Review Roo "Adelaide's horror season"

[Elite Crow]

Pretty good article from Roo which summarises our season and covers many of our threads:

PATRICK DANGERFIELD HANGS HIS HEAD AFTER ADELAIDE'S DIABOLICAL LOSS TO SYDNEY. PICTURE: SARAH REED THE ADVERTISER

LET'S not mince words. The Crows have had a terrible year.

If Sando said the season was a C+ leading into the Fremantle game, then it is now a D, which is a fail.

The whole club has been on a slippery slide since the news broke about the Kurt Tippett deal in November. Yes, we are all sick to death talking about Tippett and the deal that took place but reality is the Adelaide Football Club is going to feel the effects of that for a long time.

No compensation for Tippett is one thing, but no top two picks for two years in the draft is crippling. All up it's basically like taking three of your top five players out of your team for the next 10 years and that's no exaggeration at all.

I'm not trying to bring up old news, but the facts are the facts and it's affecting the team now. Throw in Steven Trigg, Phil Harper and Dean Bailey being suspended as well as Stephen Schwerdt leaving, which should not be underestimated, and it's easy to see how unsettling the whole thing has been.

Opposition teams were always going to have a close look at the Crows after a "sharp spike" in performance happened last year and the Crows haven't been able to deal with it for all number of reasons.

It was crystal clear that something was wrong early on this year. I said in March that alarm bells were ringing, well it's now June and things have not improved much at all.

It took Taylor Walker's injury in fact to actually snap the whole side into its first four-quarter performance against the Hawks, even though it was still a loss.

The Crows' five wins have been against GWS (18th), St Kilda (16th), Brisbane (15th), Western Bulldogs (14th) and North Melbourne (13th).

Hardly impressive and at the weekend we got a frightening reality check of how good the reigning premier is.

Let's have a look at how the players who have played more than five games have performed in 2013. Based on individual expectations with A outstanding, B good, C pass and D fail:

Scott Thompson (B): Played all games averaging 26 touches but not having the same influence on games as his past two exceptional years.

Patrick Dangerfield (A): Getting tagged heavily every week and still delivering. This should be making it easier for the other midfielders as they are not getting tagged any more. Crows need two of him, maybe three. Freak.

Rory Sloane (B): Tries his hardest every week and is getting better as the season goes on.

Richard Douglas (A): Probably having a career-best year. His challenge will come shortly if the opposition starts tagging him.

Bernie Vince (C): Got a kick up the backside when dropped early in the year and he has been pretty good since. Can help the team by kicking goals from the midfield.

Brodie Smith (B): Missed three games with a shoulder injury and been solid since returning. His speed is critical and he should develop into an A-grader.

Nathan van Berlo (C): The skipper is not having the season he would like, playing in various roles and might need to go back to being the No. 1 tagger.

Brent Reilly (C): Had a bad past few weeks, opposition teams are not allowing the defender to be the loose man this year after being great in the role in 2012.

Matthew Wright (D): Like a lot of the midfield has not backed up last year's effort. Tagging is not his go, he needs to win the hard ball and get it out to the runners.

David Mackay (D): Starting to enter the frustrating category. Love his speed and ability to run but don't see it often enough. Good challenge for the coaches.

Jarryd Lyons (C): Didn't mind what I saw and is definitely a player of the future.

Tom Lynch (C): Works extremely hard as a mobile forward. Needs now to kick multiple goals against the good sides to convince me he is in the team when Tex comes back.

Rory Laird (B): Had a blinder against Fremantle and has been solid all round. Could be the best small defender at the Crows soon.

Ricky Henderson (D): Hasn't kicked on this year but had some injuries. Like his speed, skills and flexibility but needs to toughen up and start being more consistent.

Sam Kerridge (A): Sensational first six weeks by the youngster who could be a very good player for a long time. Needs a big one this week then deserves a spell.

Matthew Jaensch (D): Disappointing year playing six games for the small defender who has since been dropped but been in good form for Sturt. Has ability but out of favour.

Andy Otten (B): Been pretty good but could be very good. Needs to win more ball when free like Reilly did last year. Also needs to stop going to ground under pressure.

Shaun McKernan (C-): Is he going to make it when Tex is fit? Can't play Jacobs, Jenkins and McKernan. Has the rest of the year to improve or something will happen in the off-season.

Jason Porplyzia (D): What's happened to the player we all love? His confidence looks shot. Needs to dig deep and find something.

Ben Rutten (B+): Well done big fella, I thought you were in trouble. Amazing what a good pre-season can do for you.

