Adelaide v Geelong - The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

[Drummond]

The Good:

- Team effort and commitment: As a young, inexperienced side we stayed close to the best side in the competition for 3 quarters. I actually thought a 100 point loss was on the cards about midway through the second quarter but to our credit we really fought hard to get back into the game with 4 straight goals, all of which were to guys 21 or under. The last quarter was a disappointment and we didn't deserve to get done by 40+ points but we had nothing left to give. But I'm pretty proud of how the blokes continued to try and give it their all against an unbeliavble team.

- Mackay: What a little gem this bloke is! I thought his work rate was exceptional tonight and he really ran hard to make space and get in dangerous positions. 17 possessions is a fair return and I was impressed with his tackling tonight. He kicked two first half goals, one from a tight angle after a top grab. Great signs from D-Mac.

- Walker: Great use of the body on a few occasions and he again could’ve finished with 3 or more goals. Kicking two goals against the best team in the competition is a fine effort and he also did some good work going up as the 3rd man. Find it really hard to believe he was accredited with zero hit-outs…? A fan favourite already due to his freakish nature and goal celebrations.

- Otten: Had some shaky moments and on one occasion I was pretty furious with his decision to stay off his opponent who eventually goaled as a result. But overall he did a pretty fair job in defence and had some slick handballs. 18 possessions and 6 marks are decent numbers and he continues to grow as a player.

- Petrenko: Was quiet tonight but in all fairness he came on at the 14th minute mark of both the first and second quarters so his game time was reduced. His tackling was the highlight as he wrapped up both Ablett and Bartel. The holding the ball against him was an absolute farce as he put his body on the line. Was impressed by a few of his very quick handballs in close and good to see him sneak forward and slot a crucial goal. Better not be dropped next week…

- van Berlo: Perhaps a tad quiet but his third quarter was absolutely magnificent and he had so many 1%ers.

- Tippett: Really liked his game and he was our best big man tonight. Did a fair bit around the ground and looked capable of taking a grab whenever he was up forward. 5 tackles is promising too.

- Porplyzia: Freak. Enough said really, the guy is an absolute magician. Does he ever miss?

- Dangerfield: Exceptionally quiet and he came off looking completely spent on a few occasions. But the reason he’s in the good is because he kicked 2 important goals and his finishing skill are top notch.

The Bad:

- McLeod: Thought he was real quiet and I wasn’t a fan of his intensity in the first quarter when he had to lead by example. Really threw himself at a contest in the third term as though intent on making amends.

- Doughty: Horrible game, summed up by his gift to Stokes.

- Maric: Ruck work was very, very average.

- Shirley: Goodbye, so long, there is no room for someone like him in the modern game.

The Ugly:

- Thought Craig’s interchange rotations were poor. Leaving Petrenko on the bench for half of the secomd quarter was a bad move considering he really provided a spark when coming on in the first. Walker being dragged after 4 minutes of the third, came back on and looked a million bucks. Has to stay on and persist with him even when he makes poor judgments. Tippett and Walker looked like dangerous options in attack, should’ve had them working in tandem more often.

- Douglas: Continues the trend of one good game, one bad game. Other than that beautiful long kick to Porps, he had no impact.

 

[NTRabbit]

Because I'm such a cross poster

The Good:

- Efforts by Van Berlo
- Tippett in the forward 50 and around the ground
- Decent work by Andy Otten

The Bad:

- Taylor Walker may have been a threatening forward, but his second efforts and chase were virtually non existant, to the point where he was dragged in the 3rd quarter after a particularly soft chase and given a verbal lashing over the phone. He'd be up for a rest in the SANFL if other options were available.
- Dangerfield, follows up the Rising Star nod with an anonymous performance
- Shirley and Doughty displaying exactly what it means when we say "difference in the depth of talent between Geelong's midfield and ours"
- McLeod having to work overtime defensively, having very little opportunity to go forward.

The Ugly:
- Our players spoiled each other in 2 on 1 contests far too often, or in contests every Crow would fly at the ball, with nobody but a Geelong player staying down for the spill, a feature I've spotted in every game this season.

