Review Good/Bad v Geelong

[1970crow]

fix his kicking? He was ran at 91% for the game? Personally, I think that was Milera's best game. Bit more confidence and he'll do good things.

I'm still hopeful Milera will end up cutting out the short pass to the player leading straight at him who has an opponent on his hammer. He's still taking this option which is very risky. The spoil can come back further than his kick. With time and confidence I'm sure he'll work past it.

 

[1970crow]

Jake Kelly has to come out. The Cats knew to give him cheapies on the wing. His disposal efficiency is high because every time he got it he completely stopped our momentum and kicked sideways or backwards to safe, non-attacking options. Cheney is a superior defender with much more attacking flair.

Cheney has very neat disposal and a knack of finding just enough time to find a target that he likes.

 

[1970crow]

Yeah, that was hugely frustrating. Sauce and our mids have some talking to do to fix that up.
Isn't that what Clarke gets paid for, to improve clearances/stoppages?

Dream team, Clarke and Campo. They've only had a few years to work on it, give them a chance. Didn't matter so much when we had Thommo on top of his game and Danger at his feet. We're still handy, but we need a bit more advantage from our winning taps.

 

[Jeffcrowe]

This was one of Neil Craig's main preoccupations, I believe. He was a student of many sports and based his zoning and emphasis on turnovers on basketball and netball.
It's an extension of Blight's "It's a simple game" theory.
If both teams have the ball roughly equally and use it similarly, scoring will be close. However, if we have just kicked a goal and the opposition take possession from the post-bounce, a turnover is critical for us*. In his post-game presser Chris Scott mentioned how they beat us in clearances but we scored heavily from turnovers.
Our pressure on their ball-carriers and potential recipients of the ball was very good. About time!
* above: in netball turnovers create 3-goal runs, or even more.

Edit, from AFC site:
" The Crows forced the Cats to make 89 turnovers, their highest number of the season, and kicked 12.12 (84) from those.
The key catalyst was a significant lift in pressure applied on the ball, particularly inside forward 50 where Adelaide recorded an equal season-high 21 tackles. "

Been saying this all year
I guess we haven't had the cattle but finally selection helped

 

[hey shorty]

So after a day delay I watched the replay, I liked MOST of what I saw.

Greenwood - Got taught a bit of a lesson by some pretty handy mids. Looked to cover the ground ok and still did a couple of nice things.

Knight - Rushed back in and given huge responsibility. Liked the pressure and niggle, we need that.

Jenkins - If Josh Francou has done nothing else this year, he has managed to get Josh to play like a 100kg forward should on a much more regular basis. To the point where sides are now holding and double teaming him.

Crouch - Back to somewhere near his best. Plenty of it and barely wasted anything.

Gibbs - Not as much of it but didn't waste it as much particularly off half back. Looked more at home.

Gallucci - He has something about him, and for a kid that looks so awful when kicking it, he rarely makes mistakes. That pace has been missing.

Kelly - Solid again, but just dont see the need for him to be in the side.

Sloane - Heart and soul, was immense all game and if that's what they are going to get from him for the medium term..... happy days

Seedsman - Not his usual self, but still had an impact on the game. When Smith comes back he will get more space.

Walker - Cement Hands Walker was back. Just couldn't take a mark, field kicking was solid for the most part. Don't mind the bump either.

Hartigan - Cringeworthy. Just have no confidence in him, and it looks like he doesn't either.

Brown - Solid as a rock, and snuck down for a goal. Hes a beautiful kick, should use him more often.

Betts - Always dangerous, always ready, always clever. Perfect team game.

Atkins - If he attacks like that then he stays in the side. Lethal early.

Jacobs- Got his hands to it, straight down the throat of Cats midfielders. If that's instruction then that's poor, if its him it's just as bad. Did ok around the deck.

Cheney - Solid as **** again. Really like the composure he brings. Tore Menzel to pieces on the eastern wing.

Lynch - That's more like it. He clearly benefits from a more mobile setup, but he ran and jumped at the ball.

Laird - Sensational. 43 touches and used nearly every one of them effectively. BOG.

Milera - The wheel is turning. He's had more disposals but his game Thursday was awesome. The silky smooth movement.

Doedee - Rinse and repeat. Just keeps going on and on.

