Pathetic performance this week

[just maybe]

Well, it's over. And year after year, the criticism of our 'Football Operations Manager' continues. The old fart got a bloody deputy last year to help him out, yet we are still HOPELESS.

Pick 17 in itself was not necessarily bad for Watts - but after the way Reid talked him up, we are the laughing stock of the comp. Be careful not to talk the price of your trade bait up if you're going to accept well below it, Reidy.

And to have it done so early...well some of us thought we might be going for another trade and needed the pick to negotiate. Well we've done BUGGER ALL AGAIN except talk about 'mystery players' who probably didn't exist in the first place.

So instead of getting something useful, we risk picks in apparently the weakest draft ever, delist Krueger when we lack KPPs and get rid of Nye for...why?

How we let this pathetic performance of our Football Operations department continue year after year has me baffled. The time has come: what the hell does John Reid offer to our club and where the hell is the accountability?

It has been a pi$$-poor performance by the Crows this week. Craigy's cleanout should have spread further than his assistants.

 

[Stiffy_18]

Oh yeah the club would waste its money on flying players over and putting them through extensive medials just for the sake of it. We agreed to a deal with Brisbane for Selwood but the kid backed out late to say he doesn't want to move to Adelaide. We were also a bee you know what away from getting White today.

But yep, I guess you are right we sat back, scretched our bums all week long and though we got nothing better than throw our money on some airfares and extensive medical testing for 4 players we weren't even interested inrecruiting

 

[just maybe]

Oh yeah the club would waste its money on flying players over and putting them through extensive medials just for the sake of it. We agreed to a deal with Brisbane for Selwood but the kid backed out late to say he doesn't want to move to Adelaide. We were also a bee you know what away from getting White today.

But yep, I guess you are right we sat back, scretched our bums all week long and though we got nothing better than throw our money on some airfares and extensive medical testing for 4 players we weren't even interested inrecruiting

Oh, now backing up on your outrage at the Watts trade? You threw a bloody tantrum Stiffy, don't backpedal now!

And Sporn and Bowden weren't worth flying out here, they were never pick 17 options anyway. Sure, we had a crack at Selwood, but...geez...

You HONESTLY are happy with Reid's performances?

 

[Mong]

I haven't been happy with our trade week performances in many of the past 5 or 6 years (although last year was very good) and have been critical of John Reid many times. But this year I'm quite content with what we've done. Pick 17 for Watts isn't good but I undertand the circumstances and like you said, it's not all that bad a trade. You don't HAVE to trade for players every year. I guess I'm a fan of recruiting through the draft. Good players just aren't put up for trade easily. Players that are up for trade are being offloaded for usually a variety of negative reasons. I've seen too many Scott Stevens, Evan Hewitt, Ryan Fitzgerald type trades to be interested in more second string trades for the sake of being active in trade week.

 

[Stiffy_18]

Oh, now backing up on your outrage at the Watts trade? You threw a bloody tantrum Stiffy, don't backpedal now!

And Sporn and Bowden weren't worth flying out here, they were never pick 17 options anyway. Sure, we had a crack at Selwood, but...geez...

You HONESTLY are happy with Reid's performances?

No I am not happy with the Watts deal but I can undstand the reasoning it was done early in the week. Craigy's new policy is that he won't trade for a player unless he has a chat to him and the player in question undergoes extensive medical testing. There is no chance you can get that done in limited time.

We had 5 players checked out and out of those 2 were persued. We had Selwood, Bowden, Spaanderman, Sporn and White medically checked out this week. All of those players were interviewed. Thats 5 in less than 4 days. You can say what we got for Watts was ******** poor and I would agree 100% BUT don't say the club didn't try to secure a player. You don't do all that sort of crap just so you try and look good to your supporters.

What we got for Watts is ******** poor but I got no major beef with what went on after the Watts trade.

 

[thesouthernend]

You tried very hard for White and also came up short. What is going on over there.

 

[CaptainDangerfield]

How much longer are we going to make excuses for John Reid and co. Time and time again they peform poorly at this time of the year, either by doing stupid trades or by not trading at all. Surely, if we are one of the more wealthier clubs, we should be looking to improve our Footbal Department wherever possible.

As Stiffy has said, trading is a key ingredient in building a premiership team, you need no further example of that than our cross town rivals. Let's face it, they leave us for dead in this area.

FFS Isn't it time for an INDEPENDANT assessment to be completed on the performance of our Football Department, and specifically John Reid.

IMO John Reid should have been shown the door last year when we had our CLAYTONS clean out.

 

[Punchy Bassett]

You tried very hard for White and also came up short. What is going on over there.

Um you guys better be quiet, Nathan Lonie, no first roud draft pick and how much you coughing up for Motlop!

 

[Tas]

I think the Crows should have held out longer on Watts and lined up the person you wanted as part of a three way trade so you can go early IF you get what you want rather than doing half a deal and then caught with your pants down.

I think the Crows are generally conservative when it comes to trading and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that, especially if you have a solid team and there is not a whole lot out there which you really need.

