Preview Changes vs North

[The Karma Bus]

Well pods wasn't good, but neither were Tex or Jenkins. To isolate Pods as the poor key forward yesterday is plain bias. Those that are critical of Pods yesterday must also be critical of Tex & Jenkins. Likewise those critical of Jenkins yesterday must look at Tex & Pods.

The forwards didn't compete well enough and lost too many one on ones (often out numbered), but the biggest reason was the midfield supremacy of the Dockers.

Maybe, but one has no time left in their AFL career and the other two still have the next 8 or so years left..
I think that alone says who should ever be dropped out of them..

Tex is also a few games into his comeback from a knee recon, last weeks game won't be the norm from him at the moment..
And also not when the midfield and delivery is so diabolical..

 

[Tex200]

Looking at performance Saturday - love him or hate him McKernan was a beast in the ruck and was a big factor in the Crouch performances.

Reilly got a lot of it but his game was a bit overstated IMO - as was Porps.

Both Crouches were immense as was Grigg.

For mine - in the mix to come in could be any of M Crouch, B Crouch, Grigg, Reilly + Wright back from injury.

In the mix to come out - Martin, Lyons, CEY

 

[FullyBigKPro]

All in all, will be interesting to see how the coaches see this loss.

"Well, we tried, they are better, we dont have the skills yet, we are far off it..." = Defeated mentality. Most likely, nay, WILL probably happen.

"We shouldn't accept this, inconsistent soft efforts wont be tolerated and we need to coach this cancer out of the younger plays especially to set them on the right path" = What SHOULD happen.

I think it is a legitimate question to ask the coaches, you guys are getting paid handsomely to identify weaknesses, train players accordingly and develop standard that are adhered too.

Also, playing guys underdone like Danger probably isn't a good long term move.

Oh, and 'Ins' need to be B Smith x 18.

 

[Rory Walkerfield]

Forget he had a few goal assists as well

The way I think about it is whether you could imagine a player being a part of a premiership side.

Martin - no.
Grigg - yes.

Unfortunately there are too many "no's" on our list at the moment (as well as in the coaches box).

 

[FullyBigKPro]

7 players had less then 10 touches, WOW. Could you possibly drop all 7? and make a statement?

As a coach you would look them in the eye with a cold deathly stare and absolutely tear shreds off them.

 

[TheLeftFist8]

Whatever happens Matt Crouch needs to come in. Brad obviously comes in asap when ready.

And Reilly must not come in…how can we possibly put 4 sloths in the backline and get away with it? Shaw has really screwed our structure by being so useless this year, he would balance it nicely if he could play.

I'm also not looking forward to the 4-5 key injuries we will get in the game prior to the showdown.

 

[Bailey01]

7 players had less then 10 touches, WOW. Could you possibly drop all 7? and make a statement?

As a coach you would look them in the eye with a cold deathly stare and absolutely tear shreds off them.

One of those was Cameron

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

Really hope we don't look backwards. Yes, guys like Reilly and Porps are sitting in the 2's but it's Grigg, M Crouch and B Crouch that we need to bring in. Move our list forward.

 

[Mckaye17]

I unfortunately didn't see much of the game yesterday but I did see a little of the last and Martin was playing on Mayne and basically got his pants pulled down. Not sure on who played bad or good, stats show Walker and Jenkins didn't do much but can't read to much into it. Get those Crouch brothers in to play north, not one bloody both!!! Also how come CEY ended up playing?

In: B.Crouch, M.Crouch, Hartigan and Grigg
Out: CEY, Rutten, Martin and Laird

Reasons for changes:
Hartigan for Rutten - I'm gonna keep saying this until it happens, Rutten is great and I don't how he played yesterday but it's simple to me this is and NEEDS to happen to benefit the team not just in the near future but the long run it'll be better too.

Grigg for Martin - Pretty easy one when you think about it, I loved giving Martin this stretch of games finally but take him out. His AFL career is more than likely over.

M.Crouch for CEY - Now once again I'd love to see Cam get a proper debut as a starter and not this stupid sub shit, and I did get to see a little of his game when he came on in the last and nerves would've had to been a factor I assume but Crouchy was the sub against the pies and given the flick the next week and should be playing at the moment so get him back in.

