Review Positives and Negatives - Raining Premiers vs Adelaide

Yeo is such a gun.

Love it that he's playing angry, seems to want to wreck campaigners and win games of footy.
 
Their impact on the game was underrated / hidden by the outstanding game our core mids had.

D&K are building nicely. Reckon they'll be breaking games apart in the back end if the season.
Adelaide key backs would have gone into half time up and about, having only conceded 1 goal to them. Second half and JK puts 3 in and Darling adds a couple, including the sealer.

Darling clunking his marks up the ground was really promising too.
 

Ishmael_

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Nobody get used to this, but...




Many thanks HT, that was Capital A - Axcellent.

I am genuinely wow'd when our midfield is on. Yes, it's our kicking game that grinds out the wins. Its efficient, controlled and not too taxing on our players.

But when our midfield hunts, you're watching a thing of brutal beauty. A balancing act as we maintain our shape well behind the ball and concurrently introduce a bit of chaos. Relentlessly moving the ball forward, winning the hard ball, the ground balls.

WC perhaps more than any other club dominates when we win the contested ball, seldom that may be. We saw it against Richmond, Collingwood and throughout the finals series. It we win the contest or break even, our best is the best.

Shuey hasn't had another genuine line breaker in the midfield for really any of his career. Having Yeo in support now is finally allowing him a little freedom.

Which is brilliant. Pound for pound Shuey is as good a midfielder in the league. Hopefully this is the beginning of some ominous form.
 

wc_eagles_since86

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Thanks honeybadger for those highlight reels. Loving it!

Anyone reckon Shuey has striking similarity to Cousins, or more like Kerr? While not as consistent or I'd argue as fit as cousins (who was an absolute freak of nature), Shuey will inevitably come into that category of one of the best midfielders we've had.

That's not to discount Yeo who's such an interesting mid because he's tall and bulky, his body shape reminds me of a wildebeest or antelope for some reason. One thing I admire most about him is his super physicality, the man can fling players around as demonstrated in his wrestling match against the Suns - dude must have demon core strength.
 
Sep 3, 2005
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I should probably post in this thread as I was at the game and all.
My only live showing of our beloved Eagles for the year until the GF.

Was sitting behind the cheer squad in my free (membership paid) seats when Oscar kicked the sealer.
Hurn's quads made up for me missing out on seeing future AA full back Barrass in action.
I may have been partially drunk.
Shook a few hands after the game congratulating them on the flag.
Drank some more.
Saw an old work mate before the game and we spent 20 minutes talking about all the glorious wins we have had at Adelaide oval and how Gov kicked that goal after the siren and how I was several beers down in the SACA members and that time Shuey kicked that goal after the siren and there was a blow up sex doll doing the rounds and stuff...
Ummm Tex is a bitch. No surprises. If Hurn was coming at me Id assume the position too...
I won $380. Thanks boys.

Was a great win and quite like our come from behind win against port late last year it will help set us up for another tilt at the flag.
 

MrWoollie

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I think it's obvious now that the reigning 2018 AFL premiers are starting to show signs of improvement.
Positive - main one, the comeback. Continued excellent performances from Yeo, Sheppard and Shuey. Getting match fitness into Rioli.

Negative - Letting Adelaide get out to 33 points. It taking 11 pages and 253 posts for someone to use the correct word REIGNING over RAINING.
 
Aug 14, 2004
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Positive - main one, the comeback. Continued excellent performances from Yeo, Sheppard and Shuey. Getting match fitness into Rioli.

Negative - Letting Adelaide get out to 33 points. It taking 11 pages and 253 posts for someone to use the correct word REIGNING over RAINING.

FYI - the mis-spelling was a deliberate play on words due to the wet conditions of the match.
 
Aug 14, 2004
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Some notes further to what hasn’t already been said on this game:

This match highlighted the very best and worst of the team – the positives outweighed the negatives however, and there is much that can be taken from this game that will prove pivotal later in the season.

Adelaide may be average, but I can’t ever recall any game before this where an interstate side has been down by over 5 goals in the second half at the Adelaide Oval and proceeded to win. Whichever you want to view it, this is the kind of victory that can become season-defining.

100 tackles (for only the third time in club history) from a side that prior to Round 7 match against Gold Coast were ranked dead last in the competition in that statistic, averaging less than half of the total from this match. That is a truly remarkable turnaround and can only occur through one method – hard work.

It’s not just the number of tackles either; it’s the force of them as well. The team is starting to physically impose itself and the battering is wearing opposition sides down. Leading the charge of course is Yeo, who is rampaging through opposition players with delightful brutality. It is not coincidental in my opinion that this upswing in physicality has corresponded with opposing sides not being able to maintain their level of intensity through the second half of matches.

