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Review R14: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly vs. Hawthorn Hawks

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It deserves its own thread, but the biggest red flag that we currently have is that we've been unable to get our key forwards into the game for basically a month and a half. We're playing a tall structure, and generating basically no scores from them.
It's going to be an issue in conditions where they are dropping most marks.

Really should have rested Tex or Fog of he was unwell & gone in with extra runner last night.
 
Very fair reply, thanks :thumbsu:.

From the outside looking in, you will never see all of what we have seen "from the inside" since 2020 with Nicks.

You finished 17th in 2021 but McRae took you to 16 wins (4th) of which 11 were by less than 2 goals. I don't have to give more details after that. You know the rest.
That's great Coaching :thumbsupv1: :smilev1:.
By contrast, Nicks has been the losing-est Coach the Crows have ever had :sadv1:.

You've been blessed to have McRae who has terrific tactical nous and makes/Coaches excellent Game Day strategies and changes.
We've been cursed to have Nicks, who does not.

"Good enough", to what? Play Finals? Win Finals? Go top?
If McRae was our Coach, I'd answer YES to all of those, maybe 2 or even 3 Flags in the next 4-6 years.

We have a much better list now; still need an A-Grade pure mid which might turn out to be Draper (if he is properly encouraged and developed).
It's what Nicks has done with that better list that troubles me.

Examples:
--- the three-tall-Forward line is great on fine, dry days, but Nicks sticks with them in the worst conditions for tall players; it's glaringly/obviously a poor tactic, but he makes no changes.
--- he selects spuds like Murphy when we have several talented younger players screaming for selection and development.
--- we led Port by about 5 goals and barely scraped in to win by 5 points. Under McRae, we would have gone on to win by 6,7,8 or more goals. Likewise the Brisbane game where we swept to the lead in the last on a 5-goal spree, then shut up shop to barely get home on the back of Brisbane's poor goalkicking.
--- your mob did us by 10 points. Reverse the Coaches = Reverse the result.
--- last night, the Crows took the lead in the last, then lost. Under McRae, no doubt we win that.
--- there are many more; mystifying selection, senior player favoritism, reluctance to adapt/change etc etc.

I won't be surprised if McRae wins you another Flag or two, soon. Half your luck!!

Anyway, Nicks is our problem, not yours. Don't even get me started on our Club Admin! :poov1:
Yeah that's fair enough, I see poor execution or inconsistency, moreso than poor coaching. But as you pointed out, I haven't followed their every move. And yes I agree McRae is a master coach, who has our team humming, it also takes lots of luck to win flags, I think Adelaide is on the right track, but when you compare Nicks and McRae and where both teams have come from, you make very good points. The other thing is our list was still very good when he took over in 2022, yours is now much better than it was in 2022. Love Dan Curtin, he will be a star for you guys.
 
The first half was good but they wasted their chances. Second half was a disaster because we took the foot off the pedal and they turned up their defensive pressure (esp Dylan Moore) and we put ourselves into this disastrous situation where something very obvious would happen and that deliberate was just so pathetic. It came off Fogarty's hand, it was 2 players contesting the ball with no deliberate in mind. That was the ballgame.

We're not going to win big games by losing our composure, a problem that has persisted on and off over the last 2 decades. We cannot fear umpires and we have to fear ourselves to perform better in clutch situations. We did it the week before but this team still has a long way to go.

Surprised to see that Murphy had 7 tackles! .... But I'd drop him with a heartbeat. We missed Peatling as well.
 

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It's going to be an issue in conditions where they are dropping most marks.

Really should have rested Tex or Fog of he was unwell & gone in with extra runner last night.

It's been an issue consecutively for a month and a half. Engage with the premise being put forward.
 
It's been an issue consecutively for a month and a half. Engage with the premise being put forward.
Taller forward line will work in better conditions & on bigger grounds where they can get more separation.

As I said in my team selection, last Friday was a night to go in smaller.

Should be rocket science to select horses for courses, but our selectors don't have a flexible philosophy.
 
I think the defence have got off lightly. They're flattered by the low scoring nature of the contest, and were greatly outperformed by the Hawks defence.

Hawks conceded early high-quality set shots early: The Curtin goal and Thilthorpe miss immediately after, and the Cumming goal later. And then none of them for the rest of the game, despite Adelaide having a lot of forward entries.

Meanwhile, Adelaide defenders were semi-regularly conceding unnecessary free-kicks, resulting in decent set shots for Hawthorn.

Set shots were still difficult last night. But I think the difference between a short/medium range set shot, and a general play shot was greater than ever.
 
Taller forward line will work in better conditions & on bigger grounds where they can get more separation.

As I said in my team selection, last Friday was a night to go in smaller.

Should be rocket science to select horses for courses, but our selectors don't have a flexible philosophy.

It's not currently working anywhere is the problem
 

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Yeah that's fair enough, I see poor execution or inconsistency, moreso than poor coaching. But as you pointed out, I haven't followed their every move. And yes I agree McRae is a master coach, who has our team humming, it also takes lots of luck to win flags, I think Adelaide is on the right track, but when you compare Nicks and McRae and where both teams have come from, you make very good points. The other thing is our list was still very good when he took over in 2022, yours is now much better than it was in 2022. Love Dan Curtin, he will be a star for you guys.


If you read this from your premiership, I can guarantee you that Nicks would have done the complete opposite.
 
I'd love a review of the 50's paid against us (and which umpire paid them).
Pretty quick on the trigger considering there was a Hawthorn player still in the vicinity and disrupting the Crows players movements.
Another 'apology' from the VFL?
Yes. Last quarter frees inside 50 - Hawthorn 7, Crows 2. Just sayin’
 
Anyone watching the SANFL and seeing what Nank is doing in the wet. Clean and clinical.

Glad we picked Murphy, a proven spud, instead of someone like Nank plays SANFL.
If Nank hadn't played a month of dogshit, he'd still be in the team. Glad it sounds like his form is returning.
 

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Great contest last night we probably were lucky to win. Our defenders were our best players and probably Dylan Moore. We turned it into a grind because on talent out on the park last night you had us covered. See you guys in a few weeks in Adelaide for another tough match. Very good team you have who should go deep in September if you play your best.
 

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Review R14: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly vs. Hawthorn Hawks

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