Adelaide's decline

Remove this Banner Ad

I think something stinks in the fitness regime -the whole squad looks cooked and unable to run out games
yeah there have been a few games that you have been good for a half or three quarters but then fall away (and badly in most cases too)
 

Ron The Bear

Up yer arse, AFL
30k Posts 10k Posts
Jul 4, 2006
35,845
36,723
Melbourne
AFL Club
Richmond
Quarters by club from best to worst

RankClubQuarterForAgDiff
1Geel4th298157+141
2Geel3rd300167+133
3Melb4th257132+125
4P.A.2nd287173+114
5Coll1st242137+105
6W.C.3rd301216+85
7Rich2nd253178+75
8St.K1st280206+74
9Bris2nd247177+70
10Bris1st241171+70
69Adel3rd151250-99
70Adel1st151260-109
71Adel2nd137258-121
72Adel4th140287-147
 

Log in to remove this ad.

Aug 13, 2006
14,778
13,879
Melbourne
AFL Club
Melbourne
Looking at Adelaides list I just can't get my head around how they haven't won a game

Sure there are some holes in it but a team with Sloane, Crouch x2, Laird and Talia should be able to at least win 1 game in a season
It's been such an unusual season, but if you break down the Crows games it's pretty much:

Round 1 - got pretty close
Covid Break
Round 2-6 showdown and hub, absolute disaster after the break
Rounds 7-8 gave a pretty good effort against the Saints and Bombers and just fell short.
Rounds 9-11 in games in patches but really just not good enough
Rounds 12-13 - beaten by far better sides
Round 15 - grand final v Hawthorn!

The break probably changed them from a regular bad side to a disaster having so much time off and not being prepared or able to be coached up. Even a good side like West Coast struggled so it probably isn't a total shock that a bad team didn't handle it.

In terms of the list though they have decent tall defenders, a plethora of good small defenders and they have options to craft a decent midfield by moving guys around. But they just have nothing up forward.

So they go 1.4 against St Kilda in the 3rd quarter when they dominated general play and 1.6 in the last quarter against Essendon and that's 2 wins that turn to 0.

Tex remains the leading goal scorer and the only one to average a goal a game. Stengle has some promise, Murphy is an ok role player. But in terms of asking guys to mark and kick goals be it Himmelberg, Fogarty, McAdam, Crocker it's a disaster.

North aren't much better but Brown was no worse than Tex and Larkey is clearly better and guys like Zurhaar, Hall and Scott are keeping their opponents busy.

The decline of the Crows backline as a unit that was very good is one thing, same said for the midfield being one paced and lacking skills, but the best forward line in the game in 2017 turning to complete rubble with 5 guys ageing - 2 of which were pushed out - and the 2 young guns (Cameron and McGovern) leaving is quite amazing. Shows how quickly things can change.
 

STFU Donnie

Norm Smith Medallist
Jul 31, 2012
5,417
8,493
AFL Club
Hawthorn
Other Teams
Everton, Chiefs Kingdom
Quarters by club from best to worst

RankClubQuarterForAgDiff
1Geel4th298157+141
2Geel3rd300167+133
3Melb4th257132+125
4P.A.2nd287173+114
5Coll1st242137+105
6W.C.3rd301216+85
7Rich2nd253178+75
8St.K1st280206+74
9Bris2nd247177+70
10Bris1st241171+70
69Adel3rd151250-99
70Adel1st151260-109
71Adel2nd137258-121
72Adel4th140287-147

That's almost unbelievably bad. Translating those stats into an average scenario: They're usually (well) behind at half-time, then have a good go in the third quarter before falling off the cliff in the last.
 

(Log in to remove this ad.)

May 10, 2009
57,823
42,122
Adelaide Oval
AFL Club
Adelaide
That's almost unbelievably bad. Translating those stats into an average scenario: They're usually (well) behind at half-time, then have a good go in the third quarter before falling off the cliff in the last.
Our first half stats are distorted by 3 really poor games against Port, North and the Bulldogs and the Suns, Eagles and Lions games weren’t much better. Outside of that, we have been within a goal or two or slightly ahead in the rest of our first halves (Sydney, Saints, Melbourne, Collingwood, Essendon, Freo and Geelong). Our 3rd quarters are mostly ok too (except for disasters against Port, North and Bulldogs), but our last quarters completely fall away (worst fitness department in the league).

No matter who we draft, the only thing that will help us improve next year is improving the fitness department and hiring competent assistant coaches.
 

Vassp

Premiership Player
Jun 30, 2018
4,683
7,857
AFL Club
Richmond
For a team that were monsters in 2017 to this must be the biggest fall off the cliff in AFL history.
feel for the players who no fault of their own were subject to a career ending and team ending pre season of 2018.
How to get back, playing ok this year, but its obvious the line between losing and winning is blocked by a force field at the moment.

hows the culture at the club?
Have people been held to account ?
 
