Game Day QF vs. Adelaide Throws, Thurs Sep 4 @ 7:40pm, AO

[IlovethePies]

Let’s see how Cox goes tomorrow.

If he puts up a dominant performance then he made be hard to keep out.

Yep, agree entirely.
If Cox dominates tomorrow, he stakes his claim, which will be hard to reject.
McStay did very little against Melbourne, although his last goal was heroic.
Is that the spark he needed?

Positives from game against Dees:

a) JDG on the verge. He's ready for September in a big way.
b) Ned Long recovering his early form. Good game from him.
c) Fast ball movement back in spades in last qur, using the corridor brilliantly. Need that from now on.
d) Ability to shut down and win a close game still there.

 

[Magpie_man]

Yep, agree entirely.
If Cox dominates tomorrow, he stakes his claim, which will be hard to reject.
McStay did very little against Melbourne, although his last goal was heroic.
Is that the spark he needed?

Positives from game against Dees:

a) JDG on the verge. He's ready for September in a big way.
b) Ned Long recovering his early form. Good game from him.
c) Fast ball movement back in spades in last qur, using the corridor brilliantly. Need that from now on.
d) Ability to shut down and win a close game still there.

Will be interesting to see the backline setup we go with without Howe. Could we move Mcstay back, and bring Cox into the forward line if he plays ok tomorrow? Or just make do without a third tall defender and have an extra mid/Parker in that place?

 

[IlovethePies]

Will be interesting to see the backline setup we go with without Howe. Could we move Mcstay back, and bring Cox into the forward line if he plays ok tomorrow? Or just make do without a third tall defender and have an extra mid/Parker in that place?

Difficult question.
Im not in favour of suddenly playing mcstay in defence, something he has never done withon our system.
If Cox plays a great game tomorrow, in my mind we have a dilemma between McStay and Cox. No doubt training performance will then decide.

I think we should go with Parker in defence and play the extra mid. Choke adelaide (assuming its them) in the midfield, like we did last week, is more than half way to winning. Ned Long recovering form is great news, and I think JDG is on the cusp of something special in September.

 

[Nebula1971]

All this pessimism. Fffaaarrkkk, I wonder why I’m on 1,500 posts in 17 years here.

We will beat the Crows in the Qualifier if we play them!!!

 

[sideswipe]

Yea laird is gone, collects a defenceless player high
View attachment 2405014

Depends on impact assessment. Low is a fine, medium a week. Requiring an
HIA would have them worried.

 

[PiCkLeJuiCe]

Our biggest issue going into finals is scoring and our forward line. If Freo miss finals, then we will be the lowest scoring team in the Final 8.

While not catastrophic, as finals are typically lower scoring games, it's a concern that we fail to see scoreboard reward for effort and that we are struggling to kick "easy" goals.

 

[jmac70]

Our biggest issue going into finals is scoring and our forward line. If Freo miss finals, then we will be the lowest scoring team in the Final 8.

While not catastrophic, as finals are typically lower scoring games, it's a concern that we fail to see scoreboard reward for effort and that we are struggling to kick "easy" goals.

We’re really missing Bobby.
At the moment, I think we are too tall and lack speed.

 

[PiCkLeJuiCe]

We’re really missing Bobby.
At the moment, I think we are too tall and lack speed.

I can't recall the last game where we had a player run into an open goal with no opponent within 30m. It was probably Hill.

 

[sideswipe]

We’re really missing Bobby.
At the moment, I think we are too tall and lack speed.

We are, but he is no chance to play again this season.

 

[Fruit]

I’m in two minds about who I’d prefer to play. Cats look like they are the side to beat. They are doing everything right. At the same time the Crows last 4 weeks hasn’t been great. Down against Hawks at home at 3/4 time, 9 point win against Eagles, 3 points against us in a game we dominated and an unconvincing win against the Kangas.
I’d nearly be more confident of the road trip to Adelaide.

 

[Cousin of Daicos]

I’m in two minds about who I’d prefer to play. Cats look like they are the side to beat. They are doing everything right. At the same time the Crows last 4 weeks hasn’t been great. Down against Hawks at home at 3/4 time, 9 point win against Eagles, 3 points against us in a game we dominated and an unconvincing win against the Kangas.
I’d nearly be more confident of the road trip to Adelaide.

We would 100% be better off playing the Crows is we would prefer a genuine shot of going straight to the Prelim

Another argument would be, get the loss to Geelong out of the way while we have the double chance and test our game against them since we haven’t played them in ages

 

[Kilmo]

I’m in two minds about who I’d prefer to play. Cats look like they are the side to beat. They are doing everything right. At the same time the Crows last 4 weeks hasn’t been great. Down against Hawks at home at 3/4 time, 9 point win against Eagles, 3 points against us in a game we dominated and an unconvincing win against the Kangas.
I’d nearly be more confident of the road trip to Adelaide.

Cats look good because they have essentially been having glorified training drills each weekend. They might also be good but it’s hard to know.

