- Joined
- Oct 18, 2004
- Posts
- 9,771
- Reaction score
- 33
- Location
- Melbourne
- AFL Club
- Adelaide
- Other Teams
- Colorado Avalanche, Melb Mustangs
This is something I did for SBR and Capitalist's new site, but considering it may not be up today I thought I would post it here too. Don't pick on my writing style or sentence structure as it was late and I didn't give it too much thought.
Crows vs. Demons R7
The Crows face a tough challenge this week as they take on the Demons at the MCG on the Friday night national stage. The Demons are a dangerous looking side this season and boast the strongest offence statistically, leading the league with 681 points scored for. The task is all the more difficult for the Crows considering the Dees are coming off a loss in a game they were highly favoured to win against Fremantle.
The Crows will, however, enter the game with an air of confidence after becoming the first team to defeat the Kangaroos in 2005. While they played good football for most of the first three quarters it is essential the Crows don’t leave the door open for the high scoring Demons to come home strong.
These two teams match-up quite similarly in the midfield and each rely heavily on the run they provide entering the forward 50. The key difference being that the Crows build up a lot of their momentum rebounding from the defensive 50 through running backline players such as Johncock, Reilly, Hart and McLeod when moved back, while the Demons work the ball forward by winning stoppages. For this reason the Crows should look to Ben Hudson for most of their ruck work throughout the night as Rhett Biglands has the worst record in the league for having the ball ‘sharked’ by an opponent at stoppages. Hudson is far less experienced than his counterpart, Jeff White, but both have an athletic style that isn’t particularly disadvantaged by the new ruck circle introduced this season. Given White’s dominance over most ruckmen he plays against this is not a contest the Crows should expect to win, but should aim to restrict how damaging the impact of White’s hitouts can be.
Interestingly, the Dees have included Luke Williams into the side and left Simon Godfrey in as well. Both are very disciplined taggers with poor ball disposal skills. Their presence indicates that Melbourne will attempt to shutdown some of Adelaide’s more dominant midfielders. Neale Daniher could have the likes of McLeod, Goodwin, Ricciuto and Thompson (in his first game against his old side) in mind when using two taggers in the one side. Crows coach, Neil Craig has been showing a lot of faith in his younger group of midfielders this year and it has paid off to date. Mattner, Skipworth and Doughty have made their mark on the side as players who can step up and be game winners, while Shirley has had been given some notable tagging jobs to replace Tyson Stenglein. Shirley’s likely opponents this week include Yze, McDonald and Johnstone. McDonald has shown some good form against the Crows in the past and is often overlooked when playing alongside Yze, Green and even young guns Sylvia and McLean but is definitely not a player to be taken lightly.
The biggest feature of this match will be the matchups in the Demons forward line. The Crows backline has been formidable this season, conceding less than any team bar West Coast. The Dees forward line is relatively tall and strong with the likes of Neitz, Holland and Miller all capable of kicking a bag. The inclusion of Paul Johnson for his first game as a Dee adds to this already tall forward set up. The Crows will also have to keep a close eye on livewires Aaron Davey, Russell Robertson and Col Sylvia, who has been included into the side after kicking seven goals in the VFL last week. The Crows have the depth in defence to match the Demons in both skill and height. Rutten is likely to stand Neitz, while McGregor in his 100th game could potentially line up on Miller or Holland. Hart, Torney and Bassett are all able to take on a third or fourth tall with the option of moving Trent Hentschel back should any of the matchups look dangerous to the Crows.
Strangely, the Crows forward line and the Demons backline are widely considered to be each of these teams Achilles heel. Neil Craig has shown faith in his current forward line by naming an unchanged lineup, despite the fact the Crows only managed six goals last week once you remove Hayden Skipworth’s efforts. Scott Welsh did, however kick eight goals last time these two teams met and can hopefully play himself back into form this week. Ian Perrie has provided a good leading target of late but needs to hold onto more of his marking opportunities. His second efforts are rarely questioned by Crow fans, but should he hold onto more of these first chances then it wouldn’t get that far. Hentschel is another player the Crows are eagerly awaiting a big performance from as he leads the team in marks (36) but has only converted for six goals. Past Perrie and Hentschel, unless Biglands is pushed forward, the Crows lack tall options up forward. This will be a relief on the Demons who usually find it difficult to line up against a tall forward line and this week would be even tougher for them as they are missing Wheatley through injury. Considering Adelaide lack tall forwards the Demons can afford to leave Alistair Nicholson in the VFL and leave all of the tough work to Ferguson and Rivers. Welsh and Bizzell are ideally matched for each other in height and pace as neither are quite tall enough to be the first option but provide good depth for their teams.
Ultimately this game will be won or lost in the Demons forward 50. If the Crows concede too much it will simply be beyond our forward line to match their opposition the way Fremantle did last week. Ideally the Crows would have to restrict Melbourne from entering their forward 50 by winning the stoppages that Melbourne thrive on. If they can do this then there is no reason why the Crows can’t walk away with the four points. It will be a tough assignment to play with that familiar run the Crows have out of their defensive zone when the Dees have a high scoring rate once the ball is in their forward 50.
