2009 - Good Bad & Ugly

[Smoooothy]

Good
The forward line, we are no longer 1 dimensional, the combo of Tippett, Porpus, Knights, Danger and others has seen us score some great scores

The Youth, Mackay, Otten, Dangerfield, Sellar, Martin, Walker, and even Sloane - exciting times to come

No rebuild, 5th year in the finals in a row, in what was meant to be a rebuilding year

The AAMI fortress? Aside from the start of the year and R19, we have played our home ground beautifully - Could the fortress be returning

Bad
Finals exit, such a bad way to go out again!!!!!

St Kilda/Collingwood/Geelong, Just can't seem to beat them

The start, definately cost us top 4, we shouldn't have lost against Port early on, same can be said with Brisbane, and 1 quarter cost us against the Dogs

Getting too old again, will have 6 30+ year olds next year

Ugly
Losing in a final again with nearly the last kick of the game

Craigy's game plan til round 7 or 8

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

Good
Sellar emerging as an AFL footballer - a real bonus
The development of our forward line
Our more attacking game style
The continued good form of our veterans
The emergence of some of our 19-22 year old players as genuine match-influencing footballers
Winning a final
The addition of Todd Viney to the coaching panel

Bad
Walker finishes 2009 in the same place he finished 2008
No taste of AFL footy for Davis

Ugly
Giving up a lead in a final again

 

[por_please_ya]

Good
+ We have some real young talent that are only going to improve as time goes on. Dangerfield, Otten, Mackay, Sellar, Walker, Petrenko... and of course the likes of Martin and McKernan who showed promise in their debuts.
+ Our forward line.
+ Our old guns prove they still have "it".
+ Burton & Hentschel returning from injuries and showing their class.
+ We had some epic wins... against Port, Carlton (twice in one year ), Essendon (again, both wins were pretty fantastic) etc.
+ Our away record has improved.
+ Our improved game plan/zone/attacking style of footy. Viney has been fantastic.
+ 19th man (cheesy as, but what the heck, I like it ).

Bad
+ Injury to Brad Moran just when he was getting good. However, on the plus side it paved way for Sellar to step up. And step up he did.
+ Our poor record against higher-ranked teams. You can't win premierships without doing so.

Ugly
+ Our loss tonight...

 

[jackster83]

The good: Mackay confirms his gun status. Crucial, worth whatever cash he wants.

The good, bad, ugly and mostly telling: Scott Thompson confirmed his status as a flat track bully tonight. Trade bait for Ryan Griffin. Thanks Scott, now please go and fetch us someone with a brain. Please leave and fetch us Ryan Griffin, someone who stands up in finals.

 

[Mackay train12]

Good: Vince, Mackay and Tippett sign em all up absolute stars of the future

Bad: Craigys finals record

Ugly: Cant get it done in the big games

 

[PCORF]

GOOD

* Kurt Tippett's season
* Hentchel's comeback (a true warrior after such a bad injury)
* Nathan Van Berlo
* Bernie Vince
* Young players like Walker, Mackay and others
* Stiffy had a great season in 2009
* Huge improvment in our forward line
* Midfield pressure later in the year
* Away record
* We won a final

BAD

* Home record could have been better
* Rounds 2 to 8 were very dissapointing, cost us any real chance at top 4
* Nathan Bock's and Van Berlo's injuries
* Richard Douglass should have gotten more chances to prove himself
* Nick Gill (poor guy... I'm gonna miss this freak of a player)
* Our backline struggled later in the year
* Seasons 2000-2009. Crows (516 premiership points 129-91) had the second best home and away record of all sides behind Geelong (538 premiership points 133-84-3). No Gnard Finals due to inabillity to handle pressure situations.
*Collingwood loss in R7 2003 still hurts us.

UGLY

* Making a spoilt Collingwood side feel prouder than ever!