 

[Drummond]

Because I'm such a cross poster

The Good:

- Efforts by Van Berlo
- Tippett in the forward 50 and around the ground
- Decent work by Andy Otten

The Bad:

- Taylor Walker may have been a threatening forward, but his second efforts and chase were virtually non existant, to the point where he was dragged in the 3rd quarter after a particularly soft chase and given a verbal lashing over the phone. He'd be up for a rest in the SANFL if other options were available.
- Dangerfield, follows up the Rising Star nod with an anonymous performance
- Shirley and Doughty displaying exactly what it means when we say "difference in the depth of talent between Geelong's midfield and ours"
- McLeod having to work overtime defensively, having very little opportunity to go forward.

The Ugly:
- Our players spoiled each other in 2 on 1 contests far too often, or in contests every Crow would fly at the ball, with nobody but a Geelong player staying down for the spill, a feature I've spotted in every game this season.

Yeah, because 4 shots on goal is awful for an 18 year old forward. Give me a break!

 

[brucetiki]

The good
- The second half of the second quarter. We were scoring goals from just about anywhere. Absolutely brilliant.
- The ability to match Geelong for the bulk of the first quarter and for the third quarter.
- Taylor Walker. Kicked a couple and always in it.
- Kurt Tippett. Great contested marking.
- The umpiring. A big improvement compared to the past couple of weeks. See what happens when you take Wenn out!

The bad
- The last quarter. 7 unanswered goals blowing the margin from 11 to 54 was very disappointing. We faded out against West Coast and Sydney in the trials, now against St Kilda and Geelong. Should this be a concern?

The ugly
- Andy Otten spoiling his own teammate three times.
- The 50 against Maric.

 

[magtrev]

I often have some contradictory feelings on people games to you Drummond, but thats pretty much exactly how i saw it. Especially "the bad" (all of it) and the bit about Craigs somewhat bizzare rotation (or lack of)

Youngsters were brilliant though. Otten particularly good I thought, if not for some of VB's tough, tough efforts mightve been my best for the crows

 

[cmndstab]

I already post a huge post in the Thoughts on the match thread so I won't repost it here but a couple of quick points that were mostly important from my big post:


The Good - We were in touch going into the last quarter. Dangerfield is a goalkicking midfielder, our first since the fab four days. Vince may push into this category but hasn't quite yet. I have a mancrush on Taylow Walker the size of the Golden Gate Bridge (perhaps that should be in ugly )

The Bad - Maric is getting towelled in the ruck, and quality sides like Geelong make it show. I would rather see Griffin come in as a third tall, have Griffin be the lead ruck, Tippett up forward, Maric on the bench, then when Griffin or Tippett go to the bench Maric swaps straight to their position. We need him in the side but his ruckwork has not been up to scratch so far this year.

The Ugly - While I don't think Walker should be dropped to the SANFL, one thing that was highlighted to me being at the ground is that he is very slow. I don't think it's that he doesn't chase as much as he simply cannot catch even average paced defenders. He mans the mark well when the zone forces the defenders to go backwards to switch play but he cannot keep up with his opposition once they get past him. On the topic of Walker, I don't understand why his leads constantly go ignored. So many times he was leading well, one-on-one, in front and the ball wasn't kicked to him. And get Walker out of the ruck! He's a shocking ruckman and should be on the end of taps!

 

[Drummond]

I often have some contradictory feelings on people games to you Drummond, but thats pretty much exactly how i saw it. Especially "the bad" (all of it) and the bit about Craigs somewhat bizzare rotation (or lack of)

Youngsters were brilliant though. Otten particularly good I thought, if not for some of VB's tough, tough efforts mightve been my best for the crows

Honestly I thought he made some poor decisions, or lack of decisions tonight. I was listening to ABC for a bit and they made the point that at the 11 or 12 minute mark of one of the quarters, maybe the second, we only had made one interchange. What was with that? Against Geelong of all teams you need to be constantly changing and trying to bring fresh blokes on. Bock starting forward was a very poor move, okay it didn't last long but he had to start back.

