Unofficial Preview Faceoff - Crows vs GWS Giants

[The Sloane Ranger]

2014 AFL Premiership
Round 16
Saturday 5th July
2.10pm – at Spotless Stadium

Betting
GWS $3.60 vs. Crows $1.28



Form Guide:

GWS: LLWWL (2-3)
Adelaide: WLWLW (3-2)
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Recent Matches

Date
Venue
Home v Away Teams
Result
Round 5, 20 Apr 2014
Adelaide Oval
Adelaide defeats GWS
137-72
Round 7, 12 May 2013
Spotless Stadium
GWS defeated by Adelaide
52-187
Round 16, 15 Jul 2012
Spotless Stadium
GWS defeated by Adelaide
59-178
Round 4, 21 Apr 2012
AAMI Stadium
Adelaide defeats GWS
96-50​

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Last time we met at Spotless Stadium - the Mother’s Day Massacre

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He may not posses Taylor Walker or Leroy Jenkins’s frame but the redheaded 23-year-old had a breakout day at Skoda Stadium, kicking 10 goals in the Crows' 29.13 (187) to 7.10 (52) annihilation of the young Giants. It was a Mother's Day masterpiece from a man who had previously kicked just 13 goals in 15 career games with St Kilda and the Crows

Key Match Up’s
The Big Sauce vs The Mummy

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Coming of a Showdown Medal performance Sauce aka “Two-Time” is ranked 5th in the competition for total hit outs compared with Mumford who is ranked 8th however Mumford is ranked #1 in the competition for hit outs per game. The winner of this battle will provide their midfield first sight and go forward and will go a long way in deciding the overall outcome.

The midfield battle

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Both midfields have plenty of class with Thompson, Dangerfield, Sloane, B Crouch and Douglas for the Crows and Ward, Whitfield, Shiel, Congilo and Treloar for the Giants however it may be the midfield depth which is they key and a player from the next tier rotation that proves the catalyst for a win, will it be Matty Wright or David McKay from Adelaide or Palmer or Hoskin-Elliott for the Giants.

Matty Crouch and Toby Greene should also come into selection calculations, Bob Crouch produced a NRS nomination performance against the Giants earlier in the year and Toby Greene returned last week from a internal club suspension with a 40 possession game in the mangos.

Talia vs Cameron

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Most football purist are wishing that this match up over time develops into a rivalry that is Carey vs Jackovic like however the tales of these two players have been very different in 2014. After a AA 2013 season Cameron has battled with injury, fitness and form whereas Talia performances has him primed for his first AA jumper in 2014. I expect Talia to get the job done this week

Two to watch
I’m forecasting two crows recruits to get of the leash this week

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Strangely enough Eddie Betts has only played twice against GWS for one goal however with Heath Shaw doubtful this week with concussion it’s difficult to find a confident match up for Eddie who is now leading the AFC goal kicking with 28 goals

JPod has kicked 9 goals against the Giants in 3 games and with Davis likely to match up on Tex and Mohr likely to get Leroy this would present an opportunity to isolate JPod on a young defender likely to be either Frost or Plowman.

Teams

GWS
B Tomas Bugg, Phil Davis, Adam Kennedy
HB Kristian Jaksch, Tim Mohr, Sam Frost
C Toby Greene, Adam Treloar, Joshua Kelly
HF Zac Williams, Adam Tomlinson, Callan Ward
F Devon Smith, Jonathon Patton, Jeremy Cameron
FOLL Shane Mumford, Dylan Shiel, Tom Scully
I/C Will Hoskin-Elliott, Rhys Palmer, Stephen Coniglio, Lachlan Whitfield
EMG Matt Buntine, Jono O'Rourke, Josh Hunt
IN Toby Greene, Zac Williams, Tom Scully
OUT Nathan Wilson (Omitted), Josh Hunt (Omitted),Heath Shaw (Concussion)

