Accepting mediocrity

[Mike Smyth]

No they won't.

They will have a good B+ defense, B- forwards and A- midfield.

Schulz had two seasons left and Westhoff has maybe three. Key forwards find it hard to continue as their bodies break down in their late 20's. Carlisle is replaceable, but these two will be harder.

GWS and GCS will smash them, and it is hard to not assume a couple of the Melbourne power clubs won't find a way to rebuild/improve.

God I hope you're right.

 

[Moonwatcher]

We have Melbourne (and hopefully GWS) at home covered. If not, you may as well hand us the spoon.

Melbourne's players and game plan have always matched up well on Adelaide. That game will be difficult to pick , could be a big win for the Crows though.

 

[1970crow]

No they won't.

They will have a good B+ defense, B- forwards and A- midfield.

Schulz had two seasons left and Westhoff has maybe three. Key forwards find it hard to continue as their bodies break down in their late 20's. Carlisle is replaceable, but these two will be harder.

GWS and GCS will smash them, and it is hard to not assume a couple of the Melbourne power clubs won't find a way to rebuild/improve.

Key forwards break down in their late 20's. Jeepers, we're idiots then.

 

[TubbsFarquhar]

Melbourne's players and game plan have always matched up well on Adelaide. That game will be difficult to pick , could be a big win for the Crows though.

Seriously? Are you watching Melbourne right now? The only player who can score is Shannon Byrnes. As I said, if we lose to them at home, give us the spoon and the #1 pick.

 

[little graham]

Found myself smirking at this.

 

[Moonwatcher]

Seriously? Are you watching Melbourne right now? The only player who can score is Shannon Byrnes. As I said, if we lose to them at home, give us the spoon and the #1 pick.

Adelaide simply play at the same level as Melbourne do when they play each other. West Coast are a good side.

 

[BACCS]

We need to clean out, bottom out, and pick up 2-3 years of top picks. If that means trading Talia as well then I'm up for it. He was very average today. I'm convinced we need a more elite midfield, elite half forwards and another key forward and an elite ruck man. We need a top 4 pick this year, plus trade Talia for a top ten pick. Pick up Frawley as a free agent and have Hartigan, Siggins, L.Thompson and co take up the slack.

Trade Talia? I mean seriously, I know people were if a fiery mood last night, but some of the shit posted has been extraordinary. He was far from our worst yesterday, and certainly wasn't as bad as you are making out. He also kept Hawkins to 5 possies and a goal last week for goodness sakes.

 

[BACCS]

Adelaide simply play at the same level as Melbourne do when they play each other. West Coast are a good side.

We have thrashed Melbourne in our last two meetings by 12 goals...

 

[TubbsFarquhar]

We need to clean out, bottom out, and pick up 2-3 years of top picks. If that means trading Talia as well then I'm up for it. He was very average today. I'm convinced we need a more elite midfield, elite half forwards and another key forward and an elite ruck man. We need a top 4 pick this year, plus trade Talia for a top ten pick. Pick up Frawley as a free agent and have Hartigan, Siggins, L.Thompson and co take up the slack.

Trade Talia after one poor game? May as well trade Danger as well then. Seriously, Talia is one of our most important players and L. Thompson is on the delist pile at year's end. I agree that we need to target Frawley as a FA seeing as this year could very well be Rutten's last but trading Talia could be the silliest thing we could do right now as our KPD stocks are thin enough as it is. Talia >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> L. Thompson, any day of the week.

 

[BACCS]

I had one of my stores relocated (as posted in the game day thread) so was in and out throughout the week and was talking to the tradies about the footy and the turn talked to who we support

Of course, being a WA guy, he was an Eagles fan. When i told him i was a Crows fan, he simply said

"I like you lot, you're very nice and all, but you never have never been successful of recent times, and you never really challenge"

That's how we're viewed

An Eagles fan can hardly make a valid comment after their past few seasons, and two wins over bottom 6 clubs.

 

[OrdinaryJoel]

Wait, did someone really say trade Talia?

Oh boy... That's a paddlin'

 

[alex_is_on_fire]

An Eagles fan can hardly make a valid comment after their past few seasons, and two wins over bottom 6 clubs.

He wasn't lying but, was he?

 

[alex_is_on_fire]

Wait, did someone really say trade Talia?

Oh boy... That's a paddlin'

Nothing wrong with the suggestion.

Right now, every player should be up for trade, if that trade make us better.

If we can improve the list, that's the goal in trading.

 

[Sanders]

Correct but I will be very disappointed if we can not win the 4 games after we play Sydney this week.

I'm already disappointed

I have no more disappoint to give

 

[alex_is_on_fire]

I'm already disappointed

I have no more disappoint to give

My level of disappointment just finds new ways to grow deeper with the club at the moment.

 

[Moonwatcher]

We have thrashed Melbourne in our last two meetings by 12 goals...

I would still argue that remarkably bad performances are far more common against Melbourne.

 

[Rear Admiral]

You can win with skills, speed, or both.

You can't win with neither.

 

[Rear Admiral]

We need to bottom out to rebuild our midfield, basically. It's actually quite obvious.

I agree wholeheartedly, and then some. Problem is, this will never happen with Trigg and Chapman at the helm. We need those two gone before focusing on anything else.

 

[Rear Admiral]

We need to clean out, bottom out, and pick up 2-3 years of top picks. If that means trading Talia as well then I'm up for it. He was very average today. I'm convinced we need a more elite midfield, elite half forwards and another key forward and an elite ruck man. We need a top 4 pick this year, plus trade Talia for a top ten pick. Pick up Frawley as a free agent and have Hartigan, Siggins, L.Thompson and co take up the slack.

