NAB Cup 2010

[1990crow]

Thought we needed something offical to get the ball rolling in terms of the structure and plans for our NAB cup campaign and eventually, round 1.

What youngsters get a go, do we rest the older guys, or do we build momentum into the season. My preference would be to give the youngsters a go and build momentum towards the latter stages of the season but, I'm no coach. Players like Walker, Sloane, Cook, McKernan, Davis, Talia, Armstrong, Jacky and even S. Shaw who seems to fit the Adelaide low profile, quality midfielder standard.

 

[iamjason]

What youngsters get a go, do we rest the older guys, or do we build momentum into the season.

I think I heard NC mention something to the effect of the NAB Cup not being a trial for young guys this year, so there shouldn't be any "momentum building" as such. So this year, from the very start of the NAB Cup through to season's end, players must earn their spots and perform consistently well to keep them, regardless of age or accolades.

I like the sound of that. Internal competition = winning culture.

 

[foley_falcon]

I think I heard NC mention something to the effect of the NAB Cup not being a trial for young guys this year, so there shouldn't be any "momentum building" as such. So this year, from the very start of the NAB Cup through to season's end, players must earn their spots and perform consistently well to keep them, regardless of age or accolades.

I like the sound of that. Internal competition = winning culture.

I sure hope so. My heart barracks for Richmond, my wallet barracks for the Crows

 

[lunacy]

I would certainly prefer to see a lot of our youngsters get a go, but as previously mentioned NC has already said he wont be playing the youngsters just for the sake of it.

Yes this is good as only those deserving of selection will play. However I really think this could be a very long season for us and i worry about us breaking down at the end of the season. Yes if we go hard early we will hopefully be in full flight by round 1. BUT,

- We already have a very taxing preseason training format (a lot of game simulation/competitive drilling).
- 4 preseason games
- 22 H & A games
- possibly 2-3 finals games.
= 28-29 games.

Personally, I like the idea of giving some of our best youngsters a real chance in NAB cup and gradually settling the side and introducing the older guys come round 1.

My 26 players and their relative positions are;

FB Davis Rutten Johncock
HB Armstrong Bock Patrenko
C Mackay Thomo Cook
HF Knights Mckernan Danger
FF Jacky Tippett Walker
1R Maric Vince Sloane
Int. Griffin Sellar Burton Hentschel Douglas Doughty

I have left out Goodwin, Edwards, Mcleod, Stevens allowing them to make way for youngsters. Plus Reilly was left out due to him getting overtaken by deserving youngsters this year imo. Plus Porps, VB, Symes, Moran, Otten and Martin are inj.

So the youngsters (under 15 games) getting a go are; Davis, Armstrong, Patrenko, Cook, Mckernan, Jacky, and Sloane.

However all those senior players above will be in NAB cup rd 1 side

 

[Bockchoy67]

I'll be interested to see the side against Port.

The six players confirmed to not be playing due to injury are Van Berlo, Symes, Martin, Otten, Moran and Porps, four of which who are in our best 22 and the other two in between (Moran being noticeably closer), so there's basically four or five spots automatically open for grabs.

Looking at our side against Collingwood in the semi-final:

B: Johncock, Rutten, Otten
HB: Reilly, Stevens, Doughty
C: McLeod, Thompson, Mackay
HF: Knights, Hentschel, Vince
F: Porplyzia, Tippett, Burton
R: Maric, Edwards, Goodwin
I/c: Shirley, Symes, Sellar, Dangerfield

The bolded four will definitely not be playing, but the rest you would assume will all play, barring unforseen injury or poor form on the track. Craig has publically stated that we will be playing the best avaliable and reward good pre-seasons, not gifting games away to kids just because these are essentially trials. He obviously wants to right from the start cement the culture that no player will be handed games - even in the NAB Cup they will have to earn it themselves. A very good approach in my opinion.

As for who comes in, naturally Bock should be there unless the club is being hesitant with him and his heel injury, but from what I've heard and read he seems to be running well. Douglas should come in given his reportedly excellent pre-season campaign. As for the kids, I've only heard good things about the form of Sloane, Petrenko and Walker, all who got solid run last year and will be looking to solidify themselves in the best 22 this year (particularly Walker and Sloane). You'd think Cook would also get a run as well. Davis and McKernan should also get a run as well, the latter being the more likely of the two at this stage I would think. As much as I would like to see Davis take over Otten's spot this year, judging by training it just seems like he's got some more development to do before he takes over such an important role in our team, but I could be wrong.

