Rear Admiral
Club Legend
Absolutely gutted.
Considering how gutted and despondent we all feel, an outstanding CrowCast from NikkiNoo, macca23, and feenix67.
You guys really hit the nail on the head with your discussion and analysis of what went down.
I did my utmost to explain why (I thought) we lost here (well worth a read).
There were a whole lot of issues at play, but that absolute #1 factor that contributed to our loss more than anything else was our crumbing. Or lack there of. If you take a step back and look at both 2016 and 2017, we've had two basic patterns of ball movement:
What we have not done with any real degree of skill is be able to "crumb" the ball from long bomb dropped marks. Up Forward we do occasionally with Betts and Cameron, but rarely between the arcs. It's been either hit an un-manned team mate with precision in the corridor, or push for a throw in from out-of-bounds. Against Richmond, as you all so rightly pointed out, we couldn't find un-manned team mates in space (because unlike Geelong, Richmond are a quick side and denied our Mids open space between the arcs), so we kicked long down the line to a contest. But unlike many of our other opponents, Richmond didn't allow us to rush the ball out-of-bounds. They were able to effectively crumb from these long kicks....again and again and again and again (and again). We couldn't. And this very lack of crumbing ability killed us. If we wanted to play a high possession uncontested style and not kick to contests, we had to adopt a backward-handball-run-from-behind style of play (ala Neil Craig's rugby style) and run at Richmond's "Defensive Grid" or "Defensive Triangles" (I think those were the terms used?), and handball/carry in waves. Midway through the 2nd Quarter, I thought that our only hope of winning was a handball-carry game, but Pyke wouldn't pull the trigger.
I'm generally pleased with Pyke's coaching, but if there is any one, specific flaw in his coaching, it has been his unwillingness or inability to fix this crumbing problem. Whenever there are long kicks, I rarely see our ground-level players get front and centre at these long high marking contests, then read the ball "off hands" and be able to crumb with any degree of skill. On a side note, we had exactly the same problem with Neil Craig. In regards to crumbing, the only Crows player that seems to be able to do this reliably is Betts; the rest can't. We are absolutely superb at taking uncontested intercept marks in Defence, but if our Mids then don't take (uncontested) marks on transition from Defence to Attack, we pray for the boundary line. Our Achilles Heel.
If you look at The Crouch Brothers and our our inside/contested ground level players....whether we win, lose, or draw....where do they get most of their contested possessions? At ball-ups/stoppages. But once the ball is in general field play, how may contested possessions do they take when they're actually on the move and not at stoppages? Absolutely f*ck all. And crumbing is the main instance of this. Yes, absolutely, they do win a lot of ball, but it's 99%+ stoppage work, not general field play. I give huge wraps to The Sloane Ranger and Matt Crouch throughout the year, but since we finished Minor Premiers and lost the Grand Final (badly), this tells me our contested ground-level talent is good....but not Premiership material. Just not enough of our ground-level players can win contested ball....when the pill is on the move and the umpire has put his whistle away. Richmond did it continuously for almost 4 Quarters.
Our Forwards were woeful, and I do want to see Jenkins traded, but our Forwards were not the reason we lost. Our Mids were the reason.
But there is one shining light this year - Hugh Greenwood. His hand-eye coordination is something to behold, and is only getting better. But we need another A1 Top Shelf contested ground-level player that has the ability to win the contested ball in general field play, and not continually rely on stoppages to win back possession of the ball.
Considering how gutted and despondent we all feel, an outstanding CrowCast from NikkiNoo, macca23, and feenix67.
You guys really hit the nail on the head with your discussion and analysis of what went down.
I did my utmost to explain why (I thought) we lost here (well worth a read).
There were a whole lot of issues at play, but that absolute #1 factor that contributed to our loss more than anything else was our crumbing. Or lack there of. If you take a step back and look at both 2016 and 2017, we've had two basic patterns of ball movement:
- Firstly, look for un-manned team-mates in space (typically in the corridor), then hit them with short/medium angled passes (where these passes have got shorter and more precise in the 2nd half of the year).
- Secondly, if no un-manned team-mates are available, effect a long kick down the boundary, immediately force the ball out-of-bounds, then set up for a throw in.
What we have not done with any real degree of skill is be able to "crumb" the ball from long bomb dropped marks. Up Forward we do occasionally with Betts and Cameron, but rarely between the arcs. It's been either hit an un-manned team mate with precision in the corridor, or push for a throw in from out-of-bounds. Against Richmond, as you all so rightly pointed out, we couldn't find un-manned team mates in space (because unlike Geelong, Richmond are a quick side and denied our Mids open space between the arcs), so we kicked long down the line to a contest. But unlike many of our other opponents, Richmond didn't allow us to rush the ball out-of-bounds. They were able to effectively crumb from these long kicks....again and again and again and again (and again). We couldn't. And this very lack of crumbing ability killed us. If we wanted to play a high possession uncontested style and not kick to contests, we had to adopt a backward-handball-run-from-behind style of play (ala Neil Craig's rugby style) and run at Richmond's "Defensive Grid" or "Defensive Triangles" (I think those were the terms used?), and handball/carry in waves. Midway through the 2nd Quarter, I thought that our only hope of winning was a handball-carry game, but Pyke wouldn't pull the trigger.
I'm generally pleased with Pyke's coaching, but if there is any one, specific flaw in his coaching, it has been his unwillingness or inability to fix this crumbing problem. Whenever there are long kicks, I rarely see our ground-level players get front and centre at these long high marking contests, then read the ball "off hands" and be able to crumb with any degree of skill. On a side note, we had exactly the same problem with Neil Craig. In regards to crumbing, the only Crows player that seems to be able to do this reliably is Betts; the rest can't. We are absolutely superb at taking uncontested intercept marks in Defence, but if our Mids then don't take (uncontested) marks on transition from Defence to Attack, we pray for the boundary line. Our Achilles Heel.
If you look at The Crouch Brothers and our our inside/contested ground level players....whether we win, lose, or draw....where do they get most of their contested possessions? At ball-ups/stoppages. But once the ball is in general field play, how may contested possessions do they take when they're actually on the move and not at stoppages? Absolutely f*ck all. And crumbing is the main instance of this. Yes, absolutely, they do win a lot of ball, but it's 99%+ stoppage work, not general field play. I give huge wraps to The Sloane Ranger and Matt Crouch throughout the year, but since we finished Minor Premiers and lost the Grand Final (badly), this tells me our contested ground-level talent is good....but not Premiership material. Just not enough of our ground-level players can win contested ball....when the pill is on the move and the umpire has put his whistle away. Richmond did it continuously for almost 4 Quarters.
Our Forwards were woeful, and I do want to see Jenkins traded, but our Forwards were not the reason we lost. Our Mids were the reason.
But there is one shining light this year - Hugh Greenwood. His hand-eye coordination is something to behold, and is only getting better. But we need another A1 Top Shelf contested ground-level player that has the ability to win the contested ball in general field play, and not continually rely on stoppages to win back possession of the ball.
