Review Good/Bad vs West Coast, R21 2022

[huludicidal]

Good:
Rory Laird

29

Rory Laird

Age

30

Ht

177cm

Wt

85kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

25.4

5star

K

12.9

5star

HB

12.5

5star

M

5.4

5star

T

2.3

4star

CL

1.0

3star

D

19.6

5star

K

10.9

4star

HB

8.7

4star

M

3.4

3star

T

2.4

3star

CL

1.1

3star

D

14.6

4star

K

7.4

3star

HB

7.2

5star

M

3.2

4star

T

4.0

5star

CL

0.4

3star

- was an absolute beast today in his 200th, and a genuine chance to take the 3 Brownlow votes away from the bloke who kicked 8 in his farewell game.

Fog - speaking of beasts, this guy is in some sort of form. Has turned things around to a level that we could have only dreamed of about 3 months ago. Oozing confidence and class.

Sam Berry - continues to be hard as a cat’s head, and his tackling prowess is quite simply the best in the game. Will play 300 games for the club if his body can hold up.

Jake Soligo - supreme value in the 30s here, and much like Berry, looks a potential 300 gamer to me. Has better vision and footy IQ than pretty much anyone on our list.

McAdam - arguably his best game for the club. Was excellent and played 4 quarters.

Hinge - see comments above for McAdam.

Murphy - one of his best games for the year

Worrell - remind me of why it took us until Round 20 to play this kid? He’s pretty much our best defender already, unless you count Dawson who shouldn’t be playing there LOL

The ability to win an away game in front of a packed house despite Tex copping a bath, and an opposition retiring champion kicking 8


Bad:
Jordan Butts - after being our best young player in 2021, he has regressed sharply this year and looks set to take out the reverse Coleman. Had an absolute shocker.

Tex - worst game he’s played for a long time. Looked distracted.

Smith - complete and utter garbage from Brodie. If it wasn’t for his excellent game against Carlton combined with injuries to McPherson and Hamill, he’d be a near certainty to be dropped after that.

Schoenberg - was s**t

Himmelberg’s first 2.5 quarters - just wow. Did genuinely redeem himself late, but just wow haha

Keays - had an absolute shocker

Murray - wasn’t much better than Butts


Ugly:
West Coast’s next 5 years

Hamill copping yet another concussion - career threatening stuff here now, and he’s such a promising young player too.

The amount of time it takes O’Brien to get ball from hand to foot

 

[LeftyLuke]

Good:
If we win our last two, and Port lose to Essendon at Marvel (Bombers are 1.80 favourites), we finish above the scum. Wouldn’t that just be hilarious

Powaa aren't that good, reckon they are headed for a real bad year next year.

 

[SellarStardom]

Jones wasn't amazing while on the wing, but thought he was super solid defensively. Halved some contests against really quick players. A couple of big spoils running back with the flight. At least one eye-catching mark. Not stat sheet stuff but really important.

The thing with Jones's game is that I saw him often on the opposing wing. That game was very much a "straight lines contest" with very few crosses of play

 

[JohnnyD]

A fun game to watch and unlike last season, wins won't hurt us this year as our first is off to Gold Coast anyway. Let's not get carried away, this is two win West Coast we beat today, and last week Carlton who are showing they have returned to their former pre 2022 selves.

GOOD

I want to apologise to the boy and change my rating for Fog from bust to a lock. Took five seasons but has arrived

Laird played one of his best games to celebrate 200

Like Worrell again, Soligo continues to looks a find

ROB got the finger out today, but still not quality

BAD

Tex getting late season blues?

Milera, I just knew last week was an abberation

Smith, last week may be his only good game for the season, reverted to type and got a contract for two more years

Jones is a bust, hardly had a kick or a tackle. Only getting a game now on his draft number

Not saying he had a great game or anything but took a very courageous mark going back with the flight...maybe in the 1st quarter with big JK flying about...