Oh and I could've almost added Vince to the bad. Not sure of his numbers, they're probably not bad, but the amount of times he just bombed the ball tonight was pretty poor. He went back to his old self in that regards, instead of looking for options he just threw the ball on the boot often to very poor areas where Geelong had all the numbers. Has a beautiful leg, he should make himself a more damaging player. And that miss in the third term was really costly.

 

[The Sloane Ranger]

The Good
Walker, Danger, Petrenko, D-Mac and Otten showed that they do not fear oppositions
Porplyzia is just all class

The Bad
Slow starts to qtrs
Zoning for the entire game. I would like to see us go man on man for periods of the game
Maric, not his best game
Shirley, the modern game may be out of Robert's capability

The Ugly
Last qtr, 6 day v 9 day break may of been a factor

 

[The Sloane Ranger]

my apology to Kurt he should also be included in the Good

 

[jackster83]

THE GOOD:
The way Walker and Dangerfield fire up and fire up those around them.
Otten and Mackay showing the others how it's done.

THE BAD:
Complete lack of physicality from Goodwin and Thompson. They get plenty of possessions but have no physical presence despite being built like brick dunnies.

THE UGLY:
Still to many basic skill errors. The amount of kicks and handballs which land in the arms of opposition players is staggering.

 

[Rave Slave]

I dunno about everyone else but I'm fair stoked. Obviously it's never nice to cop an 8 goal pantsdown but do go head to head with a side as good as Geelong and for short periods of time actually exceed them is a fair credit to the list we're developing. The trip back from subi, the bigger bodies and Geelongs class (see Gary Ablett Jnr AKA freak of nature) really made a difference in the last quarter. Anyway here goes:

The Good

Dangerfield - Gun! Gun! Gun! Gun! Oozes class and his disposal has gone up a notch this season. Will be an elite.

Otten - So composed for a youngster. Does make some silly decisions at time but will definitely get better with experience.

Petrenko - Close to the best tackler in the team. When he lays a tackle they stick. A couple of the older boys could learn a thing or two from his intensity and endeavour

Walker - Wow look at that, 4 from 4 of this years youngsters from me I love how some of the peanuts on this board are being so critical of his chase and tackling. It's the first time in 8 bazillion years we've had a talented young forward and he's showing glimpses of what he'll develop into even though he's probably 2 or 3 years away from having an AFL sized body and endurance and we're wanting to drop him because he doesn't chase enough? Makes sense to me

Fevola was atrocius initially with his 'frontal pressuring' but was kept in based on his goalkicking abilities. He's managed to develop over time and that's what I want Walker to do. He's one of the best young talents we've had in a long long time.

Porplyzia - Darren Jarman reincarnated. Absolute class outfit. Speaks volumes when Scarlett is assigned to him for the night.

DMac - Silk. Gets overlooked at times by the media with the Dangerfields and Petrenkos emerging but is every bit as classy. When it's in his hands you know something good will happen.

Tyson Edwards - Please play until you're 50 BOG for the Crows tonight IMO. Is the best of the remaining big 3 now by a fair way

The Bad

The scoreline - not a true reflection of the game

The stupidity of some crows fans at the game - 'He's going backwards kick it!' 'Oh move forward!' 'Why do Geelong have free players all the time and we dont? we should do a head count!' Ugh I'm seriously gonna stab someone one of these days. I love this club but we have some *ed fans jeez

Andrew Mcleod - lacked intensity at times tonight.

Mick Doughty - Ugh

Geelong going into their forward 50 40 times for 29 scores - When our zone brokedown tonight it broke down badly and Geelong are just a classy unit.

The Ridiculous

Gary Ablett Jnr - If this bloke isn't one of the best players of the last 10 years then I'm Caroline Wilson (Thanksh guyth). 46 touches, 3 Goals, 4 Goal Assists, 8 Tackles and about 8 charges of sodomy against our players. Destroyed everyone and just did as he pleased. The bloke is unstoppable and literally cannot be tackled. Should have one brownlow already but will win this years in a canter barring injury.

