Review ******* festival of shite v crows

May 26, 2017
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Might have something to do with replacing four players who had played at least three game this year in Ebert, Bonner, Wines and Butters with three players who were playing their first game for the season in Johnson, Farrell and Broadbent and having to switch the fourth player in Motlop to defence in the first quarter. Cohesion doesn’t just happen in one game, and to have to introduce those players in a high pressure game like that and expect them to perform as if they should is ludicrous.

If I stripped the gear in a gearbox for some unknown reason, and wanted to replace it, I can’t just open it up, take out the stripped gear and put a replacement in - I’d have to rebuild the whole thing. That’s what we are doing when we select two guys under 20 games experience in the forward line who haven’t played a game in the AFL this year and two guys with experience who are forced to cover for an injury to another player in game.

It’s why you’ll never find coaches make multiple changes to their team until they’ve given them a few weeks to click.
Could be that the roles aren't clear enough for the players? Or that they may be not good enough to play those?
 
Could be that the roles aren't clear enough for the players? Or that they may be not good enough to play those?

I wouldn’t judge them based on a Showdown. You’re talking about a game played at finals like intensity for three quarters.
 
May 26, 2017
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I wouldn’t judge them based on a Showdown. You’re talking about a game played at finals like intensity for three quarters.
All the players, or simply the newcomers? The team could have been derailed because of them, which would justify some of the poor outings by the others; wouldn't it?
 
Mar 1, 2014
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Kane Cornes is another Hinkley lapdog. It's nauseating..

I haven't heard Timmy G's comments but was told by someone who did, that he went a bit softly, softly on Kern and his game plan after the showdown.
Hope I'm wrong but you do have to wonder if pressure has been applied to both Ginever and Kornes to hold back on any severe criticism, and possibly due to the upcoming 150th.
 

Power Girl

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I found the office variety tingle `supporters' I encountered usually weren't members, and many had NEVER been to a game.
They were red hot dedicated crowies though! :rolleyes:
I've got the types that only ever attend Showdown games no other Crows games. And then only if they are likely to win.
 
The coaches voted pretty much the same players as BOG for this game:

Keath - 10
Lynch - 8
Sloane - 6
Laird - 4

The only discrepancy was Pyke gave Talia 1 vote and Hinkley gave Houston 1 vote.
 
Jul 31, 2005
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The coaches voted pretty much the same players as BOG for this game:

Keath - 10
Lynch - 8
Sloane - 6
Laird - 4

The only discrepancy was Pyke gave Talia 1 vote and Hinkley gave Houston 1 vote.

Seriously, how could any "Port person" look at that without retching? Surely someone - anyone - will flag the need for change?
 
Sep 9, 2008
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Rewatching the game right now.


As bad as we were the refs absolutely decided that game in the 2nd qtr. we had the run of play but mistake after mistake by the umps, on replay I thought I would not see it so bad
In the light of day and being objective but * me. Horrendous.

Clurey free against when tex illegally blocks him. Tex took eyes off ball looks at clurey and moves sideways And backwards away from ball while clurey is running at the ball. Inexcusable from ump.

Lynch clearly drops the ball in a tackle and gets a point blank shot on goal when we’re racing off the other end about to catch Adelaide with their pants down, after a hot as * htb call on Houston gave crows a shot on goal earlier

Murphy getting a shot on goal for a hold after 2 way more obvious holds were ignored down our end right in front of goals.

Lycetts goal reversed. I thought it probably was touched but ump called a goal and 9/10 that doesn’t get overturned on such inconclusive vision.

Laird kicks the ball out on the full in our forward pocket and it gets thrown in.

And the list goes on. So many I literally forgot most by the end of the qtr. should have noted them down. Crows dropping the ball in tackles repeatedly uncalled this qtr.

Ridiculous

Port didn’t deserve to win based on how absolutely crap we are and Hinkleys rooting of our structure but that crows side had the win handed to them by the
Umps.
 
Jun 12, 2012
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Rewatching the game right now.


As bad as we were the refs absolutely decided that game in the 2nd qtr. we had the run of play but mistake after mistake by the umps, on replay I thought I would not see it so bad
In the light of day and being objective but **** me. Horrendous.

Clurey free against when tex illegally blocks him. Tex took eyes off ball looks at clurey and moves sideways And backwards away from ball while clurey is running at the ball. Inexcusable from ump.

