2004 Reflections

[crowie]

Hi all,

It's been a while since I've posted on here but I have had the odd look, I'm surprised how busy it still is considering the change of weather, off-season etc.

I thought I might start up a bit of a reflections thing on the year that was 2004. So many lowlights and the highs were few and far between, well for us Crows supporters anyway. Here are some of my lows for the footy season.

To start it off, it just doesn't get any lower than Port winning the flag now does it. But no one can take anything away from them, most consistent team in the competition for the last 3-4 years. All I can say is that it had to happen one day.

Round 1 vs The Kangaroos, here was the game that set the tone for the rest of the season. A 75 pt loss a the "G", even though our next few losses were a lot closer, we really never looked like we were going to gather any consistency that could carry us to the finals.

Losses, 14 of them in the end. Not all that much to smile about.

Neil Craig being appointed as head coach. This was one of the biggest things that happened all season, I remember coming home from work every day and jumping on the computer to get on here and check out all the goss. It was the whole Neig Craig fiasco that got me into big footy in the first place. I was absolutley shattered when he was appointed, I remember saying a few things like "this is the darkest day in our clubs history" etc. The jury is still out on Craigy but I am lot more optimistic about the future now than what I was then. Cant say I was too happy about the dodgy way he was appointed, the process was an absolute disgrace. I guess we'll see what happens.

Losing Stinger, Goodluck to him at the WCE. I think we managed to get a good deal out of it but it is still disappointing.

McLeod, extremely disappointing year. I can only hope that he can turn it back on next year. I called for his head on more han one occassion during the year, the way he will be remembered is being threatened unless he can pull out an above average season. C'mon Macca!

Now for the Highs,

Ayres being sacked, Catcha

The couple of big wins we had during the season, at the time they brought a glimmer of hope.

Roo's year, another great year from the big fella. What more can I say.

Beating the Power after seven showdown losses in a row.

New assistant coaches, I think that these moves were very positive and show that we are ready for a fresh approach.

The trade and draft period, the outcome of these moves are yet to be known but I think that most would agree that what we have landed is very exciting.

2004 was my first year on big footy, reading these boards has improved my AFC/Football knowlegde hugely, Thanks guys and gals. I was in a confilct or two over the year, I'm sorry if I offended anyone, it wasnt my intention. I can get a little aggressive sometimes when trying to get my point accross.

I probably wont be on much before the new season so, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Just in case.

 

[noddy]

Hi all,

It's been a while since I've posted on here but I have had the odd look, I'm surprised how busy it still is considering the change of weather, off-season etc.

I thought I might start up a bit of a reflections thing on the year that was 2004. So many lowlights and the highs were few and far between, well for us Crows supporters anyway. Here are some of my lows for the footy season.

To start it off, it just doesn't get any lower than Port winning the flag now does it. But no one can take anything away from them, most consistent team in the competition for the last 3-4 years. All I can say is that it had to happen one day.


I probably wont be on much before the new season so, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Just in case.

Port winning a premiership nah didn't happen well not that i can recall anyway.

Good to hear from you again crowie & have a great Christmas & a very merry new year.

 

[Crowked]

Neil Craig being appointed as head coach. This was one of the biggest things that happened all season, I remember coming home from work every day and jumping on the computer to get on here and check out all the goss. It was the whole Neig Craig fiasco that got me into big footy in the first place. I was absolutley shattered when he was appointed, I remember saying a few things like "this is the darkest day in our clubs history" etc. The jury is still out on Craigy but I am lot more optimistic about the future now than what I was then. Cant say I was too happy about the dodgy way he was appointed, the process was an absolute disgrace. I guess we'll see what happens.

I have no doubt NC was the best person for the job. I think the only true opposition he had for the job was Wallace, who I believe is more about whats in it for him than anything else. I dont think there was anything dodgy about his appointment at all, they selected the guy based on his knowledge and experience, which surely is as good and extensive as a rookie AFL coach could be. Who would have been a better choice? What was dodgy about the selection process?

 

[Cove Cobra]

2004 will be remembered for all the wrong reasons.