 

[Drummond]

I dunno about everyone else but I'm fair stoked. Obviously it's never nice to cop an 8 goal pantsdown but do go head to head with a side as good as Geelong and for short periods of time actually exceed them is a fair credit to the list we're developing. The trip back from subi, the bigger bodies and Geelongs class (see Gary Ablett Jnr AKA freak of nature) really made a difference in the last quarter. Anyway here goes:

The Good

Dangerfield - Gun! Gun! Gun! Gun! Oozes class and his disposal has gone up a notch this season. Will be an elite.

Great post, as usual. Everything you said was dead on. Couldn't agree more with your comments on Walker. And about Ablett, he is the biggest freak. Watching him play is just amazing, I would've clapped everything he did if he wasn't carving us up. As you said, he cannot be tackled, if he does he somehow manages to break free and get a handball off. His strength is amazing. Easily the best player in the league, struggle to see how people think Judd is superior. Judd's a freak too but Ablett right now is in another class.

And there are two kicks that I feel the need to specifically mention. Mackay’s kick to…someone who I am struggling to remember right now in the third quarter was absolutely phenomenal. He angled the kick and it went 50 metres straight to the intended targets chest who was on the run. I'm pretty sure it set up a goal, it was a ripping kick that is becoming a Mackay special. The second was Dangerfield’s kick to van Berlo in the second quarter; it was similar to the kick he did to Porplyzia on the lead last week. He was running through the midfield and he delivered a 50 metre pass to VB who was running wide towards the forward 50.

Oh and one more, again Dangerfield, when he did that kick back into the middle that landed in Petrenko's arms. Problem was there was no way that's where he was aiming it.

 

[Rik E Boy]

The good
The bad
- The last quarter. 7 unanswered goals blowing the margin from 11 to 54 was very disappointing. We faded out against West Coast and Sydney in the trials, now against St Kilda and Geelong. Should this be a concern?

Geelong had a lot longer to prepare for the game than the Crows and apart from the Hawthorn game when Scarlo went off we've finished strongly every week. I thought your blokes were fairly solid tonight.

regards,

REB

 

[macca23]

Between Drummond and Rave Slave they have pretty well summed it up for me. Nice work fellas.

Just expanding on a couple of these thoughts, essentially the less positive ones

Maric - we are getting caned in ruck and conceding the centre square more often than not. At the moment Maric could not jump over a jam tin, and is giving away too many dumb frees.

I watched Griffin on Ch 2 today and he looks to be back to his very very best. Ruckwork superb and his field play better than I have ever seen it.

IMO Griffin must come in next week.

Kicking off from a point God help us when an AFL footballer puts it down the opposition's throat rather than one of our own players when kicking off from a point - and I do mean you Doughty and Rutten. Not good for either the team's prospects or morale when that happens. Can we please have a designated kicker who can actually find a team-mate with it.


McLeod Nobody is a bigger Macca fan than me, but let's be honest. Macca piked it badly on one occasion tonight and a little less noticably on a couple of others.

Not a good look Macca.

Craig's forward rotations WTF??? What's with Tippett coming off after 4 minutes and Walker spending long periods off the ground. Leave 'em on the ground FFS Craigy.

Finally the disgraceful progamming which sends us to Perth and then the next week giving the best team in the comp 3 days of additional rest - that's bullshit.

 

[Elite Crow]

Between Drummond and Rave Slave they have pretty well summed it up for me. Nice work fellas.

Just expanding on a couple of these thoughts, essentially the less positive ones

Maric - we are getting caned in ruck and conceding the centre square more often than not. At the moment Maric could not jump over a jam tin, and is giving away too many dumb frees.

I watched Griffin on Ch 2 today and he looks to be back to his very very best. Ruckwork superb and his field play better than I have ever seen it.

IMO Griffin must come in next week.

Kicking off from a point God help us when an AFL footballer puts it down the opposition's throat rather than one of our own players when kicking off from a point - and I do mean you Doughty and Rutten. Not good for either the team's prospects or morale when that happens. Can we please have a designated kicker who can actually find a team-mate with it.


McLeod Nobody is a bigger Macca fan than me, but let's be honest. Macca piked it badly on one occasion tonight and a little less noticably on a couple of others.

Not a good look Macca.

