Round 4 Vs Sydney

[lozstar]

Thats nothing compared to the game in Rnd 20 1999 that I sat through at the SCG, think from memory that we got flogged by 120 pts and Lockett had an absolute feild day I think the AFC only managed four goals that day

ok, you win.

 

[maccas_no1]

ok, you win.

It was funny when Adelaide managed to kick a goal, the whole crowd cheered

 

[Truck Rutten]

Guys I'm going up for the game this weekend. You're not filling me with a lot of confidence that it's going to be an enjoyable day

 

[GoSarge]

Yes, the super flood will be the test.

I tend to agree with the lesser likes of Sydney being the problem. Nicks in particular has been in good form and could pose a problem up forward.Will Doughty get him if he goes forward ?

Kennelly and Barry off half back have the ability to hurt us if they are left unchecked. Hopefully we can make them accountable.

The midfield will be interesting, I think we hold a good advantage there so hopefully we can get control the centre clearances and get the ball in quickly to avoid Roos flooding players back. Hudson has been a revelation for us so hopefully he can keep up the good form.

Rutten should get Hall and McGregor should take Goodes if he plays forward. What is the situation with O'Loughlin ? Is he fit ? Hound can take him, but he's pretty slippery and has tripped us up before.

Sydney tend to be a little short down back so perhaps we can exploit that by playing Biglands down forward ? Just a thought.

What do people think about Sydney expending a lot of energy with that comeback against Brissy ? Will it affect this weeks performance ?

My tip - Sydney to take the points, but hopefully we can take it up to them, and with a bit of luck, get over the line.

 

[AlwaysCrows]

Guys I'm going up for the game this weekend. You're not filling me with a lot of confidence that it's going to be an enjoyable day

Well i think the most frustrating games for me are the ones where the Adelaide boys lead for most of the game only to have it relinquished at the very last moments of the fourth quarter like the first game vs WCE and last year's loss to Carlton. Those games give me the sh*tz. Big thrashings are always disconcerting too but at least you learn to accept the outcome that they're going to lose. I just hate having my emotions changed from total elation to complete destruction of all hope.

 

[Bloods Rule!]

Hi guys,

I thought I'd come over and see how you are all viewing the game on Sunday. Reading the first posts here, I thought it might be easy as several were talking about the Swans flooding our backline. That sounds more like a reading from the Advertiser than any time spent watching the Swans play. We rarely drop players back in defence - didn't even do it when the Kangaroos did it to us at Manuka. Rather we play a crowded midfield then try to run it hard out of defence through players like Kennelly and Barry. So Paul Roos is right - the Swans don't flood but they certainly tackle hard.

It was great watching the Crows game as you ran over Port. But I kept thinking "why isn't anyone manning up?" Then again, I was sitting in Brisbane still with no voice after cheering the Swannies on in that final quarter. It was a big night, especially as we kept pushing in the final quarter.

I suspect that this next game may be harder for you. We'll have had almost a day more to recover but our game may have been harder on the players than yours. It also looks like we'll have Magic O'Loughlin back and he'll by FF. Baz hardly sees the FF position these days - he plays much further up the field.

Hope to see some of you at the game and hope it's a good one. I'll be sitting with a friend who has the Crows as her second team so she'll be torn. It'd be great to see Roo play as he did last week but I still think we should be able to squeeze out the win. Just don't think it'll be by flooding - Eade left us years ago. As to match ups, it'll be interesting to see how Paul Roos sets our team up - he has been moving people around a bit and seems to want Goodes as a genuine rover.

By the way, the early predictions are that there will be showers in Sydney over the weekend.

And lets all hope that the umpires back off this week. It was harder to work out the umpires' tactics than the coaches! (And they payed 6:4 within the forward 50 to the Lions.)

So far we've had what was really a training game against the Hawks in R1. Woeful kicking and errors everywhere let us down in R2 against the Roos. R3 was an arm wrestle until the Lions got tired. (But we always seem a bit defensive when we're facing the Lions at the Gabba.) This week should be a good contest against a good team coming off a great win. I hope it's a blinder.

 

[GoSarge]

Cheers for that response mate.

Interesting about O'Loughlin coming back, I assume he will be quite underdone coming straight back in to the senior side. Hopefully we can exploit his lack of match fitness. Can you tell us what sort of pre season he has had ? As far as I am aware it has been severely interrupted by injury, and thus his preparation would be far from ideal.

If Hall plays up the ground, like you are suggesting, I wonder if Craigy will go for McGregor/Bassett instead of Truck Rutten, we shall see.

Your other small forwards could pose a problem. Nicks kicked goals against us in the pre season and is a good small forward. Perhaps Doughty or johncock will take him.

