Review Good, Bad & Ugly vs Essendon

[TheLeftFist8]

Where is our midfield depth??? Thommo left to do it all by himself

Add Brad Crouch, Brodie Smith, Tom Lynch i reckon.

 

[rocket18]

Problem with Thommo is rarely does the smart thing with the ball. Just skimed through the replay, 11 times his kicks forward a high floating kick to no one in hope, 6 of those times he had a better option short or wide. 4 handballs to a bomber player (and I thought Jenkins was bad!). Sure he had alot of the ball, playede well in getting the right places at stopages and worked his guts out more that any other mob for us ( though that's not saying much), but he wasted so many forward movements.
Now is it the game plan of kicking in hope or is it the way he plays is the question. Sadly, he was of best player and shows out midfield setup and game plan is a f*cken joke

There a reason Thommo doesn't gets a tag, the opposition are happy for him to get the ball because he doesn't hurt you, he can't run and carry and his disposal is ordinary at best.

He also can't spread/chase his opposite number when they are attacking - a big reason why we seem to be outnumbered alot of the time - he is OK when it is congested and he has time to get to the next bounce.

He has been a great player for us but the game has gone past him, he can't keep up and his disposal (which has always been questionable) is getting shown up even more as these days you need even more precision to break through the defensive setups.

 

[Schulzycrow]

disagree with this part - the cheer squad (god love them...) were actually very good this week. our end was very loud, for more than just the goals

I was up in the nose bleed seats on the wing. There were lots of Crows supporters up there. A few times we tried to get a chant going or to follow the cheer squad, but it died quickly.

 

[rocket18]

Can we please stop with the ridiculous ideas about snicko and heat maps for goal posts !!!

Be realistic for god's sake. All we need is a goal umpire on each post. Full stop. The end.

It is a ridiculous rule any way, if it goes between the goal posts why does it matter if it nicks the post?? That would get rid of all this crap. If it hits the post and stays in play it is a point/out of bounds, if it crosses the goal line it is a goal even if it hits the post.

 

[rocket18]

I was at the game and have just watched the replay.


Ugly:
- This board. Who at the start of the year genuinely believed we were a top 4 team? The fact that we are a middle of the road team should come as no surprise. Yet the amount of hysterical overreaction has reached a new low. I really wonder if posters on this board watch other games not involving the Crows or hear what opposition supporters say about their own clubs. If you did you would see that the Crows are not much different from the vast majority of teams. With a little luck here and there and a bit more composure, we may have 9 wins and be sitting comfortable in the 8. Sure there is room for improvement across the entire club. But they way people carry on here you would think we are Brisbane.

Good write up but the last bit sums up the majority of the AFC supporter base, "a little luck here and there" and we could make it - how long have we been saying that.

In a way I would love to be like Brisbane, they have actually played in a grandfinal (and won 3) in the last 15 years, we are amongst a handful of scrubber clubs who haven't.

 

[King Elvis]

feels like they're there for a laugh.

I think you only need to look at Bernie's revival under Roos to see where a lot of our problems lie. EVERYONE is too comfortable. Not that that hasn't been obvious for years now.

Soft coach with a lame duck administration.

 

[weneverland]

Spot on - playing Danger is a liability. Particularly when we get other injuries during the game, we are playing 1 or 2 down - limiting rotations. It has become just like 2013 Thommo all over again. Our selection staff have lost it. The sooner Danger is rested, the sooner we have him back to his best - rather than the <50% version.

Spot on. For the life of me I don't understand why the selectors and coach don't use this opportunity to rest an injured player and find out if some of the fringe or inexperienced players can play a role. Admittedly the replacement won't get many touches but surely you don't lose out that much when the gun player is only performing at a fraction of his normal output. In a final you might take the risk but we are not a top eight side. At the end of the season I predict we will end up in no man's land between ninth and eleventh. So instead of just treading water show some foresight and start preparing for the future.

