Review Semi final vs Hawthorn - Ugly, Historically Embarrassing and Pathetic

[King Elvis]

Elephant in the room but surely we've got to be disappointed with our conditioning for finals. We need a better coach that trusts his playing list enough to rotate players. I place most of the blame on Nicks who once said he'd "select the same team every week" if he could. He had ample opportunity to rest players and it was really only Walker that got time off.

Taking pride in your stupidity is a special kind of moron.

 

[GreyCrow]

I am convinced that our midfielders get worse the longer they are coached to be midfielders.

The only players that ever look competent in there are fresh hires briefly, before they slowly devolve and get worse. We get a bump when we make a positional change but if that change sticks, form erodes

Goddened

 

[GreyCrow]

In the first quarter when we were getting the ball forward and even opening Hawthorn up we'd kick it over our forward's heads.

This was the most frustrating part of the night

We do all the hard work and the ball sails over Thilthorpes head - which you know is a massive miskick - or its short

Either way Hawks players just mopped it up

 

[GreyCrow]

Elephant in the room but surely we've got to be disappointed with our conditioning for finals. We need a better coach that trusts his playing list enough to rotate players. I place most of the blame on Nicks who once said he'd "select the same team every week" if he could. He had ample opportunity to rest players and it was really only Walker that got time off.

Again it goes back to his fear philosophy

He is fearful of change . He is fearful of losing by a lot. He is fearful of having to tell a Brodie Smith that his time is past and we will move him on.

Great assistant shit head coach

 

[ams4crows]

The Rankine incident sapped every ounce of energy out of the club it doomed us.


Our club continues to back the boys in and trust the system and game plan not once have we adjusted for an opponent we got jumped 4 of the last 5 games at the start. How can you not be switched on for a final at home?? What more motivation do you need?

A pathetic effort to not win a single quarter in the two finals played at home.

What a complete waste of money for the Crows fans in attendance.

 

[Not_The_Messiah]

Did Nicks change the game plan in the last 4 weeks leading up to the finals? Why did they become suddenly so defensive and slow? Who spends 19 weeks mastering a game plan only to change it completely in the last 4 weeks?!?!

 

[Moonwatcher]

Did Nicks change the game plan in the last 4 weeks leading up to the finals? Why did they become suddenly so defensive and slow? Who spends 19 weeks mastering a game plan only to change it completely in the last 4 weeks?!?!

We played Collingwood, Hawthorn and 2 bogey sides in WCE in Perth and North in Melbourne.

 

[Southerntakeover]

Has any finals team EVER looked so much like a deer in headlights as we did?

No. This is the worst performance in finals of all time by a top team

 

[ams4crows]

Only Worrell Laird and Rachele can be proud of their efforts this finals series and one of them only played 2 quarters.


Every one else was below their best.

 

[KingCrom]

Didn't win a single quarter.

 

[Danger in Texas]

Only Worrell Laird and Rachele can be proud of their efforts this finals series and one of them only played 2 quarters.


Every one else was below their best.

Thilthorpe was okay given how our other two tall forwards went

But yeah really hard to find positives

 

[Rodentia]

So Nicks puts Taylor in the middle for the last quarter of the season and the kid gets 9 touches.

How about trying the kid a bit earlier f wit

(Eg like in round 5 perhaps)

Nicks had plenty of time to try nrw structures and players in different positions. But he mostly refused. He stuck with the same old plan even against the bottom 4, when he knew we were playing finals. Experiment when you can because we hot found out big time.

 

[AFC979810]

Elephant in the room but surely we've got to be disappointed with our conditioning for finals. We need a better coach that trusts his playing list enough to rotate players. I place most of the blame on Nicks who once said he'd "select the same team every week" if he could. He had ample opportunity to rest players and it was really only Walker that got time off.

The resting notion is silly. We have a young side.

Hawks had 14 players that had played 23+ games this year. We had 15 players that played 23+ games this year.

We had 12 full days between our game against North and our first final.

Pies kicked the first 2 goals of the game. Hawks kicked the first 3. Thats nothing to do with fitness.

We shat the bed. Pure and simple.

The biggest issue I have is that Nicks will get a reprieve because of the Rankine scandal. And I do wonder the impact that had on the group. Belief is a massive thing and we just looked flat and uninspired since the Rankine incident.

The similarities to Neil Craig and Nicks are pretty fair. Both rigid & unimaginative coaches with very very good lists. Both plagued by absolute stupidity by a top 3 player at the club. (Roo in 2005/Rankine 2025).

 

[George CantStandYa]

The resting notion is silly. We have a young side.

Hawks had 14 players that had played 23+ games this year. We had 15 players that played 23+ games this year.

We had 12 full days between our game against North and our first final.

Pies kicked the first 2 goals of the game. Hawks kicked the first 3. Thats nothing to do with fitness.

We shat the bed. Pure and simple.

The biggest issue I have is that Nicks will get a reprieve because of the Rankine scandal. And I do wonder the impact that had on the group. Belief is a massive thing and we just looked flat and uninspired since the Rankine incident.

The similarities to Neil Craig and Nicks are pretty fair. Both rigid & unimaginative coaches with very very good lists. Both plagued by absolute stupidity by a top 3 player at the club. (Roo in 2005/Rankine 2025).

What did you think of Rob?

 

[WeeBlake]

We went from a high scoring, shootout exciting young team early in the season, into a defensive heavy team. We completely changed our gameplan and structure, to be all defense. While that earned us the minor prem, our transiton game became the worst in the league. And set ourselves for finals failure.