2 Board members walking out of AAMI straight after the Carlton game.

The Board's handling of the Gary Aryes saga. I know he wasn't sacked, but who would want to stick around with no support?

The Adelaide Football Corporation's treatment of Members and supporters alike. They showed what an arrogant and disrespectful lot they really are. What, did they think we DIDN'T know that Craig was going to be given the job?

Adelaide's 140 point loss to Brisbane with Steven Trigg in the Box? Absolutely disgraceful!! The warning bells should have been ringing loud and clear after that game.

Only 2 positives - Roo and Hentchell.


2004
Worst. Season. Ever.

(and the pain will continue)

 

[CaptainDangerfield]

How goes it Crowie.

IMO the jury is still out on Craigy. However, I am more confident in him now than during the 2004 footy season, especially after the Brisbane debacle. I have been encouraged by his off field performance to date. I expected him to recruit "pretty" skilful footballers, a team of Chris Ladhams'. But have been stoked that he has looked at bringing into the fold aggressive players. As Crowked said, the alternatives were not that attractive either. In hindsight I don't think Terry Wallets would have been in for the long haul.

I am expecting Macca to have a good year in 2005, his on field performance must at the very least match his off field pay cheque.

The most disappoiting thing for me in 2004 was the lack of aggresion displayed by the team. I hate the word, but at times the word "soft" came to mind ie Doughty/farmer incident, Goodwin panicing with Pickett bearing down on him. However, with the inclusion of Knights, Meeson, Maric, Gibson, Thompson and add in Watts, Roo, Stiffy, Biglangs, Thorney in a year or two's time, things will be looking up.

Positives for 2004:

Ayres gone - thank christ,
Encouraging form of some of the youngs Riley, Hentschall, Kenny, Rutten,
We still have the best captain in the comp,
Edwards coninues to be one of the most underrated players on our list,
Carey and Burns retire.

 

[lozstar]

This season was horrible! & best forgotten.

+ Gary Ayers gone. What more could we ever ask for?
+ Roo performing wonderfully again. If only we had a cloning machine
+ Winning a Showdown, was so positive, made me think things might change, but no, that was just wishful thinking
+ Having a bit of a cleanout in the coaches box.. Really hope that it will make a difference next season.
+ Getting Scott Thompson on our list .. Hope he proves to be some good compensation for Tyson Stenglein

- Wayne Carey & Nigel Smart retiring. I know, they're old and they had to, but it was just sad to see them go out like that... Smart for the way he was treated by Ayers, & Carey he didn't even get a goodbye game
- THAT game in Brisbane, ugh. Horrible, horrible, horrrrible!
- Still being on the waiting list for Season Tickets.
- James Gallgher being the only one delisted. Makes it seem as though the season was his fault. I have no probs with him being delisted, just him being the only one where as other duds get to stay is what annoys me.
- Andrew McLeod.. Need I say more?

... I'll stop now.

 

[tribey]

Season 2004 really was our annus horribilus wasn't it.

In no particular order:

+ The outstanding form of Ricciuto, McGregor and Edwards.
+ The long overdue demise of Gary Ayres, Mark Mickan, Darren Jarman, et al. Stale and bereft of ideas - much damage done since the promise of 2002.
+ The promising form and improvement of the kids. Rutten, Reilly, Mattner, Hentschel, Watts.
+ Our best draft period in many a year.
+ Receiving Thompson for Stenglein.
+ A long-awaited Showdown win.

- Andrew McLeod still being held captive by the doppelganger that has taken his place.
- Matthew Bode, see Andrew McLeod.
- The done and dusted appointment of Neil Craig. Nepotism reaches new levels.
- Nigel Smart's last season. Should've left with Bicks.
- Wayne Carey's midseason retirement and the promise/form of Daniel Wells and Kane Johnson.
- Mark Stevens continued injury nightmare.
- Ben Hart being hit by persistent injury for the first time (and at the worst possible time) of his career.
- Michael Doughty still yet to have a birthday since 2001.
- The record pantsing we received in Brisbane. The galling thing was that we were still right in it at halftime.
- The loss of Tyson "Justlikejosh" Stenglein.
- Neil Craig's overall tradephobia leaving us with only the inevitable Stinger deal.
- As lozstar said, James Gallagher being the only one to get the chop - when roughly 5-7 others (they can't all go, obviously) deserved it just as much.
- Ronnie Burns both on and off the field.
- Losing to Fremantle at AAMI for the first time, you know we're sh#t when we allow that to happen.