Hope for a good contest and for us to take the points in a cliffhanger !

 

[conVINCEd]

I would play McGregor on Hall, Rutten on Goodes if he plays forward and Torney on O'Loughlin.

I was at the Sydney v. Brisbane game, and they certainly didn't flood to any great extent. They simply try to leave a lot of room in their forward line. For the first three quarters they basically just stuffed around with too many handpasses in the midfield, resulting in poor delivery to the forward line and multiple turnovers. In the final quarter they start to kick long, and got some drive from the backline (Kennelly especially) and were able to run down the Lions.

Will be an interesting game.

 

[ok.crows]

I would play McGregor on Hall, Rutten on Goodes if he plays forward and Torney on O'Loughlin.

I was at the Sydney v. Brisbane game, and they certainly didn't flood to any great extent. They simply try to leave a lot of room in their forward line. For the first three quarters they basically just stuffed around with too many handpasses in the midfield, resulting in poor delivery to the forward line and multiple turnovers. In the final quarter they start to kick long, and got some drive from the backline (Kennelly especially) and were able to run down the Lions.

Will be an interesting game.

Who would you play on Kenelly & Barry?

I'm thinking maybe Mattner on Kenelly - someone who can chase & tackle but still be a threat as a forward.

 

[just maybe]

Nail. Hammer. Head.

O'Keefe

O'Keefe ain't gonna 'kill' any team.

 

[Crows_Chick]

I am quietly confident this week (as i was last week) about "our" boys getting over the line, our midfield has been exceptional this year and i don't believe that sydney will have the match-ups for them, especially with the constant rotation as was used last week.

The key to this game will be our forwards... i don't think it is controversial to say they have been the weakest line in the crows game... if they can stand up, and build on the improvement of last weekend, and prevent quick rebounds (and ideally kick accurately) the pressure on the backline against sydney's biggest threats (hall, o'loughlin and goodes) will be minimal and they will hopefully have as much opportunity/influence as tredrea last weekend !!

I think sydney would be cautious about playing a crowded mid-field as they did last weekend, as an arm wrestle in the middle would probably (IMO) give adelaide an edge, based on the success of adelaide at the stoppages last weekend...

Where should Mcleod play ?? He has been quite damaging lurking around the forward lines the last couple of weeks... and maybe this would be a better position to drag one of sydney's better players (to stand him) out of the midfield ??

Should be a good game, but here's hoping it's a free-flowing, non-flooding tough game enjoyable for both clubs and supporters alike !!

 

[thommoone]

I think crouch will play on Mcloud no matter where he plays, be that forward or centre. Ussually does alright against him, and has the speed to keep up, although he hasn';t had a great season thus far.

On O'loughlin, has had no preseason, like every other year, and is not 100% fit. But be very wary to treat him with less respect, he has the ability to murder any team even if can only walk he can still win the match, that is of course the magic of Mick

On a side note, i think u have a very good chance and imho, Goodes, Kenelly and Magic will be the keys for us. Shut them down this weekand well struggle. (im assuming ur able to keep Hall relatively quiet like usuall)

Good luck, and here's to some goals!

 

[AJ_No.4]

Hi guys,

I thought I'd come over and see how you are all viewing the game on Sunday. Reading the first posts here, I thought it might be easy as several were talking about the Swans flooding our backline. That sounds more like a reading from the Advertiser than any time spent watching the Swans play. We rarely drop players back in defence - didn't even do it when the Kangaroos did it to us at Manuka. Rather we play a crowded midfield then try to run it hard out of defence through players like Kennelly and Barry. So Paul Roos is right - the Swans don't flood but they certainly tackle hard.

QUOTE]


You don't flood.......... that is the funniest thing I have ever heard. You did it in the first 3 mins against Brisbane and right up until 3 quarter time. Malcolm Blight pointed it out.

You are the biggest flooding team in the league....... and if you don't think so, you have no idea.

 

[Bloods Rule!]

Hi guys,

I thought I'd come over and see how you are all viewing the game on Sunday. Reading the first posts here, I thought it might be easy as several were talking about the Swans flooding our backline. That sounds more like a reading from the Advertiser than any time spent watching the Swans play. We rarely drop players back in defence - didn't even do it when the Kangaroos did it to us at Manuka. Rather we play a crowded midfield then try to run it hard out of defence through players like Kennelly and Barry. So Paul Roos is right - the Swans don't flood but they certainly tackle hard.

QUOTE]


You don't flood.......... that is the funniest thing I have ever heard. You did it in the first 3 mins against Brisbane and right up until 3 quarter time. Malcolm Blight pointed it out.

You are the biggest flooding team in the league....... and if you don't think so, you have no idea.

