Strategy Season Expectations

[GROTTO]

After the heartbreak of the 2017 Grand Final it took me months to recover to care about the Crows again.

I had faith that we could get there again or maybe it was hope. I knew deep down the warning signs were already there, Brouch and Tex injured during the preseason was the origins of the decline, from there a lot of other issues began to surface.

If we happen to lose to the Eagles and Tigers in the next few rounds, I just hope the Club decides to put certain players in cotton wool or if they need surgeries for them to undergo them NOW and not in October.

Lets face it our preseason this year is going to last for 6 months as it really should start on Monday. Our Season is shot.

 

[fabs33]

I’ve never been calmer after such a poor run of losses.

Glad I wiped away any hope weeks ago.

I'm in the same boat, very calm about our current situation. Our ins and outs each week don't bother me much either. I've acknowledged that with the squad physically and mentally in the state it currently is in winning becomes very difficult, almost impossible. That's why I'm saving my emotional energy up for the off-season, as there better be some changes coming because there is no way a club can allow it's grand finalist team to have it's preseason utterly ruined without heads rolling.

 

[Crowboto]

I'm not sure why a lot of people on here are so pumped about our draft prospects at years end. It won't matter who we get, our club has a long history of wrecking talent via mind games, crap mentoring,garbage tactics and non flexible game plans anyway.

 

[StonesThrow]

Team with a large number of their best players out struggles. Never would have guessed.

All this other stuff may be having an impact but I'm 100% sure it's being overblown.

Speculation may or may not be right but let's not forget that the media is mostly hyperbole these days. We all know it but tend to gobble it up when it suits our narrative.

 

[StonesThrow]

I'm not sure why a lot of people on here are so pumped about our draft prospects at years end. It won't matter who we get, our club has a long history of wrecking talent via mind games, crap mentoring,garbage tactics and non flexible game plans anyway.

How old are you?

 

[WeeBlake]

Team with a large number of their best players out struggles. Never would have guessed.

All this other stuff may be having an impact but I'm 100% sure it's being overblown.

Speculation may or may not be right but let's not forget that the media is mostly hyperbole these days. We all know it but tend to gobble it up when it suits our narrative.

I’m happy to believe that the club is not a complete catastrophic shambles. Things always look better when you’re winning and worse when you’re losing.

We had a horror GF, and have a track record of good players leaving. Add the traumatic burden of Walsh’s death. After all that, of course everyone feels a bit fragile.

Then, add a training camp run by snake oil salesmen. People are feeling even worse.

Now add in a horror run of injuries, some probably through bad management.

Ok, now add in a series of terrible performances. Of course it seems like the club is burning.

The reality is probably that things are bad, but not catastrophically bad. But it seems worse, and that matters, because players will make decisions on whether to stay, or whether or make the massive effort required, based on how it seems.

I still reach the same conclusion as most on here - clear the decks.

 

[StonesThrow]

I’m happy to believe that the club is not a complete catastrophic shambles. Things always look better when you’re winning and worse when you’re losing.

We had a horror GF, and have a track record of good players leaving. Add the traumatic burden of Walsh’s death. After all that, of course everyone feels a bit fragile.

Then, add a training camp run by snake oil salesmen. People are feeling even worse.

Now add in a horror run of injuries, some probably through bad management.

Ok, now add in a series of terrible performances. Of course it seems like the club is burning.

The reality is probably that things are bad, but not catastrophically bad. But it seems worse, and that matters, because players will make decisions on whether to stay, or whether or make the massive effort required, based on how it seems.

I still reach the same conclusion as most on here - clear the decks.

I think it's been a perfect storm which created this implosion of the board.

We're sceptical and on edge ever since the tippet fiasco. Year after year good players leave. We persist with a couple of average players (as most clubs do). We get close to a flag last year, getting everyone excited, only to put in a meek performance. 2 more good players leave to rub salt into the wounds. We score a good player but much later than hoped. Now we enter the following season with injuries to many of our best 10 players. Some look like a result of the training program and a couple a result of poor management (some bad luck). Poor performances follow. The media chimes in and we lose our minds.

 

[PCORF]

It takes a lot of belief and effort to win games, especially close games more so if you are not the most successful team in order to get a good position on the ladder and when your key players are out with long term injuries that makes it even harder, etc etc etc. This season was always going to be a challenge.

 

[Cincinnatus]

Pykey said after the Hawthorn game he is keeping the faith - good enough for me.

 

[Wood_Duck]

Pykey said after the Hawthorn game he is keeping the faith - good enough for me.

Enjoy your apricot slice.

 

[Cincinnatus]

Enjoy your apricot slice.

I dont get it

 

[WetCrow1991]

I dont get it

We know.

 

[Kane McGoodwin]

I dont get it

Apple turnover instead?

 

[Cincinnatus]

We know.

Apple turnover instead?

NOT HELPING

 

[Jeffcrowe]

There is something seriously wrong at the club , the signs were there but we were hanging on with alot of spirit eg the Sydney win ( and the tigers win showed massive character as well , 2 of our better ever wins)

Those days of spirit and character are gone - the players aren't up for the fight and you can't help but think there is a disconnect between the players and the staff

They are going to need an independent review and make changes at end of year with some big name casualties

There is a chance to minimise this to 1 season but we are not making a GF anytime soon regardless and if we don't do anything we are doomed

 

[Elite Crow]

There is something seriously wrong at the club , the signs were there but we were hanging on with alot of spirit eg the Sydney win ( and the tigers win showed massive character as well , 2 of our better ever wins)

Those days of spirit and character are gone - the players aren't up for the fight and you can't help but think there is a disconnect between the players and the staff

They are going to need an independent review and make changes at end of year with some big name casualties

There is a chance to minimise this to 1 season but we are not making a GF anytime soon regardless and if we don't do anything we are doomed

I think the fall has been so catastrophic that they won’t be able to sweep it under the rug.