Lynch clearly drops the ball in a tackle and gets a point blank shot on goal when we’re racing off the other end about to catch Adelaide with their pants down, after a hot as **** htb call on Houston gave crows a shot on goal earlier

Murphy getting a shot on goal for a hold after 2 way more obvious holds were ignored down our end right in front of goals.

Lycetts goal reversed. I thought it probably was touched but ump called a goal and 9/10 that doesn’t get overturned on such inconclusive vision.

Laird kicks the ball out on the full in our forward pocket and it gets thrown in.

And the list goes on. So many I literally forgot most by the end of the qtr. should have noted them down. Crows dropping the ball in tackles repeatedly uncalled this qtr.

Ridiculous

Port didn’t deserve to win based on how absolutely crap we are and Hinkleys rooting of our structure but that crows side had the win handed to them by the
Umps.

I don’t have a problem with the Lycett one, you can see a finger bend back as the ball passes. If the roles were reversed and it was called a goal I’d be ropeable.
 

Mikey13G

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Aug 21, 2018
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Not at Geelong often featured highly in a very strong teams best and fairest

A hero a year ago kicking winning goal .

Class is class let him redeem a performance he won't have been proud of

Steven Motlop is certainly a talented player and still within our best 22; however, he has been ordinary this season. For somebody on a 4 year contract earning 500k+ a season (more than the club was willing to offer Jared Polec) you do have to question whether we're getting value for money.

https://www.afl.com.au/news/2017-10-13/port-wins-power-struggle-over-free-agent-motlop

"At his best, Motlop will add run and flair to Port's on-ball division, while he is also a proven goalkicker. His challenge will be to find the consistency that too often eluded him at Geelong".

Hopefully he finds some form and gets back to career best form, which for him was in 2015.
 
May 26, 2017
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Steven Motlop is certainly a talented player and still within our best 22; however, he has been ordinary this season. For somebody on a 4 year contract earning 500k+ a season (more than the club was willing to offer Jared Polec) you do have to question whether we're getting value for money.

https://www.afl.com.au/news/2017-10-13/port-wins-power-struggle-over-free-agent-motlop

"At his best, Motlop will add run and flair to Port's on-ball division, while he is also a proven goalkicker. His challenge will be to find the consistency that too often eluded him at Geelong".

Hopefully he finds some form and gets back to career best form, which for him was in 2015.
We have too many players that are "the icing of the cake." Motlop is one of them; proably the fanciest icing we have.

We have some good ingredients that add flavor to the recipe, as well - even after trading Polec and Wingard.

However, we are lacking eggs, flour, and baking powder... And a good COOK!
 

Garibaldi Red

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Murphy getting a shot on goal for a hold after 2 way more obvious holds were ignored down our end right in front of goals.

The issue is the other two didn’t make a meal of it like Murphy did. It’s like he is auditioning for a job in one of the Toyota dealers car yards post footy.

45825F95-7792-4AD9-8F36-5E4D35820E9D.gif
 
We have too many players that are "the icing of the cake." Motlop is one of them; proably the fanciest icing we have.

We have some good ingredients that add flavor to the recipe, as well - even after trading Polec and Wingard.

However, we are lacking eggs, flour, and baking powder... And a good COOK!
Do we need a good Cook or a good Chef?
 
Nov 6, 2014
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I haven't heard Timmy G's comments but was told by someone who did, that he went a bit softly, softly on Kern and his game plan after the showdown.
Hope I'm wrong but you do have to wonder if pressure has been applied to both Ginever and Kornes to hold back on any severe criticism, and possibly due to the upcoming 150th.
He sure was softly softly on the Sunday on AA. Said not turning up to games or not renewing memberships will only serve to derail the club. A lady rang in saying she won’t renew next year. Timmy said he will pay her membership.
 

70sDinosaur

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If you want to extend the analogy, we need better restauranteur, manager, and chef.
We like to think we're a traditional, fine dining restaurant but in reality we're just another McDonalds franchise, where the main focus of the manager is making sure there are toilet paper rolls in the restroom.
 
May 26, 2017
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We like to think we're a traditional, fine dining restaurant but in reality we're just another McDonalds franchise, where the main focus of the manager is making sure there are toilet paper rolls in the restroom.
Well-recomended old restaurant, with a traditional friendly environment, great food, and cheap prices.