 

[noddy]

Season 2004 really was our annus horribilus wasn't it.

In no particular order:

+ The outstanding form of Ricciuto, McGregor and Edwards.
+ The long overdue demise of Gary Ayres, Mark Mickan, Darren Jarman, et al. Stale and bereft of ideas - much damage done since the promise of 2002.
+ The promising form and improvement of the kids. Rutten, Reilly, Mattner, Hentschel, Watts.
+ Our best draft period in many a year.
+ Receiving Thompson for Stenglein.
+ A long-awaited Showdown win.

- Andrew McLeod still being held captive by the doppelganger that has taken his place.
- Matthew Bode, see Andrew McLeod.
- The done and dusted appointment of Neil Craig. Nepotism reaches new levels.
- Nigel Smart's last season. Should've left with Bicks.
- Wayne Carey's midseason retirement and the promise/form of Daniel Wells and Kane Johnson.
- Mark Stevens continued injury nightmare.
- Ben Hart being hit by persistent injury for the first time (and at the worst possible time) of his career.
- Michael Doughty still yet to have a birthday since 2001.
- The record pantsing we received in Brisbane. The galling thing was that we were still right in it at halftime.
- The loss of Tyson "Justlikejosh" Stenglein.
- Neil Craig's overall tradephobia leaving us with only the inevitable Stinger deal.
- As lozstar said, James Gallagher being the only one to get the chop - when roughly 5-7 others (they can't all go, obviously) deserved it just as much.
- Ronnie Burns both on and off the field.
- Losing to Fremantle at AAMI for the first time, you know we're sh#t when we allow that to happen.

Your list just about sums 04 to a nutshell but to add on to your demise of the ass coaches i would like to add the very positive recruitment of our new ass coaches especially Don Pike who i see as a major pick up along with Alan Stewart from the Port Power.

 

[No 1 Draft Pick]

Season 2004 really was our annus horribilus wasn't it.

In no particular order:

+ The outstanding form of Ricciuto, McGregor and Edwards.
+ The long overdue demise of Gary Ayres, Mark Mickan, Darren Jarman, et al. Stale and bereft of ideas - much damage done since the promise of 2002.
+ The promising form and improvement of the kids. Rutten, Reilly, Mattner, Hentschel, Watts.
+ Our best draft period in many a year.
+ Receiving Thompson for Stenglein.
+ A long-awaited Showdown win.

- Andrew McLeod still being held captive by the doppelganger that has taken his place.
- Matthew Bode, see Andrew McLeod.
- The done and dusted appointment of Neil Craig. Nepotism reaches new levels.
- Nigel Smart's last season. Should've left with Bicks.
- Wayne Carey's midseason retirement and the promise/form of Daniel Wells and Kane Johnson.
- Mark Stevens continued injury nightmare.
- Ben Hart being hit by persistent injury for the first time (and at the worst possible time) of his career.
- Michael Doughty still yet to have a birthday since 2001.
- The record pantsing we received in Brisbane. The galling thing was that we were still right in it at halftime.
- The loss of Tyson "Justlikejosh" Stenglein.
- Neil Craig's overall tradephobia leaving us with only the inevitable Stinger deal.
- As lozstar said, James Gallagher being the only one to get the chop - when roughly 5-7 others (they can't all go, obviously) deserved it just as much.
- Ronnie Burns both on and off the field.
- Losing to Fremantle at AAMI for the first time, you know we're sh#t when we allow that to happen.

Cant argue with any of that. Spot on.

Another thing which was very disappointing as a supporter was the non-reaction after Doughty got kneed in the head by Farmer - the only possible justification was our surrounding players didnt see the incident - but its hard to believe that NONE of them saw what happened.

 

[CaptainDangerfield]

Cant argue with any of that. Spot on.

