic to go along with it.

I hope he doesnt, just to get on your goat.

 

[Elite Crow]

How many goals did we kick over the two matches and how many did Walker kick?

 

[Slippery Pete]

Actually Sugar, we were down by a goal late in one game and didn't crumble, so that too was nice to see.

Please stop!

 

[AFC979810]

But how many of those players were accused of being soft & lazy, both attributes which have characterised Walker's 45 games to date - and both characteristics which have seen him sent back to the SANFL on a regular basis?

Nobody is saying that the kid doesn't have an outrageous talent. What we're saying is that he needs to develop a work ethic to go along with it.

He is not soft and lazy - he is over analyzed and overhyped by our fan base... The kid is only 21 and still learning AFL footy and for the past 2 preseasons (this being the 3rd) everyone talks about how much muscle he has put on and how he is going to just rip the AFL apart... It was never going to happen....

The way he has gone about his footy for the past 3 years has been very good and he has improved each year as a player... I am really expecting for him to take a big step either this year or next year and become an elite AFL forward...

People also forget that the #1 reason he is in the side is to kick and create goals... As long as he is doing this he stays in the side, no matter how frustrating his lack of defensive pressure is...

 

[WALL-e]

We can just say that's cool Tex, don't chase because you kick goals. What a ripper way to instill confidence of all players in the squad.