 

[Maddogmetro]

Re watching that third quarter. That 50 against Tex was the biggest load of s**t I've ever seen. Literally stands the mark, ump immediately calls 50 without any instruction about where he was standing.

 

[Mego Red]

Not a fan of either, but I thought that both played well enough today and gave them both a tick.

Jones may have only had 7 disposals, but many of his possessions were contested and I think we’re all wins and/or an effective disposal. He took a courageous mark or two and played his role.

McHenry has now had 2 fairly good games by playing his role with vigour and effectiveness.

I think that their deficiencies are clear for all too see and I don’t think that either will be best 22 in a future Top 4 Crows team ….. but at the moment they both deserve a pat on the back.

Jones had 11 pressure acts and spent 60% of the game in defense. I thought he was really good, and error free.

McHenry seems to genuinely be becoming a player. They're clearly improved from the start of the year.

 

[Cap]

Take the win all day every day.

Do we really want to be bottom four for three seasons in a row?

On SM-A325F using BigFooty.com mobile app

Given the pick is GC bound I'm not sure it matters.

When is the last time we has a chance to win 4 on the trot.

 

[Damp Squarie]

Himmelberg is a strange one. 2 goals and a great assist when the game was on the line… but his first half was a massive bunch of nothing. Someone recently mentioned that it seems like we generally do well when he’s in the team. So for those into this kind of thing, since Himmelberg first debuted for the club:

Adelaide has played 89 games, winning 28 of them (31% winning ratio).

Himmelberg has played 38 of those games, for 14 wins (37% winning ratio).

Does this mean that he makes us a better side when he plays? Perhaps. Will be interesting to see what the club do with him.

He was better this week and I’d soooo love for him to make it but geez sometimes I would like to put a bomb under him.

 

[Bearded Clam]

Good. Beating a team with two wins for the year. They have 18 losses for a reason.
Berry. So tough, keeps the ball with us or neutral as oppose

I get not all supporters see what Ned brings. He is not a bust. I would suggest most players in the league would love him as a team mate

Beating WC at home is never an easy feat..

They might only have two wins so far but they have been very competitive in the second half of the season and are better than most give them credit for.

I wouldnt be too quick to write off yesterdays win as a case of us simply beating up on a shite team..

 

[Bearded Clam]

Fog is terrific with the “Don’t argue”

But that final mark today was more of a “Get out of my fecking way”

I said at the time in the game day thread that it was a Wayne Carey like grab.. carey used to do them all the time.. just smash his way into the marking contest and seemed to just win the ball with ease..

 

[StonesThrow]

Re watching that third quarter. That 50 against Tex was the biggest load of s**t I've ever seen. Literally stands the mark, ump immediately calls 50 without any instruction about where he was standing.

Yeah this was weird. I think he stepped 1 foot over the where the mark was, but yeah the ump didn't say anything, just blew the whistle straight away.

Maybe you're only allowed to do that and get a warning first if you're in the marking contest.

The Umps were too whistle happy at times. Some bad calls on both sides (and non calls).

 

[WaynesWorld19]

Yeah this was weird. I think he stepped 1 foot over the where the mark was, but yeah the ump didn't say anything, just blew the whistle straight away.

Maybe you're only allowed to do that and get a warning first if you're in the marking contest.

The Umps were too whistle happy at times. Some bad calls on both sides (and non calls).

It's believed, Tex's 50 mtr was for dissent

 

[LeftyLuke]

Beating WC at home is never an easy feat..

They might only have two wins so far but they have been very competitive in the second half of the season and are better than most give them credit for.

I wouldnt be too quick to write off yesterdays win as a case of us simply beating up on a shite team..

I think it was a good win especially when a third of our team had absolute stinkers. We are a 6-7 goal better team than west coast but the umpires were blatalantly favouring them.

 

[StonesThrow]

I think it was a good win especially when a third of our team had absolute stinkers. We are a 6-7 goal better team than west coast but the umpires were blatalantly favouring them.

No they weren't.

 

[LeftyLuke]

No they weren't.

