"September Sinkers"

[footy4ever]

My favourite overpaid typist, one M. Rucci, thinks he has the right to be attaching labels to the AFC.

'September Sinkers', his latest stinker from his drought-ridden pool of ideas, is being promoted...by himself, so that (and I am now taking bets as to when it will occur) he can in the near future, use this line - "The Adelaide Crows, NOW TOUTED AS SEPTEMBER SINKERS"

Roll up roll up, place your bets.

When will this excuse for a journalist pay any respect to the teams that beat the Crows in any of the home and away and finals games?

For some reason there has to be a Spanish Inquisition as to why the Crows failed, as though it is absolutely unthinkable that another team is or played better on the day.

Ms. Rucci was able to get the 'chokers' tag to stick at Alberton. Please ignore
all his further reference to the 'sinkers' bullsh!t...as a matter of fact, going on his bewildering opinions on the game of footy, we would all do well to ignore...well, most of the drivel he writes.

 

[Sekaj]

Unfortunately, until the Crows have some success in September, they deserve any criticism they get.

 

[RealSlimShady]

My favourite overpaid typist, one M. Rucci, thinks he has the right to be attaching labels to the AFC.

'September Sinkers', his latest stinker from his drought-ridden pool of ideas, is being promoted...by himself, so that (and I am now taking bets as to when it will occur) he can in the near future, use this line - "The Adelaide Crows, NOW TOUTED AS SEPTEMBER SINKERS"

Roll up roll up, place your bets.

When will this excuse for a journalist pay any respect to the teams that beat the Crows in any of the home and away and finals games?

For some reason there has to be a Spanish Inquisition as to why the Crows failed, as though it is absolutely unthinkable that another team is or played better on the day.

Ms. Rucci was able to get the 'chokers' tag to stick at Alberton. Please ignore
all his further reference to the 'sinkers' bullsh!t...as a matter of fact, going on his bewildering opinions on the game of footy, we would all do well to ignore...well, most of the drivel he writes.

I think Malthouse was spot on when he said Adelaide are like a german soccer team - get a 1-0 lead then defend it! We played so well in the 2nd term with multiple runners breaking the lines and running into the 50 to score or setup goals. None of this occured in the 2nd half, it was a pathetic effort and I am actually glad I dont have to see them again this season. I hope Craigy makes some serious cuts to the list and installs a new game plan for next season because I am quickly losing my interest for the style of play the crows are delivering. No wonder only 39K turned up.

 

[noddy]

Can't argue with what Mr Rucci wrote & just as the PAFC are now labeled as "chokers" so will we now be known as September "sinkers/stinkers"

Until our club performs when it counts.

 

[macca23]

It's hard to defend Adelaide this year.

Forget the expectations at the beginning of the year and all that crap. What really counts is what were the genuine expectations for this match before the ball was bounced.

We were a short priced favourite to beat a somewhat depleted Collingwood team that looked incapable of beating us on paper.

Follow this up with a 25 point lead 2 minutes before half time which turned into a 31 point defeat on our home ground with our crowd, and what exactly did you like about this defeat?

Once again we were outcoached in a final, with our big names underperforming on a massive scale.

It was one of our poorest finals performances and we have put a few of those on the board in recent years.

Craig and crew have to take a very close look and acknowledge who are the under-performers in finals, including themselves.

Not a pretty story.

 

[maccas_no1]

Unfortunately, until the Crows have some success in September, they deserve any criticism they get.

Spot On

 

[maccas_no1]

It's hard to defend Adelaide this year.

Forget the expectations at the beginning of the year and all that crap. What really counts is what were the genuine expectations for this match before the ball was bounced.

We were a short priced favourite to beat a somewhat depleted Collingwood team that looked incapable of beating us on paper.

Follow this up with a 25 point lead 2 minutes before half time which turned into a 31 point defeat on our home ground with our crowd, and what exactly did you like about this defeat?

Once again we were outcoached in a final, with our big names underperforming on a massive scale.

It was one of our poorest finals performances and we have put a few of those on the board in recent years.

Craig and crew have to take a very close look and acknowledge who are the under-performers in finals, including themselves.

Not a pretty story.

Absolutely right, in 2007 we fell into the finals, this year we were well and truely in it, yet have gained nothing, the 'boys club' need to sort it out over the off season, as I posted somehwere else , extending NC contract IMO was a big mistake.

 

[RoosterLad]

Stop being so soft. Just because Rucci writes a negative story about the Crows doesn't mean you should have a sook about it. The fact is, he's right.

Yet again we lose another Final and changes need to be made somewhere.

maccasno1 is right about Craig's contract....

 

[CaptainDangerfield]

It's hard to defend Adelaide this year.

Forget the expectations at the beginning of the year and all that crap. What really counts is what were the genuine expectations for this match before the ball was bounced.

We were a short priced favourite to beat a somewhat depleted Collingwood team that looked incapable of beating us on paper.

Follow this up with a 25 point lead 2 minutes before half time which turned into a 31 point defeat on our home ground with our crowd, and what exactly did you like about this defeat?