We had bad investors. We changed to a less worse one, but still bad. They forced us to change the menu, the furniture, the location, the brand, and the name.

The customers keep coming, asking the old dishes, cooked as always. Manager keeps promising that soon they will deliver, but soon never comes.

People are hopeful that some Chinese investment will finally allow the restaurant to restore most of its former state. So far, however, that is all there is. Hope...
 

70sDinosaur

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Yes, the restaurant was almost closed down by the sanitation authorities a few years ago. That disaster was averted but now there again seem to be some unpleasant smells coming from the kitchen.
 
Q4

20:00 - We win the ball at the centre bounce, but because Byrne-Jones leaves his man unattended as he pushes up to help instead of making sure he has him covered, Boak is put under pressure by that free man and turns the ball over with a handball to Brad Crouch.

19:33 - Byrne-Jones has Lienert and another player free for the quick handball out of a congested defensive area. Instead, he decides to dump kick around the corner. Kick gets intercepted, of course.

19:27 - Great smother of the intercept mark kick by Farrell.

19:23 - Instead of bumping/blocking for Farrell so he can get a clean handball away, or making sure that the only Adelaide player that could possibly end up with the ball doesn't get it, Johnson sags off hoping for the easy outlet ball. Absolute garbage.

19:20 - Clurey *s up by guessing that Laird is going to kick to Walker on the lead to a pocket, which allows him to get the separation required to bring the ball down to a running Lynch for the snap at goal. s**t defending by Broadbent on Lynch as well.

19:00 - Clearance by Powell-Pepper that is kicked into our forward 50 straight to Marshall's opponent in Talia. Marshall just gives up on trying to get to the ball, which leads me to believe that he was caught flat footed and didn't think we'd play on quickly. No wonder he was dropped.

18:35 - Yet another s**t kick by a Port player - this time Powell-Pepper - that was directed at the head of our forwards instead of to their advantage.

18:15 - Marshall caught with his hands on his knees hunched over in our forward 50, when we have a stoppage in our forward 50 and play is active. ******* unbelievable. No wonder he was dropped. If he had been active he would have been ready to mark the ball that comes to him, but luckily he brings the ball to ground. Nice handball by Johnson on the ground on the up to Farrell for the goal.

17:59 - Excellent bodywork from Rozee on Laird to mark the Ryder clearance. I have no idea who he was targeting with his kick though - we had a two on one with Howard and Johnson on Hartigan in the goal square, but instead he kicks it to an unmanned Keath who doesn't even have to move. Johnson could have picked up Keath, but seriously, what was he going to do against him with that sort of kick? Rubbish Rozee. You're better than that.

17:28 - The fact that Broadbent was put onto Lynch - who was Adelaide's most dangerous forward - in his first game back says a lot about the importance that Broady has to the team. This would have been the perfect role for Watts, but alas, he's not in our team.

17:23 - Ryder should have been moving to cover Brad Crouch and making sure that O'Brien doesn't have the outlet rather than trying to tackle him. Both Boak and Drew leave their man to try and win the ball - which is what you have to do when you're 38 points down I guess.

16:56 - Broadbent playing in front of Lynch in defence. First defender of ours I've seen that has played in front all game. Take the dump kick into the forward line from Adelaide and moves it quickly to Boak. Good defending.

16:35 - Broadbent again, this time with a little chip kick around the corner out of a stoppage instead of your typical sky ball dump kick, which allowed Farrell to run onto the ball instead of Laird to simply outmark him.

16:22 - For a third time, Broadbent delivers a kick that isn't the typical blast out of defence but drops in between the lines of the Adelaide zone and makes the Port midfielders and Adelaide defenders move toward it, which creates a contest that allows Powell-Pepper to crumb the open ground ball. Too bad Marshall was the target of Pep's kick and not Dixon - the kick was a great one, right in front of Marshall. All he needed to do was run to meet it but instead he runs away from it and lets it bounce and pushes it out of play. Extremely low on confidence.

16:02 - Great hustle from Powell-Pepper to get a hand to an Adelaide kick and cause the turnover. He really had a great last quarter. Duursma kicks it to a Lycett/Keath one on one, and the subsequent ground ball is kicked by Howard into the post. If it was Adelaide, that kick would have been a goal. That's the sort of night we had compared to them.

