Review R1: The Good, Bad and Ugly vs. St Kilda

[SugarShane]

Does this flog Kornes ever give up on this crap, he can't tell anyone this is anything other than a personal vendetta..

'Not in their best 22': Crows facing 'hard conversation' with Walker

Kane Cornes believes the Crows are facing a huge decision on veteran forward Taylor Walker in 2025

www.afl.com.au

I noticed today as well he's going around talking us up as potential Grand Finalists. We were bottom 4 last year, just beat half a Saints team, and now he's taking one straight out of Rooch's playbook and claiming we're a top 2 team so that when we fall short he can pretend we didn't meet expectations.

 

[Johnycake]

The Bad - Curtin - Kid just doesn't get it after gifted games. Can only afford one more before we need that spot paying dividends. Hes just not hungry enough. 3 touches in 3 quarters of footy is not good enough.

 

[Mutineer]

So he should have, he was up against an SANFL player.

When's the last time a SANFL ruckman won the Magarey Medal?

I can't recall a ruckman ever winning the Magarey Medal in all the year's I've watched SANFL?

 

[FR0GGY]

When's the last time a SANFL ruckman won the Magarey Medal?

I can't recall a ruckman ever winning the Magarey Medal in all the year's I've watched SANFL?

You’re missing the point, Rob should have absolutely belted a 0 gamer.
Yet Boyd out did him for hitouts in the first qtr.
He was always going to tire of course.

 

[MRB37]

Having the likes of Curtin & Dawson in marking contests is a huge advantage. We should be using Curtin more as a long kick in option.

Took a screamer yesterday on the wing, only for the umpires to pay Saints a free for something I didn't notice.

I believe that's when Dawson was resting forward and knocked the Saints player defending him on his ass off the ball.

 

[Kane McGoodwin]

I believe that's when Dawson was resting forward and knocked the Saints player defending him on his ass off the ball.

Fair enough.

Being at the game, harder to pickup off ball incidents when we get no replay.

 

[glengowan]

When's the last time a SANFL ruckman won the Magarey Medal?

I can't recall a ruckman ever winning the Magarey Medal in all the year's I've watched SANFL?

O'Connor won it with Port in the early 2000's. Not too many though. Thinking of Scott Wynd and Jim Stynes in the AFL in the 90's

 

[Jeffcrowe]

We saw yesterday that Tex was genuinely 3rd fiddle for the 1st time

And he’s also smart enough to make himself that too

He’s changed his game style and it’s all about bringing the others on and just playing a role

He will judge his season on how the others come on as that’s just him

Been an incredible leader and clubman over time

 

[n4sir]

Late to the party here, so just some observations from the day at the ground.

The major thing that struck me compared to last year was the speed of movement. When we got the ball we hustled, when we didn't have it we hustled and tackled in numbers. There were notable gut-running efforts by ANB and Draper going with Rankine step for step, and Curtin past Fog to drag his player down the ground and leave him for an easy mark (right after Fog had been blocked twice off the ball leading which should have been free kicks - but weren't. ****ing umpires)

From his short time on ground, Draper has elite speed and quickness. Seriously elite.

All of our recruits this year made an impact in their first game... and I hope they enjoyed the traditional technicolor, sports drink bukkake shower afterwards.

It was a day where if you were told in advance you could have a 10+ goal win with no injuries, you'd take it, and we did. Our guns fired, and our grinders did their job. Move on.

Maybe a little more on that. Fog and RT were seriously awesome. Just literally imposed their will on the opposition - which admittedly wasn't much, but you still have to do it. Rasher, Soligo, Dawson, were all involved in pretty much everything positive leading to scores. As were the new guys.

Tex was almost a spare wheel at times... which is a good thing moving forward. It's a sign of how much we have sped up as a team, and how much Fog & RT have developed (and how much we are trusting them going in). Tex will have his moments, but as we have sped up, he will need to be managed more. This was a sign of things to come... he looked gassed towards the end of the first two quarters, and it was a great move by our coaches with the game well in hand to sub him out. None of us would have seen that last year!

Given the time out with injury at the end of the year with Worrell and Muz, I'm very happy with their first real game back. Some cobwebs, yes, and there should be a bit more polish on the REALLY risky kicks back towards the middle. Next week should be better.

ROB was dominant with the taps, but in total contrast to RT (who had sticky hands right from the start) seemed to have a layer of cement on his mits, and couldn't take even an uncontested mark with a gun against his head. Is it getting to Matty Clarke levels where we just take the taps and stay away from everyone else to take a mark? It's round one, and apprently some notable people said he had a brilliant pre-season, so maybe (maybe?) he shouldn't be written off just yet. But it is one of the very few concerns of the game.