Although, I thought the Crows would fish around a bit more for another rover/crumbing pocket player. There might be someone in the draft though.

 

[WaynesWorld19]

No I am not happy with the Watts deal but I can undstand the reasoning it was done early in the week. Craigy's new policy is that he won't trade for a player unless he has a chat to him and the player in question undergoes extensive medical testing. There is no chance you can get that done in limited time.
.

There you go beliving the media again - so called policy lasted what 3 days???

Was White medically tested and interviewed by Craig

Have to start reading BETWEEN the lines Stiffy

 

[Stiffy_18]

There you go beliving the media again - so called policy lasted what 3 days???

Was White medically tested and interviewed by Craig

Have to start reading BETWEEN the lines Stiffy

Its not the media. Its has been said by the club a number of times. The policy was in place before the trade week. IMHO, I think the policy is a pretty responsible thing to do. We don't want to trade for someone who we don't have a lot of info about. This policy is so Craig like. Gather as much information as you possibly can and make a decision based on that.

Yes White was medically tested and had a chat with Craig earlier in the week. Every player we went after had a medical and interview with Craig.

 

[Tas]

Um you guys better be quiet, Nathan Lonie, no first roud draft pick and how much you coughing up for Motlop!

I'm still trying to figure out who paid what in that trade. We used pick 18 and Moltop and got Hay, 28 & 46 (which we swapped 46 for Rawlings & 43 )

I think 46 came from Port, 28 from Melbourne i think...

Glad we didn't settle for the hardball 14.

 

[snakebite01]

Although, I thought the Crows would fish around a bit more for another rover/crumbing pocket player. There might be someone in the draft though.

I think that's what we'd be looking for.

There's always something on offer late in the draft which is more than adequate for a crumbing forward.

Just in the past few years we've seen Davey, Betts, Pearce and Milne picked up in the PSD or Rookie Draft whilst guys like Medhurst, Johncock, Rodan, Schneider, Corrie, Buchanan and Sherman have been picked up in the 3rd round or later in the National Draft.

IMO, they are the easiest type of players to find if you need them, and generally first year players can slot into the role quite comfortably.

 

[Crow-mosone]

You tried very hard for White and also came up short. What is going on over there.

yes in our favour though, is that the dud remains on your list.

 

[Tas]

I think that's what we'd be looking for.

There's always something on offer late in the draft which is more than adequate for a crumbing forward.

Just in the past few years we've seen Davey, Betts, Pearce and Milne picked up in the PSD or Rookie Draft whilst guys like Medhurst, Johncock, Rodan, Schneider, Corrie, Buchanan and Sherman have been picked up in the 3rd round or later in the National Draft.

IMO, they are the easiest type of players to find if you need them, and generally first year players can slot into the role quite comfortably.

Yeah, that is very true. Is Jeremy Clayton linked to Port Adelaide or are the Crows eligible to grab him? He is a very good forward pocket player. We only de-listed him because we had a surplus at the time.

 

[johnnypanther]

i dont know what people expected from trade week - KPPs & good midfielders to fall out the sky and begging to come to Adelaide (the city) of all places
lets be realistic about the process please

i'm quite happy with the way things turned out:

- sure we lost out on the Watts departure but that is more because he left after only 2 years hence his trade value was not so good and one cannot blame Reidy & Co for that

- we had a red hot go at Selwood unfortunately the old "Adelaide hick town" mentality beat us there and once again one cannot blame Reidy & Co

- there were no "2nd rate trades" done this time which is good and we at least have picks 16,17,32,48 hopefully to pick up some youthful talent particularly in the m/f

- Motlop was obviously a risk which may have paid off but which also may have blown up in our face and even if he wanted to come to AFC our first tradeable pick was only 16 and we had nobody to really trade away either

- what can one expect in a trade week? there's always a lot of hype and at the end nothing much really happens - except we waste 4 days of our lives (monday to thursday) sitting on these boards waiting for something to happen and even on Friday its only the last 2 hours when there's some action and then trades fall over because of lack of time - what a comedy show!

 

[No 1 Draft Pick]

- what can one expect in a trade week? there's always a lot of hype and at the end nothing much really happens - except we waste 4 days of our lives (monday to thursday) sitting on these boards waiting for something to happen and even on Friday its only the last 2 hours when there's some action and then trades fall over because of lack of time - what a comedy show!

How true. And what an absolute joke that some trades cant beat the buzzer at the end of the week

 

[Jerome]

How much longer are we going to make excuses for John Reid and co. Time and time again they peform poorly at this time of the year, either by doing stupid trades or by not trading at all. Surely, if we are one of the more wealthier clubs, we should be looking to improve our Footbal Department wherever possible.

As Stiffy has said, trading is a key ingredient in building a premiership team, you need no further example of that than our cross town rivals. Let's face it, they leave us for dead in this area.

FFS Isn't it time for an INDEPENDANT assessment to be completed on the performance of our Football Department, and specifically John Reid.

IMO John Reid should have been shown the door last year when we had our CLAYTONS clean out.

