Basic Football Smarts

[Slippery Pete]

I feel that the Adelaide coaching staff are dropping the ball on some key issues relating to football smarts that cost the Crows week in, week out. I feel our players, whilst extremely disciplined and usually determined, are being let down by a coaching group too focussed on process, and I believe this in partly to do with the personalities on the coaching staff and their inability to bring some smartness and mercurial coaching to the table. Examples:

1. How many weeks in a row are we going to get crucified for diving on the football before players and coaches realise you have to adapt to the way the game is umpired? And conversely, why don't our guys ever stick their hand in the air to try and pinch one of these free kicks when a pack forms? These decisions almost ALWAYS go against us, and our guys just accept it. It's almost as if they've been instructed not to stick the hand in the air, like this is somehow showing a lack of discipline.

2. Dangerfield has been leaning back on his set shots from the moment he came to the club. This is such an EASY thing to fix for a player of his immense ability - why hasn't it been addressed? My biggest fear is that it hasn't even been indentified - and if this is true, we should all be very concerned about the type of heads we have in the coaches box.

3. There is absolutely NO grunt, no leadership and no emotion shown out on the field. This is probably the most frustrating part for fans. Our players are nowhere near angry or cynical enough.

Our guys create so many opportunities through their desperation and constant persistence - and this is a credit to Craigy's coaching - but they let themselves down in the smallest areas which make all this effort go to waste.

 

[KingJames23]

I feel that the Adelaide coaching staff are dropping the ball on some key issues relating to football smarts that cost the Crows week in, week out. I feel our players, whilst extremely disciplined and usually determined, are being let down by a coaching group too focussed on process, and I believe this in partly to do with the personalities on the coaching staff and their inability to bring some smartness and mercurial coaching to the table. Examples:

1. How many weeks in a row are we going to get crucified for diving on the football before players and coaches realise you have to adapt to the way the game is umpired? And conversely, why don't our guys ever stick their hand in the air to try and pinch one of these free kicks when a pack forms? These decisions almost ALWAYS go against us, and our guys just accept it. It's almost as if they've been instructed not to stick the hand in the air, like this is somehow showing a lack of discipline.

2. Dangerfield has been leaning back on his set shots from the moment he came to the club. This is such an EASY thing to fix for a player of his immense ability - why hasn't it been addressed? My biggest fear is that it hasn't even been indentified - and if this is true, we should all be very concerned about the type of heads we have in the coaches box.

3. There is absolutely NO grunt, no leadership and no emotion shown out on the field. This is probably the most frustrating part for fans. Our players are nowhere near angry or cynical enough.

Our guys create so many opportunities through their desperation and constant persistence - and this is a credit to Craigy's coaching - but they let themselves down in the smallest areas which make all this effort go to waste.

Ill add a number 4 to your list. How many times does the opposition kick the ball long to a pack about 5 or 10 metres out from their goal, only for the ball to leak out the back, which they pick up and kick a goal??? Its almost the mentality that someone else will be there but im sick of easy goals coming because we have 3 guys going for a spoil and nobody there to stop the easy goal.

 

[Slippery Pete]

Ill add a number 4 to your list. How many times does the opposition kick the ball long to a pack about 5 or 10 metres out from their goal, only for the ball to leak out the back, which they pick up and kick a goal??? Its almost the mentality that someone else will be there but im sick of easy goals coming because we have 3 guys going for a spoil and nobody there to stop the easy goal.

Exactly. Or when there's a stoppage five metres out from the opposition goal, and our guys fail to rush the ball over the line. This happened 3 or 4 times yesterday and cost us goals each time.

 

[Alecks]

Then we bomb it long to tippet +2 opponents and rarely crumb a goal

 

[chigwidden]

Then we bomb it long to tippet +2 opponents and rarely crumb a goal

Hells yeah. Watching one passage of play where Danger scooped it out of the pack and dished it off inside 50 gave me a moment of euphoria. More like that!

 

[Damp Squarie]

I feel that the Adelaide coaching staff are dropping the ball on some key issues relating to football smarts that cost the Crows week in, week out. I feel our players, whilst extremely disciplined and usually determined, are being let down by a coaching group too focussed on process, and I believe this in partly to do with the personalities on the coaching staff and their inability to bring some smartness and mercurial coaching to the table. Examples:

1. How many weeks in a row are we going to get crucified for diving on the football before players and coaches realise you have to adapt to the way the game is umpired? And conversely, why don't our guys ever stick their hand in the air to try and pinch one of these free kicks when a pack forms? These decisions almost ALWAYS go against us, and our guys just accept it. It's almost as if they've been instructed not to stick the hand in the air, like this is somehow showing a lack of discipline.

