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Crows are traning at Adelaide Oval tomorrow at 10 am.
Is anyone going? I will be as I want to see what is going on at Crowland.
No Stevo, Bassett or Hart! A real lack of key defenders for this week and we havent named any rookies (Hentschel, Rutten) as emergencies. WTF is going on? Why muck around with our defense now?
The Basset thing is starting to remind me of the Mods drama of 98...both dropped after a bad show in a big game away. Both of them left out of the team at a crucial time as an example to the rest of the group.
Gaz is really sticking to his guns this week in keeping Bass out. Hopefully it wont cost us the game.
Lets hope the team rallies and remains focussed and can be competitive this week.
Crows may alter game plan: Ayres
Alan Shiell
afl.com.au
5:12:35 PM Fri 29 August, 2003
Adelaide coach Gary Ayres has hinted at changes to the Crows’ game plan at AAMI Stadium on Sunday as they strive to break the stranglehold Port Adelaide has had on the past six showdowns.
Asked on Friday whether the Crows would do something different this time, Ayres said: “We’ve thought about it. I think it’s all a matter of timing.
“The thing I know about coaching is that if a player is confused when he goes out on to the ground, he’s going to play accordingly.
“It’s certainly been discussed this week whether we do something quite radical or we just put in some subtle changes.”
So will it be radical or subtle?
“I’ll let you know on Sunday,” he said, with a wry smile.
Ayres said Showdown XIV, and the need to win to stay in the top four for the finals, represented one of Adelaide’s biggest challenges.
“There’s a lot of pressure on us as a group because you don’t want to be a coach or a player or an administrator who’s been involved in another loss to Port (the seventh in a row),” he said.
“All year I’ve just said that we’ve got to keep challenging ourselves as a group and as individuals to keep improving. Where that takes us, well, we don’t know, but obviously what greater challenge could there be than playing at home against the top side in the competition?
“The first and foremost thing we’ve been talking about with the players all week is just about our competitive nature, our ability to play the game and things like tackle count – those things that really do make you a competitive unit.”
Ayres said “getting back to basics” was the reason the Crows had a 20-minute practice match on Wednesday.
“There was no more in it than that, really,” he said. “I’m a big believer it’s a lot of the little things you do correctly which win you games. And the guys have taken it all on board.
“We went down a similar path after we got beaten by Brisbane in the first final (last year) and came back and played pretty well against Melbourne the following week, so hopefully that’ll be the same result.”
Ayres said he could still be proud of his players, even if they lost again to Port.
“If we do everything right on Sunday and we still come up short by whatever margin – if it’s one point or five points or two goals – then I’d be extremely proud of the way the players have played,” he said.
“The last two weeks haven’t been as I would expect them to be. We’ve been up for an enormously long time. Besides Port, I feel we’ve been the most consistent side in the competition. The losses will show that, the way we’ve played will show that, and I’m taking that right back to the Wizard Cup as well.
“If you go from February to mid-August, there haven’t been too many times that I can think of that I haven’t been really proud of the players, the way they’ve played.
“If we lose, obviously that’s going to be extremely disappointing because you don’t like to. But if the effort is there, if the competitiveness is there, if the want and the desire to be better is there, well, I can’t question the players.
“But all’s not lost because next week the finals are there. Certainly four sides will have two chances and four sides will have only one. But history will show that when it comes to finals, it’s a totally different thing.
“You can even use the Crows back in ’97 and ’98. Even use Port last year. So it’s a situation where things are fairly even. You put four weeks of good form together and, of course, you achieve the premiership.”
Asked whether there had been a temptation to play experienced defender Ben Hart this week, Ayres said: “Yeah, there was because obviously we regard Ben as an integral part of our structure because of his performances over a long period of time.
“He’s had a slight strain in the quad. It’s just one of those that doesn’t stop him from doing anything as far as running and sprinting goes. His agility’s not affected. It’s only when he comes to kick. He’s missed three now.”
Ayres said he expected Tyson Edwards (quad) to resume against Port.
“Tyson had a fitness test this morning and he should be right to play, given he should get through tomorrow (Saturday) morning’s session,” he said. “Unless there are any last-minute hiccups tomorrow, he’d be right to play.”
On defender Nathan Bassett’s surprise non-inclusion again, Ayres said: “It comes down to what I believe is an issue with form and match-ups, so that’s how we’ve looked at it from Nathan’s point of view.
“I think since the suspension for his little act on (Des) Headland, he probably hasn’t come back and played as sharply as he would like. So it’s really as simple as that.
“He’s got a big future at the footy club. He’s a 197-centimetre defender. They just don’t fall off trees, of course. But his form just hasn’t been where I’d like it to be over the last month.”