Felt like we never really wanted to get our hands on the ball first, lacked finals aggression. We were by far the worst team in this final series. Fremantle, GWS and Lions played much better football, even though they lost.

Only ones that can say that did something:
Milera - Won his one on ones
Curtain - some nice contested marks, and contested posessions
Worrel / Max / Laird - decent, but given how soundly we got beat in defense. Nothing to be proud of
Riley - Kick 3 goals, and tried. Poor supporting cast
Rachele - Kicked goals. Should have been there since the first miniute

Pathetic:
Nicks - Doesn't know how to coach. Sadly we'll keep him around, cause he won the minor prem (sheer luck)
Berry - Plodder, that becomes a d-grade mid vs other elite mids and when it matters the most
Tex - hope he retires, for the good of the club. We aint winning the flag with him there, time to rebuild the forward line
Fog - time and time again, loses contest and becomes invisible. Okay as a 3rd tall, but he's just an avg forward
Soglio - Seems never 100%, and becomes liability. Tired of seeing "glimspes" of his best, then being let down.
ROB - Only thing you can bank on, is him shitting the bed against good rucks and teams
Keane - Got torched all night by someone so crafty. Nicks should have switched someone on Guston
Murray - Invisible, didn't do anything
Hinge - Invisible x2
Pedlar - gets a pass for 3 goals last week. But he's just doesn't have the hands to clunk marks, always to seems to be outmarked. Doesn't do enough
Smith - Clearly a liablity now. Just move him on

I'd rather us to play the kids next season. Get experience into Draper, Edwards, Oscar, Dowling, Cook.
No point persisting with exactly the same 23, they are so far from it. Alot of c-graders, that played like b-graders during the regular season. But when the pressure is on, they revert back.

Actually thought Pedlar was one of only a handful who played at or beyond expectations in finals. Three goals last week. Only 4 touches last night but didn’t lose too many contests or look overawed.

 

[Slim258]

Good: Rachele’s energetic personality - should’ve been on from the start.
Ugly: pretty much everything else.
Pathetic: ROBs inability to kick a football on the run after playing 100 AFL games.

Positive year, shit end.

Musts:
New skills coach
New forward coach
Midfield power
Tex & Smith to retire
Murphy, Schoe, Gallagher delisted

Nice to get:
New ruck
Some more speed around the ball.

Here’s hoping that doesn’t break them and only makes them stronger

 

[glengowan]

We were so far off our best in these two finals. There were three instances that stood out to me, down the southern end, that typified our fortnight.

Firstly Dawson, who had Cumming running into open space towards goal. A simple kick in front of him and it’s a guaranteed goal. Instead he snapped across his body and missed. Moment later Cummings opponent marked in front of goal, working back the other way.

Second, Fogarty was clear on the lead, with Tex needing to do a simple pass to give Fogarty a set shot, on the angle, but only 30m out. Tex went for goal from outside 50 and missed.

Thirdly, Keays was on the end of a chain of handballs and had only eyes for goal, and snapped under pressure and missed. Taylor had worked to the outside and Keays only needed to feed out one more time and Taylor gets an open look at goal from 30m out.

If you don’t reward those who work hard to get into better positions, they’ll stop working hard to get into better positions. It was selfish, non team first football. From our most senior players.

This happened last week as well, multiple times. It was as disappointing as being out muscled around the contest and being out marked because the opposition wanted to clunk the ball while we would get spoiled.

It is incredible how far we fell away in finals. Some of the individual efforts were appalling. Some of the coaching was baffling. Two of the most disappointing finals performances on the back of a great minor round. We shit the bed and have a mess to clean up for next season.

 

[fossilllCrow]

Maybe it’s time to play McAndrew and see if he can take over, save the coin on going for a new ruck

 

[Minor Threat]

Good: Test cricket

 

[arsene wenger1]

I never really saw or knew of him at Melbourne. Was he actually any good there? I'm sure off field he's been a great addition and the way he speaks is very mature and I'm sure helped us throughout the season, but on field his trump cards seem to be: taking possession and getting tackled immediately, getting tackled with plenty of prior, and overcooking kicks.

Will make for a sensational runner once he retires

 

[ADL9798]

Actually thought Pedlar was one of only a handful who played at or beyond expectations in finals. Three goals last week. Only 4 touches last night but didn’t lose too many contests or look overawed.

Yes, in those moments, but he needs to figure out how to get more of it.

He averaged 7 disposals across 9 games this season. 11 in a game his best outing for the season. It’s not good enough.

 

[arsene wenger1]

I think this is another indictment on the coaches. We never actually made a decision.

Murray started the season because Butts was injured. Butts only came in once Murray got injured. Butts kept his place until he got injured. Murray kept his spot.

We didn’t make a hard call on Butts/Murray and just played the incumbent.

The way Walker ended up being a liability out there, we should’ve played butts and Murray with Murray going forward

Tex is done

 

[daniel_4tw]

The way Walker ended up being a liability out there, we should’ve played butts and Murray with Murray going forward

Tex is done

Tex had some good games playing as the third tall. You have to wonder if that’s because there is life still in the legs, or it was his final push to get to 300 and try and achieve a flag.

 

[Milo Cyrus]

How many of our side are getting paid over 500k a year and can't even hit the side of a bus on the run.

 

[Milo Cyrus]

Backwards ball got what it deserved.