If we finished 6-8th with our injuries it would have hidden the issues.

I think what happened is the players have lost faith with the football program, injuries just kept piling up, they’ve seen players mismanaged and then they are having CM preached to them. It got to the point where they can’t keep up the performances with all these players out and they’ve just given up and are counting down until the seasons done.

In that time if the club doesn’t get its s**t together we are ****ed.

 

[Swooping Crow]

Pykey said after the Hawthorn game he is keeping the faith - good enough for me.

Keep drinking the kool-aid as we slide into Carlton levels of deplorable.

 

[Cincinnatus]

Keep drinking the kool-aid as we slide into Carlton levels of deplorable.

It was very sarcastic

 

[marty36]

I think the fall has been so catastrophic that they won’t be able to sweep it under the rug.

If we finished 6-8th with our injuries it would have hidden the issues.

I think what happened is the players have lost faith with the football program, injuries just kept piling up, they’ve seen players mismanaged and then they are having CM preached to them. It got to the point where they can’t keep up the performances with all these players out and they’ve just given up and are counting down until the seasons done.

In that time if the club doesn’t get its s**t together we are ******.

Injuries undoubtedly have derailed the season blind freddy can see that

Some teams have a list than can cope when injuries mount up but very few teams can do that

Those select few teams have exceptionally good list management with depth than can cover the injuries

We don't

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[Kane McGoodwin]

Injuries undoubtedly have derailed the season blind freddy can see that

Some teams have a list than can cope when injuries mount up but very few teams can do that

Those select few teams have exceptionally good list management with depth than can cover the injuries

We don't

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Which side can cope with 40% of their best 22 missing?

Agree injuries are the major factor, but I don't believe any side would cope with the extent we have had them.

 

[ShadeyP]

We're going so poorly we could get busted for tanking even though we are actually trying to win

If we can pin it on Burton , Clarke and or Campo then that sits fine with me .

 

[Elite Crow]

Injuries undoubtedly have derailed the season blind freddy can see that

Some teams have a list than can cope when injuries mount up but very few teams can do that

Those select few teams have exceptionally good list management with depth than can cover the injuries

We don't

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No team which have had the injuries we’ve had could cope.

We’ve copped injuries to our best players, the only one in the 16-22 range has been Knight, the rest top 10 players.

As you’ve said many times you need your best players, the guys on the big bucks to perform, most of these guys have been injured at some stage. You don’t have these caliber of players playing in the reserves.

 

[mistylake]

Just had a look at those 3 teams below us not including Carlton and Brisbane. When I look at their ability to get past us and our ability to win probably only 2 more.
We’ll probably end up about 12th-13th, I reckon.
Will that get us who we want/need. Clearly there will be some decent pick there but will it be a worthy South Aussie?

 

[Godallblighty]

I think it's been a perfect storm which created this implosion of the board.

We're sceptical and on edge ever since the tippet fiasco. Year after year good players leave. We persist with a couple of average players (as most clubs do). We get close to a flag last year, getting everyone excited, only to put in a meek performance. 2 more good players leave to rub salt into the wounds. We score a good player but much later than hoped. Now we enter the following season with injuries to many of our best 10 players. Some look like a result of the training program and a couple a result of poor management (some bad luck). Poor performances follow. The media chimes in and we lose our minds.

You're right that there is an accumulation of things that has provoked the current despair. But calling it a 'perfect storm' suggests that it is a freak confluence of factors, not a pattern. Of course there's some bad luck in there. but there's a heap of poor management too. I've no doubt that injuries are our biggest problem right now and much of the seeming discontent within the playing group would evaporate if we were healthy and winning. But while luck is always responsible for injuries, the parlous state of our list these last two years fitness-wise looks like a massive own goal.

The thing that really has me dispirited is the fleeting nature of our success throughout our history. Over the years we've watched Brisbane, Hawthorn, Geelong all build periods of sustained dominance. We see Sydney year in year out maintain a standard that always has them challenging. Even Richmond this year is proving that last year was no fluke and they've constructed a system and a list to keep going. And while you might offer up the Bulldogs as an example of a club that only soared ever so briefly, that is a pretty meagre crumb of comfort. Why can we never maintain the rage for more than one or two years? Why do we deflate so abruptly? Why can't we keep a list together for a sustained tilt? We are a perennial flash in the pan club. It's demoralising.

 

[Rotayjay]

Which side can cope with 40% of their best 22 missing?

Agree injuries are the major factor, but I don't believe any side would cope with the extent we have had them.

We coped for a little while, chalking up wins against the crap sides and willing ourselves to two good victories against fellow finals aspirants. Personally I was in the minority who remained very bullish about our prospects. We had shown our depth and resolve to be very good and we compared well with the other contenders. We'd keep chalking up wins, get players back and then watch out.

Then we got pumped by Melbourne at a neutral venue and it seems that broke the players' hope just as much as it broke mine and many supporters'. The players know we ain't winning anything this year and are, as one person put it, counting down til the end of the season. Who knows, maybe they're reading this board and our slamming of club officials.