Craig's forward rotations WTF??? What's with Tippett coming off after 4 minutes and Walker spending long periods off the ground. Leave 'em on the ground FFS Craigy.

Finally the disgraceful progamming which sends us to Perth and then the next week giving the best team in the comp 3 days of additional rest - that's bullshit.

We play Port with a 6 day break after travelling and they have 8 after playing at home

 

[-CG-]

The Good:

- Porplyzia: Freak. Enough said really, the guy is an absolute magician. Does he ever miss?

One of my mates tonight mentioned that he hasn't kicked a behind from a set shot all year He is a freak!

The Good:
- We didn't lose by as much as the last time we played Geelong, which to me was our turning point in the current phase we are in.

- Flashes of brilliance from our youngsters. Walker's goal (plus the celebration), Petrenko's tackling, Otten's continued development.

- Jason Porplzyia, David Mackay, Kurt Tippett, Brent Reilly.

- Griffin's awesome form in the SANFL, bring him in!

The Bad:
- Robert Shirley.

- As someone else mentioned, our kick ins, slow start to quarters.

- Lack of Plan B.

- Falling off in the last quarter again at home.

- Seeing a handful of Geelong players free and waltzing past our players on the run.

The Ugly:
- Gary Ablett having a bazillion possessions. Why not put someone on him? Could Craig not see how many times he was going near the ball? He did that last time as well.

- Our intensity lacked at times, slipping tackles, failing to spoil etc.

 

[CroCop]

Between Drummond and Rave Slave they have pretty well summed it up for me. Nice work fellas.

Just expanding on a couple of these thoughts, essentially the less positive ones

Maric - we are getting caned in ruck and conceding the centre square more often than not. At the moment Maric could not jump over a jam tin, and is giving away too many dumb frees.

I watched Griffin on Ch 2 today and he looks to be back to his very very best. Ruckwork superb and his field play better than I have ever seen it.

IMO Griffin must come in next week.

Kicking off from a point God help us when an AFL footballer puts it down the opposition's throat rather than one of our own players when kicking off from a point - and I do mean you Doughty and Rutten. Not good for either the team's prospects or morale when that happens. Can we please have a designated kicker who can actually find a team-mate with it.


McLeod Nobody is a bigger Macca fan than me, but let's be honest. Macca piked it badly on one occasion tonight and a little less noticably on a couple of others.

Not a good look Macca.

Craig's forward rotations WTF??? What's with Tippett coming off after 4 minutes and Walker spending long periods off the ground. Leave 'em on the ground FFS Craigy.

Finally the disgraceful progamming which sends us to Perth and then the next week giving the best team in the comp 3 days of additional rest - that's bullshit.

I must say I am really starting to get frustrated with Craig stubborness. he really is not a good match day coach . He is great in preparing players and getting them to give his all but to not bring Walker onto ground for the first 3 quarters until the 14 minute mark is stupid especially when we did not have a steven, Gill or Henschell in the team . WAKE UP CRAIGY. THE BOY HAS TO BE LEFT ON . IF IT MEANS HE HAS A REAL QUITE 10 MINS EACH QUARTER WHO CARES AS HE IS THE SORT OF PLAYER THAT CAN IN THE NEXT 5 MINS TURN IT ON AND SCORE YOU NEEDED GOALS. I WROTE IN CAPITALS CAUSE ITS REALLY STARTING TO SH _ T ME. I will have played Petrenko on Ablett to see how he goes. The guy is ferocious in his attack on the ball and has speed . Over with Shirley . Knights to come back in the team with Henschell, Stevens shortly and hopefully Shirley out for good.

 

[jenny61_99]

It's funny that you can wake up and not be unhappy with a 48 pt loss. SO many positives with the game last night not the least of which was our ability to claw back within 11 pts after being 42 pts down. The blow-out in the final quarter was disappointing because it doesn't truly reflect how very brave we were throughout much of the game.