Contrary to the majority of reports, this match was largely under control, except for a 15 minute period prior to half time when the wheels fell off.

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First Quarter:
  • Adelaide pushing HFF up the ground, floating between stoppages and attacking 50 – not getting behind the ball, not impacting upon the contests.
  • This enabled West Coast to operate with a defensive spare without losing midfield ascendancy, rebounding from defence into attack 2015-style.
  • Eagles butchered the ball in wet conditions (disposing at just 53% effectiveness and committing a clanger for every 4th disposal) which meant the dominance of territory (18-9 Inside 50s) was wasted.

Second Quarter:
  • Adelaide changed things around. The spare in defence that existed for West Coast in the first quarter was marked-up and the HBFs were positioned higher up the ground, looking to intercept rather than just manning opponents.
  • Despite Hutchings keeping Sloane quiet, Adelaide dominated the clearances and got deep entries into their attacking 50.
  • Under pressure, West Coast’s decision-making and effective disposal collapsed (kicking at less than 50% efficiency) allowing Adelaide easy intercept possessions and repeat attacking entries to lock it in.
  • West Coast key-sized players unable to take any marks down the line and relieve the pressure.
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  • It amounted to a quarter of one-way domination from the Crows and it was only a question of time before the dam broke. In a period that was reminiscent of earlier capitulations in the season, from the 15th minute Adelaide outmatched the Eagles for forward half disposals 48-6, had 15 inside 50s to zero and outscored them by 35 points.

Third Quarter:
  • Something needed to be done – in response Hutchings was moved from Sloane to Seedsman and the inside brigade were freed to go head-to-head against their rivals and attack the ball.
  • The extra number for Adelaide floating around the packs was marked up by clearance midfielder at the expense of a forward flanker. It meant that West Coast had evened up the numbers at stoppages but had a greater number of genuine ball-winners in attendance.
  • With Hutchings tagging and Duggan assigned a defensive shutdown role, Gaff was deployed in the aerobic sweeper role for the first time in a competitive match. These changes are what turned this match completely around.
  • After going -12 for contested possessions and -10 for clearances in the first half, the Eagles in the third quarter alone were +12 and +7 for these respective statistics.
  • Sheed finished the match with 22 contested possessions – the equal 9th highest of all time for an Eagle.
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  • With the West Coast midfield in full attack mode, the second-tier stoppage players for Adelaide who had previously been dominant were stopped in their tracks.
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  • Seedsman, who had setup much of the play during the second quarter debacle, was a non-entity for the rest of the game under Hutchings watch.
  • Gaff proved that he can play the aerobic sweeper role when called upon. In the third quarter he took more intercept marks than he had done previously across the entire season to date. He would go on to finish the game with career highs in both intercepts and one percenters.
  • The forward line continued to be super-efficient when provided with supply. At one point during the quarter West Coast had scored from 7/7 inside 50 entries.

Fourth Quarter:
  • In the face of a midfield onslaught from the Eagles, Adelaide had little means available to improve their situation – their best ball-winners were already deployed, all they could do was try to improve their chances by adding more numbers around the contest.
  • Unlike previous times in the season West Coast made sure that any midfield spares for Adelaide were quickly manned up and made accountable.
  • With more players being drawn to stoppages, the game opened up from clearances and the trademark marking style assumed control.
  • Key talls for West Coast started clunking their marks on kicks coming out of defence, preventing the Crows opportunity for repeat forward entries.
  • Towards the close of the game Adelaide were flagging with their lack of pace around the contest clearly evident. Shuey in particular was able to find space from his opponent at critical times, getting clear runs at the ball through stoppages and having an impact that ensured his team would be victorious.
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There were a number of important conclusions that I took away from this match:
  • Hutchings has the ability to shutdown almost anyone, including contested beasts, but the team operates much better when he is tagging an opposition player that is being used on the outside.
  • The inside group of Shuey, Yeo, Sheed and Redden when given freedom to go into all-out attack are as good as any ball-winning group in the competition. The second half of this match was the first time since the Grand Final that the four of them have clicked together in such a way.
  • Gaff is able to play the aerobic sweeper role if needed.
  • When Jetta is missing the team has a habit of rushing disposal out of defence and turning possession over in dangerous areas.

This was a brutally combative match, with finals-like intensity, away from home, in conditions that have proven to be difficult for the club in the past. I can’t find another instance in the history of the club where it has had 100 tackles and 170 contested possessions in the same game.

It cannot in my mind be overstated just how important that this result was.
 
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