Review Showdown 47 Post Mortem - Port Federers v Adelaide Tomics

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Really?

I wish I had your optimism, I was not confident at all. At half time I actually thought the scoreboard flattered us, Port seemed to be cleaner and far more fluid with their ball use and were far better at finding targets going forward.

While I didn't expect a capitulation like that, I did see some warning signs in that first half that we were struggling when they were moving the ball quickly and worried that we could be in some trouble if Port got a run on.

I was half confident it'd be the old "kick straighter and win" but my mate wasn't. He flat out said those behinds would lose us the game. Said our goals and misses were hard work to manufacture whereas theirs were coming nice and easy (like our 2017 over the back goals) and if they upped their inside 50's they'd roll us. He's not right about a lot of things but it was interesting seeing the 3rd quarter unfold right as he said. Like you he didn't expect 9 goals to zip after Tex's, but who would've?
 

Riewoldt's right about Tex's "won't question our effort" comment, why wouldn't you? Effort is what separates the top clubs from the also rans and somtehing absolutely in our control. I get that he was probably offended by the question, but it was a s**t answer. Everyone watching the game could see the effort purely was not there. I hope to hell we actually did question it behind closed doors.
 

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May 24, 2006
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Riewoldt's right about Tex's "won't question our effort" comment, why wouldn't you? Effort is what separates the top clubs from the also rans and somtehing absolutely in our control. I get that he was probably offended by the question, but it was a s**t answer. Everyone watching the game could see the effort purely was not there. I hope to hell we actually did question it behind closed doors.
Even saying something like "those sort of performances do lead to the question being asked" or "leave us open to criticism" would have been a better answer

I don't really care about player comments usually to be honest and Tex is no wordsmith but it probably was an appropriate time for a stronger statement.

The selection stuff he talked about was good to be fair.
 
Jun 18, 2018
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Showdown performance beats a Grand Final which we were raging favorites to win after 20 years of mediocrity? Not in my book.

The 2nd half meltdown in the GF given the context of the game and the dominant year sickened me to the stomach.

The weekend was bad but only carries home town bragging rights until the next Showdown. I can live till then.

I can't and probably wont ever excuse the meltdown by this club in the 17 GF.
Quite right
It was unforgivable and will shadow us for a long long time
Players should have been moved on from that day

Sent from my SM-J730G using Tapatalk
 

Handyandy

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Nov 16, 2005
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I was half confident it'd be the old "kick straighter and win" but my mate wasn't. He flat out said those behinds would lose us the game. Said our goals and misses were hard work to manufacture whereas theirs were coming nice and easy (like our 2017 over the back goals) and if they upped their inside 50's they'd roll us. He's not right about a lot of things but it was interesting seeing the 3rd quarter unfold right as he said. Like you he didn't expect 9 goals to zip after Tex's, but who would've?
The only time I was worried was when Lycett went off. The balance swung the crows way then briefly. Perhaps if the crows had kicked a few more early they could have dented ports confidence. Perhaps, but their shots weren't generally easy.
The crows zone and defensive rebound is still very good but the run and spread is Poor and the crows are looking like a one trick pony ATM. Milera was the most dangerous looking player. Time to inject some youth and speed, it only takes a couple. Some teams rejuvenate their lists and remain strong.
Port unpicked the crows zone with ease, used the corridor and got the easy goals over the top. We tried running through the crows zone last showdown but conditions weren't favourable. If people think it was just poor kicking then good luck to them, I hope Neil Pyke takes a similar view.
 
Effort is the minimum requirement for a professional in any sport. The AFL is unique in that percentage becomes an important separator/tiebreaker at the end of the season for determining top 4 or top 8. While other sports such as baseball and gridiron can get away with raising the white flag--there is zero excuse for it in the AFL.

This team should know by now that they are only as good as the sum of their parts. There are no superstars in their prime on this squad. They must outwork every team they play, period.

The coaches know this, management knows this and the players damn well better know it.

There is still time to get on a roll with a favorable schedule and at least make the 8---but putting out performances like that one on Saturday is completely unacceptable.
 

conVINCEd

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Oct 15, 2003
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I can’t work our what our strategy was in the second half to take back some control of the game.

Port had us pinned into our defensive half, but with our forwards pushing back into our defensive 50 our constant hack kicks were easily snaffled up by free Port defenders.

If the plan was to run the ball out with handball, that is firstly a terrible idea given the heavy congestion, but neither did anyone apparently tell our defenders or mids who continually launched it outta there by foot.

Surely the better approach would’ve been to go man on man, at least giving us even marking contests when we could hack the ball out of defence?

We really should be using Sloane as a half forward at times, he can run all day and is a great mark; he’d provide a decent option when trying to escape our back half.
 

Scrogdogg

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May 29, 2018
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More character....?? .did you hear/see they s**t they coped from the previous week performance, any team would have respond.

Mebbe. I have a feeling that if that game had been the AFC then we would have blamed the atrocious weather.
 

Scrogdogg

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May 29, 2018
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It could be the most entertaining selection night in a decade or more. It would appear as though alot of Crows supporters have had enough. I'm surprised with how quiet this board is. Five years ago a loss like that would have sent this board into full meltdown.

Yes it shows where the club and its supporters are at. The passion has worn thin
 

Scrogdogg

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May 29, 2018
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Exactly.

Simple Sloane up forward & Milera on ball to give us much needed speed... but no, we rotated the Crouches, Sloane & Greenwood & they made us look slow.

With all those coaches is the box, how about they get off their bloody computers & watch the actual game as you didn't need to be Einstein to work out we needed to change up the midfield.

Campo has it under control.....
 

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Scrogdogg

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May 29, 2018
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Riewoldt's right about Tex's "won't question our effort" comment, why wouldn't you? Effort is what separates the top clubs from the also rans and somtehing absolutely in our control. I get that he was probably offended by the question, but it was a s**t answer. Everyone watching the game could see the effort purely was not there. I hope to hell we actually did question it behind closed doors.

Most of what the club does is behind closed doors.
 

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