Aug 5, 2007
16,407
11,366
Near Casey Fields
AFL Club
Geelong
Other Teams
Trailblazers and Storm
Looking at Adelaides list I just can't get my head around how they haven't won a game

Sure there are some holes in it but a team with Sloane, Crouch x2, Laird and Talia should be able to at least win 1 game in a season

Yea I don't think they're necessarily that bad either. But they're extremely ordinary. Better players who have carried them in years gone by have regressed (Walker and Sloane) and they lack spark necessary to score quickly and it's all further compounded by the inability to run games out as well as opponents.
 

Ron The Bear

Up yer arse, AFL
30k Posts 10k Posts
Jul 4, 2006
35,845
36,723
Melbourne
AFL Club
Richmond
Looking at Adelaides list I just can't get my head around how they haven't won a game

Sure there are some holes in it but a team with Sloane, Crouch x2, Laird and Talia should be able to at least win 1 game in a season

The support cast isn't strong. Games played by under 22's:

105 Gold Coast
92 Sydney
78 Adelaide
68 St.Kilda
...
33 Melbourne

Yet Adelaide is the only team without a player eligible for the '22 under 22' team to poll votes from the coaches.

They've traditionally brought players along slowly, having the highest average age for AFL debutants over the last decade. But having gone over the cliff, they've been forced to try 9 debutants and another 5 players with under 10 games. They can only produce cameos at this stage and struggle to run games out.
 

Mikey13G

Club Legend
Aug 21, 2018
1,764
2,417
The People's Republic of Port Adelaide
AFL Club
Port Adelaide
For a team that were monsters in 2017 to this must be the biggest fall off the cliff in AFL history.
feel for the players who no fault of their own were subject to a career ending and team ending pre season of 2018.
How to get back, playing ok this year, but its obvious the line between losing and winning is blocked by a force field at the moment.

hows the culture at the club?
Have people been held to account ?

Anyone in their late 20's on the Crows list would probably be looking at their options given where the club is at.

Crows will be 0-14 later tonight :)
 

marty36

Brownlow Medallist
Aug 17, 2009
26,372
9,223
Adelaide
AFL Club
Adelaide
For a team that were monsters in 2017 to this must be the biggest fall off the cliff in AFL history.
feel for the players who no fault of their own were subject to a career ending and team ending pre season of 2018.
How to get back, playing ok this year, but its obvious the line between losing and winning is blocked by a force field at the moment.

hows the culture at the club?
Have people been held to account ?


As you pointed out our 2017 team was solid

We obvioulsy have recruited poorly in the last 5 years for the team to drop away so quickly
 

Vassp

Premiership Player
Jun 30, 2018
4,683
7,857
AFL Club
Richmond
As you pointed out our 2017 team was solid

We obvioulsy have recruited poorly in the last 5 years for the team to drop away so quickly
it has to be more than that, cant go from monsters to duds in one season and stay limp for another 2.
Sure the GF loss was a disappointment but bloody hell, you had the talent to continue, this was no fluke.
So what im getting at is has a full inquiry been made?
And where to from here?
 

marty36

Brownlow Medallist
Aug 17, 2009
26,372
9,223
Adelaide
AFL Club
Adelaide
it has to be more than that, cant go from monsters to duds in one season and stay limp for another 2.
Sure the GF loss was a disappointment but bloody hell, you had the talent to continue, this was no fluke.
So what im getting at is has a full inquiry been made?
And where to from here?

Are you saying the chairman or a Board member are responsible for the way the players play, or the camp that we had was responsible, Pyke took us to the GF so he was part of that strong team

WE had a full review by none other than the Chief himself and superpav

What are you suggesting we have done to fall away so quickly
 


Says a few things.

Played few draftees when going well in 2017 for instance.
Quality of draftees since has been poor.
Draftees now being thrown to the wolves in a poor team.
 

Major Colvin

Norm Smith Medallist
May 8, 2006
5,038
4,559
AFL Club
Melbourne
Unless the Crows can beat the Hawks tonight (they might have a shot against the Giants) but after that it would seem likely they'll be the first VFL/AFL to go winless since Fitzroy in 1964 (good omen)? ;)

Whilst they've gotten progressively worse I don't think they're the worst wooden spoon team I've seen. Obviously, Melbourne in 2013 is the worst (and even then we finished 17th), which shows you how bad the Giants were in their second season.

Then everyone always invokes Fitzroy's final season to compare how bad a team is going, which terrible as they were is not fair considering their predicament at the time.

Adelaide this season remind of Freo in 2001 a bit. That season Freo lost the season opener to Carlton by 1pt at Subiaco. From there they lost some tight games between 3-4 goals, then Drum got sacked midseason and they started getting walloped, but ended up winning a couple of games including against the Hawks who nearly made the GF that year.

I've seen many worse Freo sides than that one. The Crows this year are obviously transitioning and lost their first game which was very winnable, another against Essendon where they bottled about 4 chances in the last three mins. Basically, they've lost confidence and forgotten how to win. But I dont believe they are such a bad team. Not as bad as their winless record indicates.
 

Remove this Banner Ad

Back