 

[srv23]

There is a problem with this attitude that we are just a middle of the road club and we are exactly where we should be on the ladder. Im not doubting that its true but the problem is that we have been there since 2007. Barring a little patch of form at the end of 09 and the Sando spike 2012 we have consistently been just mediocre. Since 05/06 we have not been a genuine premiership contender and overall the trajectory of our club over this time has been downward. The problem with this is that there are no prizes on offer for a club that is mid table. No genuine chance at glory, no reward of getting access to the best kids in the draft. Its a nothing place to be.

To be a genuine chance in this comp you need to spend some years amassing some genuinely talented players through finishing towards the bottom and drafting them, or trading cleverly - preferably both. On top of that you need excellent off field management and you need to create a high quality coaching group - head coach/assistants/development coaches/fitness staff etc. At every level of the club you must strive for excellence and get the best possible people for the job in each position. Port have done this beautifully over the last few years.

So if we are a mid table club and just mediocre, and have been for 8 years - WTF are we doing to change that? I appreciate that we have been hamstrung by the Tippett sanctions, but even despite that we still seem to have this misguided belief that everything at the club is going perfectly and that we can still aim to "make the 8 and anything can happen" As a result selection is some ridiculous week by week prospect with all energy being put purely into just winning the next game with no foresight, no thought to building a premiership side, no thought to which players are the ones who are going to be there when our club is next a force - in fact no apparent thought into how our club can become a force again.

There is constant talk about how we are inconsistent and young and how our young players must reach that elusive 50 game mark to develop consistency, but no consistent selection of the players that we see as our future. Players like Lyons and Crouch yo yo in and out of the side. Young players are constantly the scapegoats for bad performances while senior players are not held to the same accountability. Since the rejuvenation of the side for the Pies game where we made some tough calls and played an exciting game of football, we have slowly worked all the Reilly / Wright types back into the side, and while they haven't been playing too bad, the reality is that we need to keep playing our young players. We are not winning a flag this year, we need to start planning for the future.

People say blame the players not Sando - but these are the players Sando keeps selecting and keep letting us down. So why not bring in some new players and give them a go? If we're saying what we have on the field is the best we have (this may be true) then lets not start spruiking how we are "top 4 material" "Envious forward line" "best midfield" etc etc. Lets start doing what we need to to amass a list that can take us to the next level. If we believe that the boys on the field are the best we have, and are genuine top 4 material, and they keep serving up crap like that every other week, then surely some serious questions need to be asked about everyone at the club. Unfortunately what will happen is the players will get slammed, the coach may get sacked but the admin will walk away scott free once again.

 

[Ogopogo]

Suns fan here and I just wanted to make a comment. You guys are damn fortunate to have Eddie Betts. Every time I watch the Crows play I am very impressed with him - he is a great player. Nice job adding him to your list.

 

[Cap]

I don't blame Sando, I blame Trigg and Chapman

i also blame the board, who appear to never get questioned by anybody.

 

[Kraven]

Good -

Brodie Smith - Even with a tag he was still a huge influence. And another one of his trademark goals from outside 50. That play should be called the Smith.

Eddie Betts - Kicked 3.2 and had a few goal assists as well. A few times he made some really exciting plays but couldn't execute them because of our s**t forward set up.

Reilly - One of the better games I've seen him play in a couple of years. That play from him in the last quarter was really good.

Jenkins - Had a poor start, but worked his way into the game and kicked 4.

Thomo - Still a beast.


Bad -

Tex and a couple others missing easy marks.

Pods was just meh. It seems our form revolves around his. He plays good we win. He plays average we lose.

Jenkins missing that easy goal.

Dangerfield getting his head ripped off but no free. He didn't even duck either.


Ugly -

The goal that should have been a point because the umpires we were wearing red and black undies and didn't want to review it.

Winderbitch - Would love to punch him on the guts the coward.

Dangerfield - has to be injured. Letting the team down.