B.Crouch - Laird - First let me start with Laird has been great and in no way shape or form deserves to be dropped but at the same time Brad's finally back from this leg injury and well he's got the talent and is simply a better player than Laird. I doubt this will happen if I'm being realistic I'd assume Brad will be given another week in the 2s but we need him back.

 

[Mckaye17]

7 players had less then 10 touches, WOW. Could you possibly drop all 7? and make a statement?

As a coach you would look them in the eye with a cold deathly stare and absolutely tear shreds off them.

Cameron still managed 3 of the 7 goals with only 9 touches so no hope in dropping him, Betts won't either and Pods is in that category too unfortunately.

 

[footy4ever]

……...
I'm also not looking forward to the 4-5 key injuries we will get in the game prior to the showdown.

LOL, you nailed it!

 

[Owen_AFC97]

G

Could have rested Dangerfield, Jacobs and Rutten. Freshened up for the Kangas at home.

Instead we'll limp back from Subi even more battered and bruised than before.

Smith looked like he copped a nasty corkie too.

good one captain hindsight. yeah lets just travel to subi pretty much conceding we have already los the match

 

[Smithalicious]

Peaople, if we bring in Reilly we will have to drop Otten or Rutten and does anyone want that? And to keep them and move Smith to the midfield unbalances the team. I love the idea of Smith in the midfield as i think on current form he is our best midfielder (think he will be for a long time) but you need to replace him with a similar player, eg. Sloane, not Reilly!

Please imagine the speed or lack there of, of this backline:

FB: Brown Rutten Otten
HB: Jaench Talia Reilly

We would move like a massive ship and get destroyed.

M. Crouch and M. Wright are the only ins for my liking for Martin and CEY (hate that he was subbed into that game)

B. Crouch needs more game time before coming back in.
M. Grigg needs to back up that performance.
B. Reilly should only come in for a Rutten or Otten (unless Otten is moved forward).
J. Porplyzia needs to play his 2nd half for full games, looked good but only in the 2nd half.
S. McKernan is a tweener ruckman, needs to play against a better ruck to judge how he is going.

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

G

good one captain hindsight. yeah lets just travel to subi pretty much conceding we have already los the match

No hindsight. It was suggested at the start of the week.

No one needs 20-20 vision to see it was a tough ask and we had some guys under injury clouds.

 

[Hell Boy6669]

The bash brothers... its time.

 

[Crow_Magnon]

Does anyone find that playing two undersized youngsters in Laird and Brown down back who seem to be limited to shutdown roles a little troubling? It's not as if either provide much run from the back line. Not saying we should drop one as I know they are two promising young players coming through, just interested to see people's thoughts.

In: Grigg, Matt Crouch, Wright

Out: Lyons, Jeansch, Martin

I find this interesting too. We seem to only be training up midfielders, and I think we have an abundance of these types. Once both Crouch's and Grigg come in, we have an oversupply of mids, with Lyons, CEY and Martin to go out. I'd prefer to see a few of these guys being played off half-back in the SANFL to eventually replace Brown and Jaensch (though I'd keep Laird as he's as tough as nails).

 

[Owen_AFC97]

No hindsight. It was suggested at the start of the week.

No one needs 20-20 vision to see it was a tough ask and we had some guys under injury clouds.

Can we really be affording to rest Dangerfield and Jacobs if they are going at 90 to 95%? Got to remember they only had the bye not too long ago and have split round break in July

 

[Smithalicious]

I find this interesting too. We seem to only be training up midfielders, and I think we have an abundance of these types. Once both Crouch's and Grigg come in, we have an oversupply of mids, with Lyons, CEY and Martin to go out. I'd prefer to see a few of these guys being played off half-back in the SANFL to eventually replace Brown and Jaensch (though I'd keep Laird as he's as tough as nails).

Love this idea and thought they were going to do this with CEY at the start of the year but then they turned him into an inside midfielder.......... because we don't have enough of those players.
It could also be because of our injuries we've had an the inability to field enough Crows players through there.
We have only just got back Tex recently and B. Crouch to the last game. Add to that Lynch has been in and out through injury this year.
Once we get back Hendo, VB & Lynch we may have the ability to move some players to different positions to try and make them into the players we need.
It appears currently they are trying to turn Grigg into a HFF which isn't a bad idea but it looks like he is struggling with it a little. Looks so much better in the midfield with his deadly foot and evasive skills but can he come into the Crows mids?