Josh Jenkins (B-): Been pretty good, the big fella, but needs to improve his positioning in the forward line as soon as possible. Tredrea, Carey and even Tex should be fast tracking him.

Luke Brown (C): Has been given the big task of standing the best small forwards and has been OK given the defence is under extreme pressure. Give him time.

Jared Petrenko (C-): Playing the small forward role is the hardest spot in the team especially when the team is battling. He along with Callinan, Porplyzia, Johncock and to a lesser extent Wright have found that out and been dropped.

Sam Jacobs (C): The big fella has not replicated the standout year of last year. This has not helped the midfielders but have they adapted fast enough to the fact he is not getting his hands to the ball?

Daniel Talia (B): He has been pretty good but not as good as last year. Continues to stand the No. 1 forward and is very reliable.

So at the halfway mark of the season it's been below par. How they play the last 11 games is going to be very important and interesting. At the moment it feels like it is teetering on the edge.

Was the Sydney performance one to forget or a sign of things to come?

The Crows have a tough run home with games it should win against North, Western Bulldogs and Melbourne.

It also has 50-50 games against Richmond, Gold Coast, West Coast (twice) and Port.

It has games it looks like it can't win against Collingwood, Geelong and Fremantle.

Looking at that it will definitely win eight and more likely about 10-11.

That is 3-4 wins short of the finals which is pretty disappointing when most were talking top eight and some, including me, were talking the top four.

Even blokes like Cameron Ling thought they might win the flag. This is going to be a big test for everyone at the club and especially Brenton Sanderson.

Will he continue to be the nice guy? Will Graham Johncock play another game for the Crows?

Can the players turn it around and challenge for the eight? Can they knock off the Tigers this week and head into the bye on a high?

Time will tell.

A few points:

Player reviews- Too generous to Otten and Kerridge but the remainder is pretty spot on. Did he intentionally miss out Crouch?
AA selector conceding Reilly's good season last year was largely in part to playing the loose man. A role he can can no longer get away with. Interesting.
Preseason upheaval has affected our playing group
Our preseason form was worrying
But more concerning is our draft punishment is going to hurt for a long long time

 

[Hank93]

Pretty good article from Roo which summarises our season and covers many of our threads:



A few points:

Player reviews- Too generous to Otten and Kerridge but the remainder is pretty spot on. Did he intentionally miss out Crouch?
AA selector conceding Reilly's good season last year was largely in part to playing the loose man. A role he can can no longer get away with. Interesting.
Preseason upheaval has affected our playing group
Our preseason form was worrying
But more concerning is our draft punishment is going to hurt for a long long time

I think that may have been an oversight.

 

[Elite Crow]

I think that may have been an oversight.

Yep, Roos known to have the odd oversight in his articles

 

[radiojake]

Did he intentionally miss out Crouch?

I think that may have been an oversight.

Yep, Roos known to have the odd oversight in his articles

Let's have a look at how the players who have played more than five games have performed in 2013

 

[DREAM TEAM BUFF]

Yep, Roos known to have the odd oversight in his articles

Is this Roo or Roos

 

[radiojake]

Is this Roo or Roos

Another example when punctuation (i.e an apostrophe) is an important aspect to a written sentence -

 

[Ravenous Crow]

Far too easy on Smith. I know getting injured in the pre-season doesn't help but he's been very disappointing compared to what he dished up in the finals.

 

[Schulzycrow]

The whole club has been on a slippery slide since the news broke about the Kurt Tippett deal in November. Yes, we are all sick to death talking about Tippett and the deal that took place but reality is the Adelaide Football Club is going to feel the effects of that for a long time.

No compensation for Tippett is one thing, but no top two picks for two years in the draft is crippling. All up it's basically like taking three of your top five players out of your team for the next 10 years and that's no exaggeration at all.

This from a legend of our club has to be the biggest reason why the board has to take action.
We are going to need a free agent miracle and some more kids named Rory drafted at pick 47.

More than five games...Crouch only 4
On JJ...Roo make the call to Carey...while he's here maybe he can teach Smack a thing or two as well.
We need the legends of the club to get in here and help the coaches, because I still think our panel just aren't up to it when the going gets touch

 

[Kerleys Ghost]

I don't understand all the concern about the lost draft picks

I mean, we got siggins and atkins at a steal last year, everyone commented on how lucky we were to get them. We have recruited exceptionaly well in recent times, and are blessed with a list full of quality young players. In this free agency era, we will hopefully have plenty of options at the end of each year to keep the talent topped up.

• we've already got plenty of young forward prospects, and with walker returning we have the kp.

• and a soon-to-be elite, young, core midfield group. Might need to bring in a ruckman or two in coming years.