I agree that 99% of our playing group need to take a long, hard look at themselves, but it's our (pathetic excuse for a) Midfield and "Key Forwards" that need to look in the mirror the longest, not Talia. Every Key Defenders' primary role is to stop their direct opponents from taking contested marks, so when the ball spills to the ground and crumbers/midfielders score goals....Talia may or may not have been our best on ground, he shouldn't be the one to cop the stick during a Post Mortem review.

We lost the game because of our Midfield's complete and utter inability to run both ways, plain and simple. Nor has this been the first time.

 

[pjcrows]

Trade Talia? Like bollocks.

 

[weneverland]

we just look shoddy when we play. something not right down at crow land. maybe when we have big tex back things will change. it would be good having a decent target up forward.

When did Tex do his Knee, round 5, 2013? We were crap even then, even with a fit Tex in our side. When Tex comes back he will not be the savior. Our problems run far deeper than this.

 

[weneverland]

I notice Jenny is strangly quiet. While i dont know her personally and dont want to attack her per se, but its supporters like her who need to also accept some of the blame for this. Protecting those who have put us where we are today. Even putting the Tippett saga to the side, as well as the Rendell one, and calling the supporters "pathetic", our clubs decline has been jaw dropping. We have gone from been the leader and record breaker with membership numbers to been midline now, even having Port surpassing us nearly. We were also considered one of the financial powerhouses of the AFL, yet here we are with terrible income figures around half the amount as the league leaders. We have been left behind under the watch of Trigg and Chapman. We are mediocre at best now.

Give her a break. Did she barricade the doors? Or did she take a bullet? On the one hand, the board and Club is criticized for not listening to the supporters/members and now one person or persons on line support has bolstered the Club and held it on course. Incredible

 

[weneverland]

You are on the mark there.
You could even add Reilly to that list & probably a couple more. (Pods, Petrenko & Johnston)
Shows how poor our list is really. It doesn't give you much confidence for the future does it.
I guess thats what happens when you miss the draft picks we have in the last couple of years

When I was watching the Geelong players against us I was struck by how their bottom 10 or so players seemed to be at a different level to our last 10. Others had suggested that it is easier to look good when you are surrounded by so many skilled players as you are at Geelong But perhaps their list runs much deeper than ours. When you are in the middle of a golden era it is much easier to pick and choose the players you let come into the team, discarding those that don't make the grade.

 

[chimmez]

Couple of things;

Firstly, a whole lot of you here are, in my opinion, correct about getting rid of Trigg and co. While ultimately the on field results rest with the coach and the players themselves, the standards that the club expect flow down from your president and CEO. If there are words that you can use to describe Trigg, Chapman and Notso Smart, they would certainly not be 'professional'. The 'jumpergate' saga as it is being referred to was done by your admin team simply out of spite and dislike for a rival - hardly professional, certainly vindictive; and I think it gave our boys a reason to go out there and play as hard as they could. I'm not going to sit here and describe all of the bad decisions that the admin side has made, but just imagine how the Tippett event would have gone down at almost any other club. Clear and systematic cheating, which resulted in what happening to the people actually responsible? Nothing at all, and now the supporters, members and especially the players are the ones that are hurt.

As far as your list goes, I personally don't think it's as bad as many here are suggesting. Rory Sloane is an absolute gun - he was the only player yesterday who showed 'heart'. He would be first 22 in any club around the AFL. If he is not your captain next year, we should all eat our respective hats. He has to take a stand, and get the best out of all his team mates. From my perspective, Cassisi is a great club man, and was our captain through perhaps our most rough patch in our long history. Boak however was the one that refused offers from far more 'impressive' clubs, and said that he would drag us out of our mess. We certainly aren't there yet, but we are slowly earning our respect back.

Your forward line is good at full strength; Betts was a great pick up for you; that sort of quick, silky and skilful small forward hasn't really happened at adelaide before, and when Walker comes back, he should be crumbling the myriad of packs that walker crashes.

Your midfield itself, with the crouch brothers, Laird, Grigg and Lyons (why was he dropped??) etc are young and with the right right training will become top 5 in the comp.

Talia is a beast, if you think he should be traded away, then please convey that to your club so that we can have him.

Lastly, you guys need to stick by your team. Go to Adelaide Oval and be loud. It's your right to be critical of everything your club is doing, but still turn up to the games , show some passion, and then maybe the club and it's players will return that passion with victory.

 

[amer]

2010/2011 we were no chance of winning the flag. 2010 our older and great players of the football club were on their last leg and the group of vince, knights, porps etc
all went backwards which led to a horrible 2011.

If you are measuring the success of the club on purely on premierships who will never get any enjoy from any season of football.

You should look at the premiership sides since 2007- only 4 teams have won the flag geelong, sydney, hawthorn, collingwood

carlton, essendon, richmond, st kilda, north melbourne, bulldogs, fremantle, adelaide, melbourne, brisbane all have premiership droughts over 10 years

Port adel -9 years without a premiership
west coast-7 years without a premiership

this shows how diffculty it is to win plus take into account the rise of GC and GWS quite a few teams will have long premiership droughts.

Oh god, no, see, we WERE positioned to challenge in 2010. Neil Craig said it himself during that pre season. The club, the players, the staff, everyone had prepared for that to be the year. Our players went backwards because of a piss poor pre season structure and shit management.

2011 was more of the same.

Do you SERIOUSLY think we were able to get within a kick of a grand final because of this nebulous "sando spike" new coach nonsense? What you saw in 2012 was what should have been happening prior. A pre season focused on the basics and sound but not spectacular player management got the group humming.

I predicted a premiership in 2011 because of the list. It was ready, right there and then. And we have failed, failed and failed some more to prepare ourselves to achieve anything like what we should have.