 

[Bicks]

If Jaensch was replaced by a player in the ilk of CEY with some height and athleticism maybe it would better suit our play. I know Jaensch has decent disposal but he's an abomination defensively. Even if we played Laird in Jaensch's role - he's great defensively and in the contest and could run off his opponent.

I have seen enough of CEY to suggest he has very, very ordinary foot skills, as have others who have watched his SANFL games this year, really don't see him having an overly productive AFL career as it's unlikely he'll be able to improve that facet of his game. We really need to start to put foot skills at the top of our recruiting shop list!! Ball burners do not make good defenders!!

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

All these guys like Grigg, Lyons, Wright who have been parked at a pseudo-mid/half forward position this season and struggled - can't we expand our midfield rotation a bit? Why does Thommo have to be at EVERY centre clearance? Can't Sloane/Danger have the odd run across half back?

 

[Smithalicious]

All these guys like Grigg, Lyons, Wright who have been parked at a pseudo-mid/half forward position this season and struggled - can't we expand our midfield rotation a bit? Why does Thommo have to be at EVERY centre clearance? Can't Sloane/Danger have the odd run across half back?

Agree. Look at Geelong and Hawthorn, they move their midfielders around. Hodge and Mitchell both spend time of the back flank. Geelong move Bartel forward for long spells, Johnson moves forward, Kelly (who used to be one of their mids when they were dominating) moved to the back flank.

For the Crows this is wishful thinking though. Won't happen with the current inventiveness in the Coaching Box.

 

[Draft Bored]

I can handle Jenkins having 4 disposals (1 smothered) but what I can't handle is his reaction after his kick was smothered. He just frowned and slowed down to a jog. Turn around and go and get the ball FFS!

 

[johnnypanther]

Peaople, if we bring in Reilly we will have to drop Otten or Rutten and does anyone want that? And to keep them and move Smith to the midfield unbalances the team. I love the idea of Smith in the midfield as i think on current form he is our best midfielder (think he will be for a long time) but you need to replace him with a similar player, eg. Sloane, not Reilly!

Please imagine the speed or lack there of, of this backline:

FB: Brown Rutten Otten
HB: Jaench Talia Reilly

We would move like a massive ship and get destroyed.

.

Didn't most posters dismiss our lack of pace as a problem? - they argued that its speed of ball movement that counts ( see thread by Rear Admiral re pace")

"I was hoping someone might be throw around a few names, points, etc. I'm all ears.

There are a whole heap of issues at hand, in regards to us winning or losing games, but from where I sit....our #1 issue is pace (or lack there of) from our running players. Almost everyone other than our Rucks and Key Position Players - Outside Mids, Flankers, Pockets, etc., need to quicken up. If you lined all our blokes up on a 100m running track with fresh legs - sure, our smaller blokes would beat our bigger blokes. But, if you compared our smaller blokes to most of the smaller blokes from other clubs, in regards to pure speed, we're in serious trouble. Wading deep in the brown stuff.

Dangermouse and Betts are the main exceptions, but they're utter freaks. But the rest of our runners have cement-filled boots. And a couple of them lack endurance, but they're mainly our younger guys. On a side note, endurance (and lung capacity) usually develops with age - just look at the top triathletes, marathon runners and cyclists - they're typically in their 30's, not 20's. Some even in their 40's. The other thing I've come across is that doing really heavy leg weights (the right way), with specialised "bounding" exercises and drills, is what improves your pure speed. Not endless laps of an oval - that gives you an engine (endurance).

I am trying to find out which small blokes on our list have the most pure pace, as in 100m running track. More the point, what is Sando trying to do, in terms of fast tracking these guys for selection? For me, this is what Sando needs to focus in on, not endless structures and set plays. We need blokes with honest to goodness, serious toe. Picking just one bloke with speed (Charlie Cameron) has already made an enormous difference."

 

[Draft Bored]

Danger/Lyons (depending on if they are resting Danger) -> B Crouch
CEY -> M Crouch
Martin -> Reilly

 

[lunacy]

Maybe, but one has no time left in their AFL career and the other two still have the next 8 or so years left..
I think that alone says who should ever be dropped out of them..

Tex is also a few games into his comeback from a knee recon, last weeks game won't be the norm from him at the moment..
And also not when the midfield and delivery is so diabolical..

My point was it obviously wasn't primarily Pods' fault, all the forwards struggled which suggests the problem was largely up the ground.