 

[NSWCROW]

GOOD
- the kids

- The veterans showing they aren't ready to be " put down "

- Being a contender in a year most expected us to be in the 8th-12th mix ( i personally thought our pass-mark was to win 1 final...and we did )

- Whoever it was that convinced Craigy to give up that defensive crap we were playing early season


BAD
- That defensive shite we played early season

- SOMEHOW managing to lose a showdown to the cluster#### that is PORT POWER


UGLY
- my house tonight at around 11.30pm

 

[brucetiki]

Good
- Rounds 9-15, 7 wins in a row including keeping side to record low scores against North Melbourne (3.7 round 12) and Fremantle (1.7 round 15).
- Kicking 27 goals in round 22 and 26 in the EF.
- Round 11 v Essendon - one of the best games of football I've ever watched live.
- The emergence of a very potent forward line. No longer one dimensional but multi-prong. If Porp is having a quiet one, Tippett rises. If Tippett's quiet, Burton rises. If not Burton, Hentschel. I could spend the next week listing off goal kickers.
- Exceeding everyone's expectatons again - I predicted the Crows would be bottom 4, and we finished 5th.
- Winning a final. Last twon years, knocked out first week. This year, second week. Next year, take the next step and at least reach a PF.
- Our travelling record - equal to our home record including winning 2/3 at Etihad and 3/4 at the MCG.
- The perfect comeback of Burton, and the eventually perfect comeback of Hentschell.
- Beating last years premiers Hawthorn twice

Bad
- Losing several games after being in a winning position. Leads were blown against Brisbane Lions, Geelong and Collingwood (twice)
- Our home record, just 7/11 (or 7/12 if you count the away showdown). If we're going to make top 4, we need to make AAMI a fortress. The implementation of the 19th man and the 19th rule has helped make AAMI a fortress, but we need to set the goal of being unbeatable at AAMI. Look at Central Districts, since 2004, they've lost 3 games at Hamra Homes Oval (including undefeated at home in 2007 and 2009), so it is possible.

Ugly
- Round 5 v Melbourne. One of the worst games I've watched, at least we won.
- The umpiring in a lot of our games.

All up, a fantastic 2009 by Adelaide. They should be proud of the efforts, now we have to take the next step. I have full faith that the side is capable of this and at this early stage, we are IMO top 4 material next year.

 

[CaptainDangerfield]

The Good:

Vince – Has improved his game 10 fold. Is bordering on an elite midfielder. Is brilliant inside and outside. Love his cheek.

Tippett – If we sign him there’s a good chance we win a flag in the next 5 years. Probably one of the most important contract negotiations in our history.

McKay – The Iceman has quality written all over him. Will be an A class wingman, possibly even AA.

Doughty – Some great games from Dogga. Led by example.

Trent H – remarkable recovery. You sense his team mates get a lift whenever he is on the park with them. Still has a few tricks in the bag.

Maric – Massive heart. Has carried the rucks. Amazing when you think he is really only in his 2nd year.

Otten – Wow. Massively exceeded expectations. Great find.

Dangerfield – The skies the limit for the future AFC captain.

Porplyzia/Stiffy/Thomson/Symes – Senior players who showed great consistency.

Goodwin – Has been great out of the backline.

NC and coaching panel – 2nd half of the year was outstanding.

Bock/Rutten – The best tall backman combination in the business. The equal of Leppitsch/Big Mal when Brisbane were in their prime.

Knights – Played the sort of football very few of us knew he was capable of. We got a glimpse last night just how important he is to our structure.


The Bad/The Ugly:

Reilly - Must be traded or delisted. Lacks intensity. Woefully soft game against Collingwood.

Douglas - He is slowly losing me. Goes to ground too much and lacks clean hands. He still may have a future but its looking likely he will be a fringe player.

Van Berlo - For whatever reason he has had a poor year.

 

[SydCrow]

The Bad/The Ugly:

Reilly - Must be traded or delisted. Lacks intensity. Woefully soft game against Collingwood.

Douglas - He is slowly losing me. Goes to ground too much and lacks clean hands. He still may have a future but its looking likely he will be a fringe player.

Van Berlo - For whatever reason he has had a poor year.

you should have quit while you were ahead

 

[SydCrow]

The good: Mackay confirms his gun status. Crucial, worth whatever cash he wants.

The good, bad, ugly and mostly telling: Scott Thompson confirmed his status as a flat track bully tonight. Trade bait for Ryan Griffin. Thanks Scott, now please go and fetch us someone with a brain. Please leave and fetch us Ryan Griffin, someone who stands up in finals.

so who was it who stood up in the last quarter, won crucual clearances and kicked the goal from 50 that put us back in the game?

 

[CaptainDangerfield]

you should have quit while you were ahead

Yeah you're right reilly was a fantastic player last night, really lead his younger teammates into battle.

