Injury Injury Watch 2021

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I'd be keen to let Matt go but we're not getting a pick any better than what we got for Brad. Then you gotta ask is that worth it. Getting peanuts again for a decent player. The problem is you don't really want to continue with a starting line up of Crouch, laird and Keays continually for the next 4 years when we've got Schoenberg, Pedlar, Berry and hopefully a high draft pick mid this year who you would want coming through.
 
I'd be keen to let Matt go but we're not getting a pick any better than what we got for Brad. Then you gotta ask is that worth it. Getting peanuts again for a decent player. The problem is you don't really want to continue with a starting line up of Crouch, laird and Keays continually for the next 4 years when we've got Schoenberg, Pedlar, Berry and hopefully a high draft pick mid this year who you would want coming through.

If Keays is in our starting midfield line up in 4 years we are f**ked.
 

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Would be good to see Pedlar string a number of games together to push for a few afl games later in the year. Needs match fitness as well by the sounds of it.

What's the bet he will also need surgery on his groin later in the year?
 
Keays will be 29 by then so getting towards the end. I'd happily have him in the midfield for the next 4 hoping that he's still not the number 1/2 mid that he is now. Although he lacks polish, he's the type of player you need in your team. Wins the hard ball, gets clearances, tackles hard and puts in 100% at every single contest.
 
Keays will be 29 by then so getting towards the end. I'd happily have him in the midfield for the next 4 hoping that he's still not the number 1/2 mid that he is now. Although he lacks polish, he's the type of player you need in your team. Wins the hard ball, gets clearances, tackles hard and puts in 100% at every single contest.
I really like Keays and think he would almost be winning our B&F right now, but he is really only going to be in the starting midfield for the next 1-2 seasons while our next generation develop. Ideally we want all of Berry, Shoenberg and Pedlar to move into the midfield rotation as well as another 1 or 2 mids we take this year. So by the end of next year he will most likely be pushed out.
 
I really like Keays and think he would almost be winning our B&F right now, but he is really only going to be in the starting midfield for the next 1-2 seasons while our next generation develop. Ideally we want all of Berry, Shoenberg and Pedlar to move into the midfield rotation as well as another 1 or 2 mids we take this year. So by the end of next year he will most likely be pushed out.
I don't see Keays getting pushed out anytime soon personally, we're playing purely as an inside mid but he's proven he's way more than handy forward if we ever try him there.
 
I didn't know injury curses were transferrable through bloodlines, sucks for Crouchy if its true.
It’s called “genetics”. :(
Just hoping MCrouch can get it right for next year. He should still have some few more good years left, and we need a guy who can naturally accumulate regular 30-disposal games. Apart from Laird, we don’t have many others with that level of consistent accumulation.
 
The Adelaide Bigfooty Board must have some of the most astute judges of footy talent in the universe.

Ben Keays picked up in 2019 Rookie Draft - ”Why waste a pick on this Brisbane discard?”
Finishes 5th in our B&F in 2020.

2021 Pre-season “Keays is not in our best 22, waste of a spot if we play him this year”.
Currently top three in our B&F.

After 10 games in 2020 “Keays has no future, burns the ball, play more Kids”.

I must check if any of these posters were also assuring me that Jarryd Lyons would never make it as an AFL footballer a few years ago? Haven’t heard a single word from these experts about his form at the Lions.
 
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The Adelaide Bigfooty Board must have some of the most astute judges of footy talent in the universe.

Ben Keays picked up in 2019 Rookie Draft - ”Why waste a pick on this Brisbane discard?”
Finishes 5th in our B&F in 2020.

2021 Pre-season “Keays is not in our best 22, waste of a spot if we play him this year”.
Currently top three in our B&F.

After 10 games in 2020 “Keays has no future, burns the ball, play more Kids”.

I must check if any of these posters were also assuring me that Jarryd Lyons would never make it as an AFL footballer a few years ago? Haven’t heard a single word from these experts about his form at the Lions.
I've read a thousand posts about people whinging about the Crows getting rid of Lyons, and lots back in the day that complained that we kept making him the sub.

People liked Lyons, knew he was a bit slow, but no one anticipated how his football brain would allow him to improve to the level he has. Not even his fans
 
The Adelaide Bigfooty Board must have some of the most astute judges of footy talent in the universe.

Ben Keays picked up in 2019 Rookie Draft - ”Why waste a pick on this Brisbane discard?”
Finishes 5th in our B&F in 2020.

2021 Pre-season “Keays is not in our best 22, waste of a spot if we play him this year”.
Currently top three in our B&F.

After 10 games in 2020 “Keays has no future, burns the ball, play more Kids”.