Watching the game with 4 bombers supporters. First qtr when they were 6 goals up my girlfriends mum brings out a bombers framed team photo and bombers scarf. Lucky I didn't paint the house with their blood.

 

[King Elvis]

Trolled by your girlfriend's Mum, that's the depths of where the Crows have taken us.

Horrible.

 

[Rear Admiral]

It's not a coincidence at all. Sando speaks=embarrassing.

I saw Sando's post match press conference, and from what I saw, he was 99% spot on. In particular, he talked about effort -vs- execution. Without a doubt, every AFL player out on the paddock gives everything they've got - it's not an issue of lack of guts, effort, or determination. What's destroying us now is our quality of execution when absolutely exhausted and under pressure. We forever fumble, shank kicks, etc. And while Sando is definitely responsible for our skills coaching, no question about it, I just think we lack what the best teams have - absolute razor-sharp technicians once they have possession of the Pill. Truck (I consider our best), Reilly (some of the time), and a few others have brilliant, sharp disposals by foot....but these guys are not our primary ball-getters and movers - they are more Defenders/receivers of the Pill. If you look at our "Gun" ball-getters (especially through the Middle), their disposal skills are shocking. Thommo, Dangermouse (clearly injured at the moment), Sloane, etc - they are as courageous as you'll ever find. But watch what happens when they put the Ball on the boot - it's like a boat with nobody steering. But when I have occasionally seen Truck gather possessions further upfield, his disposal to hit team mates in the tightest of situations is absolutely amazing - he can land the Ball on a 5 cent piece from over 50m away. I have seen him make some horrendous handballing decisions on occasion, but his disposal by foot is typically pure precision. Not so with our prime movers in the Midfield - couldn't hit a barn door at 5 paces. This is what's causing our endless bl00dy turnovers. Look at the Collingwood game - that was one of the ultra-rare rare occasions we hit team mates by foot through the Middle. Result? We won the game. But for the most part, we seriously lack foot skills through the Middle.

But where I am seriously pissed off with the coaching panel is our f*cking horrendous starts/First Quarters. This is where Sando needs the f*cking blowtorch. What the f*ck is going on here?!? It's like watching an old movie on re-run....just keeps happening over and over and over again. I think part of the problem with this is that when we lose it quickly out of the Middle and the opposition lay it on the boot - our Defenders downfield seem way, way, waaaaaaay too slow at catching opponents on leads. As much as I despise having to do this, if it's obvious Sauce is getting smashed out of the Middle, we need to put (at least) two extra blokes in Defence....let the opposition win the Centre Clearances, then reload across halfback. Until we get Hendo and some other Defenders with serious toe out on the Paddock, we need to chop off opposition Forwards on the lead. This is what killed us in the First Quarter. It wasn't just that we lost the Centre Clearances, but Truck and Co. couldn't get within a brass razoo of their leading opponents....repeatedly. Essendon Forwards weren't taking contested marks, but easy uncontested marks, miles ahead of their chasing Crows opponents.

Apart from our God-awful general field-kicking (which is not entirely Sando's fault), I literally lost count of the number of easy, uncontested marks Essendon took....all over the ground. The nearest Crows player was no closer than 5m behind. This is a big, big issue that contributed to our loss.

 

[Rear Admiral]

Can someone tell me what aspects of the gameplan failed tonight?


We kicked 2.4 to 7 in the first quarter. This tells me that we are getting the shots on goal but not able to convert.

We got to withing 9 points of winning, despite our players being fumbly all night and not running forward to help team mates or working together. I highly doubt any of this is in Sando's gameplan.


Tonight was not about Sando coaching poorly. One thing I loved tonight was that instead of going into our shell when we were losing we at least took the game on. That is definetley a coaching directive as our players naturally would not do this.

http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/threads/good-bad-ugly-vs-essendon.1067586/page-15#post-33700477

 

[Smoooothy]

Trolled by your girlfriend's Mum, that's the depths of where the Crows have taken us.

