Preview Practice Match: Crows vs Port, Saturday Feb 27/2/21 @ 11am

[hey shorty]

Would have thought you almost need Thilthorpe in the team, might be a long year for O'Brien without proper ruck support. Ladhams destroyed him after Lycett wore him down.

He won't play much ruck IMO

 

[BACCS]

We've had a culture at the club going back to the Craig days that the older players are by default the ones who lead and the ones who "know the drill". We've had a string of players since the mid 2000s who appear to get bogged down and, let's face it, become lazy because they largely get away with it by getting selected regardless of form. Old boys mentality.

Blight, and prior to him Cornes, were always willing to play youngsters and inject youth. Under Blight, Walker, Sloane and probably Lynch would not be on the list. Now we can argue the merits/pitfalls of such decisions, and footy has changed since then, but thems are the realities.

Hence why we continually have established players who aren't very adaptable and don't seem to respond to pressure from underneath. I do think Nicks is different though, and more willing to go the kids.

Last year's draft crop look excellent, as they should - we finished bottom.

Tex is the one senior player who is performing very well so far this pre season, has more than earned his round one spot. Sloane has looked good in patches, but that’s not enough from the captain. Agree with others that the midfield looks better without him in it.

 

[BunjiMac]

Watching Keays reminds me of why i was so pissed off with our senior players last year.

Keays just plays like he gives a s**t, regardless of the situation or score.

That's what leaders should be doing, especially in the midfield.

Hate to say it, but i saw those same negative attributes from our senior players again.

Yes its only the pre-season but reinforces to me that we MUST turn this list over completely.

 

[Geoffa32]

He won't play much ruck IMO

I reckon we can have

Tex
Tilthorpe
Frampton/Hberg

Tilthorpe should not Ruck at all. Frampton/Hberg the chop out.

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[Jcpdragonx]

Would have thought you almost need Thilthorpe in the team, might be a long year for O'Brien without proper ruck support. Ladhams destroyed him after Lycett wore him down.

RoB generally doesnt try as hard in preseason. He was flogged in the preseason last year as well. One of Framptom/Berg will chop out I suspect.

 

[pjcrows]

The kicking skills is what's costing us, we are struggling to hit tight targets under pressure, Port hit those targets with ease and it opened up the game for them.

Doesn't help that we have zero senior key defenders, added on to the fact our midfield is too old and slow to pressure the ball carrier

"Kicking skills" comes largely from confidence, over time.

 

[BunjiMac]

Sloane is going to be a real problem for us.

He just doesn't look like a starting midfielder any more, and he's on the wrong side of 30

Given he's the captain and we basically have to play him, we'll have to hide him somewhere because our midfield just does not look good with him and similar types around him

Half Back i reckon.

 

[BACCS]

I think he is entering the end of his career and it has to be asked what does he offer our kids as they play with him.

Tex is a leader. He instructs on field and from what he has shown so far is fitter and capable of playing up the ground again. So there is merit in him playing.


Lynch should be making way for a kid. Tilthorpe could slot into that spot.

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Well a lot of our young forwards have mentioned Lynch as the one they’re learning most from this off season, clearly he’s a very good leader.

 

[Mr_Moogle]

We looked heaps better last week

Well we were playing the spoon side.

 

[hey shorty]

I reckon we can have

Tex
Tilthorpe
Frampton/Hberg

Tilthorpe should not Ruck at all. Frampton/Hberg the chop out.

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It probably doesn't work all the time but with RT being so damn athletic it could be done.

 

[40porpoise]

Sloane is going to be a real problem for us.

He just doesn't look like a starting midfielder any more, and he's on the wrong side of 30

Given he's the captain and we basically have to play him, we'll have to hide him somewhere because our midfield just does not look good with him and similar types around him

Completely agree. If we’re going to play him I’d prefer him on a wing. Get him the hell out of the centre bounces

 

[Geoffa32]

Watching Keays reminds me of why i was so pissed off with our senior players last year.

Keays just plays like he gives a sh*t, regardless of the situation or score.

That's what leaders should be doing, especially in the midfield.

Hate to say it, but i saw those same negative attributes from our senior players again.

Yes its only the pre-season but reinforces to me that we MUST turn this list over completely.

Lachie Murphy too.

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[hey shorty]

Well a lot of our young forwards have mentioned Lynch as the one they’re learning most from this off season, clearly he’s a very good leader.

I think he's a good coach in waiting, but as far as on-field leader I dunno. He's not the sort of bloke who can lift a team on his shoulders.

 

[maxlilly]

Hate to say it, but there is something ingrained in our older players that is incredibly difficult to beat out of them. I don't know if we'll ever be able to change them actually.

Especially when the chips are down.

The quicker we can get the newer younger guys in the better.

Entitlement, they believe they can keep their place in the team without performing

 

[Redline]

The lack of trying something new and instead reverting back to Laird/Keays/Sloane for most of this pre-season has been very disappointing.

That has been one of the biggest disappointments with Nick's. He has played a few kids and turned over the list to some extent but to me we are still a really vanilla team missing a spark from youth.

 

[Geoffa32]

Well a lot of our young forwards have mentioned Lynch as the one they’re learning most from this off season, clearly he’s a very good leader.

I get the feeling he is going to be a coach. Have read those comments.

But not sure that leadership is enough when his output is diminishing.

He is getting old and the role he has is quite aerobic, plus the body clashes up forward.


Tex is a guy who team mates rally around.

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[BACCS]

With the new rule, it just seems so stupid that a player can fake to handball or kick, resulting in a slight movement from the man on the mark and costing 50 metres. In what world is that speeding up the game or providing any positive benefit?

 

[Murray2503]

The lack of trying something new and instead reverting back to Laird/Keays/Sloane for most of this pre-season has been very disappointing.

Sloane should not play in the midfield. Play him off the wing and half forward. Pedlar, Berry, Schoenberg, Laird, Keays, Crouch is our best chance to break even in the midfield.

 

[Murray2503]

"Kicking skills" comes largely from confidence, over time.

Plus good drafting and practice.

 

[Scorpus]

Half forward for Sloane in my opinion as well.

Difficult area of the ground to play as a kid and Sloane is effective overhead, and still has solid defensive work.

I'd play him over Murphy in that area of the ground

 

[hey shorty]

Adding Talia and Doedee will make our defence much stronger, and if we can get the ball in enough the forwards can kick a score..... We just have to get it there.

 

[Redline]

I think he's a good coach in waiting, but as far as on-field leader I dunno. He's not the sort of bloke who can lift a team on his shoulders.

Agreed. I think we have had really poor on field leadership for a long time. We all love Tex, Sloane, Lynch and others but none are great leaders. We have seen that with the fractures in the playing group over the years and the disconnect between some players and the club. The other problem is Tex has never been a good leader on the track and Sloane doesn't get on the track enough.

 

[Geoffa32]

Butts did ok against one of the most physical forwards in the comp on the end of that midfield dominance.

Talia's injury could be a blessing for his future.

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[betterthanu]

So 2 weeks in a row our senior midfield beaten.... once against our junior midfield.

 

[BACCS]

Adding Talia and Doedee will make our defence much stronger, and if we can get the ball in enough the forwards can kick a score..... We just have to get it there.

Scoring definitely doesn’t look as hard as we made it at times last year, forward setups were a lot better but weren’t getting great supply.