• and a defence that is very young and improving nicely, and a dominant rising star kp soon to take over back there.

if we keep this group together, then I cant see the problem. We will be back in the first rounds of the 2014 draft, drafting away while these boys are just hitting their straps.

Future is bright, success is forthcoming.

 

[Schulzycrow]

KG...while I hope every player we draft is a gun, most don't turn out that way. Other clubs such as the Cats, Hawks and Pies seem to be able to turn them out with regularity. We can get some good players and we have some great ones coming through. Our list isn't as rosy as we would all like it to be atm.

On Tex everyone hopes he will just come back good as new...I fervently hope this is the case, but what if he is like Otto or any of the other knee injured players throughout the comp. A gunning Tex in 2014 would be fantastic but I am tending to wait and see on that front.

Our soon to be elite young midfield group got their asses handed to them by Sydney who have their own young midfield group, Mitchell in his second game tore us apart...how many 2nd gamers for us have done that? After Danger, Dougy and Sloane atm there is plenty of work to be done.

We need to snag two maybe three young mids from other clubs. DABM (Carl) over in the Trading and Free Agency thread has made a comprehensive list and we should be targeting this young talent to bolster our midfield depth, HBF and HFF. There are players playing now who aren't going to take us forward and we need to trade them for picks or cut them loose.

The Sydney game has to be the benchmark of what we need to get to. GWS and GCS will be smashing teams in two years time and we will be behind two years in picks and players if we do nothing, but keep our faith in the list that is sitting 10th with no real chance of making the finals this year.

Roo hit it on the head with just about everything that he has written. While last year we nearly made the GF it is like so many other seasons since 98 when we have got tantalizingly close to a GF appearance and for one reason or another haven't taken that final step. Things need to change if we are going to get there again before the 20 year anniversaries come around.

 

[Draft Bored]

I don't understand all the concern about the lost draft picks

I mean, we got siggins and atkins at a steal last year, everyone commented on how lucky we were to get them.

Very true. We might not be so lucky this year.

 

[Footypie32]

Pretty good article from Roo which summarises our season and covers many of our threads:



A few points:

Player reviews- Too generous to Otten and Kerridge but the remainder is pretty spot on. Did he intentionally miss out Crouch?
AA selector conceding Reilly's good season last year was largely in part to playing the loose man. A role he can can no longer get away with. Interesting.
Preseason upheaval has affected our playing group
Our preseason form was worrying
But more concerning is our draft punishment is going to hurt for a long long time

Disagree. His said his ratings were based on each individuals expected performance. A lot of us had Otten being delisted or traded at the start of the year. He has far exceeded expectations.

Same for Kedge. Many would've been surprised if Kerridge played one game, let alone what he has done.

 

[Sanders]

I don't understand all the concern about the lost draft picks

I mean, we got siggins and atkins at a steal last year, everyone commented on how lucky we were to get them. We have recruited exceptionaly well in recent times, and are blessed with a list full of quality young players. In this free agency era, we will hopefully have plenty of options at the end of each year to keep the talent topped up.

• we've already got plenty of young forward prospects, and with walker returning we have the kp.

• and a soon-to-be elite, young, core midfield group. Might need to bring in a ruckman or two in coming years.

• and a defence that is very young and improving nicely, and a dominant rising star kp soon to take over back there.

if we keep this group together, then I cant see the problem. We will be back in the first rounds of the 2014 draft, drafting away while these boys are just hitting their straps.

Future is bright, success is forthcoming.

Obvious troll?

 

[jangofett]

Is Kerleys Ghost a troll? lol

 

[jangofett]

Wow Roo was overly harsh i thought. Especially because he claims his ratings are 'based on individual expectations'

Matthew wright (D): his role has clearly changed since last year, and hes been one of the unlucky ones to miss out due to the teams performance/give younger players a run. At least a C

Jarryd Lyons (C): if its based on expectations, he has to be a (B). How many players perform like him in their first handful of games

Henderson (D): besides his game on the weekend, hes been played all over the ground, surely a pass?

Tom Lynch (C): Once again, this bewilders me. If its 'based on expectations', then lynch should at least be a B or even an A. Maybe Roo expected him to kick 4 every match and be leading the coleman so he only gets a pass lol? Ditto Lyons, both should be higher

Sam Kerridge (A): I agree he has been outstanding, as we didnt expect him to play so well. This is the case for Lynch and Lyons also, they should be A or B

Matt Jaensch (D): very harsh, i was surpised he got dropped. And hes been playing well in the twos

Dont really like how Roo sinks the boot in when the boys are down either

 

[Kerleys Ghost]

for gods sake, were talking about 4 players here, and like I said, we already got lucky with siggins and atkins.

get a grip people, things are looking good.

yes, we've had a bad year and premiers Sydney beat us. We have also have been fielding the 4th youngest 22 in the comp for most of the season.

you're all so up and down its ridiculous, a less successful year than expected and one belting and you've given up for the next decade and calling for half the teams promising youngsters to be traded. we're not a premiership squad this year and we never were. we are at least 2 years from a real push.

