Adelaide Crows 2009 - overacheivers

[Dirty Bird]

Just looking at the squad we have, and the ages of our players, I'm actually suprised at how well we went looking back at things

5 people past their prime
6 in their prime
and the rest of the squad being quite young

The fact that we were a competitor last year with so many inexpereinced players is a testament to our work ethic.

and of the 6 in their prime, They arn't that key in the ability to kick winning scores

Yes, Rutten, Bock, Johncock and Stevens are keys in defence, and then we've got Reilly in a defensive midfielder role.

The only offensive player we had in their prime is Thompson

2007, 2008, and 2010 is really where the team should of been while 09 was just a year where we played above ourselves.

Now, when are we going to be a true contender again?

I say 2013.

Our older players would be Rutten, Johncock, Reilly, Thompson and Stevens. (2-3 of which would probably be cut under the Torney rule by this stage anyway)

But in their prime would be Porplyzia, Symes, van Berlo, Vince, Maric, Griffin, Douglas, Knights and Tippett with Mackay really close to be in his prime

that is 1 hell of a midfield we'd have in 3 years with just those players alone, add Sloane and Dangerfield into that midfield as well, and we'd be looking quite goo, and with Tippett and Walker up forward better and more consistent, while we're possessing the older shoulders and more reliable backs of Rutten and Johncock holding the defense together.

2013 is going to be the best team we would of had in years (since 2005/06)

 

[headache1]

The only way Griffin will still be here in 2013, is if neither of the WA teams are interested. Although now I've actually typed that out, it does seem quite plausible.

 

[thebirdman 24]

Just looking at the squad we have, and the ages of our players, I'm actually suprised at how well we went looking back at things

5 people past their prime
6 in their prime
and the rest of the squad being quite young

The fact that we were a competitor last year with so many inexpereinced players is a testament to our work ethic.

and of the 6 in their prime, They arn't that key in the ability to kick winning scores

Yes, Rutten, Bock, Johncock and Stevens are keys in defence, and then we've got Reilly in a defensive midfielder role.

The only offensive player we had in their prime is Thompson

2007, 2008, and 2010 is really where the team should of been while 09 was just a year where we played above ourselves.

Now, when are we going to be a true contender again?

I say 2013.

Our older players would be Rutten, Johncock, Reilly, Thompson and Stevens. (2-3 of which would probably be cut under the Torney rule by this stage anyway)

But in their prime would be Porplyzia, Symes, van Berlo, Vince, Maric, Griffin, Douglas, Knights and Tippett with Mackay really close to be in his prime

that is 1 hell of a midfield we'd have in 3 years with just those players alone, add Sloane and Dangerfield into that midfield as well, and we'd be looking quite goo, and with Tippett and Walker up forward better and more consistent, while we're possessing the older shoulders and more reliable backs of Rutten and Johncock holding the defense together.

2013 is going to be the best team we would of had in years (since 2005/06)

2009 was a very surprising year, started great with an away win against the pies, then fell away for a couple of months till we absolutely dominated the last half of the season. I think if we had won that game against Geelong at skilled, it would have given us more confidence in close games to get over the pies, and give us some hope at beating them in a prelim. Sigh.

That midfield is still 2 a graders away from being really challenging top teams. Symes won't ever be a star, van Berlo the same but still a lot better than Symes. If Douglas keeps up his current form he would be very handy. Throw in Jaensch who will be very good. I think this draft will play a huge part in our future as we will replenish our midfield stocks. If you think about it this year we have had to upgrade rookies such as Schmidt who i honestly don't think is an AFL player to make up our team. We obviously don't rate Cook too highly if he hasn't got a game with all these injuries, and well Jacky was a flop.

 

[jenny61_99]

I put this in another thread, but I think it belongs here too:

The key group of players for a premiership contender is the group that has played between 100+ games. For us next year we will have (all games approx. as taken from a few weeks ago):

Doughty (184)
Johncock (180)
Thompson (172)
Rutten (144)
Stevens (138)
Reilly (131)
Van Berlo (112)

Very light on when you compare it to the Geelongs/Collingwoods and St Kildas.

Our 50-100 playing group looks more promising:

Porplyzia (83)
Douglas (74)
Knights (73)
Vince (69)
Maric (67)
Symes (63)
Tippett (61)
Mackay (51)

Our next level players include:

Griffin (40)
Dangerfield (39)*
Walker (29)*
Otten (26)*
Petrenko (21)
Moran (17)
Sellar (13)*
Cook (12)
Davis (12)*
Schmidt (11)
Sloane (11)*
Armstrong (9)
Jaensch (9)*
Henderson (8)*

Now there are some in this bottom group that may not make it. * indicates players who need to get maximum game time next year. Not surprisingly the players in the 50+ bracket predominantly make up our starting 22 with a sprinkling of the bottom players included.

What is obvious from the above is that we will have very little depth other than the untried and developing players. For us to be a contender next year (or the following) we MUST draft and trade well - and have a better run with injuries.

 

[alex_is_on_fire]

For starters, is impossible to ‘overachieve’ at anything, it doesn’t happen. You will always achieve your maximum and that will then become your end result. You don’t overachieve.

What i think happened was that number of other clubs (Hawthorn with injuries and premiership hangover, Port Adelaide still in a nightmare freefall from the 07 GF loss and the players not listening to Mark Williams and Sydney with injures and form loss), underachieved and this inflated our position from about 8th or 9th to 5th.

Come the 2010 season and we have had our own set of injuries, retirements and players out of form and the real position of this squad is taking shape. By no means are we a bottom 4 or 5 team just as we are by no means a top 4 or 5th team. Give us 2 or 3 years and the natural improvement from Dangerfield, walker, MacKay, Davis, et el will see just jump into the finals.