Positive or a Really Bad Negative?

[adelcrows]

So far this year the wins and losses have been along the lines of the below..

Dominating and Win = 0
Domination and Lose = 6 (Port, Collingwood, Brisbane, West Coast, West Bulldogs, Essendon)

Even Game and Win = 3 (Hawthorn, Sydney, St Kilda) Hawks we were down but always in it.. Saints was never in the bag..
Even game and Lost = 1 Carlton

Being Dominated and Win = 1 (Gold Coast)
Being Dminated and Lost = 4 (Fremantle, Melbourne, North Melbourne, Geelong)

This says we rarely ever run out a game, When we don't turn up to start a game, we just get blown away, only exception was a young inexperienced Gold Coast side.. Only time this year we have really gone on after half time was Hawthorn, again not really putting the GC game in same bracket..

Basically, the fact we are either not fit enough or not able to focus after half time, does this come though as a positive in a horror season?? This meaning, we learn how to perform in the 3rd quarter for starters and we will win a lot more games.. Or does this just show we don't want it enough or is it the inability to be able to counter opposition structual changes??

I beleive Neil is stuck in the older ages with his fitness techniques etc and the players right now just don't know how to win anymore either, I think a positive in a way all up as if we can change a few things over the pre-season (Coach included...) we do have the right players to perform at the level we all expect..

 

[Lawrst]

Dominating and Win = 0
Domination and Lose = 6 (Port, Collingwood, Brisbane, West Coast, West Bulldogs, Essendon)

Huge Negative

 

[jenny61_99]

I think the review of last year's pre-season issues swung the pendulum too far the other way for this year and this is what sees us unable to run out a game. You would hope that next year sees us correct this and we'll be back where we should be.

 

[Brasher]

That's it, blame the fitness.

Last year was too demanding, this year too soft, let's hope to get it right next year. Who sets the training/fitness regime?

Blaming fitness is a cop out for the one trick pony that is the Adelaide Crows gameplan.

Strategy for opposition coaches against the Crows:

- let's set our normal structures and see if the Crows show up.
- looks like they did this week, let's go man on man and make the Crows accountable.
- job done.

 

[icrow32]

I think the review of last year's pre-season issues swung the pendulum too far the other way for this year and this is what sees us unable to run out a game. You would hope that next year sees us correct this and we'll be back where we should be.

So Neil Craig is goldilocks now?

 

[taylor_walker_13]

I think the review of last year's pre-season issues swung the pendulum too far the other way for this year and this is what sees us unable to run out a game. You would hope that next year sees us correct this and we'll be back where we should be.

Three pre-seasons to get a pre-season right

 

[jenny61_99]

The lack of fitness has to be a very big part of the problem surely? So therefore it's correct to blame it. Apparently (according to conversations in here about the review) Schwerdt/Craig had decided to push the barrier last year and the results were disastrous. This year they cut back significantly on the pre-season program, and I think it's safe to say it has been a huge contributing factor to our inability to run games out.

Please note, this is not excusing Craig from what has been two years of risks that haven't paid off. But the point is, we have been praised by all and sundry in the past for our conditioning and fitness levels and last year we pushed the envelope and failed miserably. This year, in attempt to correct that, I think we've gone too far the other way. You can't demand that they try new things on one hand and then complain when they do and they fail.

 

[King Elvis]

I think the review of last year's pre-season issues swung the pendulum too far the other way for this year and this is what sees us unable to run out a game. You would hope that next year sees us correct this and we'll be back where we should be.

I think there is some truth to this.

Looks like between the weakening of our pre-season due to injuries, and an over-estimation of the importance of 'burst' fitness instead of endurance due to rotations and the sub-rule, we've gone in the wrong direction.

An attempt to be leading edge has backfired.

 

[BunjiMac]

I think it's more that other teams have evolved their fitness and training regimes and as a result moved passed us, whereas we have pretty much stayed stagnant relying in the same techniques we've used for the past decade.

A sweeping change is needed

 

[Vader]

Being Dominated and Win = 1 (Gold Coast)

Did you even watch this game?

