Review R17: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly vs. Melbourne Demons

[Rotayjay]

What stood out to me most at the ground was:

• The number of intercept marks we gave Melbourne. It was like playing Geelong in the 2010s.
• Rankine was absolutely on fire. Invest in talent.
• Speaking of the importance of talent, Murphy was just flapping around and doing nothing.
• I was fairly convinced we were having one of those days and would lose during the second quarter. We pretty much never come back under Nicks, but we did.

 

[Bovo]

It was one of those games where you suddenly look up at the score board and ask how the hell are we 20points up? I think we all agree it wasn’t flashy. Melbourne played a lot better than we expected. We looked flat. We won and that’s all we needed to do.

 

[Hobbes]

I'll stick my neck out and say that's a great win, if only because we came back from 28 points down to win it.

MILESTONE: it's a first for us under Nicks isn't it?

(Hope Rachele is ok )

We came back from 36 points down to beat St Kilda in 2021.

 

[WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot]

IMO Taylor has something… I just don’t think they are giving him that consistent game time (and on the ground) he needs to show it.

He had 70% TOG for 5 touches. Peatling had 71% TOG for 25 touches.

Taylor didn’t have a good game by any measure. It wasn’t even a passable game.

 

[Cromulant]

Doesn’t matter how good a kick he is if he’s kicking it 7 times per game. Scholl is a great kick too, but that’s not enough to keep him in the team.

Theres a big difference in physicality between the 2 as well.

I mean we got very little out of our 2 wingers yesterday in reality.

 

[StonesThrow]

The biggest issue with our game right now is forward entries. Has been a problem for much of the year.

Not only are we struggling for connection and with decision making, it seems to be a zone where we lose all ability to hit very simple targets. A lot of it is just simple skill error.

Really need to tidy this up if we're going to push for top 4. Can get away with it against bottom sides. Would have won against the Hawks if we didn't butcher our i50s.

 

[GreyCrow]

The biggest issue with our game right now is forward entries. Has been a problem for much of the year.

Not only are we struggling for connection and with decision making, it seems to be a zone where we lose all ability to hit very simple targets. A lot of it is just simple skill error.

Really need to tidy this up if we're going to push for top 4. Can get away with it against bottom sides. Would have won against the Hawks if we didn't butcher our i50s.

I think there is a focus on trying to tidy this up but its still a work in progress

As an example I saw both sides of the coin - which stood out - when we had Fog mark in front of ?? and Thilthorpe - all in a conga line of jumpers

Followed by a mark to Fog where Tex and Thilthorpe were 15m apart in a triangle

I prefer the 2nd which should spread the defence of the opposition

 

[ftmch]

The Rachele injury is extra bad because now we have to bring in a player who has barely played this year with just 7 rounds to go and get them fully up to speed for finals football

I reckon Peds comes back in

 

[PeterSalt]

The biggest issue with our game right now is forward entries. Has been a problem for much of the year.

Not only are we struggling for connection and with decision making, it seems to be a zone where we lose all ability to hit very simple targets. A lot of it is just simple skill error.

Really need to tidy this up if we're going to push for top 4. Can get away with it against bottom sides. Would have won against the Hawks if we didn't butcher our i50s.

I think there is a focus on trying to tidy this up but its still a work in progress

As an example I saw both sides of the coin - which stood out - when we had Fog mark in front of ?? and Thilthorpe - all in a conga line of jumpers

Followed by a mark to Fog where Tex and Thilthorpe were 15m apart in a triangle

I prefer the 2nd which should spread the defence of the opposition

It was pretty frustrating watching how many entries were simply butchered

All of least Fogarty, Thilthorpe, Rachele, Neal-Bullen completely butchered kicks. There were others. Then we had Tex's left snap at goal from 25m out that didn't even make the distance

 

[Alwaysacrow]

The biggest issue with our game right now is forward entries. Has been a problem for much of the year.

Not only are we struggling for connection and with decision making, it seems to be a zone where we lose all ability to hit very simple targets. A lot of it is just simple skill error.

Really need to tidy this up if we're going to push for top 4. Can get away with it against bottom sides. Would have won against the Hawks if we didn't butcher our i50s.

Our forward entries have been a feature this up until recently but yes it does need to be addressed.

 

[WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot]

Good

• We won after being nearly 5 goals down in the 2nd quarter and turned the game mid-quarter. 2019-2024 Crows lose this game.
• Aside from Rankine, no one had an outstanding game and we still got the job done. So still plenty of room for improvement.
• Winning with limited output from Thilthorpe, Hinge, Michalanney and Neal-Bullen. Good teams win games like this even when several of their usual performers don’t play as well.
• Lost a lot of centre hit outs, but still won the centre clearances.

Bad

• Rachelle’s knee. Hoping for a jarred or hyperextended knee, but it didn’t look great.
• The kicking into the forward line in the first half. Intercept marks are bad, but uncontested intercept marks are horrible.