Is anyone going? I will be as I want to see what is going on at Crowland.
No Stevo, Bassett or Hart! A real lack of key defenders for this week and we havent named any rookies (Hentschel, Rutten) as emergencies. WTF is going on? Why muck around with our defense now?
The Basset thing is starting to remind me of the Mods drama of 98...both dropped after a bad show in a big game away. Both of them left out of the team at a crucial time as an example to the rest of the group.
Gaz is really sticking to his guns this week in keeping Bass out. Hopefully it wont cost us the game.
Lets hope the team rallies and remains focussed and can be competitive this week.
Crows may alter game plan: Ayres
Alan Shiell
afl.com.au
5:12:35 PM Fri 29 August, 2003
Adelaide coach Gary Ayres has hinted at changes to the Crows’ game plan at AAMI Stadium on Sunday as they strive to break the stranglehold Port Adelaide has had on the past six showdowns.
Asked on Friday whether the Crows would do something different this time, Ayres said: “We’ve thought about it. I think it’s all a matter of timing.
“The thing I know about coaching is that if a player is confused when he goes out on to the ground, he’s going to play accordingly.
“It’s certainly been discussed this week whether we do something quite radical or we just put in some subtle changes.”
So will it be radical or subtle?
“I’ll let you know on Sunday,” he said, with a wry smile.
Ayres said Showdown XIV, and the need to win to stay in the top four for the finals, represented one of Adelaide’s biggest challenges.
“There’s a lot of pressure on us as a group because you don’t want to be a coach or a player or an administrator who’s been involved in another loss to Port (the seventh in a row),” he said.
“All year I’ve just said that we’ve got to keep challenging ourselves as a group and as individuals to keep improving. Where that takes us, well, we don’t know, but obviously what greater challenge could there be than playing at home against the top side in the competition?
“The first and foremost thing we’ve been talking about with the players all week is just about our competitive nature, our ability to play the game and things like tackle count – those things that really do make you a competitive unit.”
Ayres said “getting back to basics” was the reason the Crows had a 20-minute practice match on Wednesday.
“There was no more in it than that, really,” he said. “I’m a big believer it’s a lot of the little things you do correctly which win you games. And the guys have taken it all on board.
“We went down a similar path after we got beaten by Brisbane in the first final (last year) and came back and played pretty well against Melbourne the following week, so hopefully that’ll be the same result.”
Ayres said he could still be proud of his players, even if they lost again to Port.
“If we do everything right on Sunday and we still come up short by whatever margin – if it’s one point or five points or two goals – then I’d be extremely proud of the way the players have played,” he said.
“The last two weeks haven’t been as I would expect them to be. We’ve been up for an enormously long time. Besides Port, I feel we’ve been the most consistent side in the competition. The losses will show that, the way we’ve played will show that, and I’m taking that right back to the Wizard Cup as well.
“If you go from February to mid-August, there haven’t been too many times that I can think of that I haven’t been really proud of the players, the way they’ve played.
“If we lose, obviously that’s going to be extremely disappointing because you don’t like to. But if the effort is there, if the competitiveness is there, if the want and the desire to be better is there, well, I can’t question the players.
“But all’s not lost because next week the finals are there. Certainly four sides will have two chances and four sides will have only one. But history will show that when it comes to finals, it’s a totally different thing.
“You can even use the Crows back in ’97 and ’98. Even use Port last year. So it’s a situation where things are fairly even. You put four weeks of good form together and, of course, you achieve the premiership.”
Asked whether there had been a temptation to play experienced defender Ben Hart this week, Ayres said: “Yeah, there was because obviously we regard Ben as an integral part of our structure because of his performances over a long period of time.
“He’s had a slight strain in the quad. It’s just one of those that doesn’t stop him from doing anything as far as running and sprinting goes. His agility’s not affected. It’s only when he comes to kick. He’s missed three now.”
Ayres said he expected Tyson Edwards (quad) to resume against Port.
“Tyson had a fitness test this morning and he should be right to play, given he should get through tomorrow (Saturday) morning’s session,” he said. “Unless there are any last-minute hiccups tomorrow, he’d be right to play.”
On defender Nathan Bassett’s surprise non-inclusion again, Ayres said: “It comes down to what I believe is an issue with form and match-ups, so that’s how we’ve looked at it from Nathan’s point of view.
“I think since the suspension for his little act on (Des) Headland, he probably hasn’t come back and played as sharply as he would like. So it’s really as simple as that.
“He’s got a big future at the footy club. He’s a 197-centimetre defender. They just don’t fall off trees, of course. But his form just hasn’t been where I’d like it to be over the last month.”