Gold Coast dominated the first 10-15min, but after that it was ALL Adelaide. This one clearly belongs in the "Dominating and Win" category, bumping that count up from 0 to 1 - still well down on the 6 games you quite rightly categorised as "Dominating and Lose".

As I see it, the team/club has a multitude of problems, most of which are probably interlinked.

I think Jenny is right in saying that part of the problem is a lack of fitness, with the pendulum having swung too far back the other way during our most recent pre-season. The fact that they've got it so badly wrong for at least 3 pre-seasons now is definitely a black mark against the coaching panel - and I will be very disappointed if Schwerdt does not get sacked during the post-season culling.

I also think that a part of this is due to the age of our team. It's very obvious now that a lot of our players are wearing out as the season progresses. We've already sent several of them back to the SANFL as their form has collapsed (McKernan being the most notable example), and we have a number of others who would benefit from some SANFL time if we had the replacements available - Wright & Smith being 2 who spring to mind. Young kids wear out, veterans are far more durable as the season progresses. That's not rocket science.

I think the team is mentally fragile. They have lost their killer instinct. The teams I saw from 2005-2009 would never hang their heads and give up the way our current group do - they would fight things out to the end; win, lose or draw. The current group have forgotten how to win - they've been beaten so many times in the last 2 years that they've now become used to it, they give up as soon as the opposition challenge in the 2nd half and it's all over red rover.

 

[BunjiMac]

I actually don't think that the changes made to preseason were necessarily bad. As I recall they were made to accomodate the way the game has changed, ie shorter burst of power as opposed to endurance. However, these changes become bad when you fail to adapt your game plan to the training technique. What's the point in increasing power burst and decreasing endurance when your game plan is endurance based?

Our game plan and training style are out of synch

 

[adelcrows]

Did you even watch this game?

Gold Coast dominated the first 10-15min, but after that it was ALL Adelaide. This one clearly belongs in the "Dominating and Win" category, bumping that count up from 0 to 1 - still well down on the 6 games you quite rightly categorised as "Dominating and Lose".

As I see it, the team/club has a multitude of problems, most of which are probably interlinked.

I think Jenny is right in saying that part of the problem is a lack of fitness, with the pendulum having swung too far back the other way during our most recent pre-season. The fact that they've got it so badly wrong for at least 3 pre-seasons now is definitely a black mark against the coaching panel - and I will be very disappointed if Schwerdt does not get sacked during the post-season culling.

I also think that a part of this is due to the age of our team. It's very obvious now that a lot of our players are wearing out as the season progresses. We've already sent several of them back to the SANFL as their form has collapsed (McKernan being the most notable example), and we have a number of others who would benefit from some SANFL time if we had the replacements available - Wright & Smith being 2 who spring to mind. Young kids wear out, veterans are far more durable as the season progresses. That's not rocket science.

I think the team is mentally fragile. They have lost their killer instinct. The teams I saw from 2005-2009 would never hang their heads and give up the way our current group do - they would fight things out to the end; win, lose or draw. The current group have forgotten how to win - they've been beaten so many times in the last 2 years that they've now become used to it, they give up as soon as the opposition challenge in the 2nd half and it's all over red rover.

I did actually mate and unless I am to be corrected this was a game we were down 4 goals to zip from the start, that's a pretty dominant start in my books and again unless I am wrong here it's the only game (Bar hawthorn having a lead at Half Time) we started as if we weren't even there only to turn up a little later and continue to run it out..

 

[Crow About It]

Did you even watch this game?

Gold Coast dominated the first 10-15min, but after that it was ALL Adelaide. This one clearly belongs in the "Dominating and Win" category, bumping that count up from 0 to 1 - still well down on the 6 games you quite rightly categorised as "Dominating and Lose".

As I see it, the team/club has a multitude of problems, most of which are probably interlinked.

I think Jenny is right in saying that part of the problem is a lack of fitness, with the pendulum having swung too far back the other way during our most recent pre-season. The fact that they've got it so badly wrong for at least 3 pre-seasons now is definitely a black mark against the coaching panel - and I will be very disappointed if Schwerdt does not get sacked during the post-season culling.

