Adelaide's famous victory

[Daniel]

This win cannot be under-rated.

If there is any such thing as a mid-season "final", then this was it. The win tonight does not make Adelaide’s season, but it could certainly save it.

Despite being screwed over by the umpires (again) and collapsing in the last quarter against a tenacious, highly-rated opponent playing before their own rabid, parochial fans, the Crows came back to win. This is a tremendous boost for the club and one that gives them a genuine opportunity to make something of Season 2000.

I have not been so desperate for an Adelaide win for a long time and certainly not this season. At least, not quite in the same way.

As a supporter, it felt like a final to me and judging by the player reactions, that's what it looked like. Whenever we collapse in the last quarter, all those bad memories come back and unfortunately there is still that sense of "here we go again". The maddening aspect of it is that it felt like we had the game won when leading by 26 points and despite myself that’s what I was thinking. Is it any wonder players unwillingly change their mental approach, even ever so slightly, in that situation?

I haven't been so grateful for a win since Showdown VII. To have done everything to deserve victory and yet be on the brink of a paralysing loss was almost shattering. It would have been criminal to lose and there would have been a massive outcry over the umpiring.

Thankyou Adelaide; the season is now alive and the remainder of it is certainly auspicious. The capacity to overcome such adversity, and demonstrating the ability to do so, is obviously essential.

What makes it worthy is that the Crows beat a form team, away from home, who had a superior head-to-head record. Not only that, it was a quality, highly-skilled match. Adelaide have had some ugly wins and if the Tigers had played badly it would not have counted as much, in terms of future prospects. But Richmond did play well and Adelaide had to display enormous character to win. We have collapsed against them in similar circumstances. Early 1997 comes readily to mind.

If I could be so impudent as to make just one small request, it would be please, for god’s sake, don’t torment your supporters like that again. You can win without first throwing away a four-goal lead in the last quarter. ;-)

Still on a high,
Daniel

 

[servo]

Yes Daniel it was a great win and I, like you, am over the moon.

But I tried something this time. I watched the game without commentary. And I only saw about 4 or 5 umpiring decisions that I wouldn't have called myself. 3 for Richmond and 2 for Adelaide. I also saw about 4 non decisions where I thought they should have given frees, 2 each.

The only one I was really dissappointed with was when Robran gave a free away for a push in the back in the last quarter and the umpire payed the advantage. I thought the free was probably there but Robran was the player about to pick up the ball when the free was given. He stopped and retuned to police the mark. A richmond player then ran past Robran and picked up the ball, the umpire let him play on. That should definately not have been allowed. That was the goal that put Richmond in front I think.

So dont go into the game expecting to be screwed by the umpires because if you do you WILL come out believing you were screwed whether you were or not. The umpiring in this game was good and went a long way towards making the game the great spectacle it was.

GO CROWS
Ruccuttio for the Brownlow.

 

[Daniel]

I was listening to ABC radio while watching the game on TV and although the commentators didn't say as much, the general comments seemed to indicate that the Crows suffered more bad decisions. I wouldn't go so far as to call the umpiring good, but I take your point.

I listen to the Channel 7 commentary as infrequently as possible. I would love to be able to turn off the commentary while retaining the crowd noise effects.

I thought there were numerous holding-the-ball vs holding-the-man decisions that went Richmond's way, more often than not as a result of the crowd. I have no idea what the free kick count was and don't particularly care because it never indicates which decisions were justified and which weren't. I don't ever want to hear people complaining about Crows fans at Football Park after the way Richmond's fans treated the umpiring.

Ricciuto is definitely a Brownlow chance. What a season he's having..

 

[go crows]

There were a great number of umpiring decisions that could have gone either way. Whilst I thought there were quite a few that seemed to favour tigers (in fact they got 50% more frees than Crows) there was really only the one critical one. The very very soft free to Tivendale in the last quarter, in scoring range, to put tigers in touch. That hurt. James never touched hime, yet a free for "in the back" was paid.

That goal put the momentum firmly with the tigers. Its not so much the free tally, its where and when they are paid.

On the other hand, the fact that Crows overcame such baltant mistreatment, and the overwhelming crowd to acghieve a good away win in the end was perhaps the most pleasing aspect of the whole game.

Go Crows!

Still a chance for the finals this year, after our worst start.