 

[adelaide_40]

Good:
Our foward line not being one dimensional
Dangerfield, Walker, Otten, Mackay, all showing good things.
Sellar going from reserves last year to the adelaide side this year.
Kicking alot higher scores
Hentschell coming back from the knee injury.
Doughty having a great year

Bad:
Douglas not stepping up like he should have
having one win over a top 4 side
losing 3 in a row

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

Kicking alot higher scores

This is the big one and it is fantastic that we can go to a game now not just hoping that we'll win, but actually looking forward to watching how we play. We started getting quite a bit of praise, recogniton and respect from the rest of the competition about the way were were playing. We're shedding the perception that we are a boring, low scoring team.

 

[relapse]

Good

The effectiveness of our forward line. FINALLY !!!!!!!!!

Patrick "Patty", "Roo Two", "Future captain", "Rodney" Dangerfield

Further development of our youngsters and seeing them being the ones that stood up in September was great

Tippett, Bernie “elite” Vince, Knights, Otten all took the next step this year

Walker getting a run, IMO should have played all 24 games.

Seeing a rookie listed player who got a run due to a late withdrawal and made a huge impact and was about the only guy who stood up against the Saints. Brodie Martin take a bow.

After an abysmal home record in 2007 it was good to see us follow on from 2008 with another good home record.

The bad

Seeing the club and some supporters putting way too much faith into the senior group’s hands going into September. Seems to be the same cycle each year, I warned weeks ago of the danger of falling back into old habits and relying on the old guard who have failed in the past to deliver us September success. Hopefully Saturday night served as a wake up call to the club so that we again don’t go into next season putting development on the backburner for players like Burton and Shirley come September. They are not players that will win this club a premiership.

Seeing Porps and Potential in the backlines, Tipp in the centre and seeing Maric at full forward as we are being steam rolled in the 3rd quarter.

Walker not getting to play for the full season (seeing him end his season in the SANFL was disappointing), Davis’ form not warranting selection

The ugly

Injuries to Bock and Martin

Seeing us give up another lead in a final

Hearing Craig blame the players for playing safe, yet he was the one that made the decision to go ultra defensive in the 3rd quarter. It worked once back in round 1 in 2006 against Collingwood and Craig still thinks he can pull out the same rabbit out of the hat each time the opposition get a run on thats the definition of being safe IMO.

 

[DJ75]

The Good
Our emergence as a genuine threat. We have moved from a team overachieveing by making the finals to a real contender. This is a significant step in our rebuild.

The development of our players. Vince has moved from good to border line elite. Tippett from 'we hope' to 'pay him whatever the hell he wants'. Porps return from shoulder surgery.

The young guns. Mackay looks fantastic. Dangerfield will be a super-duper-star. Did everyone see his attack at the ball in the last 20 seconds? If the game had gone another 20 seconds he would have personally willed the ball into our forward line. Otten was terrific. SMACK looks the goods, Sloane has something, Davis will be very good etc.... We have a seriously good core coming up.

The forward line. Suddenly we have options! The only thing missing so far is a quick crumbing forward. Add one and we will be very, very dangerous. Knights goal kicking was a very handy addition (and sorely missed on Sat).

Tyson's first half of the season. Benjamin Button was right. He played terrific football until the injury seemed to slow him.

Moran's emergence as a legitimate ruck option. Very pleased to see this happen. Likewise Sellar discovering the desire to be as good as possible.

Walker showing why we rate him so highly. A bit to work on, but will be very good.

Burton and Hentchel making a return. Good to see them get back in it, even if only for a little while.

Martin. Came in like a breath of fresh air and looked really, really good!

The rookie list. Martin, Henderson and Donnelly all improved. Martin and Henderson look like making it, although Schmidt is a question at this stage. Moss' injury the one downer from this lot.

Lee cracking 10 possessions in a game!

The Bad

Reasonably poor start to the season. It took a while for the plan to fall in to place.

The alleged bust up between Craig and Viney. Or perhaps this should be a good thing. Whatever happened it seemed to work much better afterwards.

Lack of a quality ruckman. Moran has emerged as an option, Maric tries but is neither big enough, nor mobile enough. Sellar a bit the same.

Edwards second half of the season. Went from benjamin Button to Turnover Tyson. Looks to be finished (IMHO).

The lack of development of Douglas and Reilly. These guys should have cemented their place by now and be pushing towards leadership positions. Really disappointed with this.

Martin's injury. Awful timing for the lad. Still he will be back and look the goods when he gets there again.

Hentchel and Burton have enormous truning circles when running. Burton is a one trick pony (hanger or nothing) and contributes little more pressure than what Walker was. Trent still seems restricted.

Ugly

Inability to handle man to man pressure. We need a plan other than 'stick to what we do and execute at 100% efficiency'.