15:45 - For the first time in forever, a player looks up and actually assesses the options he has instead of simply blazing away into forward 50 to register an inside 50 stat. Ryder brings the ball down to ground where Houston and Duursma get the ball to Drew who delivers to a Todd Marshall who has decided that 'hey, I'm a forward, I'm supposed to be where the defenders aren't' and is found all alone on the weak side of the ground in attacking 50. Or maybe it was because Talia was off the ground. How the * he doesn't even register a score with his kick is beyond me.

14:28 - Intercept by Ryder of the Adelaide dump kick out of attacking 50, which he moves on quickly to Duursma. Easy shot on goal from 45 on the run under zero pressure...missed. Again.

14:10 - Ryder brings the ball to ground in the contest and it ends up with Powell-Pepper who drills the goal.

13:55 - Garry Lyon makes a pertinent point: "When I look down the ground, I just see a group of six with no rhyme or reason as to how they set up." That's Bassett's fault. Regardless, Rockliff gets the free kick clearance from the centre stoppage and delivers to Howard who actually realises that you can jump at the football as a forward and kicks the goal.

13:12 - Lyon again: "It's just a bunch of players standing together. Get some space, get some movement." A-*******-men.

12:52 - Ellis-Yolmen asks the umpire "How did I grab him?" when he clearly impedes Duursma. Of course it's Rosebury who pays the free - he's not a cheating campaigner like Stephens or Fisher. Says a lot that an Adelaide player would be incredulous about doing something that they had obviously got away with for most of the game. Duursma kicks the goal.

11:22 - And on cue, Stephens notices the shift in momentum and gives the softest of free kicks to Lynch on Broadbent for over the shoulder.

10:58 - Powell-Pepper gets the square up for the bullshit free against Clurey early in the game.

10:09 - Broadbent with the rush dump kick out of defence. Dumb.

9:22 - Duursma with another rush dump kick out of defence. Dumber.

9:09 - Play of the night. Westhoff delivers a dump kick, this time to the corridor where Adelaide haven't set up (because like most teams, they are considering that dump kicks will go to the boundary). Johnson should have taken an easy mark, fumbles, falls over but still manages to get the ball moving on to Powell-Pepper on the run who breaks through the Adelaide press (which is how we should have been playing all night) and delivers long to Howard in a one on one for the free kick and soccer goal.

So we've got 9 minutes to go and are only 12 points down. It's game on, we've got all the momentum. Should be a famous victory. Let's see why it wasn't.

8:10 - Westhoff delivers a kick to Drew on Sloane who brings the ball to ground for Motlop and Crouch to battle for. Does Motlop go low like Crouch and risk potential injury? Nope. Runs over the top of Crouch instead, which allows Crouch to farm the handball along the ground to an Adelaide player and they eventually get a shot on goal that luckily misses.

7:37 - Good transition play right up until the time when Sam Gray takes the mark and instead of giving the handball off to the running Rozee who had miles of space and would probably have kicked the goal on the run, he decides to slow down and deliver a s**t kick to Lycett inside 50, who should have got a free for a chop of the arms but that's what you get when you leave it up to the umpires. I mean, just look at this s**t:

1558060753987.png


Absolutely selfish football by Gray. We had Rozee, Johnson, Farrell, Duursma and Marshall inside 50. The Crows defence was in disarray...but nope. Let's be a *head and slow it down instead of using the momentum in the game. A handball to Rozee, and he draws the Adelaide player away from Farrell who would have kicked the goal. Should have been a goal, ends up as nothing. Just because you don't have speed Gray, don't slow it down so the people who do can't use it. Disgusting.

7:04 - Good kick inside 50 by Rockliff to Howard that just bounces in front of him. A little bit faster or a little bit harder and it would have been a mark and a shot on goal.


6:39 - Drew has a wide open Byrne-Jones on the outside of the pack who has pushed up into the forward line but he doesn't use him and instead selfishly tries to kick the goal in congestion because he wants to be the hero.

6:25 - Byrne-Jones executes the most ridiculous of handballs to Motlop where instead of handballing to where Motlop actually was, or even to a position where he could help lock the ball in if things went south, he instead handballs to Motlop's left and behind him, which forces Motlop to chase the ball and do some dicky little drop kick under pressure that goes nowhere and ends up with Sloane kicking it towards Adelaide's attacking 50. But the real * up is what happens next. Byrne-Jones chases the ball down. He's got Houston acting as the sweeper ready to mop up.

