Adelaide's chances in 2000

  • Thread starter Daniel
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Daniel

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The Crows are back to playing respectable football and I am considerably more enthusiastic about their prospects than I was after Round 5. A narrow loss to the reigning premiers, testing the best team in the league for three quarters and four wins around that. Adelaide are now playing like a 5 to 8 side and their season will be shaped in the next three weeks.

At 4-7 there is a lot to do, but starting with today's win the Crows are capable of making a run at the finals. Their next three opponents are Sydney (home), Richmond (away) and Fremantle (home), which represents a great chance to be back amongst it at 7-7. They'll need to win those games and, if they do, the finals beckon. I believe they can and will make the eight.
 
Well I think Adelaide has not peaked yet and is playing error riddled, but confident football. They can play much much better footy than what they did today.

The look on their faces after beating the demons told me that they were also similarly dissatisfied with their effort. They won when they could have slaughtered.

Adelaide will flog the swans at home (we owe them one), they will have trouble with the tigers (they always do) and similarly flog Freo (we owe them one too). Good luck lads!
 

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We don't have a bad run home with games against Collingwood at home, Brisbane at home and Port in the last 6 games.

It's not impossible but it won't be easy.
 
Adeliade have about as much chance of succeeding this year as Port Adelaide.

They are playing well as the moment, but I'm sure that loser of a coach will change that for you.

Maybe he'll play Bickley, Riccuito and co off the bench next week,

It looks like they've lost Jarman now for a few weeks, that will hurt. They are too far behind to catch up.
 
Oh please, the handbaggers still peak too early and can't sustain their momentum for a whole season. You did the same last year. A change of coach hasn't helped you at all. Besides, nobody in this post gives a crap about Geelong anyway. If you want to slag ayres open a new post!
 
We are gunna miss Jars but I am very impressed with Biglands & Perre.

Why is it Geelong supporters seem to always believe that if someone does not succeed at Geelong then they cannot succeed. Even Blighty was called a failure by some Cats supporters. Now he is regarded as alegend with one of the best ecer coaching records.

No offence though gocatsgo. You at least do appear to be a sane cats supporter.
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Crows have won only four matches from eleven. Thats a real handicap. There is some sign of improvement but not enough yet to suggest a finals appearance. If Crows win against Swans and Freo and can match it at least against Richmond (a win would be much better though) then there might be some hope. Crows rarely do well against Carlton and I don't think have ever beaten them at Optus.

After that its the first seven again and Crows won none from their first five against these sides. I think they will probably do better second time around but its way way too early yet to be thinking about finals.

Lets see if Crows can get at least three from the next four first. If they win Swans and Freo and one out of Richmond and Blues then Crows might be a chance at finals. Not before.
 
Originally posted by gocatsgo:
Adeliade have about as much chance of succeeding this year as Port Adelaide.

They are playing well as the moment, but I'm sure that loser of a coach will change that for you.

Maybe he'll play Bickley, Riccuito and co off the bench next week,

It looks like they've lost Jarman now for a few weeks, that will hurt. They are too far behind to catch up.

Spending time with a club synonomous with failure permanently tainted Gary Ayres as a coach, did it? And to think, he started so well in '95 when he took them to a Grand Final, before that Geelong Syndrome really got its claws into him...

With upcoming games against Sydney, Richmond and Fremantle, Adelaide clearly are not out of contention, if they continue to improve in those matches before attemtping to fry some bigger fish.
It's obvious the odds are against them, but writing the Crows off seems fraught with danger.
 
Daniel, Garry Ayres did not take that team to the GF in 1995, he inherited a team that played in the GF in 1989, 92 and 94. He had a champion team that just couldn't win it.

What happened to them after the Blight era wore off. 7th in 96, 5th in 97, 12th in 98, 11th in 99. ENOUGH SAID.

Malcolm Blight was a champion coach, pur players were just too soft to win it for him.

[This message has been edited by gocatsgo (edited 23 May 2000).]
 
Uh-huh. Ayres takes Geelong to a GF and gets no credit for it. Does that mean if the Crows make the GF from here, it is also down to Blight and not Ayres' structure?

In reality, I actually think Geelong have been unlucky. They just happened to be the second-best team in the league on several occasions and ran into the best team in the GF, unlike North Melbourne last year, for example..
 
Good point Daniel, I believe that North's two premierships have come against moderate opposition to say the least and that both times Essendon were the side that should have beaten them, only they got beaten themselves.

Hawthorn were one of the great teams of all time in 1989, as were West Coast in 1994 and Carlton in 1995. Unfortunately for Geelong we should have taken our chances in 1991-92-93 and didn't.

1991 we ran Hawthorn to 2 points in the semi only to lose to West Coast in the preliminary final.

1992 we were in the GF and had a 5 goal lead but Matera came at us and we crumbled.

1993 we beat Collingwood by 8 points (4th at time), North by 94 pts(1st at the time) Hawthorn by 81 pts (1st at the time) Essendon by 32 pts(1st at time and premiers)then Eagles in Perth by 20 pts(4th at time) in the last five games. That year was only 20 games. we finished 12/8 and missed the finals by 3 per cent. There is no doubt we were as good as Essendon and would have pushed for the flag that season if they had have got in. BUT THEY DIDN'T

Malcolm Blight has stated that Geelong are paying for the sins of 1992 when they should have won. HE IS RIGHT.
 
Geelong, remember, were underdogs (with the bookmakers) in all 4 of their Grand Final defeats. it wasn't as if they were expected to win any of them.

Geelong were not soft. Softness is a bit of a myth too. Sometimes it comes down to commitment on the day, motivation. A spark, or an intangible, unquantifiable thing that can force a teams to chase harder.

You don't make Grand Final, or consistently finish near the top (as Geelong did), without being "hard at it".

Geelong were also very unfortuante to come up agaisnt Carlton in 1995 and the Hawks in 1989, who were two of the greatest teams of all time. And the Eagles were a team that matched up incredibly well on the Ctas. Geelong simply couldn't beat the Eagles. They were unlucky to comr up agaisnt such a bogey side for them (taking nothing away from West Coast)

Look at how lucky Nrth were last year. They won 3 finals agaisnt 7th, 3rd and 6th, and avoided the years best team (the Bombers), because the Dons lost one match by one point, despite 9 more scoring shots. Being the years best teams doesn't make you immune from defeat.......... never forget that
 

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