I must check if any of these posters were also assuring me that Jarryd Lyons would never make it as an AFL footballer a few years ago? Haven’t heard a single word from these experts about his form at the Lions.
I wish someone would put together a highlights reel of every single kick he has done into our forward 50 this year..

2 out of every 10 wouldve hit their mark.

The rest are barely D-grade standard..

No good winning the contest, getting the ball and then kicking an un-markable helicopter or floater or shanking it to the boundary or kicking it to the great advantage of the opposition defenders.

His disposal is *n terrible. Its not AFL standard and I suspect it is the very reason he was let go by Brisbane.

Laird and Matt Crouch’s disposal at times isnt much better.

The whole reason I have singled out crouch to be moved on is because hes the one out of Sloane, Laird, Keays and crouch that is out of contract and we simply cannot have all four of them in the side next year taking up all the midfield minutes.

We’ve seen the results of this in the last year or so. They get absolutely towelled up against the sides with class midfields and when they do get the ball dispose of it terribly.

Its the very reason we are a bottom side. We lack class and polish in our midfield and these four blokes are the main culprits.
 
Keays will be 29 by then so getting towards the end. I'd happily have him in the midfield for the next 4 hoping that he's still not the number 1/2 mid that he is now. Although he lacks polish, he's the type of player you need in your team. Wins the hard ball, gets clearances, tackles hard and puts in 100% at every single contest.
I think once we are set for high end midfielders going forward keays ideal role is as a hard tackling gut running tagger who could make life very difficult for the opposition best mids. He will offer us flexibility and good depth if he is not one of the 'automatic' starting mids in a few years time
 

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Keays gives 100% which given where we are at the moment is needed. I reckon he would be fully aware that he is only there due to lack of ready made talent and immaturity at the moment in our side. We will have it in a couple of years but not quite yet.

Name one of our current experience midfielders than consistently do a lace out 30-40m pass to our forwards? Laird - no. Keays - no. Crouch - no. Sloane - possibly. Throw in Brodie and Seedsman - both beautiful long kickers but can’t kick a ball to a target 25-30 metres.

Crouch - what do we do with him now he is gone for the rest of the year. His trade value isn’t there now. He is restricted so let him test the market.
 
I think once we are set for high end midfielders going forward keays ideal role is as a hard tackling gut running tagger who could make life very difficult for the opposition best mids. He will offer us flexibility and good depth if he is not one of the 'automatic' starting mids in a few years time

i reckon he could play the high half forward role but a different way to Lynch. Instead of being laced out from half back, he'd work up to impact contests and then work back to do the same. The idea being to run his opponent ragged and ultimately end up on the end of a scoring chain. Lots of players struggle with depth and moving targets at full clip but are ok at kicking goals. He could be one of those and then also slip into the stoppages if we're needing a change up in there. I think Sloane could also do similar and Laird could rest in a pocket and provide a bit of pressure around the contest and crumbs. Matt is the only truely one dimensional midfielder we play, but we play them all as one dimensional midfielders.

But that's solely from the TV, might look different live.
 
Keays gives 100% which given where we are at the moment is needed. I reckon he would be fully aware that he is only there due to lack of ready made talent and immaturity at the moment in our side. We will have it in a couple of years but not quite yet.

Name one of our current experience midfielders than consistently do a lace out 30-40m pass to our forwards? Laird - no. Keays - no. Crouch - no. Sloane - possibly. Throw in Brodie and Seedsman - both beautiful long kickers but can’t kick a ball to a target 25-30 metres.

Crouch - what do we do with him now he is gone for the rest of the year. His trade value isn’t there now. He is restricted so let him test the market.

We don't "let" him test the market, he holds every card in the deck.
 
i reckon he could play the high half forward role but a different way to Lynch. Instead of being laced out from half back, he'd work up to impact contests and then work back to do the same. The idea being to run his opponent ragged and ultimately end up on the end of a scoring chain. Lots of players struggle with depth and moving targets at full clip but are ok at kicking goals. He could be one of those and then also slip into the stoppages if we're needing a change up in there. I think Sloane could also do similar and Laird could rest in a pocket and provide a bit of pressure around the contest and crumbs. Matt is the only truely one dimensional midfielder we play, but we play them all as one dimensional midfielders.

But that's solely from the TV, might look different live.
My concern for the half forward role is that his distribution is not as good as lynch's if he was to become a connector. His kicking for goal has also been a bit awry too but others here do believe he could make it more as a forward.
 