Ps. A far lesser concern to me than some is Curtin's lack of possessions. I will take a quaility 7 possession game (+1 taken away from an umpiring decision) over the equivalent from Murphy every week of the season. The skill players make it count (as well as their non-statistical efforts).

 

[hippyhippy]

The Bad - Curtin - Kid just doesn't get it after gifted games. Can only afford one more before we need that spot paying dividends. Hes just not hungry enough. 3 touches in 3 quarters of footy is not good enough.

He took a great mark only for Dawson to give away the free... he was just getting into the game. Wouldn't drop, he's on the verge of getting a big game IMHO, took him a while in sanfl too

 

[FR0GGY]

And he’s also smart enough to make himself that too

He’s changed his game style and it’s all about bringing the others on and just playing a role

He will judge his season on how the others come on as that’s just him

Been an incredible leader and clubman over time

Has anyone mentioned that low mark/pickup on the run and dish off at once?
Thing of beauty!

 

[Johnycake]

He took a great mark only for Dawson to give away the free... he was just getting into the game. Wouldn't drop, he's on the verge of getting a big game IMHO, took him a while in sanfl too

Its been a long time of watching this team gift players games. They have the depth and sets a bad standard to gift games to a kid who doesn't understand the level yet. Its time to make him understand you need to earn your spot.

 

[n4sir]

Its been a long time of watching this team gift players games. They have the depth and sets a bad standard to gift games to a kid who doesn't understand the level yet. Its time to make him understand you need to earn your spot.

A huge part of this is that our coaching staff are not even sure how to use him! It's almost like Fog 2.0.

I think this is the way moving on until we know exactly what... at the monent it looks like a Tom Lynch hybrid Wing-Forward role. A bit further up the ground, and when Tex runs out of gas, into a more fixed and contested forward role.

He has height, speed for his height, endurance and most of all skill and between the ears skill. We moved up and drafted him for a good reason - we just have to make it work. That's on the coaches to do it.

 

[Peter Doherty]

Took a screamer yesterday on the wing, only for the umpires to pay Saints a free for something I didn't notice.

Not that it really matters, but that was actually still a mark, wasn't it?

He was recorded as having two contested marks.

 

[FR0GGY]

Not that it really matters, but that was actually still a mark, wasn't it?

He was recorded as having two contested marks.

Curtin? Was only listed with 1

 

[Peter Doherty]

Curtin? Was only listed with 1

It was previously listed as 2, I swear!

 

[n4sir]

My eldest saw him run through half back. He said dinosaurs can handball

He has already a wicked sense of humour!

 

[n4sir]

The lack of NWM is astounding? Not a single vote from either coach?

A coach rating O'Brien but not Rankine is also a bit questionable

Tough decisions in a dominant day. RT and Fog could easily got a few votes too from other eyes.

 

[CutAboveTheRest]

The Bad - Curtin - Kid just doesn't get it after gifted games. Can only afford one more before we need that spot paying dividends. Hes just not hungry enough. 3 touches in 3 quarters of footy is not good enough.

Yeah drop him and chuck in Lachlan Murphy.. Talk about gifted games.

 

[n4sir]

Clearly we are effectively injury free right now but suddenly we have a lot of depth - some which we could look to trade out:

• Pedlar (prefer to keep)
• Berry
• Shoey
• Butts (good backup if he is happy not getting a regular gig)
• Jones (assumes he gets back to 2023 form)
• Taylor
  - Nank almost forgot (prefer to keep)

All these 6 for starters are AFL level at their best (unlike Mc Henry, Murph etc). Some may now be hunted by other clubs like we did with Peatling. We could even throw into a package in acquiring further ELITE talent eg Saints need KPD if we go NWM. If we need to give up 1-2 of these guys above and only part with say one first round pick for NWM its a win and just provides good options

Add those to the young blokes like Ryan and Edwards who I would like to think are going to end up AFL standard and its the best ever depth we have had as a squad

Let's preferably win a premiership, or at the very least see this season out before we looking at trading guys out. Post Round 1 seems a just little too soon.

 

[n4sir]

I WASN'T comparing McAsey and Curtin. What I was clearly saying is why pick a tall defender at 6 and 8.
From memory Weitering at one and there may be one or two others that were at pick eight or higher it was not necessary and now we have found McAsey to be a wasted pick.

Let's not just compare these guys again... or preferably just never mention McAsey again in any relation to Curtin.