Yes they were, they tried their best to get west coast over the line. They missed at least 10 free kicks for us. I can recall numerous occasions where wce just dropped the ball and no free. I didn't overly bother me as I knew we would win regardless but it was laughable.

 

[Truck25]

I feel like we were the better team on the day apart from 3 players, Kennedy, Nick Nat and Barrass. Those 3 went beast mode today and were outstanding.
JK's last game definitely had an effect.
For us. The kids are coming along, Fog, Soligo, Berry continue their rise.
But I liked McHenry, Worrell, Hinge and Schoenberg, not massive stats but were effective and great pressure.
Our ball use under pressure is getting better, not perfect but definite improvement, and WC bought the pressure.
Looking forward to next year, bring in Rankine, Another Burgess preseason and I give us a 30/70 chance of sneaking into the 8.

 

[jackster83]

It's believed, Tex's 50 mtr was for dissent

He gives one of these away every week.

 

[VictorianCrow85]

We already did that this game

Just for a bit of perspective re Keays, at half time we were smashed in center bounce clerarances something like 10 to 3. Keays went in there in the 2nd half and while he wasn't the one generating the clearances his presence around the ball did help stop their easy clearances. Basically I say Nicks got it right yesterday, most of the first half he wasn't there (aside from bounce #1). The kids were struggling against the Eagles so he then gave Keays a bit of time in there in the 2nd half but it wasn't over done imo.

By the end of the match we had lifted and they had just one extra center bounce clearance. It was noticeable at the ground how much we lifted in the 2nd half. Not going to say that's only Keays but I certainly noticed his presence even his possessions weren't great.

Don't get me wrong I DO NOT want to see us go back to Keays & Laird at every center bounce. Not saying Keays had a great match either. The center bounce even up might have just been coincidence as our whole side and intensity notably lifted in the 3rd quarter.

 

[jo172]

Just thinking, yesterday was some of the best application of the advantage rule i've seen for a long time

 

[LeftyLuke]

He gives one of these away every week.

Tex looks like he needs a rest. The last two games can't come quick enough.

 

[Greenfinger]

Jones actually had a very solid defensive game with some crucial pressure acts at critical times. Sick of posters who make up their mind on who played well be the stats!

 

[VictorianCrow85]

Well yesterday was a great match to attend, the atmosphere was incredible. I've also gotta say the Eagles crowd were great. I half expected some flogs to be hostile or rude about our side due to the week we've had but nothing. They cheered hard, wanted lots of free kicks (as does every home side) but when we were congratulated for winning after the match an appropriate modest applause no booing etc so credit to that supporter base. I've always heard they can be hostile or feral but I certainly didn't experience it.

Now as for the rest...

The Good:

• Winning despite the week we've had. I could have seen us mentally no showing after the media, the JK factor, the come down from our best performance of the year. Some players certainly struggled, it wasn't as good as the week prior with a whole team performance but a win in Perth is a win in Perth.
• Failing to get over run when they sliced our lead to nothing in just minutes of the last quarter.
• Accurate goal kicking.
• Half time the coaching groups managed to get a very noticeable intensity lift out of side.

Now for the players:

