Overpossession

[lacrow]

Ladies and Gents,

Wtf is the obsession by the Crows to possess the ball at all costs, even if that means handballing to a completely flat-footed player who's back is to the run of play?

I can't count the number of times we handballed in terrible situations to players who had zero time or space instead of kicking to space or short-kicking to a better option. What happened to short kicking? Why are we so obsessed about maintaining possession that we are handballing all the way back from the center square to deep inside our defensive 50?

 

[lacrow]

God, do our players not understand that you get a REWARD for a successful kick to a teammate that's called a FREE KICK????

Why all the 30 yard handpasses? At least if you're in trouble and you kick to a slightly open man and he marks it, you can stop the bleeding for a second.

 

[ClaytonsCraig]

God, do our players not understand that you get a REWARD for a successful kick to a teammate that's called a FREE KICK????

Why all the 30 yard handpasses? At least if you're in trouble and you kick to a slightly open man and he marks it, you can stop the bleeding for a second.

You've hit the nail on the head!

 

[Elite Crow]

This from the Herald Sun says it all:

"The 20-plus possession games from veterans Tyson Edwards, Andrew McLeod and Simon Goodwin should be ignored alongwith Scott Thompson's 31 and Bernie Vince's 27 because they were all junk stats courtesy of a flawed game plan."

 

[CROW36]

Ladies and Gents,

Wtf is the obsession by the Crows to possess the ball at all costs, even if that means handballing to a completely flat-footed player who's back is to the run of play?

I can't count the number of times we handballed in terrible situations to players who had zero time or space instead of kicking to space or short-kicking to a better option. What happened to short kicking? Why are we so obsessed about maintaining possession that we are handballing all the way back from the center square to deep inside our defensive 50?

Don't want to make excuses... and I'm just as angry as the next guy but we have had a very unsettled side all year, for instance we had 5 players who played 30 games between them.....Davis 2 games
Henderson 1
Cook 8
Petrenko 14
Schmidt 5

It's hard to perfect your game plan when you loose so much experience & have the likes of BOCK,MACkAY,OTTEN,HENTSCHEL,SYMES, STEVENS, SELLAR not available..... four of the guys were part of our back six last year & Knights VB & a few others have had limited pre-season. When we were flying last year we had a good run with injuries, contrary to this year which has been a night mare.

 

[TDRP]

Comes back to the skill level of individual players like most of our problems. I think a lot of the over possession issues from last night came from a play on at all costs mentality which given our previous performances I can accept to an extent.

But the contrast against the Bulldogs well executed kicking is something to think about. I think Craig has always focussed on a gameplan he thinks is capable of winning finals hence the contested ball aspect (Sydney Swans, St Kilda), rolling zone (Hawthorn, St Kilda) and using handball to get the ball into the hands of a well positioned player (i.e. West Coast, Geelong). These are traits of all the most recent premiership winning teams.

What is clear though... if your cattle fumble the ball and execute the handball poorly then it looks shite. Especially when players start handballing before thinking if a kick may have been a better option... it's a balance we need to find very soon.

Gameplan is under scrutiny that is for sure... but I don't think there is an obvious quick fix when we are clearly just executing it poorly.

Interesting facts:

Fremantle will be 4-1 after this round
Sydney are 4-1 (lost by a kick to St Kilda)
Melbourne are 3-2 (Should have been 4-1 having beaten the pies for 95% of the match)
Bulldogs are a class outfit with no major injuries
Carlton we just stuffed it up.. but it's not like they are a bad team esp with Judd the way he played.

I think this will be one of the most even seasons in the history of the league... I think every team is beatable... but every team is capable of beating you at the same time.

 

[LC40]

Just got back from Melbourne and have to agree that over-possession is a real factor in us losing games.
Over-possession comes about because we simply are so predictable in our game style.
Our first option by too many players is to handball backwards or switch the ball across the park without looking up field. It is their first reflex not a escape option,multiply it by two or three player touches to see how it slows the ball movement.

In the pace of today's football this allows an opposition the time to mark a player up the field. This has been a problem for a while now it is nothing new but in the past we were cleaner and teams hadn't worked out how to combat it.
Those days are over!

The other point which I must repeat till I sound like a broken record is this bloody zone.
Watching from the stands (TV sometimes doesn't always show the true perspective of the entire field) is how it is clearly failing.
Peeling off an opponent to guard space is at present not working, it stands out like dogs balls at the ground.
I know others feel this way.

Neil please make an adjustment, sometimes use the zone by all means but please try man on man as well. We are 0-5 after all.
Try something new for Gods sake.

On a positive note I'm glad Davis has been given the opportunity to showcase his wares in the AFL and not left in the SANFL to get 5 best on grounds before getting a call up.

Perhaps there is a lesson there too.

Very frustrated with all this inaction but still keeping the faith!

 

[Go You Crows]

I agree totally LC40. Watching the game on Friday night from the third level you could plainly see the zone falling apart. The players were too far away from the opposition and the ball in many instances because they were guarding space all the time. Their predictability kicking out of the backline also lets us down too. What has happened to the huddle occasionally?

I do not understand why Neil Craig does not try man on man just to see if maybe for once it will work. That is the most frustrating part, you watch the zone fail and yet nothing changes except that they play with an ever increasing lack of confidence.

 

[Pariah]

The veterans are trying to gain a new contract for next year and they are trying to justify their current contracts.

 

[Macca19]

Adelaide arent the only club that are over possessing the footy. Ever since West Coast then Geelong won flags through perpetual motion, most clubs have tried to replicate this style of play. Not many have succeeded in making it work.

The thing that Geelong do well is that they almost never handball into trouble, they almost never handball back into a pack/congested situation, they almost never handball backward and they more often than not handball to players that are moving. This is where teams like yourself and Port and Essendon to use three examples, get into major trouble.

I havent watched your games too closely but Port players always seem to handball to stationary people who are more often than not under pressure as well, we often handball to get rid of it as opposed to be creative with it and we often get stuck in these handball strings that end up with us going backwards or in circles as opposed to using in as an offensive forward moving weapon.

Thats the difference. Weve been trying the Geelong game plan for three years with highly inconsistent and frustrating results. So its not just Adelaide that are frustrating the hell out of their supporters at the moment. Theres about 3 or 4 other clubs in the same boat. Maybe we can all meet for coffee and 40,000 people can vent together.

 

[kirky]

Interesting that two other sides, Essendon and Hawthorn, who have been overpossessing the ball are also struggling in the win-loss category. Its no coincidence.

 

[Kane McGoodwin]

The old rule of thumb is you are better off kicking than handballing when under pressure.

 

[Moonwatcher]

I don't mind the players not kicking when there is no option up forward. For some reason NC game plan does not provide any. This is why we lost to the WC way back in the 2005 prelim, and it's still a problem today.