Curtin has all the potential in the world, and he seems to be happy to be here to find his role... and well, the other turned out to be a bad pick that I think literally nobody expected before draft night would turn out that way. I didn't. All the draft gurus didn't. He was Vic Metro's best in a winning team pre-draft, and everyone thought he suited a need for our team. Everyone who thought that, including me, were wrong. It just didn't work out. It's rare that a high pick like that these days bombs out so spectacularly, but it did. I don't think it''s anyone's fault either, a major part is circumstance and bad luck. It's our bad luck this time, which sucks, but sometimes you just have to bear it and move on.

 

[Johnycake]

Yeah drop him and chuck in Lachlan Murphy.. Talk about gifted games.

Lets Talk about Nank and Bond who've earnt the spot instead. Even Pedler can get more done in 4 quarters.

 

[n4sir]

Late to the party here, so just some observations from the day at the ground.

The major thing that struck me compared to last year was the speed of movement. When we got the ball we hustled, when we didn't have it we hustled and tackled in numbers. There were notable gut-running efforts by ANB and Draper going with Rankine step for step, and Curtin past Fog to drag his player down the ground and leave him for an easy mark (right after Fog had been blocked twice off the ball leading which should have been free kicks - but weren't. ****ing umpires)

From his short time on ground, Draper has elite speed and quickness. Seriously elite.

All of our recruits this year made an impact in their first game... and I hope they enjoyed the traditional technicolor, sports drink bukkake shower afterwards.

It was a day where if you were told in advance you could have a 10+ goal win with no injuries, you'd take it, and we did. Our guns fired, and our grinders did their job. Move on.

Maybe a little more on that. Fog and RT were seriously awesome. Just literally imposed their will on the opposition - which admittedly wasn't much, but you still have to do it. Rasher, Soligo, Dawson, were all involved in pretty much everything positive leading to scores. As were the new guys.

Tex was almost a spare wheel at times... which is a good thing moving forward. It's a sign of how much we have sped up as a team, and how much Fog & RT have developed (and how much we are trusting them going in). Tex will have his moments, but as we have sped up, he will need to be managed more. This was a sign of things to come... he looked gassed towards the end of the first two quarters, and it was a great move by our coaches with the game well in hand to sub him out. None of us would have seen that last year!

Given the time out with injury at the end of the year with Worrell and Muz, I'm very happy with their first real game back. Some cobwebs, yes, and there should be a bit more polish on the REALLY risky kicks back towards the middle. Next week should be better.

ROB was dominant with the taps, but in total contrast to RT (who had sticky hands right from the start) seemed to have a layer of cement on his mits, and couldn't take even an uncontested mark with a gun against his head. Is it getting to Matty Clarke levels where we just take the taps and stay away from everyone else to take a mark? It's round one, and apprently some notable people said he had a brilliant pre-season, so maybe (maybe?) he shouldn't be written off just yet. But it is one of the very few concerns of the game.

Ps. A far lesser concern to me than some is Curtin's lack of possessions. I will take a quaility 7 possession game (+1 taken away from an umpiring decision) over the equivalent from Murphy every week of the season. The skill players make it count (as well as their non-statistical efforts).

One thing I forgot to relate in my prior thoughts, was how the forward line worked compared to last year: it has structure, purpose and efficiency. It just worked together as a whole unit when we had the ball, and more when we didn't have it. Again, speed of movement has a lot to do with it... but we were comparatively ruthless and accurate (efficient) pretty much most of the game.

 

[Tex Danger]

Not sure if this belongs under the Good or Ugly (maybe both), but it was very noticeable to me that ANB and Cumming were much more vocal in terms of pumping up their teammates than some of our more established senior players.
This is particularly the case with guys who need a bit of a pump up.

Twice I saw players go out of their way to acknowledge the work of Curtin (mostly defensive, but also a bit of body positioning and a handball). The players were ANB and then Cumming.
On one occassion Laird walked straight past and ignored Curtin, on the other Crouch did it.

It's something that I've seen creep into our team over the years - senior players fully focussed on their own game and ignoring teammates (unless they themselves kick a goal then it's high fives all around).

I'm hoping the attitude of the new guys rubs off on the rest of the team and we see it happen more often and it's not just 'new guys wanting to fit in' behaviour and they become more like us.

I noticed in the last Draper put some great pressure on in the back pocket, preventing scoring opportunity and leading to a stoppage.

Cumming ran past 3 other guys (who all walked to position uninterested in the effort) to really get around Sid with the high 10

 

[Tex Danger]

Only issue with that is that it might keep Nank out of the side. I think we need to eventually find a permanent spot for him.

Sounds like he played wing reading the SANFL trial takeaway articke

I think that’s a good thing if he does spend more time there in SANFL both because I think his skill set offers a lot on the wing but also if he’s proven capable there and off back flank his avenues to a call up significantly improve