Agree

2. Dangerfield has been leaning back on his set shots from the moment he came to the club. This is such an EASY thing to fix for a player of his immense ability - why hasn't it been addressed? My biggest fear is that it hasn't even been indentified - and if this is true, we should all be very concerned about the type of heads we have in the coaches box.

Burtons been doing it for years - they havent helped him either.

3. There is absolutely NO grunt, no leadership and no emotion shown out on the field. This is probably the most frustrating part for fans. Our players are nowhere near angry or cynical enough.

Need controlled mongrel toughness Thommo and to a lesser extent Maric has it....although Thommos is uncontrolled at times.

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

It does seem as though any low percentage play has been culled from our playbook.

On the surface this doesn't seem a bad thing. Why wouldn't you play the percentages? Surely you'll come out ahead in the end?

The trouble is that over the years we keep getting beaten by teams who certainly play the percentages most of the time but they all seem to have a hint of flair up the sleeve to value-add to their norm.

How often have we see opposition players dogging it and standing forward of a pack while their Crows opponent bores in after the ball only to receive a cheap handball over the top? Or opposition forwards not competing in the marking contest and instead dogging it out the back for the spill and easy goal? Or a Crows player springting ahead of his man towards a ball that is about to land (could bounce anywhere) - sure enough, over our head and into the waiting arms. Or we pounce on a loose ball and our opponent is second to the ball, pins us and wins a HTB.

How many high tackles are we able to generate with a Joel Selwood like shrug of the shoulders? How many push in the back frees are we able to get ourself by sprawling underneath whoever is laying the tackle?

While we're on it, when was the last time a Crows player kicked a dribble goal? A torpedo? A checkside? A can hardly remember one of any of these. I can't even remember seeing a torpedo kicked in general play to gain some yardage out of the backline. The only torpedos we see from the Crows are when Symes tries to execute a drop punt under no pressure.

Darren Jarman knew when he needed to make a marking contest and also when he needed to **** out the back for the spill over the top to pinch an easy goal. In today's instructions you think that it would be demanded of him that he make a contest and try to bring the ball to the ground. 1997 GF, Smart crashes the pack, Jars sits out the back with no one one him... and that's all she wrote.

Footy smarts can often be confused with being lazy. I don't think Craig can tell the difference, hence Walker's penance in the SANFL while he worked on all his 'flaws' he had developed over the years in Broken Hill and Norwood when he learned ways to kick as many goals as he could.

As Kramer says, you can trust Slippery Pete. He's on the money here

 

[smoovy]

It does seem as though any low percentage play has been culled from our playbook.

On the surface this doesn't seem a bad thing. Why wouldn't you play the percentages? Surely you'll come out ahead in the end?

The trouble is that over the years we keep getting beaten by teams who certainly play the percentages most of the time but they all seem to have a hint of flair up the sleeve to value-add to their norm.

How often have we see opposition players dogging it and standing forward of a pack while their Crows opponent bores in after the ball only to receive a cheap handball over the top? Or opposition forwards not competing in the marking contest and instead dogging it out the back for the spill and easy goal? Or a Crows player springting ahead of his man towards a ball that is about to land (could bounce anywhere) - sure enough, over our head and into the waiting arms. Or we pounce on a loose ball and our opponent is second to the ball, pins us and wins a HTB.

How many high tackles are we able to generate with a Joel Selwood like shrug of the shoulders? How many push in the back frees are we able to get ourself by sprawling underneath whoever is laying the tackle?

While we're on it, when was the last time a Crows player kicked a dribble goal? A torpedo? A checkside? A can hardly remember one of any of these. I can't even remember seeing a torpedo kicked in general play to gain some yardage out of the backline. The only torpedos we see from the Crows are when Symes tries to execute a drop punt under no pressure.

Darren Jarman knew when he needed to make a marking contest and also when he needed to **** out the back for the spill over the top to pinch an easy goal. In today's instructions you think that it would be demanded of him that he make a contest and try to bring the ball to the ground. 1997 GF, Smart crashes the pack, Jars sits out the back with no one one him... and that's all she wrote.

Footy smarts can often be confused with being lazy. I don't think Craig can tell the difference, hence Walker's penance in the SANFL while he worked on all his 'flaws' he had developed over the years in Broken Hill and Norwood when he learned ways to kick as many goals as he could.

As Kramer says, you can trust Slippery Pete. He's on the money here

Last checkside was Walker and then before that Tippett v Essendon last year at Docklands in the same game when we were amazingly accurate. Is there a coincidence that we were very accurate in that game when we were allowed to show a bit of flair??

The previous checkside before that was rd 2 2008. I remember them all because they are so rare.