Murphy - We HAVE to keep him in the side, even after a bad week or 2. I really like what he brings.

 

[hey shorty]

He's also there to cover clicks. He's got to be running hard defensively even if he's not getting the ball. As long as he's getting his hands on the ball, using it well and running hard, he's doing his job. But I fail to understand why he's so s**t at tackling when he does get an opportunity. He's all hands and forearms, it's like he doesn't enjoy wrapping opponents up.

100%

 

[GreyCrow]

He's all hands and forearms, it's like he doesn't enjoy wrapping opponents up.

His mother never hugged him

 

[pjcrows]

I thought Murphy wouldn't get to 20 games. Looks like I'll be (happily) wrong.

 

[Donkey Magoo]

I’m not reading the whole thread. I’m not checking the rest of the board. If I’m recycling old discussion rely with a link and I’ll indulge myself there.

I want to know if we played any different on Thursday (and Sunday fortnight ago) than we have throughout the season. I want to know if that direct, risk taking, centre corridor play was what we’ve been trying to do with rookies, without injured players and with others out of position (eg in the seniors rather than the magoos). Did we play the same game style, but with a group of players who are finally fit and believe in their ability and so take the game on?

We missed 10 weeks of Sloane, a number of weeks of Lynch, Laird, Betts, Knight, etc. most of our guys playing on Thursday, either played in the finals last year, or were emergencies. Doedee replaced Lever, Keath who played quite a lot last year replaced Talia, the Murph Mobile replaced Charles, while Mackay, Crouch, Doug and Otto man are replaced by Milera (regular ‘17 finals emergency), Gallucci who’s showing a bit of grit, Gibbs Pie and Fetta Cheney. Of those who didn’t play Thursday, you’d argue Talia, Crouch, Doug and (arguably) Mackay would come in.

Now my thoughts are that Mackay is one of the worst offenders in our team for not having the confidence to play on and when he holds up the play it’s a freaking pain in the arse. I say arguably because I don’t think he should be best 22. Gallucci provides as much input on Thursday as Mackay has all year and should be selected in front always from now on.

Doug is getting on but is having a good season. Not sure how to rate the importance of his seniority over getting more games into youth.

Crouch is a definite in when fit. Talia is so much a better defender than Keath I’m struggling to put it in words.

I’ve lost track a bit here but it’s all building argument. The point is that I don’t think we changed anything about our game style on Thursday. IMO we played a more suitable team lineup that were willing to play the style that they’ve been taught to play. And I don’t see a lot different to last year, come to think of it. We also were able to play the majority of our best players (Talia, Crouch, Smith the notable exclusions) who know the style back to front and executed. Sloaney and Ten Goal both returned to some form which made a huge difference to performance, Cats had to put effort into both Gibbs and Sloane when they were playing well early, taking Duncan and Guthrie (who I think spent a fair amount of time helping cover Betts) out of the contest for majority of the first 3 quarters.

Rambling again, anyway, that’s my take.

I agree with all and my only addition is that McGovern needs to come in here somewhere.

 

[CutAboveTheRest]

I'm still hopeful Milera will end up cutting out the short pass to the player leading straight at him who has an opponent on his hammer. He's still taking this option which is very risky. The spoil can come back further than his kick. With time and confidence I'm sure he'll work past it.

Right there with you 1970!

 

[CutAboveTheRest]

An absolute massive man crush on this bloke..

 

[madstar]

I'm still hopeful Milera will end up cutting out the short pass to the player leading straight at him who has an opponent on his hammer. He's still taking this option which is very risky. The spoil can come back further than his kick. With time and confidence I'm sure he'll work past it.

He was good on Thurs night. Really loved that passage of play on the Eastern wing where he controlled all the play. Must have had about 4 touches in 30 seconds. He is definitely building.

On SM-A520F using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[1970crow]

He was good on Thurs night. Really loved that passage of play on the Eastern wing where he controlled all the play. Must have had about 4 touches in 30 seconds. He is definitely building.

On SM-A520F using BigFooty.com mobile app

He's building beautifully. But I reckon he's got another couple of gears to go yet. He's starting to put his body in places and just hold firm, reckon he's going to be very strong over the ball and an absolute star with his speed, slipperyness and brilliant disposal. If I'm going to predict a knock for a couple of years from now, he'd be better if he was more comfortable going to his left side.

