Review Round 2 vs Richmond - The bad, ugly and abysmal

[kirky]

Well Laird is elite








Or so Ive been told

Yes he has won 3 B&Fs, which is the same as Riciutto, McLeod and Goodwin. Each one of the latter could win/turn a game off their own boot.

Could Laird? No, that is our far we have fallen as a club. He is a stat accumulator who is said in the same sentence as those three champions of the club.

 

[texanmike]

Yes he has won 3 B&Fs, which is the same as Riciutto, McLeod and Goodwin. Each one of the latter could win/turn a game off their own boot.

Could Laird? No, that is our far we have fallen as a club. He is a stat accumulator who is said in the same sentence as those three champions of the club.

Yeah...would have to agree with you there, in no way is he even close to the quality of those 3 players. Honestly i'd move laird back and throw Dawson in the midfield and bring Butts back in.

 

[Brett Cummings]

Laird is in the middle because of our terrible recruiting.

 

[MsTopG]

To get those two we’d have had to trade four first rounders, blow our salary cap, AFL media would be screaming how did we manage to do that and we’d end up get done by the AFL for draft tampering or some other bs.

We don’t get to play by the same rules that the big Vic teams do.

It's not the Australian football league. It's the Victorian Premier League. We won't ever have a truly national comp unless there is a breakaway league.

 

[Executive Landlord]

Sloane's game didn't cost us a hell of a lot, Lairds game cost us big time. We lost the game in the middle not the HFF/wing, he was the experienced player as should lead but he was stationary and it was his opponent leading him to the ball and the clearance that costs us multiple goals, but yeah blame Sloane cause he was 50 meters from the play and did nothing.

Laird with four coaches votes, if you know more you should start your coaching career brother

 

[Carmo]

There was a worse one. Last quarter, Marlion hit Himmelberg with a front on bump to his head. The ball spilt and Richmond got a goal out of it.
Himmelberg was pissed and went stright up to challenge Pickett about it. See if you can get a shot of that one.
Of course the umpire saw nothing.

Just on the umpires - how much of a prick is that little twat Chamberlain. When we got to 1 point in it, he couldn't wait to pay a free kick in the centre square. Couldn't blow his whistle fast enough.

Yeah I remember seeing that one in the game, thought it bordered on being reportable. Thought maybe in the post game he might end up reported, crickets of course, how stupid am I.

 

[Kane McGoodwin]

The amount of chopping the arms Richmond got away with made me think the rule doesn't exist anymore.

They also took every opportunity to snipe our players off ball too. They played unsociable football.

 

[MRB37]

They also took every opportunity to snipe our players off ball too. They played unsociable football.

Cause they know they'll get away with it more often than not.

 

[Scorpus]

They also took every opportunity to snipe our players off ball too. They played unsociable football.

They play winning football and don't care about being the nice guys

 

[Mutineer]

 

[GreyCrow]

Hopper - 5,3
Balta - 5,2
Taranto - 4
Laird - 4
Lynch - 3
Baker 2
Nankervis - 1,1

Nicks
Hopper
Laird
Lynch
Baker
Nankervis

 

[Scorpus]

Hopper - 5,3
Balta - 5,2
Taranto - 4
Laird - 4
Lynch - 3
Baker 2
Nankervis - 1,1

Nicks
Hopper
Laird
Lynch
Baker
Nankervis

Little harsh from Damien Hardwick picking Laird there. I know it was almost like he was wearing a Richmond jumper at times but I think it's mean to include him

 

[kirky]

Hopper - 5,3
Balta - 5,2
Taranto - 4
Laird - 4
Lynch - 3
Baker 2
Nankervis - 1,1

Nicks
Hopper
Laird
Lynch
Baker
Nankervis

So Nicks gives Laird 4.

We are ****ed as a club.

 

[GreyCrow]

So Nicks gives Laird 4.

We are ****ed as a club.

Well thats my guess - I have no inside info

But if Hardwick gave Laird the 4 then it means Nicks didnt rate anyone from the Crows

And is that worse?

 

[Scorpus]

Well thats my guess - I have no inside info

But if Hardwick gave Laird the 4 then it means Nicks didnt rate anyone from the Crows

And is that worse?

There's no good option

Either Nicks thought Laird was the second best player on the ground.

Or Hardwick thought Laird was the second best player on the ground

Or Hardwick is trolling us by selecting Laird because he helped them win.

Nicks not thinking there was any Crows in the top 5 on the ground is fine because we were smashed for 3 quarters

 

[rabidcrow]

There's no good option

Either Nicks thought Laird was the second best player on the ground.

Or Hardwick thought Laird was the second best player on the ground

Or Hardwick is trolling us by selecting Laird because he helped them win.

Nicks not thinking there was any Crows in the top 5 on the ground is fine because we were smashed for 3 quarters

Obviously on the outer with this opinion but I thought Lairds second half was outstanding. First half diabolical with turnovers but thought he was a key reason we got back into it. Hopefully that’s the start of a run of form


Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com

 

[CrowBloke]

Nicks
Hopper
Laird
Lynch
Baker
Nankervis

This is really, really bad news.
It means that Nicks values disposals over effectiveness and will never take Laird out of the midfield.

Fwiw, I'd play Laird at HB this week as a rebounder and tell him to look for a teammate with every kick. PA won't expect that.
Also, Dawson on a wing, running both ways.

 

[GreyCrow]

This is really, really bad news.
It means that Nicks values disposals over effectiveness and will never take Laird out of the midfield.

Fwiw, I'd play Laid at HB this week as a rebounder and tell him to look for a teammate with every kick. PA won't expect that.
Also, Dawson on a wing, running both ways.