Ugly

• Murphy’s game. 2 disposals in a half is terrible, but he also nearly injured a couple of team mates and himself trying to take mark of the year.
• Taylor’s game. 5 disposals in a full game isn’t much better, especially with 2 of them being turnovers. At least he scored a goal at an important moment.

 

[SugarShane]

• Rankine was absolutely on fire. Invest in talent.

Feels like if we didn't have one of him, Peatling or Soligo we probably lose that game. When the chips were down it seemed like everything started or finished with one of those 3.

 

[JPetro83]

I know we have to wait on scans with Rachele but was there any early verdict given? the docs usually have an idea if the ACL has been ruptured. i havent heard much on what they think it is??

 

[Samcro24]

Ugly: kayo mini cutting to players lining up for goal, missing the build up. Yet spending time on the goal reviews.

We don’t like goal reviews on the live coverage, why would we want to watch them in the highlights?

 

[relapse]

Isaac Cumming is not the player I thought we were getting. 13 disposals and very little impact. Easily the least influential of the 3 recruits this year.

Cumming has been really disappointing so far this year.

I think our form this year has allowed his lack of impact to go unnoticed

If we were in a form slump he'd 100% be in the gun to be dropped.

 

[CharlieCrow]

I think that the three tower forward line thing worked well a the start of the season - especially against the lesser teams. All Fogarty, Thilthorpe and Walker had to do was maintain a bit of separation and it worked out fine, which in turn covered up the often poor quality forward entries from the midfield etc. Now the separation has been covered to a certain degree by crowding the defence, and so the poor quality forward entries have now become blindingly obvious. They are eaten up by the opposition defences who just have to be disciplined and organised. This was really obvious last night and would also explain why we struggle against the better teams who have experienced, organised backlines.

 

[relapse]

I know we have to wait on scans with Rachele but was there any early verdict given? the docs usually have an idea if the ACL has been ruptured. i havent heard much on what they think it is??

I think the fact that they sent him for scans suggests that his knee most likely failed the structure test.

When my son did his ACL I was told that those structure tests on a knee are about 95% accurate.

I think we need to prepare for the worst.

 

[Cromulant]

I think the fact that they sent him for scans suggests that his knee most likely failed the structure test.

When my son did his ACL I was told that those structure tests on a knee are about 95% accurate.

I think we need to prepare for the worst.

Or he passed the test and they want to make double sure.

 

[Scorpus]

Cumming has been really disappointing so far this year.

I think our form this year has allowed his lack of impact to go unnoticed

If we were in a form slump he'd 100% be in the gun to be dropped.

We definitely need to look at our mixture of half backs and wings.

Is it best for us to have Laird, Milera and Hinge off half back with Cumming on the wing, or would it be better to have Cumming at half back, someone out and bring in (say) Nankervis on the wing

I am confident that Cumming would be our best ball user off half back.

 

[SugarShane]

Amazing that it was Keays again, but I reckon we got away with that goal review. The angles on the review completely ignored McVee's swat. Spent all the time checking May and the other defender, and by the time they rewound the tape enough they'd already made their decision. Don't know for sure whether McVee made contact, in real time it looked like it, but they didn't even go to a different angle on his touch.

Doesn't quite make up for the Sydney one, but Melbourne could rightly feel a bit annoyed by that review.

 

[Geoffa32]

He had 70% TOG for 5 touches. Peatling had 71% TOG for 25 touches.

Taylor didn’t have a good game by any measure. It wasn’t even a passable game.

I would like to see him given a defined role.

With Rachele out, give him that stoppage mid role. With a few CBAs.

He has genuine talent. But seems lost out there in terms of role.


Saw this with Curtin early before moving him to wing.

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

I think the fact that they sent him for scans suggests that his knee most likely failed the structure test.

When my son did his ACL I was told that those structure tests on a knee are about 95% accurate.

I think we need to prepare for the worst.

Even if the ACL is intact he's likely to have some other damage so there would need to be scans regardless

 

[GreyCrow]

We definitely need to look at our mixture of half backs and wings.

Is it best for us to have Laird, Milera and Hinge off half back with Cumming on the wing, or would it be better to have Cumming at half back, someone out and bring in (say) Nankervis on the wing

I am confident that Cumming would be our best ball user off half back.

Would have been perfect to try it yesterday


But Smith

 

[Geoffa32]

Would have been perfect to try it yesterday


But Smith

I think Smith should be sub each week. I don't like kids being sub and Murphy is useless. Smithers has a weapon with his kicking.

Cummings then to HB, bring back Nank for wing.

 

[BRL121]

Isaac is probably one of if not our best field kick, and he's a hard runner.

That is why he keeps his spot.

Yes. If you watch the highlights package, it was Cumming with the direct goal assist deliveries on many occasions.
He's the least of our worries. People seem unduly concerned with number of possessions, rather than quality.

I'm far more concerned about stupid goal assists to the oppo. For example, we gifted the oppo their first three goals and attempted to gift them more in that period. TT with his usual stupid kick into the corridor, Hinge with his stupid short kickout, Rankine with his 50, etc., and several more that weren't punished. These stuff-ups served to heighten Melbourne's morale and give them unwarranted confidence in the second quarter.