Horrible.

 

[Rear Admiral]

There is a problem with this attitude that we are just a middle of the road club and we are exactly where we should be on the ladder. Im not doubting that its true but the problem is that we have been there since 2007. Barring a little patch of form at the end of 09 and the Sando spike 2012 we have consistently been just mediocre. Since 05/06 we have not been a genuine premiership contender and overall the trajectory of our club over this time has been downward. The problem with this is that there are no prizes on offer for a club that is mid table. No genuine chance at glory, no reward of getting access to the best kids in the draft. Its a nothing place to be.

To be a genuine chance in this comp you need to spend some years amassing some genuinely talented players through finishing towards the bottom and drafting them, or trading cleverly - preferably both. On top of that you need excellent off field management and you need to create a high quality coaching group - head coach/assistants/development coaches/fitness staff etc. At every level of the club you must strive for excellence and get the best possible people for the job in each position. Port have done this beautifully over the last few years.

So if we are a mid table club and just mediocre, and have been for 8 years - WTF are we doing to change that? I appreciate that we have been hamstrung by the Tippett sanctions, but even despite that we still seem to have this misguided belief that everything at the club is going perfectly and that we can still aim to "make the 8 and anything can happen" As a result selection is some ridiculous week by week prospect with all energy being put purely into just winning the next game with no foresight, no thought to building a premiership side, no thought to which players are the ones who are going to be there when our club is next a force - in fact no apparent thought into how our club can become a force again.

There is constant talk about how we are inconsistent and young and how our young players must reach that elusive 50 game mark to develop consistency, but no consistent selection of the players that we see as our future. Players like Lyons and Crouch yo yo in and out of the side. Young players are constantly the scapegoats for bad performances while senior players are not held to the same accountability. Since the rejuvenation of the side for the Pies game where we made some tough calls and played an exciting game of football, we have slowly worked all the Reilly / Wright types back into the side, and while they haven't been playing too bad, the reality is that we need to keep playing our young players. We are not winning a flag this year, we need to start planning for the future.

People say blame the players not Sando - but these are the players Sando keeps selecting and keep letting us down. So why not bring in some new players and give them a go? If we're saying what we have on the field is the best we have (this may be true) then lets not start spruiking how we are "top 4 material" "Envious forward line" "best midfield" etc etc. Lets start doing what we need to to amass a list that can take us to the next level. If we believe that the boys on the field are the best we have, and are genuine top 4 material, and they keep serving up crap like that every other week, then surely some serious questions need to be asked about everyone at the club. Unfortunately what will happen is the players will get slammed, the coach may get sacked but the admin will walk away scott free once again.

Absolutely spot on .

What's been said here is exactly what I have been trying to say for a very long time. Could not have worded it better.

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

There is a problem with this attitude that we are just a middle of the road club and we are exactly where we should be on the ladder. Im not doubting that its true but the problem is that we have been there since 2007. Barring a little patch of form at the end of 09 and the Sando spike 2012 we have consistently been just mediocre. Since 05/06 we have not been a genuine premiership contender and overall the trajectory of our club over this time has been downward. The problem with this is that there are no prizes on offer for a club that is mid table. No genuine chance at glory, no reward of getting access to the best kids in the draft. Its a nothing place to be.

To be a genuine chance in this comp you need to spend some years amassing some genuinely talented players through finishing towards the bottom and drafting them, or trading cleverly - preferably both. On top of that you need excellent off field management and you need to create a high quality coaching group - head coach/assistants/development coaches/fitness staff etc. At every level of the club you must strive for excellence and get the best possible people for the job in each position. Port have done this beautifully over the last few years.

