Preview R13: Changes vs. Brisbane Lions

[FR0GGY]

Rach should have said, port supporters teeth are a rabble.

 

[Gtowncrow]

Yep. He’s lost some pace but still has the leg and plenty of experience. Now surrounded by competent younger players who can provide the pace and give him the ball, he doesn’t need to make the long dashes out of the backlines. Impact player. Even one goal a game off a step from the 50 is valuable

There's a strategic advantage in his forward ruck work by dramatically reducing the need for the main ruck to trudge deep into the forward line as much. Allows ROB to stay a kick behind play as a defensive marking option too.

I hope we disregard the 300 and play for a premiership by resting him when needed or making weather considerations. I'm sure Tex would be more than happy with that. He's a proven club man.

Bradman at 99.94 has a sporting eloquence compared to 100 which just looks like showing off.

 

[daniel_4tw]

Tex can afford one more rest as long as we play 1 final, right?

He just had a rest and in 2 more weeks we have our bye then a short end of the season.

While I think we should have rested him earlier for GC/Fremantle, we didn’t. We should rest him for the WA game later in the season.

That will end up being since west coast game:
Rest - 3 games - bye - 6 games (4 home 2 in Mel) - rest - 2 games - bye - finals

I think Tex offers enough taking a defender to free up Thilthorpe and Fogarty he isn’t a complete liability. I’d say he’s offering as much as Dixon was to Port last few seasons. And if anyone deserves to be given some leeway to get to 300 is Tex.

Club also thinks he’s important given we rest him vs spooners and not say, Collingwood.

 

[crows dude]

**** no!
Laird should NOT come straight back in after our first complete team performance of the year where we won by 90 points!
Unchanged! What’s this rested crap?
Smith has been good in both his games and kicked clutch 50-metre bomb goals, Laird stinks up our field play with his 50m high kicks that ALWAYS lose us possession. His time is up.
Unchanged.

Also - Brisbane board think they’ve got this game in the bag.
I think we’ll win, we’re still building as a team and have the best percentage in the league.
Have conceded an average of 50 points in our last 2 games, our defence has massively improved.

I agree.

But it won’t happen. They will bring him straight back. He wasnt dropped.

 

[CrowBloke]

[Tex] will stay in the side as he wants the 300 but Tex is the elephant in the room.. He has to have serious impact on games because he is a massive issue when the opposition run from defence.

When Tex is playing well, he is most effective from 35+m out from goal all the way out to a wing, because of his accurate, ambidextrous long-kicking.
When he's ON, the oppo player on him gets little chance to run off him because Tex is either kicking goals or finding someone like Thilthorpe or Fog, or Keays or Rachele off-hands.

I think the stretching of the opposition defence is overplayed and opposition actually like it for the extra run and space they get.

Exactly.
Playing Tex close to goal nullifies his best play (above), so he's mostly going to be 35+m out. If he's having a bad day, from there his defender will have a field day running off him (as in eg Howe vs Collingwood).

 

[CrowBloke]

I think Tex offers enough taking a defender to free up Thilthorpe and Fogarty he isn’t a complete liability. I’d say he’s offering as much as Dixon was to Port last few seasons.

Not, when he's playing badly.
If we score from an I50, fine.
But if we lose an I50 contest which creates a turnover, Tex is a liability because he's not fleet-footed enough to put pressure on his defender who often runs off him.

And if anyone deserves to be given some leeway to get to 300 is Tex.

Please don't get me wrong. I love Tex. He's one of the Crows' greats.
His 2023 was outstanding (76! goals ).

Currently, he's our 5th most effective forward for goals (18 from 11 games), behind Fogarty/ RT/ Rachele and Keays and his on-field nous and Leadership are invaluable.
(Tex could be 'managed' for another 2 Minor Round games but still get to 300 if we played 2 Finals)

If he's playing well enough and gets there, great. Wonderful milestone, great achievement.
If he's not and ends 2025 on 299 or 298 games or less, so be it.
The Crows are not playing in 2025 to get Tex to 300 games.

 

[NSolis]

Biggest game for the club since 2017? 2nd vs 3rd, Friday night.

 

[kirky]

I think there were also some things going on in training where he was getting ahead of himself that thee leadership group didn't like. And this was on top of that.

You give him a 3 year contract extension so its hardly unsurprising he gets ahead of himself.

 

[MRB37]

Agreed its not an horrendous statement, but Nicks has made a rod for his own back about 'values disrespecting the opposition' = one week on the sidelines.