Another thing which was very disappointing as a supporter was the non-reaction after Doughty got kneed in the head by Farmer - the only possible justification was our surrounding players didnt see the incident - but its hard to believe that NONE of them saw what happened.

I have mentioned that before but forgot to mention it in my negatives. IMO one of the all time lows in the clubs history.

 

[No 1 Draft Pick]

I have mentioned that before but forgot to mention it in my negatives. IMO one of the all time lows in the clubs history.

Yeah agreed. We need the team to be passionate and committed to each other - we seem to have had this in 2002-2003 but it really fell away last year.

I suppose successful group dynamics are a hard thing to analyse from an outside supporters point of view. I dont know what went wrong within the team last yr but from the time we got flogged by 75 points (by the Kangas!) it did look like something wasnt right down at West Lakes

From all accounts things (well at least from the knowledgeable folk at BigFooty) morale is on the up and things can only improve in this regard in 2005

 

[macca23]

Great thread, crowie, and just about exhaustively covered by the previous posters, particularly the inimitable DT.

I'd like to add a few more

+ve's

- as DT said it was the annus horribilis, but in manyways it was the annus horribilis we had to have, so that we could make all the necessary changes to put a better, more stable footy club into place, after Ayres and crew had carried us down into the mire.

- Bassett being given a new lease of life by the emergence of Rutten as our FB.

-ve's

- Goodwin being injured for more than 50% of the season, missing 12 games.

- Chris Ladhams completely disappearing off the radar as a viable AFL player

It was a sh*thouse year, wasn't it?

 

[Kane McGoodwin]

Hopefully we have hit our low point in 2004.

Another negative I would add was the performance of the Colonial & all the leaking that was going on prior to Ayres' departure. Very unprofessional way of doing business. However, a positive was the way Trigg handled what was a very difficult time for AFC.

 

[ok.crows]

I saw a glimpse of a truly abysmal gameplan in the Wizard Cup this year, and the warning bells began ringing for me very loudly indeed.

By halftime of the round 1 game, I knew that that glimpse was Ayres actual intent for the year, and that he would stick to it like glue. The sense of impending doom for me was palpable.

By the end of round 2, I was thinking that oh well, at least we would get a priority pick.

So the huge positive for me was that the team ended up playing better footy with a bunch of younger players towards the end of the year than they began the year.

That is about it, apart from:

Other minor plusses-

The trade/draft period was acceptable.

The turnover of coaching staff was overdue.

If Craig uses a different gameplan next year - any change at all - it will be a vast improvement.

No-one rates us a threat for next year.

 

[am i the best?]

neil craig's appointment was deinfinately dogey to say the least. And for the club to say there was a 'process' was a joke. how the club can have the biggest loss in the clubs history and a still appoint the coach is unbelieveable really. Terry wallace like or hate him, is a proven coach, who atleast thinks about tatics unlike ayres and from what ive seen so far from craiy, hes not big on them either. I hope for the clubs sake that if craigy is a failure we hurry up and get shaun rehn in there and let him ge to work.

looking at our list for next year it actually isnt too bad, you might laugh at this but with a midfield of roo, macca, edwards, reilly, goodwin, thompson, bode, and if m stevens plays then a top eight finish should be expected.

what i would like to see is us actually winning games that we shouldnt, due to tatics from the coach. the only game i can remember this happening with ayres was the showndown and that was after losing about ten in a row. everyone is a bit too quick to praise craigy, have to wait to the football starts then start

 

[- PC -]

I have no doubt NC was the best person for the job. I think the only true opposition he had for the job was Wallace, who I believe is more about whats in it for him than anything else. I dont think there was anything dodgy about his appointment at all, they selected the guy based on his knowledge and experience, which surely is as good and extensive as a rookie AFL coach could be. Who would have been a better choice? What was dodgy about the selection process?

I agree with all thats been posted and cant add to much apart from the disapointment I felt watching Gary Ayres walk ON to Subiaco still as coach..I predicted he should have gone 3 weeks earlier. But I sang the ''na na na na hey hey goood bye'' song as he left.