Once again we were outcoached in a final, with our big names underperforming on a massive scale.

It was one of our poorest finals performances and we have put a few of those on the board in recent years.

Craig and crew have to take a very close look and acknowledge who are the under-performers in finals, including themselves.

Not a pretty story.

So why aren't we standing up Mac. I think its got alot to do with cattle. The "experts" say the pressure in finals increases by 20%. Are players who aren't naturally tough finals type players crumbling under the weight of that extra pressure?

When Port dominated us between 2000-2003 they said our only real tough player was Roo. Now we don't even have Roo. Interesting to note during that time 2000-2008, we haven't been able to go that extra mile.

We need a change of direction, the "CRowbot" has been proven a failure.

 

[CaptainDangerfield]

Absolutely right, in 2007 we fell into the finals, this year we were well and truely in it, yet have gained nothing, the 'boys club' need to sort it out over the off season, as I posted somehwere else , extending NC contract IMO was a big mistake.

I feel sorry for NC. He has taken over the reigns at the worst possible time. He is in a very difficult position. Next year, if he continues to play the over 30's and 2nd/3rd tier players such as Doughtly, Shirley and massie ahead of the kids he will be accused of putting his current win/loss ratio ahead of the future of the club. If he plays the kids, he will only really be a caretaker coach building a list for the next coach to take into finals.

It would take a miracle for NC to get another contract. Shame.

 

[Cap]

as I said somewhere - I'm happy with Craigy

but that happiness will be test by what happens this EOS and next years pre-season and minor round

if I have to put up with a makeshift forwardline again i'm going to get annoyed.

 

[King Elvis]

Rucci is a w***er.

But he's right.

 

[noddy]

So why aren't we standing up Mac. I think its got alot to do with cattle. The "experts" say the pressure in finals increases by 20%. Are players who aren't naturally tough finals type players crumbling under the weight of that extra pressure?

.

Have a look at the players that the Cats & Hawks put on the field, big strong hard at it no nonsense skillful types that play as a team & that took a few years to develop.

We have no option other than to follow suit & that will take time as well.

 

[macca23]

So why aren't we standing up Mac. I think its got alot to do with cattle. The "experts" say the pressure in finals increases by 20%. Are players who aren't naturally tough finals type players crumbling under the weight of that extra pressure?

When Port dominated us between 2000-2003 they said our only real tough player was Roo. Now we don't even have Roo. Interesting to note during that time 2000-2008, we haven't been able to go that extra mile.

We need a change of direction, the "CRowbot" has been proven a failure.

You don't have to be particularly tough physically in finals but you do have to be very strong mentally as you're performing under far greater pressure.
The biggest offenders on Saturday were some of the players Springy, whether they be be the stars or the no name brands. The pressure in finals easily goes up 20% and the intensity of every player has to go up with that by at least that amount.

Blind Freddie could see that wasn't the case for us and if you go through our team player by player, you'll soon identify the weak links. Conversely, players such as Stevens and Mackay enhanced their status in general by demonstrating that they ARE performers in finals.

Our coaching staff deserve some brickbats as well IMO. The selection of Moran was puzzling to me as I thought we were a mid-fielder short, and by not including Reilly, we were a hard ball get mid-fielder short.

The match day coaching started off well with us going down our traditional path and after a rocky shaky soft start we went to a 4 goal lead. From that point on Malthouse out-coached the pants off of Craig and crew as there was a 56 point turn around in the last 2 quarters and 2 minutes.

In short Springy, IMO it was an all round piss poor performance on the day.

 

[Jars458]

Very poor display no doubt.

We exceeded expectations in the minor round and underperformed in the major round.

It has something to do with our game style for sure but also the fact that we enver finish near the bottom and are always competitive. We need to seriously queston now whther this apoproach is the right one (just not next year as you get no reward for finishing bottom).

In my view at least one of Goodwin McLeod and Edwards must retire. Based on this year's performances it would have to be Goodwin.

 

[-CG-]

Blind Freddie could see that wasn't the case for us and if you go through our team player by player, you'll soon identify the weak links. Conversely, players such as Stevens and Mackay enhanced their status in general by demonstrating that they ARE performers in finals.

Our coaching staff deserve some brickbats as well IMO. The selection of Moran was puzzling to me as I thought we were a mid-fielder short, and by not including Reilly, we were a hard ball get mid-fielder short.

In short Springy, IMO it was an all round piss poor performance on the day.

Mackay was definitely the one who impressed me, he seemed to thrive on the buzz of the finals. Unfortunately though he only had 55% game time, which is a little perplexing, especially when he was obviously carving up.

When Moran was elected, I assumed that we would be using Tippett as our main target up forward with Moran also floating down forward. Tippett presented in a few contests, but where was the space for him to lead out into? That seemed to work so well earlier in the season. And Moran, well he barely got a look in up forward from memory.

 

[jackster83]

I think NC has really struggled so far with finals through very little fault of his own. Performing during the home and away season is all well and nice as any team with a reasonable injury run and a well disciplined game plan can get 12 or 13 wins. St Kilda were 10th a month ago...