• Hinge played easily his best game. I prefer him on the wing if he can get that level of output. I think his defensive game just isn't that great so I prefer him in the more attacking type role.
• Laird what is there to say? 36 disposals, hit the scoreboard early, tackles, clearances. The back half of the year after missing some with injury start of the year would be all australian worthy.
• Berry was a physical beast & presence in the midfield. Don't let the lower disposal count confuse you he was excellent.
• Fogarty was outstanding, when the game was on the line he's who grabbed it & made us hold on.
• ROB won't be popular here due to the anti ROB factor but he was pretty good yesterday. Took some very important marks, nailed Nic Nat in a hugely important tackle later in the match. While not perfect was a very acceptable standard and what we need out of him regularly.
• McAdam was extremely important and didn't disappoint, took some good grabs, nailed his opportunities.
• McHenry another whipping boy was decent, mostly because he had 2 chances for goal & took them. Fine line between a poor match & good one.
• Murphy had a poorish first quarter but he lifted seriously after that, was probably his best match for the year. Some extremely important pressure acts & hit the score board again without missing.
• Dawson was pretty solid, not his best but if that's a mediocre game it's still pretty decent.
• Himmelbergs was not good all match, a tale of 2 halves as it so often is with him. I swear he's always good in the 2nd half when some pace comes off the match because by half time I never wanted to see him again, by the end of the match I felt I was too harsh. Some huge moments in that 2nd half & didn't screw them up.
• Soligo had an important last quarter, struggled a bit prior but he's the guy we want with ball in hand to make good decisions.
• Murray was pretty good defensively.
• Worrell did a few very nice things, saving a goal late in the match and cramping like all hell after. A solid follow up from an outstanding 2nd AFL match.
• Tom Barass plays for the opposition but I just have to admire how amazing he is as a defender. Just plays the game without nonsense. Without him we probably would have won by 6 goals. Didn't just beat Tex easily but helped the rest of the defensive unit.
• Josh Kennedy kicking a bag was amazing to see live with that crowd & the occasion. What a super star he's been.
• Nicks deserves some credit again for keeping the playing group on task. I also was happy with his use of Keays & midfield rotations. I've posted about it just above for more depth but maybe he's learning slowly?

The Bad:

• Smith completely back to middle earth after a great week.
• Milera did a couple nice things but output wasn't enough.
• Tex was thoroughly beaten by Barass who is an outstanding defender and put serious work in. Regardless Tex wasn't tough enough yesterday so probably his worst match in 2 years.
• Jones did a couple very nice things but struggled to get involved again. Really hope we see a Fogarty moment with him soon where it just starts to all click because his yo-yoing between doing ok & doing little is a bit frustrating.

The Ugly:

• Will Hamills 6th concussion, surely he starts to wear a helmet in the hope it slows these up?
• Butts had a shocker, probably didn't get the team help on Kennedy he needed but just looked lost out there. End of the year probably can't come fast enough for him.
• Himmelbergs first half, looked like he was barely trying.

All in all I was really pleased with the performance. Few players down, more or less senior guys too but we found a way to win in Perth despite everything happening around us for the week.

Now to see if we can get 3 in a row against the Roos this week.

 

[Golumless]

Beating WC at home is never an easy feat..

They might only have two wins so far but they have been very competitive in the second half of the season and are better than most give them credit for.

I wouldnt be too quick to write off yesterdays win as a case of us simply beating up on a shite team..

Not at all, a win away against a shite team playing inspired football led by a retiring great who had one monster performance left in him. There are better on paper teams who'd have folded with that challenge.

 

[Rory Walkerfield]

Just for a bit of perspective re Keays, at half time we were smashed in center bounce clerarances something like 10 to 3. Keays went in there in the 2nd half and while he wasn't the one generating the clearances his presence around the ball did help stop their easy clearances. Basically I say Nicks got it right yesterday, most of the first half he wasn't there (aside from bounce #1). The kids were struggling against the Eagles so he then gave Keays a bit of time in there in the 2nd half but it wasn't over done imo.

By the end of the match we had lifted and they had just one extra center bounce clearance. It was noticeable at the ground how much we lifted in the 2nd half. Not going to say that's only Keays but I certainly noticed his presence even his possessions weren't great.

Don't get me wrong I DO NOT want to see us go back to Keays & Laird at every center bounce. Not saying Keays had a great match either. The center bounce even up might have just been coincidence as our whole side and intensity notably lifted in the 3rd quarter.

I noticed Keays went in for the CBA a few times but then pushed forward.

 

[LeftyLuke]

Well yesterday was a great match to attend, the atmosphere was incredible. I've also gotta say the Eagles crowd were great. I half expected some flogs to be hostile or rude about our side due to the week we've had but nothing. They cheered hard, wanted lots of free kicks (as does every home side) but when we were congratulated for winning after the match an appropriate modest applause no booing etc so credit to that supporter base. I've always heard they can be hostile or feral but I certainly didn't experience it.

