Preview Face-off: Crows vs Saints, Saturday Night, 7th April

[Damp Squarie]

Without a massive percentage boost, I'll be disappointed.
Just want no more bloody injuries.

 

[Elite Crow]

Without a massive percentage boost, I'll be disappointed.
Just want no more bloody injuries.

Bugger percentage boost, with our injuries we just need to win.

The Saints will be roasted all week and they will come out breathing fire.

 

[Damp Squarie]

Bugger percentage boost, with our injuries we just need to win.

The Saints will be roasted all week and they will come out breathing fire.

Hear what you are saying, but with their turnover rate and our forward options it should be an avalanche...barring injury.
Cmon, you know you want it.

 

[Redleg Crow]

Bugger percentage boost, with our injuries we just need to win.

The Saints will be roasted all week and they will come out breathing fire.

Not sure they have much more than breath though.

 

[Elite Crow]

Hear what you are saying, but with their turnover rate and our forward options it should be an avalanche...barring injury.
Cmon, you know you want it.

Of course I want it, but given our injuries, I just want wins to keep us up the top until we get players back for a launch at the end.

 

[Damp Squarie]

Of course I want it, but given our injuries, I just want wins to keep us up the top until we get players back for a launch at the end.

So do I but it is what it is; and whilst we have injury we should also have a desire to crush St Kilda or the launch at the end might be for 5th or 6th spot not 4th or 2nd.

 

[Scorpus]

Bugger percentage boost, with our injuries we just need to win.

The Saints will be roasted all week and they will come out breathing fire.

Saints don't have the personnel. Their list is average

 

[John Who]

This could be the round where our forwards click into gear and all of them are sharing the load to kick 2 or more each. Betts and McGovern will be a bunch of angry dogs and I wouldn't be surprised if one of them kicks 4 or more goals in this game. I just hope we can keep maintaining this team pressure like round 2.

 

[GreyCrow]

Of course I want it, but given our injuries, I just want wins to keep us up the top until we get players back for a launch at the end.

I agree 4 points is the 1st objective

But this is a team that is currently struggling and starting to look like they dont believe. On the other hand we have had issues putting sides away when we are expected to dominate. This is an opportunity todo that.

4 points first
Foot on throat

 

[BunjiMac]

4 points
No more injuries
Everything else is a bonus

 

[Golumless]

I agree 4 points is the 1st objective

But this is a team that is currently struggling and starting to look like they dont believe. On the other hand we have had issues putting sides away when we are expected to dominate. This is an opportunity todo that.

4 points first
Foot on throat

I dunno, we have had a good killer instinct recently.

 

[John Who]

Interstate win with a stack of niggles/injuries? Yes please, I'll take the 4 points!

 

[jaytex]

the last time St Kilda beat us, our coach got sacked

I was there that day. Remember sitting there at the end of the game thinking, surely the end is finally nigh...

 

[Geoffa32]

Interstate win with a stack of niggles/injuries? Yes please, I'll take the 4 points!

I agree.This game is far from an easy win.

We should win. But need to respect the opposition from the start.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

 

[baldandbroke]

I wouldn't mind a game we have in our control and get a win. Just one of those wins like the ones that the Hawks got so many times over their powerful years. No heart attacks, no "it's back to within a kick", just a good solid win will do me fine.

 

[WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot]

Thursday night games really do make for a long wait until the next game, even with a extra long weekend thrown in.

 

[Anzacpaul]

I'll be in Vietnam, so hoping I can find a pub to watch it on!!

 

[Redleg Crow]

"2. The Crows' midfield depth is better than anyone expected
When All Australian on-baller Matt Crouch went down in the second quarter, depleting a midfield already missing older brother Brad and Curtly Hampton, the Crows had every right to get smashed at the contest. But they did the opposite in their 36-point win over Richmond in the Grand Final rematch on Thursday night. We know all about Bryce Gibbs, so his 20 contested possessions weren't a total shock, but Hugh Greenwood continues to impress with 19 contested and eight clearances, Rory Sloane, with a bad foot, had 15 and Cam Ellis-Yolmen – fighting for his career after a torn ACL last year – had 13 contested and 28 in total, and Paul Seedsman had 11 contested, and also 28 in total. Overall, the Crows won the contested possession count 192-145. Having a dominant ruckman like Sam Jacobs helps, but the Crows stood up when it counted. - Lee Gaskin"

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2018-04-02/nine-things-we-learned-from-round-two

For me this is a bit of a "We hope the Crows midfield depth is better than anyone expected".

I'm not sold on it yet. CEY's decision making does not have a history of being good. Greenwood has a history of being inconsistent - even within games.

I also wonder if Richmond's midfield is basically Martin so we did ok.

Essentially I think we really want both Matt and Brad fit and Sloane not battling soreness when we face big teams away from home.

Sydney in 3 weeks will be a very stern test.