 

[Danoz]

I agree with all and my only addition is that McGovern needs to come in here somewhere.

That is a glaring and quite frankly despicable omission by me. Thank you for straightening me up on my curly curvy path.

 

[weneverland]

The modern game is about what you do when you haven’t got the ball. Can’t close down space and pressure the ball carrier without leg speed

Leg speed helps but I think a more important factor is attitude. I've seen similar Crows teams look great with their tackling and pressure one week and the following week they are woeful. The attitude of being ferocious at the contest and not letting the opposition player get an easy disposal at any cost is far more important than leg speed. Leg speed is handy however when you have the ball or if you have to make up ground. Even then a team with quick and accurate disposal can look very fast.

 

[Thegibbsgamble]

The ugly thing I saw at the football the other night was a security guard harassing indigenous kids.

It was just a few minutes before opening bounce and 3 of them were leaning up against the rail on the walkway at GA, watching the last of the warm up. They were watching Eddy betts who was mostly warming up right in front of them

The security guard walked straight past two white kids doing the same behind the goals and asked the indigenous to move on.

He then lurked were they were, looking around ignoring the white kids he walked past to tell the indigenous to move on. I took his number and made serious eye contact with him when he looked my way.

He got the message and then moved the white kids along just before the game started. Gave them as much time as possible

He never looked anywhere me for the rest of the night

As I understand it. There is CCTV coverage of that area.

 

[Billy Bob65]

Midfield frequency stats from the game.

There were 33 bounces

M.Crouch 26
Knight 25
Atkins 24 wing
Sloane 20
Seedsman 19 wing
Kelly 17 wing
Gibbs 15
Greenwood 12
Milera 6 wing

Rucks:
Jacobs 28
Jenkins 5

Notes:
- First time in 3 years of doing this, where Gibbs has played and didn't make his team's top 6 mids.
- Most ever appearances for Knight in an analysed match. His previous high was 14 in Round 19, 2017.
- Surprisingly with Atkins back, Kelly actually attended a higher percentage of bounces this week than last.
- Most wing appearances for Milera since Round 5
- On one occasion, you only started with 2 inside mids at a bounce

 

[ShadeyP]

He's building beautifully. But I reckon he's got another couple of gears to go yet. He's starting to put his body in places and just hold firm, reckon he's going to be very strong over the ball and an absolute star with his speed, slipperyness and brilliant disposal. If I'm going to predict a knock for a couple of years from now, he'd be better if he was more comfortable going to his left side.

Agreed.... he has a few more levels to go yet but he is an absolute jet , a star blossoming before our eyes , not yet 21 he will be our best player in 2020 . Mark it down .

 

[PykeDream]

Really loved the team balance on Thursday, think Geelong was pretty close to their best away form but our brilliant pressure forced their lesser lights into critical mistakes and allowed their A-grade mids little time and space to hit their targets or put the ball to vacant areas from clearances. Meanwhile the occasional chaos ball forward for us often proved lucrative.

Think we could really punish Melbourne in a few weeks if we play similarly, Brisbane will be a challenge with the spirit they’re showing today.

 

[Bay62]

Watching the replay

Some really great passages of play

Sloane’s effort is phenomenal and inspiring

Greenwood is very clever and alert

And one thing that returned along with the speed and dare was the creativity - like Sauce’s 30m handball to a player in the corridor

Not just taking the game on but making up your own game

A wasted year but good signs for the future. And what a difference having talent back makes

 

[Redleg Crow]

I thought Murphy wouldn't get to 20 games. Looks like I'll be (happily) wrong.

What was the reason you thought that? SANFL form?

 

[marvin]

I’m not reading the whole thread. I’m not checking the rest of the board. If I’m recycling old discussion rely with a link and I’ll indulge myself there.

I want to know if we played any different on Thursday (and Sunday fortnight ago) than we have throughout the season. I want to know if that direct, risk taking, centre corridor play was what we’ve been trying to do with rookies, without injured players and with others out of position (eg in the seniors rather than the magoos). Did we play the same game style, but with a group of players who are finally fit and believe in their ability and so take the game on?

