Training 2017/2018 Pre-season Thread

[1970crow]

The thing is, our opening offer could very well have been the same or even more than any other club would have offered to start negotiations, but as soon as there's any delay it's easy to say "Crows are low-balling" because that narrative is now accepted as fact whether it is true or not .

The low-balling thing is interesting. I don't really think it's likely that we'd rate a player as being worth $4x per year but only offer $x and hope they and their manager are stupid enough to sign. It's prudent to not put your maximum price down in your opening offer. If we rated Jake at $500k/year, offered $450k, but a couple of Vic clubs open up at $750k, then it's easy to call low-ball. Reality would be that we've offered close to our full rating. Gut feel is that it's less about low-balling and more about a culture of not ponying up on promise.

 

[Jack is Back]

I love Mackay ......but the thought of him replacing Smith off HB ...

What a ridiculous suggestion.

Oh wait a minute, who played in the Brodie Smith role in the preliminary and grand final?

Never doubt the capacity of Bran Nue Mackae to become the new Bradbury.

 

[azza77]

I said before pre-season that Douglas will take Smith's role and I think we will see that Pizza Boy will get 1st crack

Y tho...

He literally has 0 attributes you would look for in a rebounding half back/that are similar to Smith.

 

[Scorpus]

So the options are either:

1. A gun midfielder who would be wasted at HBF
2. An aging senior player doing the "Crows shuffle" of playing every position on the park
3. A proven spud

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

So the options are either:

1. A gun midfielder who would be wasted at HBF
2. An aging senior player doing the "Crows shuffle" of playing every position on the park
3. A proven spud

Yep.

Lose-lose-lose options there.

 

[mistylake]

So the options are either:

1. A gun midfielder who would be wasted at HBF
2. An aging senior player doing the "Crows shuffle" of playing every position on the park
3. A proven spud

Who’ the spud? I think that description is a Little harsh.

 

[Samcro24]

Who’ the spud? I think that description is a Little harsh.

Certified Potato

 

[mistylake]

How the heck are Geelong 7th?

How the heck are Richmond 12th and we’re 5th yet their midfield pulled our pants down in the game that will not be rewatched ?

 

[Samcro24]

What a ridiculous suggestion.

Oh wait a minute, who played in the Brodie Smith role in the preliminary and grand final?

Never doubt the capacity of Bran Nue Mackae to become the new Bradbury.

Hopefully he's our kickerinerer too.

 

[mistylake]

Certified Potato

If we’re talkin Mackay,, I think he’s just too light to be an effective AFL player. Maybe he should actually eat some spuds.

 

[Thetrader15]

So the options are either:

1. A gun midfielder who would be wasted at HBF
2. An aging senior player doing the "Crows shuffle" of playing every position on the park
3. A proven spud

All under the 'flexibility' banner

 

[Thetrader15]

Certified Potato

Hey, I like potatoes

 

[Samcro24]

Hey, I like potatoes

Won't win you too many games.

 

[Mr_Moogle]

So the options are either:

1. A gun midfielder who would be wasted at HBF
2. An aging senior player doing the "Crows shuffle" of playing every position on the park
3. A proven spud

Well I'd rather not see Douglas in the midfield again. Could maybe tolerate him in defence.

Mackay is already a known quantity in defence and he's not that good.

We didn't overpay for Gibbs to see him playing in the backline.

Tbh I'm kind of surprised they are persisting with Hampton as a midfielder. He looks like a guy who should be playing hbf to me.

 

[Kane McGoodwin]

Well I'd rather not see Douglas in the midfield again. Could maybe tolerate him in defence.

Mackay is already a known quantity in defence and he's not that good.

We didn't overpay for Gibbs to see him playing in the backline.

Tbh I'm kind of surprised they are persisting with Hampton as a midfielder. He looks like a guy who should be playing hbf to me.

I would prefer not to see Douglas in the forward line.

Needs to be either in the midfield or defence.

We are persisting with Hampton as a pressure forward/midfielder.

 

[Mr_Moogle]

I would prefer not to see Douglas in the forward line.

Needs to be either in the midfield or defence.

We are persisting with Hampton as a pressure forward/midfielder.

Just my opinion but I really don't think Hampton should be playing as a midfielder. He just doesn't have any stand out traits that make me think he will flourish there and doesn't win enough of the footy.

 

[the universal]

A little too much weight placed on what one player says in a throwaway radio spot I reckon.

 

[Samcro24]

I would prefer not to see Douglas in the forward line.

Needs to be either in the midfield or defence.

We are persisting with Hampton as a pressure forward/midfielder.

Bad things happen when Douglas goes back IMO. I just don't see it at all. It's midfield or bust for me.

 

[Kane McGoodwin]

Bad things happen when Douglas goes back IMO. I just don't see it at all. It's midfield or bust for me.

When has Douglas played back before?

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

Douglas has the finger pointing and telling team mates where they should be downpat

 

[Kane McGoodwin]

Douglas has the finger pointing and telling team mates where they should be downpat

Well we do need to replace Lever down back...

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

A little too much weight placed on what one player says in a throwaway radio spot I reckon.

It's all we have to go on

 

[Samcro24]

When has Douglas played back before?

A couple of years ago I noticed that if he was at a stoppage around opposition goal we'd often concede one. Might be unfair in that it only happened a few times but it stuck with me.

Anyway you said it yourself. When has he ever played back? And he's going to replace our best rebounder. He's a forward of centre player.

 

[mistylake]

The Ol deflection technique .....mention every player, except the one who'll actually play in Smith's role

You said it.




Well we have to get him in their somewhere don’t we?

 

[WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot]

It's stats based over the past couple of years if similar things are anything to go by. Gablett hasn't done much in the past 2 years and they don't bat too deep beyond Danger, Selwood, Ablett and Duncan.

That's the thing though, Dangerfield, Selwood and Ablett are all pretty damn good players, with Duncan a level below that. Yeah, their next best midfielders are probably Scott Selwood and Cam Guthrie, but I wouldn't have thought 6 teams would have 6 midfielders better than that.

Let's look at the Crows: Sloane, M Crouch, B Crouch, Gibbs, Douglas, Atkins (then Greenwood, Gibson, Milera, Knight, Seedsman, Hampton, Mackay).

I wouldn't consider our top 6 midfielders to be better than Geelongs. Yeah, we bat deeper, and I'd probably take our 4th-6th best midfielders over Geelong's, but that top 3 is pretty bloody good. Only Sloane would be at that level currently (with Mrouch closing fast).

I guess it depends on how deep Champion Data go when comparing midfields. The next best for Geelong are Blicavs, Menegola and Cockatoo followed by raw kids.