So if we are a mid table club and just mediocre, and have been for 8 years - WTF are we doing to change that? I appreciate that we have been hamstrung by the Tippett sanctions, but even despite that we still seem to have this misguided belief that everything at the club is going perfectly and that we can still aim to "make the 8 and anything can happen" As a result selection is some ridiculous week by week prospect with all energy being put purely into just winning the next game with no foresight, no thought to building a premiership side, no thought to which players are the ones who are going to be there when our club is next a force - in fact no apparent thought into how our club can become a force again.

There is constant talk about how we are inconsistent and young and how our young players must reach that elusive 50 game mark to develop consistency, but no consistent selection of the players that we see as our future. Players like Lyons and Crouch yo yo in and out of the side. Young players are constantly the scapegoats for bad performances while senior players are not held to the same accountability. Since the rejuvenation of the side for the Pies game where we made some tough calls and played an exciting game of football, we have slowly worked all the Reilly / Wright types back into the side, and while they haven't been playing too bad, the reality is that we need to keep playing our young players. We are not winning a flag this year, we need to start planning for the future.

People say blame the players not Sando - but these are the players Sando keeps selecting and keep letting us down. So why not bring in some new players and give them a go? If we're saying what we have on the field is the best we have (this may be true) then lets not start spruiking how we are "top 4 material" "Envious forward line" "best midfield" etc etc. Lets start doing what we need to to amass a list that can take us to the next level. If we believe that the boys on the field are the best we have, and are genuine top 4 material, and they keep serving up crap like that every other week, then surely some serious questions need to be asked about everyone at the club. Unfortunately what will happen is the players will get slammed, the coach may get sacked but the admin will walk away scott free once again.

Should run this on the front page of the Advertiser. Captures the growing mood of the fan base perfectly and also encapsulates the mentality that exists at the club

 

[BACCS]

Just saw that Tex dropped mark again late in the last, geez, he really needed to mark that. He loves that range as well, and would have got us within 3 points with 3 minutes to go.

It's such a frustrating season because there's been a lot of these types of moments which have cost us games.

 

[BACCS]

Should run this on the front page of the Advertiser. Captures the growing mood of the fan base perfectly and also encapsulates the mentality that exists at the club

Ah no, it encapsulates the the growing mood of certain members on BigFooty. I mean s**t, some of you look into the smallest of things way too deeply.

 

[BACCS]

no, not really but why does Sando need to say it? I agree it's lip service and should be game on but christ that's not how OUR players seem to respond so why does he do it? Sando is always putting the mocker on the players.

anybody remember this one that got a whole article - "if I had to pick one of our players to come out and have a massive year it would be Mitch Grigg". How has that gone? Hell, how did "show no mercy" go? It's an issue, shouldn't be, but is nonetheless.


true.

You are surely kidding right? Coaches always get asked who they think could have a breakout year in the preseason, I'm sure all other 17 coaches were asked the same question and gave up a player's name. What a ridiculous thing to criticise.

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

Ah no, it encapsulates the the growing mood of certain members on BigFooty. I mean s**t, some of you look into the smallest of things way too deeply.

Small things like our win/loss & finals record over many years

 

[Wood_Duck]

You are surely kidding right? Coaches always get asked who they think could have a breakout year in the preseason, I'm sure all other 17 coaches were asked the same question and gave up a player's name. What a ridiculous thing to criticise.

I honestly dont think it matters what he says, too positive, too negative, deluded, out of answers blah blah blah.

I really wouldnt matter what he said, someone would have a problem with it.

 

[Wood_Duck]

Small things like our win/loss & finals record over many years

This has really become your standard answer. Dont tell me you've run out of material.

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

This has really become your standard answer. Dont tell me you've run out of material.

It's the answer everytime it's ignored

 

[headache1]

Ah no, it encapsulates the the growing mood of certain members on BigFooty. I mean s**t, some of you look into the smallest of things way too deeply.

Oh ok, so we haven't only had 1 and a half decent seasons since 2006? Everything is going along swimmingly, and we'll be back up the top soon enough by doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result? Carry on then.