I’ve lost track a bit here but it’s all building argument. The point is that I don’t think we changed anything about our game style on Thursday.

I think there has been a change in emphasis in recent times. In my mind, I go back to our first few games here in Melbourne this year - we were very ponderous in attempting to be slow and deliberate in our ball movement. We didn’t switch, we didn’t change angles and most of all, Laird excepted, we didn’t run off half back.

Part of that is personnel - we went in to round 1 without Lynch and Tex, and debutantes in Murphy and Fogarty for example. However, when compared with the Essendon game at the same venue last year, our ball movement was designed to be slower and less risky.

The last quarter against WCE and Thursday night were a bit closer to 2017. And here I don’t think it’s personnel. Our best passages of play against Geelong were designed off a quick moving game - Hugh’s handball for Gallucci’s 2nd, Sauce’s tap down to Rory so he could release Murphy to goal in the last - came off players looking for runners going past rather than trying to pinpoint a target.

 

[rocket18]

The ugly thing I saw at the football the other night was a security guard harassing indigenous kids.

It was just a few minutes before opening bounce and 3 of them were leaning up against the rail on the walkway at GA, watching the last of the warm up. They were watching Eddy betts who was mostly warming up right in front of them

The security guard walked straight past two white kids doing the same behind the goals and asked the indigenous to move on.

He then lurked were they were, looking around ignoring the white kids he walked past to tell the indigenous to move on. I took his number and made serious eye contact with him when he looked my way.

He got the message and then moved the white kids along just before the game started. Gave them as much time as possible

He never looked anywhere me for the rest of the night

As I understand it. There is CCTV coverage of that area.

Must of been a Powah supporting security guard.

 

[Jeffcrowe]

So after a day delay I watched the replay, I liked MOST of what I saw.

Greenwood - Got taught a bit of a lesson by some pretty handy mids. Looked to cover the ground ok and still did a couple of nice things.

Knight - Rushed back in and given huge responsibility. Liked the pressure and niggle, we need that.

Jenkins - If Josh Francou has done nothing else this year, he has managed to get Josh to play like a 100kg forward should on a much more regular basis. To the point where sides are now holding and double teaming him.

Crouch - Back to somewhere near his best. Plenty of it and barely wasted anything.

Gibbs - Not as much of it but didn't waste it as much particularly off half back. Looked more at home.

Gallucci - He has something about him, and for a kid that looks so awful when kicking it, he rarely makes mistakes. That pace has been missing.

Kelly - Solid again, but just dont see the need for him to be in the side.

Sloane - Heart and soul, was immense all game and if that's what they are going to get from him for the medium term..... happy days

Seedsman - Not his usual self, but still had an impact on the game. When Smith comes back he will get more space.

Walker - Cement Hands Walker was back. Just couldn't take a mark, field kicking was solid for the most part. Don't mind the bump either.

Hartigan - Cringeworthy. Just have no confidence in him, and it looks like he doesn't either.

Brown - Solid as a rock, and snuck down for a goal. Hes a beautiful kick, should use him more often.

Betts - Always dangerous, always ready, always clever. Perfect team game.

Atkins - If he attacks like that then he stays in the side. Lethal early.

Jacobs- Got his hands to it, straight down the throat of Cats midfielders. If that's instruction then that's poor, if its him it's just as bad. Did ok around the deck.

Cheney - Solid as **** again. Really like the composure he brings. Tore Menzel to pieces on the eastern wing.

Lynch - That's more like it. He clearly benefits from a more mobile setup, but he ran and jumped at the ball.

Laird - Sensational. 43 touches and used nearly every one of them effectively. BOG.

Milera - The wheel is turning. He's had more disposals but his game Thursday was awesome. The silky smooth movement.

Doedee - Rinse and repeat. Just keeps going on and on.

Murphy - We HAVE to keep him in the side, even after a bad week or 2. I really like what he brings.

Don't reckon greenwood covers the ground at all well especially in defensive transition - can he improve this ? Need him to because he's great otherwise

Can't play him and CEY in same team

 

[Thegibbsgamble]

Must of been a Powah supporting security guard.

All I know is he is Adelaide oval staff.

His behavior while working there, is reflection of the attitudes of our club and the Adelaide oval management

Unless of course he is sacked an apology given.