The Good:

• The mature poise shown by our youngsters on such a massive stage and against such quality opposition.
• Tyson Edwards playing like he's a kid again.
• Craig's adventurous attempts to change things up although they didn't work. Bock up forward to open, Stiffy forward later, trying a different player for the kick-outs after a point. People complain that he never tries anything new.... well he did, and he failed - but he tried! I liken it to Edison when he was trying to invent the light bulb - trying thousands of different compounds and failing miserably thousands of times. Most would give up but his philosophy "With each mistake, each failure, I know I'm one step closer to success."
• The self-belief in this team, who in previous years would have folded after Geelong kicked 42 pts up - to fight back so courageously. This is a VERY good sign for our future.

The Bad:

• Ivan Maric being given almost sole ruck duties. Griffin MUST be brought in to avoid Maric's burnout. Tippett needs to stay forward permanently - we look better when he's a forward.
• Doughty and Shirley's games. Perhaps you could excuse Shirley in that he was expected to perform miracles after not playing at this level at all this season so far but it would appear that his time has gone - if for no other reason than his position is becoming obsolete. Not sure what's going on with Dogga... but his little form slump needs to end quickly or he also will find himself on the outer.
• Channel 10 commentary and all the damned ads!

The Ugly:

• The final term blow out almost certainly caused by an extremely poor fixture. As good as Geelong were - and they were - we showed we could take it up to them and could very well have caused an upset had we not run out of legs. Playing in 33 degree heat and having only a 6 day break as opposed to Geelongs 9 days was the telling factor.
• Seeing people rushing to get out before the game had finished.

 

[TheLeftFist8]

Between Drummond and Rave Slave they have pretty well summed it up for me. Nice work fellas.

Just expanding on a couple of these thoughts, essentially the less positive ones

Maric - IMO Griffin must come in next week.

Kicking off from a point - and I do mean you Doughty and Rutten.

McLeod Nobody is a bigger Macca fan than me, but let's be honest. Macca piked it badly on one occasion tonight and a little less noticably on a couple of others.

Not a good look Macca.

Craig's forward rotations WTF??? What's with Tippett coming off after 4 minutes and Walker spending long periods off the ground. Leave 'em on the ground FFS Craigy.

Agree with your summary.

I am glad other people are seeing in McLeod the things i was saying last year. He was second only to Jericho last year for intensity at a physical contest. I don't mind if he's an outside player because that's where his skills lie but seriously it makes me so angry to see a champion take the soft option time and again. Let's hope he can get his intensity back to a passable level cos the rest of his game still offers so much even if he is obviously declining. A tough team like Geelong and he goes missing...it's a worry. Hopefully he'll come back strong.

The forward line...such a balance between defensive pressure and targets. We look dangerous and balanced offensively with Porplyzia, Tippett, and Walker down there. However, it doesn't happen enough as all three dont add much in terms of effective chasing and tackling. Add in a slow Thompson and we get exposed. Stevens also pretty slow so even when he rotates with Tippett/Walker/Maric we are still lacking on the chase.

Douglas does some good chasing but maybe it's time to add in some more pace in the form of Petrenko up forward (wish we had a few of this guy) or, if he plays another good game, Jacky. Cook may also be an option for the 'defensive forward' role.

 

[TheLeftFist8]

The Bad:

• Ivan Maric being given almost sole ruck duties. Griffin MUST be brought in to avoid Maric's burnout. Tippett needs to stay forward permanently - we look better when he's a forward.

Trust me when i say i am not on a Maric witch hunt but can we stop making excuses for his poor form. He has had the support of Tippett in ruck, it's not like he rucks 100% of the game. Other teams have number 1 rucks that do a lot of work...why are they not burning out? In any case, his first quarters when he is relatively fresh are no better anyway.

Let's not blame age/experience anymore...he was up against a young outfit last night. He is 23 years old, not 19 or even 21.

Unfortunately his strength (huge body) is becomming a weakness as he doesn't seem to jump much and is only 198cm to boot.

To prove i try to judge on performance rather than reputation and/or simply trying hard, i am calling for the inclusion of my former whipping boy Griffin! Griff will make a big difference in the square and his other deficiencies have been improved.


Re the forward structure, Stevens will return mitigating the need for the 3 rucks. However, we were too short last night at times. It's great having defensive pressure but we gotta score as well!