Finals are different. You need top flight leadership and matchwinners out there.

In 97 and 98 we had Bickley, Jarman, Smart and Rehn as our on field leaders with Hart and Roo at the stage Porps is at now. Since 2000, we have made the finals every year bar 2004 and let's be honest, we've been a lameduck in most of those finals series. Roo, Hart, Edwards, Goodwin, Thompson and Mcleod have been our leaders and IMO all of those guys apart from the first 2 are not leadership material. They don't seem to be able to lift when our backs are against the wall.

We badly need a matchwinner in the middle of the ground. Apart from Porps, we just don't seem to have an out and out superstar in our 28 and under group.

 

[rufus_afc]

We deserve it after Saturday, this loss was a bad of a loss like the one against St Kilda in 2005. The WCE losses in 05 and 06 were annoying, but they had the wood on us, but those losses against the Saints and Collingwood on Saturday were inexcusable.

 

[rufus_afc]

I think NC has really struggled so far with finals through very little fault of his own. Performing during the home and away season is all well and nice as any team with a reasonable injury run and a well disciplined game plan can get 12 or 13 wins. St Kilda were 10th a month ago...

Finals are different. You need top flight leadership and matchwinners out there.

In 97 and 98 we had Bickley, Jarman, Smart and Rehn as our on field leaders with Hart and Roo at the stage Porps is at now. Since 2000, we have made the finals every year bar 2004 and let's be honest, we've been a lameduck in most of those finals series. Roo, Hart, Edwards, Goodwin, Thompson and Mcleod have been our leaders and IMO all of those guys apart from the first 2 are not leadership material. They don't seem to be able to lift when our backs are against the wall.

We badly need a matchwinner in the middle of the ground. Apart from Porps, we just don't seem to have an out and out superstar in our 28 and under group.

I think our training regime costs us in 2006 so I refuse to believe that he wasnt a least partly responsible for us not being successful in 06.

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

Have a look at the players that the Cats & Hawks put on the field, big strong hard at it no nonsense skillful types that play as a team & that took a few years to develop.

We have no option other than to follow suit & that will take time as well.

Agreed

It will take time but also a change in attitude. I have posted this elsewhere, but look at the list of the players Geelong got rid of over the last 1-6 years: Clint Bizzell, Charlie Gardiner, Henry Playfair, Tim Callan, Paul Chambers, David Clarke, Steven King, Kent Kingsley, Matthew McCarthy, Brent Moloney, James Rahilly, David Spriggs, Peter Street. All average-to-fair, handy-to-decent players that have made way while Thompson has pieced together his line up.

None of these guys were on the verge of retiring. None of them VFL players who had never cracked it for an AFL game. All had plenty of footy left in them. The Cats simply decided that they just weren't good enough and made the tough call.

Our "aggressive list management" that we have been spruiking has so far just been words, basically amounting to Torney and Hart, delisted one season before most thought they would be. Other than that I can only come up with Chris Ladhams and Hayden Skipworth as players we have made a tough call on. That's it.

Mick Malthouse's comments after the game made for an interesting comparison. Malthouse: "Our player group know without a shadow of a doubt they are comprehensively assessed by me on the way they perform in finals. I have seen some terrific players not handle the occasion. Really, those players are better off moving out and finding another club."

Now, is the AFC prepared to make such a brutal assessment of its own playing group? Or do the solid, reliable performances from Rounds 1-22 overshadow a finals failing?

 

[Alex99]

I think Malthouse was spot on when he said Adelaide are like a german soccer team - get a 1-0 lead then defend it! We played so well in the 2nd term with multiple runners breaking the lines and running into the 50 to score or setup goals. None of this occured in the 2nd half, it was a pathetic effort and I am actually glad I dont have to see them again this season. I hope Craigy makes some serious cuts to the list and installs a new game plan for next season because I am quickly losing my interest for the style of play the crows are delivering. No wonder only 39K turned up.

Yep agree.

Just look at the stat that was posted a few days ago, we have only ever come from behind at ¾ time once under Craig – get a lead and defend, defend and DEFEND.

Yep it’s time to install a new game plan and teach these young kids how to play an attacking form of flow on football rather than get 15 of the 18 player behind the ball and play a defensive form of football then have everyone run forward.

 

[Cap]

i'm sorry but can we please stop quoting Mick Malthouse

don't get me wrong he is a great coach but what in his 10 years has he brought Collingwood that NC hasn't it his 4?

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

i'm sorry but can we please stop quoting Mick Malthouse

don't get me wrong he is a great coach but what in his 10 years has he brought Collingwood that NC hasn't it his 4?

Two Grand Finals for starters.

 

[WALL-e]

i'm sorry but can we please stop quoting Mick Malthouse

don't get me wrong he is a great coach but what in his 10 years has he brought Collingwood that NC hasn't it his 4?

A dirty moustache

 

[Vince Van Mackay]

Two Grand Finals for starters.

Did he win them? No.