I agree with everything you have to say. JR might be good at writing policies and contracts but when it comes to trade negotations and tactics, he's not up to it. I cant believe anything the guy has to say.

 

[dogs105]

I agree with everything you have to say. JR might be good at writing policies and contracts but when it comes to trade negotations and tactics, he's not up to it. I cant believe anything the guy has to say.

Does anyone think that JR should have come out and said "Fergus Watts is a bit of a hack, and we'll take whatever we can get" instead of "We want a high first round pick for him"?

 

[macca23]

Does anyone think that JR should have come out and said "Fergus Watts is a bit of a hack, and we'll take whatever we can get" instead of "We want a high first round pick for him"?

Totally right. JR had to talk Watts up as high as he could.

Unfortunately he was talking to a market that rated his product much lower.

You can't get blood out of a stone.

 

[noddy]

You can't get blood out of a stone.

Bloody hell macca that should upset a few of our learned associates on this board.

The way some of us are behaving you would think it's the crime
of the century to come away without bringing back the next Downsbourgh or Hewitt to the AFC.

No quality available then we rely on our picks at the next draft.

 

[bigman]

i dont know what people expected from trade week - KPPs & good midfielders to fall out the sky and begging to come to Adelaide (the city) of all places
lets be realistic about the process please

i'm quite happy with the way things turned out:

- sure we lost out on the Watts departure but that is more because he left after only 2 years hence his trade value was not so good and one cannot blame Reidy & Co for that

- we had a red hot go at Selwood unfortunately the old "Adelaide hick town" mentality beat us there and once again one cannot blame Reidy & Co

- there were no "2nd rate trades" done this time which is good and we at least have picks 16,17,32,48 hopefully to pick up some youthful talent particularly in the m/f

- Motlop was obviously a risk which may have paid off but which also may have blown up in our face and even if he wanted to come to AFC our first tradeable pick was only 16 and we had nobody to really trade away either

- what can one expect in a trade week? there's always a lot of hype and at the end nothing much really happens - except we waste 4 days of our lives (monday to thursday) sitting on these boards waiting for something to happen and even on Friday its only the last 2 hours when there's some action and then trades fall over because of lack of time - what a comedy show!

Nail. Hammer. Head

 

[johnnypanther]

AFC has copped a lot of flak this week for only receiving pick 17 in exchange for Watts who we originally picked up with a draft pick 14. Sure this is disappointing but he had us over a barrow and some would argue that we were lucky to get pick 17 anyway.

How about Port Adelaide - they picked up Gilham with pick 16 and they're going to get absolutely nothing for him. Yet their recruiting/trading team receive no criticism.

Methinks that the Crows recruiting/trading team has been unduly criticised over the years and that a comparison with other clubs would show little difference.

 

[Markthirtytwo]

I believe all those who continually critisize our recruiting department should have a long hard look at other clubs trading before they go ape shyte. Really get a grip. Just how many of these trades these clubs pull off actually get value for money all the bloody time. Some do but plenty dont. Just to trade for trade sake is not the way of a professional outfit.

 

[just maybe]

No I am not happy with the Watts deal but I can undstand the reasoning it was done early in the week. Craigy's new policy is that he won't trade for a player unless he has a chat to him and the player in question undergoes extensive medical testing. There is no chance you can get that done in limited time.

We had 5 players checked out and out of those 2 were persued. We had Selwood, Bowden, Spaanderman, Sporn and White medically checked out this week. All of those players were interviewed. Thats 5 in less than 4 days. You can say what we got for Watts was ******** poor and I would agree 100% BUT don't say the club didn't try to secure a player. You don't do all that sort of crap just so you try and look good to your supporters.

What we got for Watts is ******** poor but I got no major beef with what went on after the Watts trade.

This 'new policy' is all well and good - but should be NICE and not a requirement. Are you really going to give up a good player because you can't get him over for a med and an interview? If we were offered say, Reilly and pick 16 for Fevola on the final day, would we have foregone that because we couldn't enact our policy on him? That would be bloody irresponsible and reckless. But that makes me even more suspicious of Craig's ability to work with trade week as it currently stands.

But most of the blame has to fall on John Reid. WHERE is the accountability? WHAT has this guy actually done for us in recent times? Sure, Thompson was a win, but if Thommo's injuries had returned we wouldn't have looked too fondly on that one.

In apparently the WEAKEST draft in modern memory, we trade EARLY and give St Kilda a dream ride for Watts, and that would be OK if we had a plan for a player with pick 17. But beyond Selwood there were only a couple of players who weren't EVER going to be associated with the pick we swapped for Watts, and other than that we were told about a couple of 'mystery players' (what a lie). So, we lost a pick early, had a weak plan, and came away 'loaded up' with picks in a weak draft. Fantastic work, JR. Let's hope Jimmy F can cover your ass by finding some gems.

And beyond this...we lost multiple KPPs, yet drop Krueger just as he appears to be recovering from his injuries, despite giving Matthew bloody Smith 5 (or will it be SIX) years to prove himself, and then get rid of Nye for...why?

Where is the accountability? Craigy's cleanout should have gone BEYOND his assistants...