Adelaide are more of a known quantity. The problem is we know they are good. I’m not reading much into their last few weeks when they had top two sewn up. But we were at least competitive against them recently

 

[stormskye]

Cats look good because they have essentially been having glorified training drills each weekend. They might also be good but it’s hard to know

They are good. No denying it. Easier draw yes. Bloody good team still. Let’s not forget they won the flag in 22, lost a prelim last year.

 

[sr36]

I think most of us would agree we are not too tall when MMM and Cameron are all on the ground at the one time (assuming all are in form).
Now I am not saying we should play Cox or not, but if we look at time on ground for Cameron, McStay, Mihocek and Membrey it was 318% out of 400%. What that means we could bring in a 5th tall without making us too big (roughly 80% game time for all). This means only 4 would be on the ground at any one time.

The flip side of your 318% out of 400% is that MMM and Cameron aren't on the ground together for very much of the game - those saying it works well don't really know - as we don't see it that much. Teams don't have 3 talls ahead of the ball very often. Having that set up for the whole game would only be an option if a couple of them are quick - and Cox, McStay and Membrey are all slow.

 

[jathanas]

Not going to buy into the Cox debate just yet. 2018 is 7 years ago and that performance was a once off. He was solid in '23 but we've seen no signs of that level from him this year. McStay has been ordinary. If Cox is selected, I'll be cheering the great man on.

Parker IN. He was stiff to be dropped in the first place.

Question mark on Lipinski's name.

 

[Kilmo]

They are good. No denying it. Easier draw yes. Bloody good team still. Let’s not forget they won the flag in 22, lost a prelim last year.

Winning in 22 doesn’t mean much. We won it in 23 and we suck

(I’m kidding. Kind of)

But yes there is a strong chance they are good, I agree. But they are more unknown than Adelaide who we played twice and as recently as two weeks ago, and who have actually played a top 8 side in the second half of the year.

 

[satty]

Depends on impact assessment. Low is a fine, medium a week. Requiring an
HIA would have them worried.

Considering his past history, he is becoming bit of a habitual offender.

But knowing the afl , they will let it slide because it is the crows .

 

[The Royal Sampler]

Just getting a win under the belt will put smiles on faces and ease the pressure around the place.

Honourable losses don’t make you feel good inside, wins do, particularly that it was in a close game.

If we play as crap as yesterday we will lose but I’m building confidence that the win will lift the boys and we know from a week ago that we can match it with the Crows. The week off will help us too.

Btw, I’m not sure why posters are putting Bobby down as an in? He didn’t train at all last week and I’d suggest he is no chance now.

You don’t think that if he turned up to training from Tuesday they’d play him in a fortnight? With the money he’s on and a Norm Smith to his name?

 

[riddick78]

Howe is expected to be sidelined for 3 weeks

I'm absolutely shattered for Howe, he's one of my favourite players, would be great if he could come back and make an impact.

Who's gonna be the one to step up to a new level like Lica did that night?

Mr September, JDFG, he is coming good at the right time and is primed for a massive finals series.

I’m in two minds about who I’d prefer to play. Cats look like they are the side to beat. They are doing everything right. At the same time the Crows last 4 weeks hasn’t been great. Down against Hawks at home at 3/4 time, 9 point win against Eagles, 3 points against us in a game we dominated and an unconvincing win against the Kangas.
I’d nearly be more confident of the road trip to Adelaide.

Have they had to lay a tackle is the last month or so? Have they had a player tackle them? It's hard to tell with them, they might be the team to beat, they might be soft and callous free from all the soft football they have been playing.

 

[jjsmitty8]

I’ve still got concerns how we’re travelling and moving the ball amongst other things, but I feel a huge sense of relief that we’ll likely feature in at least two finals.

I’m HOPING the win against Melbourne breaks the shackles a little bit. I personally think the reaction from the bench when the siren went was really symbolic of how much it meant to the group.

I think the belief is high and the opportunity to thrust ourselves right into the premiership picture is there again (probably by getting back on the road and qualifying for a prelim). Maybe it’s naive of me to think, but I’ve got sleeping giant vibes here. Win next start and we could explode again.

 

[rdangelo]

Adelaide looking wet every day next week Tues - Fri.

 

[Drought Break]

We are, but he is no chance to play again this season.

We sure do need him. Unfortunately that bulldogs supporter that came on our site ages ago with news that Bobby won’t play again this season and got hammered for it may be right. Unless we count that 1/4 where he was a sub.

 

[The Royal Sampler]

Adelaide looking wet every day next week Tues - Fri.

Ok but we don’t play them for a fortnight.

 

[Mostfamousclub_Pies]

Ok but we don’t play them for a fortnight.

He might have just been giving us a weather report.

 

[Lifelong Pie]

We sure do need him. Unfortunately that bulldogs supporter that came on our site ages ago with news that Bobby won’t play again this season and got hammered for it may be right. Unless we count that 1/4 where he was a sub.

You kind of have to count the week where he played again though don't you, I don't want to take games as sub away from players otherwise Crispy no longer holds the consecutive games record