I’m not saying who’s going to win, I’m just telling you how the game will be won.
Crows vs. Demons R7
The Crows face a tough challenge this week as they take on the Demons at the MCG on the Friday night national stage. The Demons are a dangerous looking side this season and boast the strongest offence statistically, leading the league with 681 points scored for. The task is all the more difficult for the Crows considering the Dees are coming off a loss in a game they were highly favoured to win against Fremantle.
The Crows will, however, enter the game with an air of confidence after becoming the first team to defeat the Kangaroos in 2005. While they played good football for most of the first three quarters it is essential the Crows don’t leave the door open for the high scoring Demons to come home strong.
These two teams match-up quite similarly in the midfield and each rely heavily on the run they provide entering the forward 50. The key difference being that the Crows build up a lot of their momentum rebounding from the defensive 50 through running backline players such as Johncock, Reilly, Hart and McLeod when moved back, while the Demons work the ball forward by winning stoppages. For this reason the Crows should look to Ben Hudson for most of their ruck work throughout the night as Rhett Biglands has the worst record in the league for having the ball ‘sharked’ by an opponent at stoppages. Hudson is far less experienced than his counterpart, Jeff White, but both have an athletic style that isn’t particularly disadvantaged by the new ruck circle introduced this season. Given White’s dominance over most ruckmen he plays against this is not a contest the Crows should expect to win, but should aim to restrict how damaging the impact of White’s hitouts can be.
Interestingly, the Dees have included Luke Williams into the side and left Simon Godfrey in as well. Both are very disciplined taggers with poor ball disposal skills. Their presence indicates that Melbourne will attempt to shutdown some of Adelaide’s more dominant midfielders. Neale Daniher could have the likes of McLeod, Goodwin, Ricciuto and Thompson (in his first game against his old side) in mind when using two taggers in the one side. Crows coach, Neil Craig has been showing a lot of faith in his younger group of midfielders this year and it has paid off to date. Mattner, Skipworth and Doughty have made their mark on the side as players who can step up and be game winners, while Shirley has had been given some notable tagging jobs to replace Tyson Stenglein. Shirley’s likely opponents this week include Yze, McDonald and Johnstone. McDonald has shown some good form against the Crows in the past and is often overlooked when playing alongside Yze, Green and even young guns Sylvia and McLean but is definitely not a player to be taken lightly.
The biggest feature of this match will be the matchups in the Demons forward line. The Crows backline has been formidable this season, conceding less than any team bar West Coast. The Dees forward line is relatively tall and strong with the likes of Neitz, Holland and Miller all capable of kicking a bag. The inclusion of Paul Johnson for his first game as a Dee adds to this already tall forward set up. The Crows will also have to keep a close eye on livewires Aaron Davey, Russell Robertson and Col Sylvia, who has been included into the side after kicking seven goals in the VFL last week. The Crows have the depth in defence to match the Demons in both skill and height. Rutten is likely to stand Neitz, while McGregor in his 100th game could potentially line up on Miller or Holland. Hart, Torney and Bassett are all able to take on a third or fourth tall with the option of moving Trent Hentschel back should any of the matchups look dangerous to the Crows.
Strangely, the Crows forward line and the Demons backline are widely considered to be each of these teams Achilles heel. Neil Craig has shown faith in his current forward line by naming an unchanged lineup, despite the fact the Crows only managed six goals last week once you remove Hayden Skipworth’s efforts. Scott Welsh did, however kick eight goals last time these two teams met and can hopefully play himself back into form this week. Ian Perrie has provided a good leading target of late but needs to hold onto more of his marking opportunities. His second efforts are rarely questioned by Crow fans, but should he hold onto more of these first chances then it wouldn’t get that far. Hentschel is another player the Crows are eagerly awaiting a big performance from as he leads the team in marks (36) but has only converted for six goals. Past Perrie and Hentschel, unless Biglands is pushed forward, the Crows lack tall options up forward. This will be a relief on the Demons who usually find it difficult to line up against a tall forward line and this week would be even tougher for them as they are missing Wheatley through injury. Considering Adelaide lack tall forwards the Demons can afford to leave Alistair Nicholson in the VFL and leave all of the tough work to Ferguson and Rivers. Welsh and Bizzell are ideally matched for each other in height and pace as neither are quite tall enough to be the first option but provide good depth for their teams.
Ultimately this game will be won or lost in the Demons forward 50. If the Crows concede too much it will simply be beyond our forward line to match their opposition the way Fremantle did last week. Ideally the Crows would have to restrict Melbourne from entering their forward 50 by winning the stoppages that Melbourne thrive on. If they can do this then there is no reason why the Crows can’t walk away with the four points. It will be a tough assignment to play with that familiar run the Crows have out of their defensive zone when the Dees have a high scoring rate once the ball is in their forward 50.
I’m not saying who’s going to win, I’m just telling you how the game will be won.
