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Crows v Eagles

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A few things to comment on here...

Firstly, I do agree that our list was in better condition in 2005 than was generally recognised. To a certain extent, 2004 was a blip in a formline which included finals every other year from 2001 to 2008. etc..

Thank god someone is talking some sense! I completely agree with the points you've made and have been thinking along the same lines since reading some of the rubbish comments made by people on here.

We're due to have half our list develop and peak at the same time. It looks like a pretty solid theory to me. If you have 20 or so players hit their peak at once then you're bound to have a strong team. People need to be patient, the rebuilding started only last year!
 
Just on 5 double Power (te he) David Burtenshaw sent a message to the boys saying that Patrick Dangerfield spent the night throwing up and wouldn't have made the trip anyway.

Oh well.
 

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A few things to comment on here...

Firstly, I do agree that our list was in better condition in 2005 than was generally recognised. To a certain extent, 2004 was a blip in a formline which included finals every other year from 2001 to 2008. However, this concession comes with a rider - the list inherited by Neil Craig was completely bereft of youth. At the time he took over, our list contained one solitary teenager - Fungus Watts. In terms of youth development, this has meant that all of the youths being developed have been those drafted since he took over as coach.

Secondly, I also agree that the Adelaide team list lacks genuine top-tier, grade 1 talent. This begs the question of how we are to obtain such talent? The AFL specifically changed the rule to prevent us drafting the only F/S talent we've ever had and we have never bottomed out. In the modern era, where drafting has become more science than art, these are the only two paths to obtaining elite talent. Are people genuinely suggesting that we should deliberately aim to finish down the bottom of the ladder in order to have access to such talented players? There's a new thread today asking just this question.

Thirdly, someone (maccas_no_1?) posted a list of years that NC has been in charge - from 2004-2009. It's unfair to include 2004 on this list given that he took over mid-season and had no say in the gameplans nor the players on the list. 2009 hasn't even begun yet. So, we need to be judging NC over a 4 year window (2005-08), not 6 years.

Fourthly, Adelaide's junior development is nowhere near as bad as many on this board would like to think. I did an analysis on it last year, examining the player development of every youngster each year over the duration of NC's reign. The thread ended in a big debate with Crow-mo. The upshot was that very few if any of the kids to that point had had their development impeded. Arguably the only name I could think of would be Taylor Walker. I failed to locate the thread in question, but am happy to add a link if someone wants to do a more thorough search.

Fifthly, there is no evidence whatsover to support the theory that bottoming out will help you win the flag. St Kilda are a classic example of how it can go wrong. Carlton's bottoming out has given them a great midfield for the future, but they still look shakey at either end of the ground - particularly once Fevola retires. Hawthorn did more than just bottom out - they also traded for a multitude of high draft picks. Even then, it was their older players who won them the GF, players like Hodge & Mitchell who were around long before they hit rock bottom in 2004 & 2005.

Premierships winning teams usually have several things in common. Firstly, they have 2 or 3 freakishly elite players who are able to alter the course of a game. We have none. They also have a large group of players in the 100-150 game band, players who are physically mature and who have gelled together through similar experiences over a 4-6 year timeframe. We have just 6 players in this bracket, with only 10 having 100+ games experience in total. We need to be patient and wait for the Craig draftees to mature - VB should be the first of these, due to play his 100th in early 2010. The rest are at least a year behind him.

Neil Craig is in the process of transforming the team. When he arrived he had no youngsters to work with whatsoever. Today we have 21 players aged 22 or younger (excluding rookie listed players). This is the group which we hope will take us to our next flag, but we need to be patient as we wait for them to develop. Like Rachel Hunter said in the shampoo commercial... "It won't happen overnight, but it will happen."

What he said:thumbsu:
 
that's all good and well, but I don't know what your point actually is .

no one is calling for neil craig's sacking, and this seems to be a long post that says "relax, it'll all be good in the end".

and if that is what you're saying, then its blind sheep time; and if its not what you are saying, what actually is it?

read through the thread, there are members that have called for NC to be sacked.

My point, some Aadelaide Bigfooty members are serial offenders in having a crack at NC no matter what and IMO these members make too many easy assumptions from behind the keyboard and should look at the big picture instead of these consistent knee jerk reactions.

Last year, we had the Dangerfield crap at why we should not have drafted the lad, the club was at fault, this year Melb draft Watts, do I hear the Melb supporters up in arms that Watts will play limited games in 2009 due to year 12 studies.

Than there was the handling of Walker, looking at Walker now he looks like he has the body and confidence to play a full AFL season, all credit to NC for having the strength to deal with the short minded criticisms and stick to his plan to play Walker only when he believes he is right to go, the Cats have had the same approach with Hawkins.

This year again there is the Dangerfield issue, NC is closer to Danger then any of us, NC said he is concerned with Danger's level of fitness and knowledge of Adelaide's game style and who knows there may be other issues, however I have no issues with the coach demanding Danger to work his butt of for his spot and I again applaud NC for not bowing to player reputation or supporter expectations.

My final point If some of our supporters were running the Geelong FC they would of sacked Bomber Thompson at the end of 2006, Bomber had been at the club for 7 years and the Cats missed the final in a shocking year.

Congrats to the GFC for not bowing to supporter pressure to sack Bomber, the clubs faith was rewarded with a Premiership the following year.
 

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Not being streamed. :(

We can't listen to it because the AFL has rights - but the AFL isn't even streaming it!


While I live in Adelaide so I'm unaffected by this, it is an absolute disgrace by the AFL!!

Since Dimwitriou and his B grade lawyer off-sider came to power, common sense has gone out of the window. Sensibly you'd think they'd want as many people as possible to follow their games rather than "nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah - yeah we have the rights and no we can't be stuffed letting any one listen to the game".

Very ordinary!! :thumbsdown:
 

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not being streamed?????

wtf that sucks.

great way to promote the game.... we have the rights to not stream it???

is anyone streaming coverage ??
 

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