And that's what Riewoldt immediately latched on to. "If the Crows really preach these values then they have to give Milera a whack" type talk. He was specifically asked about Rachele in the post match interview with Fox about why they dropped him last year and he went through his whole spiel about it.

 

[kirky]

**** no!
Laird should NOT come straight back in after our first complete team performance of the year where we won by 90 points!
Unchanged! What’s this rested crap?
Smith has been good in both his games and kicked clutch 50-metre bomb goals, Laird stinks up our field play with his 50m high kicks that ALWAYS lose us possession. His time is up.
Unchanged.

Also - Brisbane board think they’ve got this game in the bag.
I think we’ll win, we’re still building as a team and have the best percentage in the league.
Have conceded an average of 50 points in our last 2 games, our defence has massively improved.

Brisbane don’t have a great W-L record at Adelaide Oval - 4-8-1.

 

[Coopers]

Interesting selection this week.

Smith has looked decent in his two games. However both were absolute drubbings (60 point and 90 point wins).

Berry has looked decent in his two games. However both were absolute smashings (66 points and 90 point wins).

Pedlar has looked decent in his two games. However both were absolute poundings (66 points and 90 point wins).

How much stock does Nicksy put into fringe players playing well against rubbish opposition?

Will be interesting to see what he does with the Laird / Smith selection this week.

Drubbing is upgraded to smashing by an extra 6 points?

Smashing == pounding

If a belting is 3 more goals than a smashing, and flogging is 8 more goals than a drubbing, then what is the difference between a pounding and a flogging?



HIGH SCHOOL MATHS!

 

[FR0GGY]

You give him a 3 year contract extension so its hardly unsurprising he gets ahead of himself.

Hes talking about Rash not Wayne.

 

[Cromulant]

Gotta say, the uplift in Keane's form has come at the same time as Jordy Butts has returned to the side. Probably a coincidence but having a very settled, probably more defensive minded partner along side him has allowed Keane to at least appear more confident doing what he does best.

 

[skittlebrew]

Well, now that the football world has called out the AFC for apologising for Milera comments...

View attachment 2331596

Laird only has one button and it's 'throw a teammate under the bus' - and you can be sure he won't break a sweat hitting it.

 

[Velvet George]

Gotta say, the uplift in Keane's form has come at the same time as Jordy Butts has returned to the side. Probably a coincidence but having a very settled, probably more defensive minded partner along side him has allowed Keane to at least appear more confident doing what he does best.

It’s freed him up to play the role he’s best suited too. Pretty sure there were some posters calling for Butts inclusion ahead of Borlase to do just that

 

[skittlebrew]

You would think thrashing a rabble of a side helps you the following week but I believe it generally works the opposite way.

 

[Cromulant]

It’s freed him up to play the role he’s best suited too. Pretty sure there were some posters calling for Butts inclusion ahead of Borlase to do just that

One does wonder what we do with Murray when he's fit in a couple of weeks.

Might need to spend a couple weeks in the SANFL

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

My prediction:
Laird in
Smith sub
Draper out

 

[Cromulant]

You would think thrashing a rabble of a side helps you the following week but I believe it generally works the opposite way.

Yep, the total lack of pressure Sydney put on probably doesnt help.

 

[Velvet George]

You would think thrashing a rabble of a side helps you the following week but I believe it generally works the opposite way.

If we weren’t playing the minor premier and one of the top teams we could be complacent, but no chance we will be.

 

[Velvet George]

My prediction:
Laird in
Smith sub
Draper out

Yeah, prefer to swap laird and smith around. Laird more versatile as well

 

[Velvet George]

One does wonder what we do with Murray when he's fit in a couple of weeks.

Might need to spend a couple weeks in the SANFL

Not a bad thing, he’s missed a lot of footy

 

[MsTopG]

Can't wait for Lairdys press conference Monday morning...

Sanfl press conference. Not interested.

 

[MsTopG]

Not a bad thing, he’s missed a lot of footy

He's much better than Butts but unfortunately he's injury prone. Give him 2 in the sanfl and bring him back against a lesser team.

 

[bluebob1]

Not a bad thing, he’s missed a lot of footy

This is why selecting a team is difficult. I think Murray is better than Keane who in turn is better than Butts. But maybe Butts fits better so we have one defensive and one more attacking key back. Which means Keane could be out of the team despite Butts being not as good as Keane overall but he does play the lockdown role better than Keane probably. Or do we just have two zone off type defenders. Maybe horses for courses - Butts plays when there is a key threat ie. Cameron, Hogan etc and doesnt when there isnt.