Now as for the rest...

The Good:

• Winning despite the week we've had. I could have seen us mentally no showing after the media, the JK factor, the come down from our best performance of the year. Some players certainly struggled, it wasn't as good as the week prior with a whole team performance but a win in Perth is a win in Perth.
• Failing to get over run when they sliced our lead to nothing in just minutes of the last quarter.
• Accurate goal kicking.
• Half time the coaching groups managed to get a very noticeable intensity lift out of side.

Now for the players:

• Hinge played easily his best game. I prefer him on the wing if he can get that level of output. I think his defensive game just isn't that great so I prefer him in the more attacking type role.
• Laird what is there to say? 36 disposals, hit the scoreboard early, tackles, clearances. The back half of the year after missing some with injury start of the year would be all australian worthy.
• Berry was a physical beast & presence in the midfield. Don't let the lower disposal count confuse you he was excellent.
• Fogarty was outstanding, when the game was on the line he's who grabbed it & made us hold on.
• ROB won't be popular here due to the anti ROB factor but he was pretty good yesterday. Took some very important marks, nailed Nic Nat in a hugely important tackle later in the match. While not perfect was a very acceptable standard and what we need out of him regularly.
• McAdam was extremely important and didn't disappoint, took some good grabs, nailed his opportunities.
• McHenry another whipping boy was decent, mostly because he had 2 chances for goal & took them. Fine line between a poor match & good one.
• Murphy had a poorish first quarter but he lifted seriously after that, was probably his best match for the year. Some extremely important pressure acts & hit the score board again without missing.
• Dawson was pretty solid, not his best but if that's a mediocre game it's still pretty decent.
• Himmelbergs was not good all match, a tale of 2 halves as it so often is with him. I swear he's always good in the 2nd half when some pace comes off the match because by half time I never wanted to see him again, by the end of the match I felt I was too harsh. Some huge moments in that 2nd half & didn't screw them up.
• Soligo had an important last quarter, struggled a bit prior but he's the guy we want with ball in hand to make good decisions.
• Murray was pretty good defensively.
• Worrell did a few very nice things, saving a goal late in the match and cramping like all hell after. A solid follow up from an outstanding 2nd AFL match.
• Tom Barass plays for the opposition but I just have to admire how amazing he is as a defender. Just plays the game without nonsense. Without him we probably would have won by 6 goals. Didn't just beat Tex easily but helped the rest of the defensive unit.
• Josh Kennedy kicking a bag was amazing to see live with that crowd & the occasion. What a super star he's been.
• Nicks deserves some credit again for keeping the playing group on task. I also was happy with his use of Keays & midfield rotations. I've posted about it just above for more depth but maybe he's learning slowly?

The Bad:

• Smith completely back to middle earth after a great week.
• Milera did a couple nice things but output wasn't enough.
• Tex was thoroughly beaten by Barass who is an outstanding defender and put serious work in. Regardless Tex wasn't tough enough yesterday so probably his worst match in 2 years.
• Jones did a couple very nice things but struggled to get involved again. Really hope we see a Fogarty moment with him soon where it just starts to all click because his yo-yoing between doing ok & doing little is a bit frustrating.

The Ugly:

• Will Hamills 6th concussion, surely he starts to wear a helmet in the hope it slows these up?
• Butts had a shocker, probably didn't get the team help on Kennedy he needed but just looked lost out there. End of the year probably can't come fast enough for him.
• Himmelbergs first half, looked like he was barely trying.

All in all I was really pleased with the performance. Few players down, more or less senior guys too but we found a way to win in Perth despite everything happening around us for the week.

Now to see if we can get 3 in a row against the Roos this week.

Jones and Schoenberg are somewhat concerning. The thing with Schoenberg is that he doesn't have that first 5 metre burst of speed which the top line mids all have. He also needs to improve his tackling. Needs a big preseason.