I also think that a part of this is due to the age of our team. It's very obvious now that a lot of our players are wearing out as the season progresses. We've already sent several of them back to the SANFL as their form has collapsed (McKernan being the most notable example), and we have a number of others who would benefit from some SANFL time if we had the replacements available - Wright & Smith being 2 who spring to mind. Young kids wear out, veterans are far more durable as the season progresses. That's not rocket science.

I think the team is mentally fragile. They have lost their killer instinct. The teams I saw from 2005-2009 would never hang their heads and give up the way our current group do - they would fight things out to the end; win, lose or draw. The current group have forgotten how to win - they've been beaten so many times in the last 2 years that they've now become used to it, they give up as soon as the opposition challenge in the 2nd half and it's all over red rover.

Yay, we're the new Port....

 

[KUNG FU]

It says to me two things

1) Fitness is not great, which arguably is to be expected from a younger group and with one less bench spot brought in this year
2) The Crows are mentally insipid this year

Both are massive crosses against Neil Craig imo. However, they are easily fixed and I think we have a great deal to look forward. I still maintain we have a good list - or at the least the skeleton of a good list - which just needs our front line players to stand up and our youngsters to get another year under its belt under a new coaching panel.

 

[WALL-e]

We're a team with NO confidence.

We have a group that are split in two cats. One that has played with a group of genuine stars who helped them get accros the line and one that is vastly inexperienced in both games played and in winning (due to playing in our current shables of a team).

This means when challenged, the young guys aren't yet sure on how to act (not all of them, and they're not flakes, they're just inexperienced in AFL) and the older guys are now pillars, not those leaning on the pillars.

We can't withstand an opposition run because we're mentally weak and revert to rubbish footy. You can blame injuries, the coaching staff, and Luke Jericho for this, but there's a lot of reasons. What's important is we take the measures to regain confidence and have guys like Sloane continue to develop as on field leaders so in time he can be a pillar for us.

 

[adelcrows]

It says to me two things

1) Fitness is not great, which arguably is to be expected from a younger group and with one less bench spot brought in this year
2) The Crows are mentally insipid this year

Both are massive crosses against Neil Craig imo. However, they are easily fixed and I think we have a great deal to look forward. I still maintain we have a good list - or at the least the skeleton of a good list - which just needs our front line players to stand up and our youngsters to get another year under its belt under a new coaching panel.

This is kind of where I was headed, I think it's a Negatine with the current regime but I also see it as a positive if we make the right changes...

 

[srv23]

So Neil Craig is goldilocks now?

This is a seriously underrated post - very funny

 

[cmndstab]

I don't think it's a fitness issue. I think it's a mentality issue. Whether it's because the players just aren't enjoying themselves, or they've lost confidence in their ability to win, or they've lost confidence in the coaches to guide them to victory, or some combination of the above factors, I have no idea. However, you could tell in the third quarter against Essendon that we were going to be a big chance of losing, long before fatigue ever became a factor. We were playing like a team that didn't believe we were going to win the match.


Whether or not you believe that Craig should go, one positive that should emerge if he is moved on is that we'll have a fresh start, which hopefully will freshen up the mentality of some of the players. A change is as good as a holiday, they say...

 

[mrmatt]

I think it's more of a game plan issue than a fitness one. In general terms I reckon we are doing really well at deconstructing sides pre-match and how to play succesfully against them. Tick - match commitee. We have a plan and stick to it. That is up until opposition sides adjust to whatever tactics we are employing and we just keep on playing the same way. We dont adjust on the fly... Or we do too late. Red cross - match commitee.
That coupled with our lack of confidence is far more of an issue than our match fitness.
Also heard on the broadcast of one of our interstate games the other day that we warmed-up pre-match - intensely - for a lengthy amount of time. If running out the game is an issue why the hell are we running ourselves into the ground pre-match?