The last second loss. If we did flood back, where were these extra defenders? How can a kick from the centre land in a two on two contest 40 m out directly in front? Surely we had everyone behind the ball?? Surely.

The knee to Steven's face. Wasn't the same afterwards.

Kite and Jacky. Seem to have gone nowhere with their development.

 

[Symesy15]

Good:
Tippett & Mackay - seriously...bloody champions! Off his own boot - Tippett won us 3 games (v Melbourne, v Richmond, v Essendon). If Tippett and/or Mackay leave us, I will find them and hurt them .
Bernie Vince - and he has only just passed the 50 games milestone - just give him the captaincy now, Goody.
How quickly we turned our season around after changing our game plan - kudos to Craigy for changing it in the middle of the season
The development of our young guys - Danger - Brad who??, Otten - serious gun - would've been our hero if Truck wasn't holding onto Anthony. Walker - showed us a glimpse something, but he really needs to build himself up - once he builds up some muscles in his arms he'll be unstoppable!
Burton's mark!
Hentschel 2nd come back
Knights after his injury & SANFL game - 40 goals in just over half a season - AMAZING! I think next year we might just have 4 players over 50 goals - and hopefully we'll get a 100-goaler (and they get their 100th goal at home - I WANT TO RUN ON THE OVAL!)
Keeping teams goal-less in 11 quarters.
Having the biggest winning margin & kicking the biggest score in 2009.
Brodie Martin running away from Riewoldt - BRILLANT for a first-gamer!

Bad:
Losing to Collingwood again..in a final AGAIN - revenge is coming in the grand final next year
Hentschel coming back..then hurting his knee again and being out for half of the season.
How quickly the Advertiser (Powertiser?) has turned on us! Last week they were acting like we were the best thing since slice bread...how quickly that changed!
Our lack of 4 quarter games...first we started well, and finished badly, then we started badly, but finished well - it would be good if we could start well and finish even better.
You know Craigy has hit the panic button when Hentschel AND Porplyzia are in the backlines.
Closed main training sessions for half the season - where's the fun for supporters in that??
Bock's injury - one of the players in our team that cannot be replaced.
VB's injury - hopefully it's not a reoccuring problem or his whole career will be affected by it...
Brodie Martin's injury - I really feel for the guy
McKernan breaking his arm...training for the first time and breaking it again - DRINK SOME MILK, BOY!

Ugly/Crazy/Silly/Weird:
Craigy's infamous Ivan Maric spray - but it was the kick up the bum Ivan needed!
My boy, Brad Symes', injury in the pre-season...I still can't get over it silly silly boy!
Tilli - she better not be back next year...
Bock's injury - why couldn't he get a normal injury? How do you break your heel anyway??

 

[brucetiki]

Ugly/Crazy/Silly/Weird:
Craigy's infamous Ivan Maric spray - but it was the kick up the bum Ivan needed!
My boy, Brad Symes', injury in the pre-season...I still can't get over it silly silly boy!
Tilli - she better not be back next year...
Bock's injury - why couldn't he get a normal injury? How do you break your heel anyway??

ohyesiforgotaboutmonotonoustilliwhosaboutaspopularastheliberalparty.

Please, please Adelaide Football Club don't bring her back next year.

 

[Symesy15]

ohyesiforgotaboutmonotonoustilliwhosaboutaspopularastheliberalparty.

Please, please Adelaide Football Club don't bring her back next year.

The way she was talking against WCE, I think she's not because I recall her saying "this is the last time I'll be doing this" and Andrew didn't say anything like that...*fingers crossed!* To quote Tilli: "awesome...awesome"

 

[FR0GGY]

The good: Mackay confirms his gun status. Crucial, worth whatever cash he wants.

Thoughts now jackster83?

 

[radiojake]

clearly the only post on bigfooty the AFC has read and thought 'you know what, that poster has nailed it'

 

[jackster83]

Thoughts now jackster83?

****

In my defence, I consumed an entire bottle of Jager during the game (and broke a bone in my foot while rage kicking the football outside).

 

[El Doederino]

ohyesiforgotaboutmonotonoustilliwhosaboutaspopularastheliberalparty.

Please, please Adelaide Football Club don't bring her back next year.

Who was Tilli?

 

[radiojake]

also wtf a review thread of a season that ended with a last kick of the game finals loss only had 19 posts?

it was a different time

 

[Rotayjay]

also wtf a review thread of a season that ended with a last kick of the game finals loss only had 19 posts?

it was a different time

More people have seen the light. Bigfooty rules.