1558061988842.png


What does he do? He doesn't straight the ball and give it to Houston on the up. He doesn't even paddle the ball back to Lienert who is also in space. Nah, he thinks the best option is to take control of the ball while turning on a wet deck and under pressure.

This play is indefensible. Luckily it only resulted in a point.

5:20 - How the * can Sam Gray not take a chest mark uncontested?

5:05 - Motlop decides that he's not going to learn from Powell-Pepper's kick to Howard and instead put it on Keath's head for him to spoil, even though Howard was out the back.

4:20 - Lynch tackles Motlop without Motlop ever taking possession. Holding the man? Nope.

4:07 - Travis Boak couldn't have picked out Laird better if he had tried. Rockliff tells him to give off the handball to Duursma who is running on the boundary but there must be something about being captain that doesn't agree with him because he decides that it's better to turn over the ball to the Adelaide defensive zone.

3:53 - Another case of Clurey trying to guess where the ball is going instead of actually reading the play, which allows Walker to take an uncontested mark and seal the game. Just rubbish one on one defending. If Jonas was playing, it never would have happened.

2:50 - I've already discussed Byrne-Jones lame giving up on the play which resulted in Broadbent getting caught with the ball. But really, 20 points down with under 3 minutes to go...who cares. The rest of the game was just same old same old.

Summary

When the game was there to be won, and players needed to be big, Sam Gray, Motlop and Byrne-Jones became small. Marshall playing was like playing with 20 players all night. In spite of everything, we could have and should have won this game if our delivery inside 50 that was evident in the fourth quarter had extended to all quarters and we had taken the game on a bit more.

Put Jonas down back with Howard and Dixon, Gray and Ebert up forward and we win easily, because everyone shifts down to the next rung in terms of defence and attack. Keath doesn't look like peak Alex Rance because he now becomes responsible for a guy who can mark the football in Ebert. Jonas, Howard and Clurey limit the damage of Lynch and Walker.

Another wasted opportunity.
 

Portmagpies36

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Steven Motlop is certainly a talented player and still within our best 22; however, he has been ordinary this season. For somebody on a 4 year contract earning 500k+ a season (more than the club was willing to offer Jared Polec) you do have to question whether we're getting value for money.

https://www.afl.com.au/news/2017-10-13/port-wins-power-struggle-over-free-agent-motlop

"At his best, Motlop will add run and flair to Port's on-ball division, while he is also a proven goalkicker. His challenge will be to find the consistency that too often eluded him at Geelong".

Hopefully he finds some form and gets back to career best form, which for him was in 2015.

In football terms, 2015 is a long long time ago so don't hold your breath
 
Nov 6, 2014
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Q4

20:00 - We win the ball at the centre bounce, but because Byrne-Jones leaves his man unattended as he pushes up to help instead of making sure he has him covered, Boak is put under pressure by that free man and turns the ball over with a handball to Brad Crouch.

19:33 - Byrne-Jones has Lienert and another player free for the quick handball out of a congested defensive area. Instead, he decides to dump kick around the corner. Kick gets intercepted, of course.

19:27 - Great smother of the intercept mark kick by Farrell.

19:23 - Instead of bumping/blocking for Farrell so he can get a clean handball away, or making sure that the only Adelaide player that could possibly end up with the ball doesn't get it, Johnson sags off hoping for the easy outlet ball. Absolute garbage.

19:20 - Clurey ****s up by guessing that Laird is going to kick to Walker on the lead to a pocket, which allows him to get the separation required to bring the ball down to a running Lynch for the snap at goal. **** defending by Broadbent on Lynch as well.

19:00 - Clearance by Powell-Pepper that is kicked into our forward 50 straight to Marshall's opponent in Talia. Marshall just gives up on trying to get to the ball, which leads me to believe that he was caught flat footed and didn't think we'd play on quickly. No wonder he was dropped.

18:35 - Yet another **** kick by a Port player - this time Powell-Pepper - that was directed at the head of our forwards instead of to their advantage.