 

[jangofett]

for gods sake, were talking about 4 players here, and like I said, we already got lucky with siggins and atkins.

get a grip people, things are looking good.

yes, we've had a bad year and premiers Sydney beat us. We have also have been fielding the 4th youngest 22 in the comp for most of the season.

you're all so up and down its ridiculous, a less successful year than expected and one belting and you've given up for the next decade and calling for half the teams promising youngsters to be traded. we're not a premiership squad this year and we never were. we are at least 2 years from a real push.

Just the way you wrote it sounded like you were trolling lol!
Im not worried at all, i think 2014-2017 we will give it a real shake. We've found players this year that can help us take the next step

 

[Kerleys Ghost]

Mitchell in his second game tore us apart...how many 2nd gamers for us have done that? After Danger, Dougy and Sloane atm there is plenty of work to be done.

• How many games had kerridge played when he sunk north? these things happen, doesn't mean much, likely more of a testament to how poorly we played on the day

We need to snag two maybe three young mids from other clubs. DABM (Carl) over in the Trading and Free Agency thread has made a comprehensive list and we should be targeting this young talent to bolster our midfield depth

• Nah, I really think we are potentially a future midfield powerhouse. You mentioned danger, dougy, and Sloane, but you can throw crouch and lyons onto that list in my opinion (although they're unproven, but you can just tell they will be guns), and I still believe wright will one day find consistency and really become a champion ball-winner. Bernie vince might pull his finger out and step up (has shown glimpses of old form), and we have all given up on old d-mac but he is only 24. Smith, keridge and laird all look to have potential in the middle also. I hear good things about aidan riley and mitch grigg, and weve just drafted atkins who's a great prospect. Things aren't so bad, just a little underdone. A couple of quality free agency acquisitions would go nicely though, but really, when wouldn't they?

The Sydney game has to be the benchmark of what we need to get to. GWS and GCS will be smashing teams in two years time and we will be behind two years in picks and players if we do nothing, but keep our faith in the list that is sitting 10th with no real chance of making the finals this year.

• 4th youngest 22 in the comp, it happens. we expected too much and we all sort of knew we were doing it.

like so many other seasons since 98 when we have got tantalizingly close to a GF appearance and for one reason or another haven't taken that final step. Things need to change if we are going to get there again before the 20 year anniversaries come around.

• dude, in the last 12 seasons, we have made the finals 9 times, including 4 prelims, with 3 different coaches. are you telling me that as a supporter, you are unhappy with that? we are blessed to support a club that is so good at turning over its list and making finals. some clubs haven't played finals for years, we seem to always be around the mark, even with these youngsters, and its just a matter of time before our day comes. please remember that roo works for the media, not for football, not for the crows, his job is to attract attention.

 

[jenny61_99]

Where have you been all my life KG?

 

[Kerleys Ghost]

Where have you been all my life KG?

on a computer, wasting my life replying to people on bigfooty.

sigh, its more fun when the crows are winning

 

[Crowked]

I think he's been pretty generous accross the board there. Cant see how a D grade team has so many pass rated players.

Other than Danger no one should have an A, and only Thomo, Sloane, Douglas and Kerridge should have B's.

Lots of C's(+/-), but VB, Bernie & Reilly should be D's. These three for me have been clear fails in 2013. Should be our most consistent performers and just arent.

 

[rayven]

If we could win at home this thread would be irrelevant.

 

[Cap]

sadly seasons like this happen, but again the Crows will not be in a position to benefit from it (by draft picks) again.

I am really not looking forward to the inevitable season that we don't win more than 4 or 5 games. I wonder what the club will do then, or how we'll miss out on draft picks that year.

 

[SugarShane]

Dont really like how Roo sinks the boot in when the boys are down either

Same here. It's hard because i loved him as a player but i don't rate him at all as a sports journalist/media dude.

He says a lot of things in the media which get taken as gospel because he's a legend, but his observations often seem either way off the mark, or too influenced by his association with the club.

And then he goes and does something like calling Sloane trade bait. Seriously? You expect something like that from Rucci, not from someone who actually likes our club.

 

[Cap]

he can call anyone he wants trade bait, as they are.

whether on not the Crows would actually trade them is another question.