 

[jenny61_99]

I don't think it's a fitness issue. I think it's a mentality issue. Whether it's because the players just aren't enjoying themselves, or they've lost confidence in their ability to win, or they've lost confidence in the coaches to guide them to victory, or some combination of the above factors, I have no idea. However, you could tell in the third quarter against Essendon that we were going to be a big chance of losing, long before fatigue ever became a factor. We were playing like a team that didn't believe we were going to win the match.


Whether or not you believe that Craig should go, one positive that should emerge if he is moved on is that we'll have a fresh start, which hopefully will freshen up the mentality of some of the players. A change is as good as a holiday, they say...

"They" are wrong. I've tried change - much prefer the holiday!

 

[Wood_Duck]

I think Jenny is right in saying that part of the problem is a lack of fitness, with the pendulum having swung too far back the other way during our most recent pre-season.

This is the bit that puzzles me. Why does everyone keep telling me that Neil Craig has such incredible expertise in the area of fitness?

If you ask me this is an urban myth that may have had some validity 10 to 15 years ago.

 

[cmndstab]

Has the concept of fitness and preparation really changed that much in the last 10-15 years? He was our fitness coach when we won two premierships and has prepared Olympic athletes, why wouldn't we assume he is an expert in this field? Yes, it was a long time ago, but human bodies haven't really changed shape or composition in the last decade.


I'll agree, the injury record in his AFL tenure does not speak kindly for him.


Edit: For the record, I'm far from convinced the "pendulum has swung too far the other way". I think our training has been tweaked, and probably for the better. I don't think fitness is our issue this season.

 

[Wood_Duck]

Has the concept of fitness and preparation really changed that much in the last 10-15 years? He was our fitness coach when we won two premierships and has prepared Olympic athletes, why wouldn't we assume he is an expert in this field? Yes, it was a long time ago, but human bodies haven't really changed shape or composition in the last decade.

I'd be fairly confident that sports science has changed dramatically in the last 10 years. Go back to 97 and 98 we were clearly ahead of the pack in this area. Our current predicament would suggest we are well behind the pack currently. Do we need to go to Arizona? maybe not, but clearly we are not getting it right.

 

[cmndstab]

I'm certainly not knowledgable about the field, but I doubt it has "changed dramatically". Likely it has been tweaked a little bit, and a few old ideas have been thrown out, but for the most part remains exactly the same.


The question I've always had is, do we actually want to be using the same techniques we'd use for Olympic athletes? Olympic athletes are pretty damn special people, particularly cyclists, you don't make it to the Olympics cycling team if you're not naturally a phenomenal athlete. Perhaps those standards are too much to ask of your average AFL footballer.

Of course, there's every chance that Craig recognises this and scales back his methods to suit AFL. I really don't know.

 

[Allefgib]

I'm certainly not knowledgable about the field, but I doubt it has "changed dramatically". Likely it has been tweaked a little bit, and a few old ideas have been thrown out, but for the most part remains exactly the same.


The question I've always had is, do we actually want to be using the same techniques we'd use for Olympic athletes? Olympic athletes are pretty damn special people, particularly cyclists, you don't make it to the Olympics cycling team if you're not naturally a phenomenal athlete. Perhaps those standards are too much to ask of your average AFL footballer.

Of course, there's every chance that Craig recognises this and scales back his methods to suit AFL. I really don't know.

I'd suggest the level of professionalism wrt player fitness has changed dramatically since the 90's. As has the involvement of sports scinece within AFL clubs (possibly off the back of Craig's success in employing its methods).

What has emerged over the last few years though is that we have possibly focussing on producing a different type of fitness, more endurance focussed, than teams like the pies who have focuessed on repeat, short burst fitness. Probably due to our gameplan style being a bit behind the times now too. I think thats probably more the crux of it.

Summary:
I think craigy is good enough at what he does to prepare guys appropriately. (has possibly pushed a bit hard for a bit long though)
I think all the other clubs have caught up alot - we are no longer anywhere near leading the competition in this area.
I think we plan our fitness for a less than ideal gameplan compared to the competition leaders. Consequently we don't have the right 'type' of fitness atm.