18:15 - Marshall caught with his hands on his knees hunched over in our forward 50, when we have a stoppage in our forward 50 and play is active. ******* unbelievable. No wonder he was dropped. If he had been active he would have been ready to mark the ball that comes to him, but luckily he brings the ball to ground. Nice handball by Johnson on the ground on the up to Farrell for the goal.

17:59 - Excellent bodywork from Rozee on Laird to mark the Ryder clearance. I have no idea who he was targeting with his kick though - we had a two on one with Howard and Johnson on Hartigan in the goal square, but instead he kicks it to an unmanned Keath who doesn't even have to move. Johnson could have picked up Keath, but seriously, what was he going to do against him with that sort of kick? Rubbish Rozee. You're better than that.

17:28 - The fact that Broadbent was put onto Lynch - who was Adelaide's most dangerous forward - in his first game back says a lot about the importance that Broady has to the team. This would have been the perfect role for Watts, but alas, he's not in our team.

17:23 - Ryder should have been moving to cover Brad Crouch and making sure that O'Brien doesn't have the outlet rather than trying to tackle him. Both Boak and Drew leave their man to try and win the ball - which is what you have to do when you're 38 points down I guess.

16:56 - Broadbent playing in front of Lynch in defence. First defender of ours I've seen that has played in front all game. Take the dump kick into the forward line from Adelaide and moves it quickly to Boak. Good defending.

16:35 - Broadbent again, this time with a little chip kick around the corner out of a stoppage instead of your typical sky ball dump kick, which allowed Farrell to run onto the ball instead of Laird to simply outmark him.

16:22 - For a third time, Broadbent delivers a kick that isn't the typical blast out of defence but drops in between the lines of the Adelaide zone and makes the Port midfielders and Adelaide defenders move toward it, which creates a contest that allows Powell-Pepper to crumb the open ground ball. Too bad Marshall was the target of Pep's kick and not Dixon - the kick was a great one, right in front of Marshall. All he needed to do was run to meet it but instead he runs away from it and lets it bounce and pushes it out of play. Extremely low on confidence.

16:02 - Great hustle from Powell-Pepper to get a hand to an Adelaide kick and cause the turnover. He really had a great last quarter. Duursma kicks it to a Lycett/Keath one on one, and the subsequent ground ball is kicked by Howard into the post. If it was Adelaide, that kick would have been a goal. That's the sort of night we had compared to them.

15:45 - For the first time in forever, a player looks up and actually assesses the options he has instead of simply blazing away into forward 50 to register an inside 50 stat. Ryder brings the ball down to ground where Houston and Duursma get the ball to Drew who delivers to a Todd Marshall who has decided that 'hey, I'm a forward, I'm supposed to be where the defenders aren't' and is found all alone on the weak side of the ground in attacking 50. Or maybe it was because Talia was off the ground. How the **** he doesn't even register a score with his kick is beyond me.

14:28 - Intercept by Ryder of the Adelaide dump kick out of attacking 50, which he moves on quickly to Duursma. Easy shot on goal from 45 on the run under zero pressure...missed. Again.

14:10 - Ryder brings the ball to ground in the contest and it ends up with Powell-Pepper who drills the goal.

13:55 - Garry Lyon makes a pertinent point: "When I look down the ground, I just see a group of six with no rhyme or reason as to how they set up." That's Bassett's fault. Regardless, Rockliff gets the free kick clearance from the centre stoppage and delivers to Howard who actually realises that you can jump at the football as a forward and kicks the goal.

13:12 - Lyon again: "It's just a bunch of players standing together. Get some space, get some movement." A-*******-men.

12:52 - Ellis-Yolmen asks the umpire "How did I grab him?" when he clearly impedes Duursma. Of course it's Rosebury who pays the free - he's not a cheating campaigner like Stephens or Fisher. Says a lot that an Adelaide player would be incredulous about doing something that they had obviously got away with for most of the game. Duursma kicks the goal.

11:22 - And on cue, Stephens notices the shift in momentum and gives the softest of free kicks to Lynch on Broadbent for over the shoulder.

10:58 - Powell-Pepper gets the square up for the ******** free against Clurey early in the game.

10:09 - Broadbent with the rush dump kick out of defence. Dumb.

9:22 - Duursma with another rush dump kick out of defence. Dumber.

