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Review R9: The Good, Bad and the Ugly vs. Port Adelaide

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What??? If there is anything left in the crack pipe - please share it with friends.

We are the #1 team for Goals, #1 team for Goal Assists, #2 for marks inside 50 in the league despite being 7th for inside 50's.

We have the best forward line in the league. We had 41 inside 50's last night and had 24 scoring shots.

Our 3 KPF have 61 goals between them and are sitting 2nd, 7th and 14th in the Coleman race.

Our 3 smalls - are all in the top 40 for goals with Keays, Rachele, Rankine combining for 39 goals through 9 games.

How in the world could we be more dynamic?!?!?
The forward line is elite and the backline has stood up extremely well and has multiple players performing very well. The structure and organisation of the forward line is also extremely good - three talls is working way better than I think almost anyone expected.

Our issues are all through the middle, which is where we got smashed by both Port and Freo. That's the issue to fix - if we had a top midfield we'd be premiership favourites.
 

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Amazing when all is going good it's down to Murray Davis but when we're not so good it's all down to Nick's. I realise Nick's has the final say but that's Murray Davis sitting there next to him every game and he's not a deaf mute.
 
The forward line is elite and the backline has stood up extremely well and has multiple players performing very well. The structure and organisation of the forward line is also extremely good - three talls is working way better than I think almost anyone expected.

Our issues are all through the middle, which is where we got smashed by both Port and Freo. That's the issue to fix - if we had a top midfield we'd be premiership favourites.
The midfield lacks a bit of power.

Soligo is down and/or carrying something, Dawson got well held and Rankine isn't in there to be defensive, but he does need to improve it.

We've seen against the slower midfields like Carlton, St Kilda etc we're fine. Speed kills.
 
I saw Murray raise his eyebrows near the end: he was frustrated.
I was frustrated too with the decision making of several experienced players in the last 5 minutes and there's not much the coaches can do about that at the time. The players shit the bed not the coaches.
 
The midfield lacks a bit of power.

Soligo is down and/or carrying something, Dawson got well held and Rankine isn't in there to be defensive, but he does need to improve it.

We've seen against the slower midfields like Carlton, St Kilda etc we're fine. Speed kills.

I think the midfield is still missing an elite player.

I know their form fluctuates and they play various positions but we are missng a Neale, Butters, Bont, Daicos, JHF, Heeny, Warner type ect. At the moment we need Rankine up forward as much as possible.
 
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Ugly: considering he's one of the most experienced midfielder/defenders in the league, geeez Laird does some dumb stuff
Part of what shits me about Laird is his attitude. He's critical of his teammates and won't own up to his own problems. That throw in the last quarter was so stupid and he had the gall to complain to the umpire about it.
 
I think the midfield is still missing an elite player.

I know their form fluctuates and they play various positions but we are missng a Neale, Butters, Bint, Daicos, JHF, Heeny, Warner type ect. At the moment we need Rankine up forward as much as possible.
It's why is crucial to get games into Draper and Curtin, and to a lesser extent Edwards.
 
Part of what shits me about Laird is his attitude. He's critical of his teammates and won't own up to his own problems. That throw in the last quarter was so stupid and he had the gall to complain to the umpire about it.
I mean he's not the first player to complain about a perfectly fine decision, but i get your point.
 

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The real winner is Gold Coast.

Holding Port's first rounder, last night's win by us could be the difference between a top four pick or it blowing out to 6th.

Looking at Port's draw, they won't win again for at least a month.
I can absolutely see them coming out and beating Geelong next week. The exact type of backs against the wall playing for Ken win.
 
I think the midfield is still missing an elite player.

I know their form fluctuates and they play various positions but we are missng a Neale, Butters, Bint, Daicos, JHF, Heeny, Warner type ect. At the moment we need Rankine up forward as much as possible.
Draper can maybe be that player but I think that's at least 2 years away yet.

I still have hopes that Edwards can be a really good mid too but I'd be playing him as our number 1 mid in the Snaffle not at half back right now for his development?

Time to give Berry a decent crack in the AFL midfield as well, he's really starting to show the dash he showed as a junior more and more.
 
I think the midfield is still missing an elite player.

I know their form fluctuates and they play various positions but we are missng a Neale, Butters, Bint, Daicos, JHF, Heeny, Warner type ect. At the moment we need Rankine up forward as much as possible.
Draper could be that elite mid, we just need to start giving him more of a go at it.

Rankine I think is better as a forward who can have bursts in the middle than the other way around. His mecuralism (I'm pretty sure this isn't a word, but it is now) up there played a huge role in winning the game.
 
Draper can maybe be that player but I think that's at least 2 years away yet.

I still have hopes that Edwards can be a really good mid too but I'd be playing him as our number 1 mid in the Snaffle not at half back right now for his development?

Time to give Berry a decent crack in the AFL midfield as well, he's really starting to show the dash he showed as junior more and more.
On Berry, its a bit hard to judge as he's playing a sub role.... he should be fresh.

The biggest thing with him is he's clean grabbing the ball
 

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A few of those 50m were from shit umpiring though. They weren't dominating us until we started to slow the game down in the last 10 minutes after being 4 goals up, we would likely have kicked more goals given how dominate we were up until then with how Thilthorpe was playing. Nicks virtually didn't use him in the last 10 minutes.
I don’t get the umpire hate. What 50 was not warranted? All valid and brain fades. How they didn’t pay insufficient intent against Tex … amazing. We did fine from the umpires. 75% of the team play well below par and we mailed in the last 10 minutes
 
Yeah, I have wondered if just swapping Rankine with Keays or Dawson with Laird from time to time when they can’t get their hands on it would work. Those guys butcher it, but at least they can get their own ball. With the elite forward line the crows have, just bombing it forward in contested games might be better than not even touching it. Plus Rankine is an elite small forward and Dawson is an elite half back.

Hasn’t been tried at all this year though. Keays 4 CBA for the year and Laird 0.

It doesn't take a genius coach to figure out how to break a tag for Dawson or Rankine as Dawson can play back at an elite level or forward and Rankine can play forward at an elite level.
 
We obviously wont be able to draft him this year but I hope we are regularly in Sharp's ear.

I'm over having a plodding midfield.
 
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Review R9: The Good, Bad and the Ugly vs. Port Adelaide

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