 

[jenny61_99]

Trust me when i say i am not on a Maric witch hunt but can we stop making excuses for his poor form. He has had the support of Tippett in ruck, it's not like he rucks 100% of the game. Other teams have number 1 rucks that do a lot of work...why are they not burning out? In any case, his first quarters when he is relatively fresh are no better anyway.

Let's not blame age/experience anymore...he was up against a young outfit last night. He is 23 years old, not 19 or even 21.

Unfortunately his strength (huge body) is becomming a weakness as he doesn't seem to jump much and is only 198cm to boot.

To prove i try to judge on performance rather than reputation and/or simply trying hard, i am calling for the inclusion of my former whipping boy Griffin! Griff will make a big difference in the square and his other deficiencies have been improved.


Re the forward structure, Stevens will return mitigating the need for the 3 rucks. However, we were too short last night at times. It's great having defensive pressure but we gotta score as well!

I'm not blaming age OR experience, rather time spent on the ground rucking. IMO it's too much to expect him to do as much as he does. Tippet "relieves" but mostly it is Maric rucking. With Griffin assisting, you get Tippet planted permanently in the forward zone giving us a go to man which we desperately need (and have for years).

Maric is still learning the game... 23 is still pretty young for a big fella. And I honestly think he is playing like he's exhausted. Having Griff there to share the workload will fix that.

 

[Elite Crow]

The Ugly: Conceding goals with stupid errors or because we cant hold a tackle. Reillys late error in the 3rd plus our 2 stupid kick ins gave them 3 goals. Plus there were instances where we should have been able to stop their forwards from kicking goals but they broke our tackles.

 

[TheLeftFist8]

I'm not blaming age OR experience, rather time spent on the ground rucking. IMO it's too much to expect him to do as much as he does. Tippet "relieves" but mostly it is Maric rucking. With Griffin assisting, you get Tippet planted permanently in the forward zone giving us a go to man which we desperately need (and have for years).

Maric is still learning the game... 23 is still pretty young for a big fella. And I honestly think he is playing like he's exhausted. Having Griff there to share the workload will fix that.

In the Adelaide structure, we cannot afford a lame duck sitting on the bench just so our rucks don't get tired with 65-70% of the ruckwork (which i thought a number 1 ruck would do).

If we bring in Griff so they can only ruck 50% each and only have 50% TOG, then the running players get less rest. With Stevens coming in, we will get the extra tall up front anyway. If they both come in, you would often end up with 2 talls sitting on the bench...it's too many. I am not against 3 rucks if they can play another position which is required in the structure (if only Moran would pull his finger out it could help the balance).

 

[The Karma Bus]

Good- The young ones lifting us back into the game at certain points.. Goals from tippett, walker, danger, mackay all in a row when we were looking dead..

Danger not a huge night but what he did was good..

Tippett good again, bit more consistency seems to be coming..

Walker must stay, let him find his way.. To start on his back about chasing to the extent of dropping him is just ridiculous..

Mackay very impressive..

Otten looks great, experience behind him he will be a beauty.. Knows his way through traffic well..

Edwards the best of the old boys again..

Bad- Hmm doughty seems back to the doughty of old..

Mcleod looks flat, slow, even disinterested..

Shirley- i wont go there..

Douglas- when is he going to actually turn into a good player.. Losing patience with him..

Maric looks terrible, just not coming on like he should.. Even when he wasnt playing great he was a physical presence, ive seen him pull out of contests this year.. Costing us badly in ruck at the mo..

We missed scott stevens more than people realise.. A few years back i never would have pictured saying it..

Ugly- drop offs in intensity.. That simple.. When the cats were allowed to run the ball with no pressure they looked great, when we decided to play they were jumpy and not so fluent- handballing in the air etc..

 

[CaptainDangerfield]

Finally the disgraceful progamming which sends us to Perth and then the next week giving the best team in the comp 3 days of additional rest - that's bullshit.

Demetriou: They probably wont be playing finals anyway so what are they complaining about, isn't that right Stuart?

Steven Trigg: well yessum Master Demetriou, you be right.