I believe attempting a drop punt from the boundary line is actually more larising than a checkside because executing that skill is more difficult.

There is room for torpedos more than even in our game due to the zones being played. A torp that carries into the centre square from the kick out is a great zone buster and once it is over the back it is almost a certain score. You just will never see that under Craig unfortunately.

 

[The Sloane Ranger]

I feel that the Adelaide coaching staff are dropping the ball on some key issues relating to football smarts that cost the Crows week in, week out. I feel our players, whilst extremely disciplined and usually determined, are being let down by a coaching group too focussed on process, and I believe this in partly to do with the personalities on the coaching staff and their inability to bring some smartness and mercurial coaching to the table. Examples:

1. How many weeks in a row are we going to get crucified for diving on the football before players and coaches realise you have to adapt to the way the game is umpired? And conversely, why don't our guys ever stick their hand in the air to try and pinch one of these free kicks when a pack forms? These decisions almost ALWAYS go against us, and our guys just accept it. It's almost as if they've been instructed not to stick the hand in the air, like this is somehow showing a lack of discipline.

2. Dangerfield has been leaning back on his set shots from the moment he came to the club. This is such an EASY thing to fix for a player of his immense ability - why hasn't it been addressed? My biggest fear is that it hasn't even been indentified - and if this is true, we should all be very concerned about the type of heads we have in the coaches box.

3. There is absolutely NO grunt, no leadership and no emotion shown out on the field. This is probably the most frustrating part for fans. Our players are nowhere near angry or cynical enough.

Our guys create so many opportunities through their desperation and constant persistence - and this is a credit to Craigy's coaching - but they let themselves down in the smallest areas which make all this effort go to waste.

so how do you know that the coaching staff are dropping the ball on these issues

are you privileged to training and the communication between coach and players

re diving on the ball, I watch almost every game this weekend and we are no worse than any other club

re Danger's goal kicking, I disagree, Danger has got a uncomplecated action and IMO he has not and is not leaning back on his kicks, he simply has the yipps and its all about routine and confidence

re leadership, I do tend to agree on this point.. however in the club does have a very good leadership program and IMO we will find out next year how successful that program is..... at this stage Im not prepared to make a judgement on leadership based on the last 2 losses

missing so many easy shots does deflate a side no matter how strong your leadership group is..........

 

[Slippery Pete]

It does seem as though any low percentage play has been culled from our playbook.

On the surface this doesn't seem a bad thing. Why wouldn't you play the percentages? Surely you'll come out ahead in the end?

The trouble is that over the years we keep getting beaten by teams who certainly play the percentages most of the time but they all seem to have a hint of flair up the sleeve to value-add to their norm.

How often have we see opposition players dogging it and standing forward of a pack while their Crows opponent bores in after the ball only to receive a cheap handball over the top? Or opposition forwards not competing in the marking contest and instead dogging it out the back for the spill and easy goal? Or a Crows player springting ahead of his man towards a ball that is about to land (could bounce anywhere) - sure enough, over our head and into the waiting arms. Or we pounce on a loose ball and our opponent is second to the ball, pins us and wins a HTB.

How many high tackles are we able to generate with a Joel Selwood like shrug of the shoulders? How many push in the back frees are we able to get ourself by sprawling underneath whoever is laying the tackle?

While we're on it, when was the last time a Crows player kicked a dribble goal? A torpedo? A checkside? A can hardly remember one of any of these. I can't even remember seeing a torpedo kicked in general play to gain some yardage out of the backline. The only torpedos we see from the Crows are when Symes tries to execute a drop punt under no pressure.

Darren Jarman knew when he needed to make a marking contest and also when he needed to **** out the back for the spill over the top to pinch an easy goal. In today's instructions you think that it would be demanded of him that he make a contest and try to bring the ball to the ground. 1997 GF, Smart crashes the pack, Jars sits out the back with no one one him... and that's all she wrote.

Footy smarts can often be confused with being lazy. I don't think Craig can tell the difference, hence Walker's penance in the SANFL while he worked on all his 'flaws' he had developed over the years in Broken Hill and Norwood when he learned ways to kick as many goals as he could.

As Kramer says, you can trust Slippery Pete. He's on the money here

This is absolutely correct. I can't even elaborate on this, as it spells it out perfectly.

I said in a different thread yesterday that Darren Jarman wouldn't have lasted a day in a Neil Craig side. That, in essence, sums up the problems.

 

[SydCrow]

This is absolutely correct. I can't even elaborate on this, as it spells it out perfectly.

I said in a different thread yesterday that Darren Jarman wouldn't have lasted a day in a Neil Craig side. That, in essence, sums up the problems.

watching Jarman failing to chase was apparently the final straw for Blight