9:09 - Play of the night. Westhoff delivers a dump kick, this time to the corridor where Adelaide haven't set up (because like most teams, they are considering that dump kicks will go to the boundary). Johnson should have taken an easy mark, fumbles, falls over but still manages to get the ball moving on to Powell-Pepper on the run who breaks through the Adelaide press (which is how we should have been playing all night) and delivers long to Howard in a one on one for the free kick and soccer goal.

So we've got 9 minutes to go and are only 12 points down. It's game on, we've got all the momentum. Should be a famous victory. Let's see why it wasn't.

8:10 - Westhoff delivers a kick to Drew on Sloane who brings the ball to ground for Motlop and Crouch to battle for. Does Motlop go low like Crouch and risk potential injury? Nope. Runs over the top of Crouch instead, which allows Crouch to farm the handball along the ground to an Adelaide player and they eventually get a shot on goal that luckily misses.

7:37 - Good transition play right up until the time when Sam Gray takes the mark and instead of giving the handball off to the running Rozee who had miles of space and would probably have kicked the goal on the run, he decides to slow down and deliver a **** kick to Lycett inside 50, who should have got a free for a chop of the arms but that's what you get when you leave it up to the umpires. I mean, just look at this ****:

View attachment 675396

Absolutely selfish football by Gray. We had Rozee, Johnson, Farrell, Duursma and Marshall inside 50. The Crows defence was in disarray...but nope. Let's be a ****head and slow it down instead of using the momentum in the game. A handball to Rozee, and he draws the Adelaide player away from Farrell who would have kicked the goal. Should have been a goal, ends up as nothing. Just because you don't have speed Gray, don't slow it down so the people who do can't use it. Disgusting.

7:04 - Good kick inside 50 by Rockliff to Howard that just bounces in front of him. A little bit faster or a little bit harder and it would have been a mark and a shot on goal.


6:39 - Drew has a wide open Byrne-Jones on the outside of the pack who has pushed up into the forward line but he doesn't use him and instead selfishly tries to kick the goal in congestion because he wants to be the hero.

6:25 - Byrne-Jones executes the most ridiculous of handballs to Motlop where instead of handballing to where Motlop actually was, or even to a position where he could help lock the ball in if things went south, he instead handballs to Motlop's left and behind him, which forces Motlop to chase the ball and do some dicky little drop kick under pressure that goes nowhere and ends up with Sloane kicking it towards Adelaide's attacking 50. But the real **** up is what happens next. Byrne-Jones chases the ball down. He's got Houston acting as the sweeper ready to mop up.

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What does he do? He doesn't straight the ball and give it to Houston on the up. He doesn't even paddle the ball back to Lienert who is also in space. Nah, he thinks the best option is to take control of the ball while turning on a wet deck and under pressure.

This play is indefensible. Luckily it only resulted in a point.

5:20 - How the **** can Sam Gray not take a chest mark uncontested?

5:05 - Motlop decides that he's not going to learn from Powell-Pepper's kick to Howard and instead put it on Keath's head for him to spoil, even though Howard was out the back.

4:20 - Lynch tackles Motlop without Motlop ever taking possession. Holding the man? Nope.

4:07 - Travis Boak couldn't have picked out Laird better if he had tried. Rockliff tells him to give off the handball to Duursma who is running on the boundary but there must be something about being captain that doesn't agree with him because he decides that it's better to turn over the ball to the Adelaide defensive zone.

3:53 - Another case of Clurey trying to guess where the ball is going instead of actually reading the play, which allows Walker to take an uncontested mark and seal the game. Just rubbish one on one defending. If Jonas was playing, it never would have happened.

2:50 - I've already discussed Byrne-Jones lame giving up on the play which resulted in Broadbent getting caught with the ball. But really, 20 points down with under 3 minutes to go...who cares. The rest of the game was just same old same old.

Summary

When the game was there to be won, and players needed to be big, Sam Gray, Motlop and Byrne-Jones became small. Marshall playing was like playing with 20 players all night. In spite of everything, we could have and should have won this game if our delivery inside 50 that was evident in the fourth quarter had extended to all quarters and we had taken the game on a bit more.

Put Jonas down back with Howard and Dixon, Gray and Ebert up forward and we win easily, because everyone shifts down to the next rung in terms of defence and attack. Keath doesn't look like peak Alex Rance because he now becomes responsible for a guy who can mark the football in Ebert. Jonas, Howard and Clurey limit the damage of Lynch and Walker.

Another wasted opportunity.
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