 

[robboaustralia]

This could be the round where our forwards click into gear and all of them are sharing the load to kick 2 or more each. Betts and McGovern will be a bunch of angry dogs and I wouldn't be surprised if one of them kicks 4 or more goals in this game. I just hope we can keep maintaining this team pressure like round 2.

Can see Fog going beserk this week with 4 or 5.

 

[Coopers]

I wonder if you guys are forgetting that we also got belted by North last year?

Saints are a team I had middle of the table, a good year pushing them up into the 8. Maybe they are having a bad year instead, who knows? We're 2 games in.

In fact, of the 2 games, we played well in one and sucked balls in the other. So we don't really have any form to back these assertions up.

And we've got injuries. If things go wrong, we won't touch the pill in the middle. Switch on, I think we have them. We'd better do that though. This is no walk up win like half of you lot are suggesting.

 

[hey shorty]

I wonder if you guys are forgetting that we also got belted by North last year?

Saints are a team I had middle of the table, a good year pushing them up into the 8. Maybe they are having a bad year instead, who knows? We're 2 games in.

In fact, of the 2 games, we played well in one and sucked balls in the other. So we don't really have any form to back these assertions up.

And we've got injuries. If things go wrong, we won't touch the pill in the middle. Switch on, I think we have them. We'd better do that though. This is no walk up win like half of you lot are suggesting.

100%

I'm not convinced they have the goal kicking power that North did though, and their midfield is full of smaller bodies than ours.

They generally play Etihad very well, it suits their speedy smalls and Carslile is a pretty handy KPD. It'll be a tough start, but their heads will drop if we get on top early

 

[Jeffcrowe]

I absolutely hate it when I go into a match this confident. It never ends well. My gut says 15 goal win in front of the Saints worst home crowd since WW2. My gut is rarely right when I am positive, so you can pretty well bet against that happening. I have to assume that the Saints will respond. Its at Etihad, so I just hope that we don't leave with any long term injuries. As poor as the Saints were, 8 days is a long time in football. They have two elite mids in Stevens and Ross and we might be down three of our best.

Its a great opportunity to see CEY, Greenwood and Douglas put their hands up as best 22 going forward. I think Greenwood is absolute class. His handballing in close and contested work is just beautiful to watch. This is the type of game where he needs to take another step to the next level. I want to see him dominate the inside in this game. A best on ground performance feels just around the corner.

Looking at where Gallucci is now, and how unconvincing Hampton has been, I see it as CEY vs Douglas for the last spot in our best side. Douglas has struggled for a long time now imo. He has been inconsistent since 2016 and the trajectory has been downward. When he is good, he is very good, so good that to even compare him to CEY is unfair. But when Dougy is off... its not good. CEY is lucky to even be on our list. I think he has only been kept on it because he doesn't cost us anything in our TPP and he was just insurance in the unlikely event that we would have 4 or 5 injuries to our other mids. The team's bad luck is his good fortune. A solitary great performance in a 7 year career and all of a sudden, he has the opportunity to lock himself in a spot in our best 22 with an extended run in the team now. The ball is in his court. He doesn't have to outrun the bear, he just has to outrun Dougy and/or Hugh.

This game has a similar type of appeal as watching our SANFL development team (in a good way). I think seeing the three new boys have another crack and the performance of a makeshift midfield is the most interesting part of this weeks game.

Haha dougy had one of his best seasons last year and finished 6th in B and F

At least get it right , he struggled in 2016 which is a while back now

 

[WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot]

I wonder if you guys are forgetting that we also got belted by North last year?

Saints are a team I had middle of the table, a good year pushing them up into the 8. Maybe they are having a bad year instead, who knows? We're 2 games in.

In fact, of the 2 games, we played well in one and sucked balls in the other. So we don't really have any form to back these assertions up.

And we've got injuries. If things go wrong, we won't touch the pill in the middle. Switch on, I think we have them. We'd better do that though. This is no walk up win like half of you lot are suggesting.

North last year still looked ok, despite several losses. They kicked 9 goals in their lowest score before playing the Crows in R7.

St Kilda kicked only 5 goals in near-perfect conditions against North, a team rebuilding and expected to finish in the bottom 4.

St Kilda's forward line is not functioning very well at all at the moment and they are missing the leadership of Riewoldt and Montagna big time.

 

[Jinglebells32]

I was there that day. Remember sitting there at the end of the game thinking, surely the end is finally nigh...

Me too. That was the last away game that I went to. A reward from the boss for topping the sales figures at work. Pretty bad timing.

 

[slingy55]

Can we just throw CEY in to accumulate the hard ball in place of Crouch? Just use his bulk and run in hard... I know there's a bit more involved in terms of timing, positioning and endurance, but he's shown in the past that he can find the ball in the stoppages.

And when does Gallucci get a run? Must be close, especially if Mackay isn't ready or if Atkins needs a run in the SANFL.