As for the new draftees, it seems doubtful that we'll see them in the NAB cup, except for maybe Shaw. Talia has only recently got into the full stuff, and Gunston is physically a long way from it (though I rate him quite highly). Craig will probably take the longest to develop so I'm not expecting to see him anytime soon. Shaw on the other hand has been impressive on the track and has done quite a lot of training from what I've read, so I think he's a chance of getting a run. But there's a lot to come before him.

My big question is on Griffin. I'm barely aware of his form in the pre-season but I haven't heard anything particularly special. Given his poor year in 2009 it will be interesting to see if they play him round 1 in the NAB Cup - given that Sellar appears to be getting groomed for a role in defence (and might be swapped with Bock during the game), Griffin might get a chance as second ruckman.

Essentially I think the team should end up looking something like this:

B: Johncock, Rutten, Stevens
HB: Doughty, Bock, Goodwin
C: Reilly, Thompson, Mackay
HF: Douglas, Hentschel, Knights
F: Dangerfield, Tippett, Walker
R: Maric, Sloane, Vince
INT: (Out of) Sellar, Petrenko, Edwards, Cook, McKernan, McLeod, Burton, Griffin


Looking at my team above it seems quite a few kids will be missing out which typically goes against the nature of the NAB Cup, but I'm really just going by what Craig has said about his approach to it. Really, it's only the backline which looks particularly experienced, and is a good reason as to why the likes of Sellar and Petrenko are being developed with defensive positions in mind, and why we drafted guys like Otten, Davis, Talia, Shaw and Cook - these guys are all very versitile and whilst perfectly capable of playing forward or in the midfield, they're all very good at providing run-and-carry from defence, and should hold our defence (which is essential to our ball movement) in good stead for years to come.

 

[WALL-e]

I can see a couple of seniors get a rest, but people wont be gifted games, Craig is very strong on that

 

[spexau]

We will have a very strong team out there going from what all the Crows players have been saying. The only way some untried kids will get a go will be courtesy of the extended bench. I wouldn't be surprised to see the older blokes get a rest in the last quarter for some of the newer faces, depending on how the match is proceeding of course.

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

I would certainly prefer to see a lot of our youngsters get a go, but as previously mentioned NC has already said he wont be playing the youngsters just for the sake of it.

Yes this is good as only those deserving of selection will play. However I really think this could be a very long season for us and i worry about us breaking down at the end of the season. Yes if we go hard early we will hopefully be in full flight by round 1.

This is an interesting comparison to 2009. Last year we played a lot of youngsters early on in the season and, then as the season progressed, the youngsters gradually fell by the wayside. It's a long season for young players and we finished with our strongest, most experienced line up by the end.

Part of that was caused by injuries though. Burton, Hentschel and Symes were all unavailable early in the season so the kids almost got games by default, rather than by any plan to introduce them.

Assuming that everyone is fit and firing early this season (big assumption) then will we keep it simple and just go with our absolute strongest 22, right from Round 1 of the NAB Cup? Will certainly make for a long season.

Last year may not have been planned but it worked out well and, the most insipid 3rd quarter in AFC history aside, we seemed to be peaking at the right time.

 

[jenny61_99]

For what it's worth, I've been to watch the Lions train a couple of times this pre-season and they are doing more or less what we are in terms of drills. Their strategy sessions are obviously the main difference as they try and work a structure around a Fevola/Brown forward "paddock". I don't know what they are doing off the field, but for all intents and purposes, they are on a par with us. If anything they look like they've bulked up more than we have (bearing in mind I haven't seen our players since the week before Christmas).

I'm wondering how serious we are taking the NAB cup considering we are flying to QLD for 5 days the day after our round 1 match. Do we play again the following week or get a week off? (I seem to recall a split opening round??)

 

[dplggr47]

For what it's worth, I've been to watch the Lions train a couple of times this pre-season and they are doing more or less what we are in terms of drills. Their strategy sessions are obviously the main difference as they try and work a structure around a Fevola/Brown forward "paddock". I don't know what they are doing off the field, but for all intents and purposes, they are on a par with us. If anything they look like they've bulked up more than we have (bearing in mind I haven't seen our players since the week before Christmas).

I'm wondering how serious we are taking the NAB cup considering we are flying to QLD for 5 days the day after our round 1 match. Do we play again the following week or get a week off? (I seem to recall a split opening round??)

opening round is a split round, so there's a week off...if we win.

this might already be covered somewhere, but anyone know whether Bock, vB and Dangerfield will be ready for NAB cup round 1?

 

[Bockchoy67]

opening round is a split round, so there's a week off...if we win.

this might already be covered somewhere, but anyone know whether Bock, vB and Dangerfield will be ready for NAB cup round 1?

VB won't.

From all reports the other two should be fine to play.

 

[dplggr47]

VB won't.

From all reports the other two should be fine to play.

cheers, hopefully vB will be ready for round 1 season proper though.