My concern for the half forward role is that his distribution is not as good as lynch's if he was to become a connector. His kicking for goal has also been a bit awry too but others here do believe he could make it more as a forward.

He's certainly not who you want delivering to the last player in the scoring chain. But given we're rebuilding, I'd like Sloane and Keays to split a HFF/Mid unit and Berry and ROC to do the same. Give the kids more minutes and get a look at the other 2 in a spot that is now vacant. It doesn't need to be played as Lynch plays it. And if it's going terribly, the pieces are all still in the 22, just revert back. No biggie.
 
The Adelaide Bigfooty Board must have some of the most astute judges of footy talent in the universe.

Ben Keays picked up in 2019 Rookie Draft - ”Why waste a pick on this Brisbane discard?”
Finishes 5th in our B&F in 2020.

2021 Pre-season “Keays is not in our best 22, waste of a spot if we play him this year”.
Currently top three in our B&F.

After 10 games in 2020 “Keays has no future, burns the ball, play more Kids”.

I must check if any of these posters were also assuring me that Jarryd Lyons would never make it as an AFL footballer a few years ago? Haven’t heard a single word from these experts about his form at the Lions.
I'm not writing him off, I just think that he lacks that polish required to be part of premiership contending midfield. He has been perfect for the early stages of our rebuild, he has been the grunt that we needed in there while our younger mids develop. But eventually you would want the kids with higher ceilings to overtake him. It might not be for another 2-3 years but if it doesn't then these kids haven't really developed like we'd hoped.

Not saying there isn't a spot for him somewhere else in the team though, he could end up as that high pressure forward or a lock down defender?
 
I wish someone would put together a highlights reel of every single kick he has done into our forward 50 this year..

2 out of every 10 wouldve hit their mark.

The rest are barely D-grade standard..

No good winning the contest, getting the ball and then kicking an un-markable helicopter or floater or shanking it to the boundary or kicking it to the great advantage of the opposition defenders.

His disposal is fu**n terrible. Its not AFL standard and I suspect it is the very reason he was let go by Brisbane.
Keays will never be the next Bontempelli but players like Bont come along once in a generation. Even the self proclaimed World’s Greatest Midfielder from Geelong burns the ball a lot.

Ben has just reached 50 games and has shown fantastic improvement over the last twelve months. How does he compare to Lachie Neale at the same point in his career?

The comments from a conga line of Bigfooty “experts” when Lyons left was “who gives a stuff?”. I have watched him rack up over 30 quality possessions every game this year and Yes, I do give a stuff. My point is that some players stagnate, others steadily improve and occasionally one of these “average” footballers turns into a Brownlow Medallist (i.e. Lachie Neale who some Bigfooty “experts” said it would be a waste of time bringing him to the Crows, too small, no weapons).

Keays has one attribute that we are really missing, he wins the ball a lot. He might fade away to become the next Petrenko but I doubt it.
 
Keays will never be the next Bontempelli but players like Bont come along once in a generation. Even the self proclaimed World’s Greatest Midfielder from Geelong burns the ball a lot.

Ben has just reached 50 games and has shown fantastic improvement over the last twelve months. How does he compare to Lachie Neale at the same point in his career?

The comments from a conga line of Bigfooty “experts” when Lyons left was “who gives a stuff?”. I have watched him rack up over 30 quality possessions every game this year and Yes, I do give a stuff. My point is that some players stagnate, others steadily improve and occasionally one of these “average” footballers turns into a Brownlow Medallist (i.e. Lachie Neale who some Bigfooty “experts” said it would be a waste of time bringing him to the Crows, too small, no weapons).

Keays has one attribute that we are really missing, he wins the ball a lot. He might fade away to become the next Petrenko but I doubt it.
Maybe not once in a generation, but we get your point. Until one of our youngsters comes along and takes the position off him, it's his to lose. He's got upside still, it's not like he's 29-33 and past his best and keeping a kid out of the team...
 
Certainly not, but we definitely have a place in the side for him for the next 3-5 years. Possibly more if he improves his decision making going forward. Every time he kicks it inside 50 i close my eyes. He needs to lower his eyes and hit a short target.

His value is battling away at stoppages, he is excellent and shooting out a good handball when being tackled which draws an opponent away.
He's certainly not who you want delivering to the last player in the scoring chain. But given we're rebuilding, I'd like Sloane and Keays to split a HFF/Mid unit and Berry and ROC to do the same. Give the kids more minutes and get a look at the other 2 in a spot that is now vacant. It doesn't need to be played as Lynch plays it. And if it's going terribly, the pieces are all still in the 22, just revert back. No biggie.

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