I dont know why NC cops it... must be more to it than I can see from this far away.I just like his attitude...from the shellacking game..

''Craig said the Crows' young players could also learn some lessons.

"If we're going to be any good in the future, and I'm talking about being the best of the best in the future, we have to be able to handle a whole range of different situations that put you in adversity and become resilient," he said. "If there is a positive out of it, it's a perfect opportunity for our football club as a total, and I include our members in that, to show some resolve.

"More importantly on the playing side it's an opportunity for our younger players to develop some leadership skills at a very early age in their career and to use this situation to do that."

Yes the AFC got beaten that day but you should learn more IMO from those situations , which serve far longer , than if you coast through a season. You as a player remember hard times and you respond to never wanting to go there.

 

[crowie]

Adelaide's 140 point loss to Brisbane with Steven Trigg in the Box? Absolutely disgraceful!! The warning bells should have been ringing loud and clear after that game.

I cant believe that I forgot about that game

I think I mentally blocked it out, what a low point!

To answer your question crowked, about the so called "process", it was more than obvious when NC was appointed as caretaker coach that he was already told that the job was his. The board made no real effort to pursue anyone else, remember how Wayne Jackson didn't turn up for Rodney Eade's interview. Neil Craig turned up for his in a pair of jeans and a polo shirt, he really looked worried about trying to impress .

Remember the extremely stressed look on Triggs face at the press conference announcing Craig as the new head coach, he knew exactly what everyone was thinking.

I wonder if Rucci and co. will be so supportive of Craigy if we have a year as bad as this one?

But, in saying all that I am extremley happy with our off season so far and I expect to be back up there again within 3-4 years. You never know, maybe Craig can pull out a Blighty.

 

[CaptainDangerfield]

I cant believe that I forgot about that game

I think I mentally blocked it out, what a low point!

To answer your question crowked, about the so called "process", it was more than obvious when NC was appointed as caretaker coach that he was already told that the job was his. The board made no real effort to pursue anyone else, remember how Wayne Jackson didn't turn up for Rodney Eade's interview. Neil Craig turned up for his in a pair of jeans and a polo shirt, he really looked worried about trying to impress .

Remember the extremely stressed look on Triggs face at the press conference announcing Craig as the new head coach, he knew exactly what everyone was thinking.

I wonder if Rucci and co. will be so supportive of Craigy if we have a year as bad as this one?

But, in saying all that I am extremley happy with our off season so far and I expect to be back up there again within 3-4 years. You never know, maybe Craig can pull out a Blighty.

I don't think any of us will ever forget that game, massacre is too kind a word. Mind you, i would love to get my hands on those supposed Crows supporters that wrote the derogatory comments on our headquarters.

 

[ok.crows]

neil craig's appointment was deinfinately dogey to say the least. And for the club to say there was a 'process' was a joke. how the club can have the biggest loss in the clubs history and a still appoint the coach is unbelieveable really. Terry wallace like or hate him, is a proven coach, who atleast thinks about tatics unlike ayres and from what ive seen so far from craiy, hes not big on them either. I hope for the clubs sake that if craigy is a failure we hurry up and get shaun rehn in there and let him ge to work.

looking at our list for next year it actually isnt too bad, you might laugh at this but with a midfield of roo, macca, edwards, reilly, goodwin, thompson, bode, and if m stevens plays then a top eight finish should be expected.

what i would like to see is us actually winning games that we shouldnt, due to tatics from the coach. the only game i can remember this happening with ayres was the showndown and that was after losing about ten in a row. everyone is a bit too quick to praise craigy, have to wait to the football starts then start

Wallace is a proven coach all right - a proven failure in finals, and proven to hate and uderrate the non-Victorian teams.

As far as this goes - "thinks about tatics unlike ayres and from what ive seen so far from craiy, hes not big on them either" - I think you are working from a false assumption.

This year, Neil Craig was not using Neil Craigs tactics, he was still using Ayers' tactics. When Craig took over this year, he said that it is too difficult and confusing for players to readily change the gameplan. He said that to change the gameplan would have to wait till the 2005 preseason - that is, now.