ADELAIDE
B Andy Otten, Daniel Talia, Luke Brown
HB Rory Laird, Brodie Smith, Matthew Jaensch
C Brad Crouch, Patrick Dangerfield, Rory Sloane
HF Eddie Betts, James Podsiadly, Brodie Martin
F Taylor Walker, Josh Jenkins, Tom Lynch
FOLL Sam Jacobs, Scott Thompson, Richard Douglas
I/C Matthew Wright, David Mackay, Ben Rutten,Ricky Henderson
EMG Luke Thompson, Jason Porplyzia, Jarryd Lyons

The Verdict
Tricky road trip for the Crows as GWS will be fired up against a team that they simply have not performed well against however the Crows have selected their strongest side for 2014 and should have to much to play for and too much fire power up forward…..

Crows by 37 points

 

[The Sloane Ranger]

Thread updated with selected teams

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

Great news that Henderson is back in. Can't wait around forever waiting for him to have the perfect preparation. He's been in full training for weeks. Time to get him in and up to speed. Nothing against GWS but better to have his first hit up this week than next week.

I'm pleased they've shown faith in Laird. Not convinced he'll play though? Did he have a quad injury? They tend to linger.

Porps was ok last week and I love him but gald to see that he is one of the outs. His best is behind him and we need to move forward. Having him play ahead of Lyons was ridiculous though. We're determined to make it as hard as possible for Lyons to succeed. Someone down there genuinely hates him.

Mackay in, hmmm. We haven't set high enough standards for our senior players IMO. Molly-coddling them along as bit-part players and finding peripheral roles for them when the fail in other rules is not on. To me Mackay has never done enough. We do need speed and outside polish which theoretically Mackay provides but to me he is the epitomy of our soft underbelly that gets exposed in times of need. Will be very interested to see what impact he has against Hawthorn.

Reilly out is GOLD. Restores my faith that the selectors are actually watching the games. Henderson is better and Jaensch to his credit is having a solid season.

Rutten in... a champion but I'd much prefer L Thompson/Hartigan played. Truck won't be there next season, we're not knocking on the door of the top four, Talia and Otten are in decent form and experience for either of those guys would be invaluable for them. A selection mistake IMO.

So overall am happy with 2/4 ins and 2/4 outs.

 

[Slippery Pete]

Is Reilly signed for 2015 is he? Wow what poor list management that is.

You better believe it.

Question for all folks: Is Reilly really injured this week?

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

Last time we met at Spotless Stadium - the Mother’s Day Massacre

Did we ever work out whether it was Mothers' Day or Mother's Day?

 

[ruscy002]

So I think it's pretty clear Reilly can't handle having an opponent, whether that's on the wing, in the middle or in defence.

If it wasn't clear beforehand, I think it was pretty bloody obvious from the first quarter on Sunday that he can't handle the pressure of footy at the top level, whether he has an opponent or not.

 

[hey shorty]

You better believe it.

Question for all folks: Is Reilly really injured this week?

Pride is hurt.

 

[Tex200]

If it wasn't clear beforehand, I think it was pretty bloody obvious from the first quarter on Sunday that he can't handle the pressure of footy at the top level, whether he has an opponent our not.

Yep - from what I saw Sunday, he is cooked

 

[huludicidal]

Did we ever work out whether it was Mothers' Day or Mother's Day?

Officially, it is "Mother's Day".

I'd argue that this is incorrect though.

 

[Hank93]

I feel more sorry for Luke Thompson than I do Lyons.

He's played 3 matches in 3 years, all of them massive. And all 3 he's performed more than admirably.

An absolute mystery he's played so little. At least Lyons has quite a few he needs to compete against.

 

[NTRabbit]

Hasn't he already?

No, Hartigan played the entire game on Boyd, Talia had Cameron as the most dangerous forward.

Trying to find it, but getting the feeling we did something weird with Patton and ran Shaw off of him, and because we dominated in the middle it never really had a chance to bite us.