I just came back to see if anyone responded to what I wrote. Glad I did - and thanks to those who decided to discuss the forthcoming game sensibly. Then I got to AJ who I guess still believes in the toothfairy and everything that the 'Tiser writes about footy. (Who is that guy who writes about footy there by the way?) You didn't seem to refute what I wrote - just ridiculed it. So I presume you have decided to redefine "flooding" as putting a lot of players around the ball? Most regard it as filling the defensive 50 so that the opposition can't score.

By the way, how funny was it that Leigh Matthews kept a straight face when he was accusing Roos of flooding before the game last weekend? As Roos pointed out after the Gabba game last year, the Swannies chipped the ball around because EVERY Lion player was in their defensive 50 towards the end of the R1 game last year. And if you watch the last quarter of the Swans/Lions game last weekend, every cutaway of Leigh showed him frantically yelling into the phone and waving his players to flood back. But "the champs" don't flood, I read that somewhere. So I guess they don't. I must have imagined it.

An advantage the Swans have is that the other states see us rarely. So it's fair enough that you rely on what you hear. In 2003, under the new coach Paul Roos, we were regarded purely as a hard running team - shut us down and we'd lose. So last year, Roos developed a second game plan - we'd shut down other teams. It got wins but it wasn't pretty. But we had so many players out with injury that it was about the only way we could get wins until the second half of the season.

For the start of this season, we have surprisingly few injuries. In R1 we played the Hawks and hardly needed a game plan - they are talented but they are raw so we just had to hustle them till they made mistakes then we'd take the ball and score. R2 was pure ugly. The Roos decided to just shut us down and we just played their game. We kicked like crap and made enough mistakes that they could get away from us in the final quarter. The Lions were trying the same late run approach against Port that weekend but left their run a bit late. I rode my motorcycle down to Canberra for the Manuka game and it was a cold miserable ride home after watching my team play so poorly.

The Lions game wasn't like that at all. It was a tough game and it's no surprise that Aker is now well in front of everyone else in the AFL for tackles made. Copeland and Selwood of the Lions stand 4th and 5th on that ladder. But it was the Swans that tackled the game to a halt? It was a fascinating contest - and a long way from the poor standard of the North Melbourne game. It wasn't a flooding game just tough man-on-man. In the 3rd quarter neither team could maintain that pressure and the Lions got away from us. But the Swans literally threw caution to the wind in Q4 and we ran over them.

Sorry for the long winded reply. Paul Roos said last year we'd never win with a one dimensional game. Right now, the Swans' confidence should be high so they know they can go long and score. But so can the Crows - just ask Port. Until last week, I'd say that the Crows midfield was performing better than ours. But players like Kennelly, Crouch, Williams, Bolton, Leo Barry and Ablett - even Goodes - weren't playing with much confidence. They have now. And putting quick thinking, brilliant kicking Nick Davis into the midfield was pretty clever, too.

I reckon this game will be a battle of tactics. I really hope it has a record high score (our way, of course) but I don't know that I won't be screaming for the Swans to shut the game down if you're running away with it.

But if you see the Swans all flooding back to protect our goal, come over to redandwhiteonline.com and give me hell. I bet you don't because I haven't seen the Swans play that way since Rodney Eade left.

By the way, I hear there was some WA district game last weekend where one team flooded so badly that they left no-one to contest the bounce! They lost by 100 points. But if you find Roo buried under a hard tackle by Crouch or Kirk, that's not a flood. Tackling is just what they do. Must be Sydney's rugby heritage.

See you at the SCG. And you can't even get chardonnay there any more - it's all bloody chablis. So much for stereotypes.

 

[Kane McGoodwin]

I haven't seen much of the Swans this year to comment, but they must have played OK to beat the Lions at home.

What role is Goodes playing? If in the forward line I would use Kenny, with Hound v O'Loughlin (athough he may have to play on Jolly if they go tall), Truck v BBBH.

If Shauble is still out injured, we could stretch their defence. Gather Barry v Hentschel, C Bolton v Welsh & LRT v Perrie.

 

[AJ_No.4]

I just came back to see if anyone responded to what I wrote. Glad I did - and thanks to those who decided to discuss the forthcoming game sensibly. Then I got to AJ who I guess still believes in the toothfairy and everything that the 'Tiser writes about footy. (Who is that guy who writes about footy there by the way?) You didn't seem to refute what I wrote - just ridiculed it. So I presume you have decided to redefine "flooding" as putting a lot of players around the ball? Most regard it as filling the defensive 50 so that the opposition can't score.

QUOTE]

I don't read the advertiser, as it is full of crap. I make my own opinions.