Unfortunately structure is king - each player has a role and if they cant do that role then next man up

Not changes on field , structure

Himmelberg was the first change in a long time that was outside the norm and it took parnell getting knocked out for it to happen

And lets not think this is exclusive to us - each team does it

And again its why Blight and Matthews et al were gods - because if they werent happy they moved the chess pieces on the board at will - and a pawn needed to be a king for a day if they wanted to survive

 

[King Elvis]

I would not. Playing tough is not playing grubby/dirty.
I'm talking 2017 Prelim. tough, when we mauled Geelong without being dirty, not using sling tackles or head high shots (at which Cotchin excels) or holding a player down by the arm in a pack etc, which is cheating.
Am I suggesting Richmond cheated their way to the 2017 Flag? Yes, on GF day, and the Umpires helped. Here's the proof:

There are similar compiations for their 2019-20 Flags but I don't care about them.

I've previously heaped praise on Richmond for their toughness, willingness to run both ways for teammates and their tap-on move-the-ball-on game, but I despise their dirty tactics.

Still makes me angry, what an absolute disgrace.

 

[King Elvis]

The problem with Laird is he thinks getting 39 touches means he's played well

His actual effectiveness is no different to midfielders getting 25 touches.

I'd like to see him focus less on stat padding and getting bulk disposals, and more on ensuring every touch he gets is useful

One of those players where opposition teams are happy for him to have 30+ touches - very little impact on the game.

 

[evsy58]

Not a good performance at all. First half was dire!

 

[AFC979810]

Good:

Sholl
Mad Max is going to be a long term player for us. Great to see father sons coming along.
We will have a day where it all clicks and having Rankine, Rachele, Walker and Fog up forward will be scary.

Bad:

Berry/Schoenberg - Really needed them to step up again in 2023. They don't look AFL standard right now.

Ugly:

Nobody flying the flag for Parnell when he was concussed. Our one strength under nicks is our culture and this was an absolute disgrace.

Richmond's 3 key tall forwards kicked 8 between them. We played one defender who was taller than 192cm.

Mathew Nicks has the game-day tactical nous of a brick.

 

[cleanhands]

This is really, really bad news.
It means that Nicks values disposals over effectiveness and will never take Laird out of the midfield.

Fwiw, I'd play Laid at HB this week as a rebounder and tell him to look for a teammate with every kick. PA won't expect that.
Also, Dawson on a wing, running both ways.

They couldn’t handle Diacos doing it across half back not a bad move

 

[Pugsley]

Cause they know they'll get away with it more often than not.

If they don't, Hardwick brings the tears.

 

[CrowBloke]

And again its why Blight and Matthews et al were gods - because if they werent happy they moved the chess pieces on the board at will - and a pawn needed to be a king for a day if they wanted to survive

This is 26 years ago, but I remember it well.
After 8 or 10 rounds, my best mate and I were talking about Blighty who seemed to be playing a lot of blokes out-of-position, in some ways like Nicks has been doing, but there are clear differences.
At the time I had a hunch that Blight was doing it so that if a player was injured, or not performing, then he could move the chess pieces (as you said) to fill the gaps. Blight did that brilliantly. Some of the positional changes Blight made were beyond odd (McLeod to half-back mid-way through 1997, Shane Ellen forward in the GF, then back again after he'd kicked a bag etc --- if ever Ellen was a pawn who became King for a day, it was him). They caught oppo teams and Coaches by surprise and they worked.

Nicks does not do that. Nicks could have a sleeve as long as the Adelaide Hills tunnel and there would still not be a trick up it.
Nicks played junior players out-of-position to accommodate rusted-on senior players who cannot be moved out of their tried-and-trusted roles, even when they are not working. Consequence? In and out of the team, the juniors' confidence is crushed while the seniors retain their places undeservedly and go on to play even worse.
Furthermore, look what he's doing with/to Dawson, turning him into a dour defender, crushing his flair and spontaneity as a beautiful two-way running wingman who can deliver beautifully into the I50 as well as kick goals himself when he goes forward. Nicks is forcing Doedee to be a KPD, which he is not. He dropped Butts when we were going in against a tall Richmond forward line, without replacing him with a tall KPD (why not try Keane? Hell, you're gonna lose anyway). He's persevering with Smith and Sloane who both need a kick up their collective arses and rewarding Laird for mega-possessions-without-effect, and on it goes (Blight would have dropped both, by now --- just ask Modra, or Pittman).

We might well ask why Nicks does what he does.
I think it's still a loss-minimisation tactic, so the Crows who are going to lose anyway don't get blown out of the water. Why else play Dawson back? To increase his repertoire or make Dawson a more-flexible player?
Nah.
Dawson plays his best, most effective, most damaging and game-changing footy on a wing with time as a mid.
It's loss-minimisation and job-saving for Nicks at the same time. I know that's a brutal call, but we've seen enough of his strange selections, odd player positioning, goal-runs-against and dead quarters to see through Nicks now.

Blight was a mercurial player; a blend of Russell Ebert and John Platten with a touch of unconventional Akermanis at their best. Blight was not afraid to try something different. 65-70metres out from goal with a kick after the siren to win the game? Hmmm, better try the torp, which sailed through at post-height! This kick has been estimated @ 76-80m. AFTER the siren (no pressure )!


Blight coached (the Crows, anyway) like he played. Intuitively. Instinctively. Unconventionally, and with flair, which brought out the best in his players who were encouraged to play and have fun.
The Crows are gonna have to find another Blight somewhere if they want this group to win a Flag and I fear it's going to take longer than I will ever see .
End of old fart's insomniac rant.