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

Question for all folks: Is Reilly really injured this week?

Technically rested - only because it's a five day turnaround between Sunday's Showdown and Friday's reserves game.

If our reserves played on Sunday I bet he'd have played for them.

 

[Hell Boy6669]

What is the story on Charlie Cameron? Is he still injured or coming back through the SANFL side, hes a first 22 for me.

 

[hey shorty]

So Lyons to be travelling emerg ?? Would be in keeping of our handling of him

 

[Mattrox]

What is the story on Charlie Cameron? Is he still injured or coming back through the SANFL side, hes a first 22 for me.

He's battling the General according to an interview on AA.

 

[The Sloane Ranger]

No, Hartigan played the entire game on Boyd, Talia had Cameron as the most dangerous forward.

Trying to find it, but getting the feeling we did something weird with Patton and ran Shaw off of him, and because we dominated in the middle it never really had a chance to bite us.

I'm pretty confident that Hartigan had Patton

 

[Mattrox]

So Lyons to be travelling emerg ?? Would be in keeping of our handling of him

There is no SANFL match for him to miss is there?

 

[Huntercrow]

4 changes is stunning! I may have to watch the port game again!

I could have sworn we won!

 

[NTRabbit]

I'm pretty confident that Hartigan had Patton

He absolutely did not have Patton, it's something a few misguided folks tried to claim at the time but was readily and easily refuted, which is why I remember. Hartigan played the entire game, save for the typical caught in transition moments that happen every game when a side is caught on the rebound, on the first gamer Boyd.

He kept Boyd quiet, but the point of contention post-game was that some people falsely believed he had kept Patton quiet, which would have been a greater achievement than Boyd had it been true.

 

[beartoo]

Did we ever work out whether it was Mothers' Day or Mother's Day?

Is it the day of the mother or the day of the mothers?

 

[beartoo]

4 changes is stunning! I may have to watch the port game again!

I could have sworn we won!

Stunned me. I thought one maybe two.
The blokes that were dropped must feel dudded having put in as well as they did against the Poops.

 

[Carmo]

You better believe it.

Question for all folks: Is Reilly really injured this week?

Don't stress. Mainly budgetary and salary cap management. Not like we have an ageing list anyway, good to have him as a backstop but like trigg is on his back 9 now, will get fewer and fewer games. Good to have the salary cap stability, helpful as well now that we know rutten is going, plenty of cash again for improving younger players and probably moreso for having a real crack at another free agent.

 

[Colonial]

Shaw and Hunt are big losses to our backline. But Scull is a massive in for us. Hoping for a close game, we cant get belted in the 1st quarter or you guys will run over us and will become a bridge to far.. Any Crows coming up? We have a great little stadium. 10k sounds much louder.

 

[Smithalicious]

Fairly surprised we had 4 changes....... I generally thought you reward good players, sure one or two changes if they are absolute stars but the players coming back in aren't stars.

I feel for Lyons, Porps and LT who all played good games (or what time they had to) against Port (high intensity game with high pressure) only to get dropped the week after.

These type of players bring a bit of mongrel which i don't mind.

Mackay is a fair downhill skier for mine (I apologise, I know he has good attributes and been playing decent this year but I don't think has done enough, eg. passion for the team wise), thought he could have been an emergency or given a game in the SANFL to reward the game last week by the others.

Truck I don't mind coming in but LT did have a good game, would have like that rewarded.

Laird I don't think he is a star and the others didn't warrant being dropped.

Henderson for Reilly i do enjoy! Am a little worried we're bringing Hendo back too early though.

We back our players in when they play horribly and make no changes yet we win a hard game and make 4 changes...... just don't like the feel of it. Why would you try if you were LT, Lyons or Porps knowing how you are treated.

 

[radiojake]

. Any Crows coming up? We have a great little stadium. 10k sounds much louder.

and may that settle the loudest crowd noise argument once and for all - that's one title i'm happy for GWS to take