Have you ever heard of FOXTEL???? I have it and I see a fair bit of your games, as I love watching the likes of Leo Barry and Nick Davis play.

You flood and there is no question about it. Maybe you should try and get a replay of last weeks game against Brisbane and have a look at the first quarter, maybe 2 - 3 mins in to it and tell me what it is that Sydney are doing??? And it isn't putting numbers around the ball.

I saw it first hand also when you played the Regional game over here. You flooded for a good 3 and bit quarters and then decided not to do it anymore and got yourselfs back in the game. What was worst it was ********ing down with rain and you made the game even more boring than it was already going to be because of the weather.


I do like your new term for flooding tough...... getting numbers around the ball.


I have to applaude your passion though, there should be more supporters like yourself that is that commited to your team. In the ways of travelling.

 

[Bloods Rule!]

I haven't seen much of the Swans this year to comment, but they must have played OK to beat the Lions at home.

What role is Goodes playing? If in the forward line I would use Kenny, with Hound v O'Loughlin (athough he may have to play on Jolly if they go tall), Truck v BBBH.

If Shauble is still out injured, we could stretch their defence. Gather Barry v Hentschel, C Bolton v Welsh & LRT v Perrie.

Goodes is playing a very loose midfield role - almost as a rover. He's recovered a lot of his 2003 mobility after the ACL problem last year. And starting to get his game smarts back after a bit of a let down after the Brownlow (shared with some guy from Adelaide ).

Schauble is listed as "available" but we're all guessing he'll get a run in the 2s for a couple of weeks. We do miss not having him organise out defence. When we have two ruckmen on the field you'll sometimes find Ball at one end and Jolly at the other (Doyle is out injured). But you are right - we may be stretched in defence. But most Swans fans have given up trying to second guess Paul Roos so we'll see when the teams are announced.

Noone is regarding this game as a gimme. But it is seen as a "must win". We just beat the Lions at the Gabba so going down to any team at home after an extra day of rest would be seen as a capitulation. It'd be a bugger to go to 2:2 - with the Dees at the SCG the following Sunday.

 

[Crows_Chick]

Noone is regarding this game as a gimme. But it is seen as a "must win". We just beat the Lions at the Gabba so going down to any team at home after an extra day of rest would be seen as a capitulation. It'd be a bugger to go to 2:2 - with the Dees at the SCG the following Sunday.

Well if it's any consolation i hope the swannies have a good year... likeable team and decent supporters i wish you all the best...

but not until after this sunday !!

You'll be able to recover from 2:2 after this weekend...

GO CROW BOYS !!

 

[JF_Bay_22_SCG]

Poling the Crows banner on Sunday

we will be needing help from as many adelaide supporters in helping pole the Crows banner for you on Sunday morning.

I know there ARE a few Sydney-based Crows supporters who will no doubt be in attendence on Sunday.

Have a look out for the Crows Supporters Club in their seats in Bay17ish. as we will need help in getting things done in time.

we generally get it done under the Churchill Stand. So if you see us, come and join in. As we are doing YOU GUYS a favour!


JF

 

[DaveW]

Re: Poling the Crows banner on Sunday

we generally get it done under the Churchill Stand. So if you see us, come and join in. As we are doing YOU GUYS a favour!

what time?

 

[JF_Bay_22_SCG]

Re: Poling the Crows banner on Sunday

what time?

1030-11am ish. I'll check with all concerned and will advise.

I have forwarded this to Andrew Cubitt of the Crows NSW Supporters Group.
His contact details are below.

http://afc.com.au/default.asp?pg=supporters&spg=groups&articleid=179356

JF

 

[Sid]

I havent gained that much confidence in the swans yet. That game against the roos was a real backward step.

That being said, if mickey players, we will have a killer of a forward line. The home ground advantage helps as well.

Im surprised you guys think its that difficult a game.

 

[- PC -]

.

Im surprised you guys think its that difficult a game.

I think its not so much the opponent but wondering which Adelaide turns up.If its Adelaide from the showdown then put your glasses down, but if its Adelaide from the Telstra dome

 

[crowsarethebest]

Sydney play a very boring style of game but it works perfectly on the lions. I reckon it will be a tough match.. probably a slugfest with the ball being held up all the times.

 

[ok.crows]

I havent gained that much confidence in the swans yet. That game against the roos was a real backward step.

That being said, if mickey players, we will have a killer of a forward line. The home ground advantage helps as well.

Im surprised you guys think its that difficult a game.

It isn't an impossibly difficult game by any means. However, if the Crows lapse in any way back to some of the footy we have seen from them earlier this season they won't win.

I must say I am surprised at some reports of the odds - apparently $3.10 for a Crows win. Wow. I think the Crows are a far, far better chance than those odds suggest.