Showdown12

[kirky]

Well, a disappointing result from the boys but lets look at the positives:-

Francou (a blinder) and Primus (good game) were standouts for the Power. Who the heck was on Francou? In addition, both their key forwards, Tredrea and Cornes, absolutely gave us a shelllacking. Our usage of the ball was disgusting. Whilst both sides had about the same no of players out (Port - Scholefield, Stevens, Hardwick, Kingsley. Adelaide - Riccuito, Goodwin, Welsh and Bassett), I think the more damage would be done by the Crows absentees (two All-Australians if you don't mind). And what was the result, an 8 point loss. Methinks that the Crows have more ability to improve than the Power, so all is not lost.

What did we have to gain by winning today? - we have a top four spot wrapped up, we couldn't conceiveably get 2nd, so perhaps our motivation wasn't as good as it should have been. And given the way some of our senior players played I would suggest that was the same thinking.

Umpriring - absolutely shocking for both sides however when is a holding the ball, holding the ball. Only when you are a Crows player!

Bickley report - unfortunate and will miss 2-3 weeks, but what about some other incidents from the other side. Only goes one way me thinks.

As I said before I think Adelaide can improve immeasurably on today whilst the Power, hm, not sure given the dominant performances from Francou, Tredrea and Cornes.

 

[Crow54]

Ok, where the heck was the Crows team which played Essendon last week?

It seems that when the Crows play the Power, their brains turn to marshmallow! Good decision making goes out the window.

Francou has won two Showdown medals before, so they know he lifts for these games, so why the *beep* don't they mind him better???

What happened to all that terrific goal kicking practice???

The Power certainly seem to have the wood on them. The Crows were lucky to only lose by 8 points.

 

[ajmart]

Don't worry about this result guys as all that matters for Port in a season is beating us. Honestly we couldn't care half as much as they do about winning the showdown because every game in the season is worth four points. We had no incentive to win today, were without 2 of our best three players, our full back and our full forward, we played one of our worst games for the season, the umpires were against us all day (Josh Carr's "mark" in the final quarter was disgraceful), and they could still only beat us by 8 points.

If Stevo had kicked even 2 of the sitters he missed we would have won. We will cream them in the finals, I have no doubt about this. Everyone's talking about Port in the Prelim having to play in Melbourne - they have to be actually able to win a game first.

Anyway not all bad, we will lose Bicks for two weeks but to be quite honest I see no difference in this incident with the Roger James incident against Carlton, and he got no weeks. Maybe Gary can say how inconsistent the tribunal is just before Bickley's case

Looking forward to the finals!

 

[Zombie]

You wouldn't see the difference, one was in malice and fractured a players cheekbone from which he will be out for 6 weeks, the other was a self defence mechanism which hardly made contact whatsoever.

 

[Eago77]

Originally posted by Zombie
You wouldn't see the difference, one was in malice and fractured a players cheekbone from which he will be out for 6 weeks, the other was a self defence mechanism which hardly made contact whatsoever.

You also may of missed the fact that the Carlton player in question fell to the ground looking for a free because contact was high during a CONTEST for the ball and when it (the free) wasn't forthcoming he got up and continued on the game/season, whereas Wakelin got hit very (very) late and actually had his jaw broken.

 

[Macca19]

Originally posted by kirky
Who the heck was on Francou?

Apparently, according to Francous after match interview - Kane Johnson. Then again, Johnson isnt a negator. Trying to 'outplay' each other i guess.

In addition, both their key forwards, Tredrea and Cornes, absolutely gave us a shelllacking. Our usage of the ball was disgusting. Whilst both sides had about the same no of players out (Port - Scholefield, Stevens, Hardwick, Kingsley. Adelaide - Riccuito, Goodwin, Welsh and Bassett),

I think the more damage would be done by the Crows absentees (two All-Australians if you don't mind).

Riccuito was All Australian nearly three seasons ago. I hardly see the relevance. As for Goodwin - hasnt been near as good as he was last year and wont be All Australian this year. Stevens and Kingsley (well apparently in Kingsleys case) are in the running for All Australian THIS year....Hardwick should definatly be in the AA side this year. Schofield has also been one of our best midfielders this season.

Methinks that the Crows have more ability to improve than the Power, so all is not lost.

Subjective really isnt it.

What did we have to gain by winning today?

Err...teams usually go out on the park to win. Trying to beat a side that you are most likely going to meet in the finals and that have the wood on you is a start.

Umpriring - absolutely shocking for both sides however when is a holding the ball, holding the ball. Only when you are a Crows player!

Port had 3-4 holding the balls against them as well. Also a 'dropping the ball' (even tho it was spilled out in a tackle) which is the first ive seen an umpire pay that for about 2 years.

Bickley report - unfortunate and will miss 2-3 weeks, but what about some other incidents from the other side. Only goes one way me thinks.

Mcgregor got up straight away from Burgoynes bump. No different to Mcleods really...yet every Crow fan thinks Mcleod was an innocent little bunny protecting himself when he bumped into Lloyd....yet here Burgoyne is seen as a big villian!!! Go figure! As for Monty - probably get a week. Burton rammed into Monty and Monty retalliated, stupidly mind you. Burton got up and kept playing. Wakelin did not antagonise or ram into Bickley...he simply got rid of the ball and Bickley clobbered him. Reckless...maybe. Intentional...maybe, maybe not - who knows...point is whether intentional or not - Bickley forcefully hit someone with a forearm to the face which has now cost that player the rest of his season - possibly a premiership medal too. Given how Ports Stevens' got two weeks for their incidents, youd think Bickley would get 4.

As I said before I think Adelaide can improve immeasurably on today whilst the Power, hm, not sure given the dominant performances from Francou, Tredrea and Cornes.

We got plenty of room for improvement. You just choose not to see it! Schofield, Kingsley, Hardwick and Stevens would all be in our best 10 players this season. Now losing Wakelin as well who has also been in our best ten players...thats just as hefty as the outs that the Crows had. I honestly couldnt care if Riccuito was an All Australian 3 seasons ago....the relevance to todays game and this year (where Roo has been exceptionally poor up until the last 6 or so weeks) is minimal.

 

[Macca19]

Originally posted by Crow54
Ok, where the heck was the Crows team which played Essendon last week?

Essendon are a reasonable side with a crap away record. You were playing a quality side at its "home turf" this week. Quite a big difference. Plus the two midfield outs from the Crows as well.
The major difference was the pressure. Essendon looked lethargic and didnt seem to care last week. Port chased and chased and forced the Crows into many many unforced errors today.

It seems that when the Crows play the Power, their brains turn to marshmallow! Good decision making goes out the window.

Its just pressure thats all.

Francou has won two Showdown medals before, so they know he lifts for these games, so why the *beep* don't they mind him better???

Dunno if you listen to after match radio but they were speacking to Francou on 5AA i beleive (coulda been MMM) and he said that each Showdown he has played with Ayres as Crows coach, he hasnt had a minder at all. He hasnt had a tagger at all and he basically said he can do whatever he likes cos he doesnt have to worry about an opponent. Also said that Ayres put a minder on James today. Maybe Ayres needs to change his strategy seeing as he has killed you in 3 showdowns in the last few years.

 

[PrideofSA]

Was anyone near the Northen End Goals?

The Umpiring was dreadful

Edwards took a mark....not paid (this was disgusting)

Burton was pushed in the back......not paid

Shir was pushed in the back......not paid

Port player tripped his own player.....free kick paid!


All were very obvious!

In the end we gave up on the decisions of the umps!


But I"m glad we only lost by 8 points because we didn't play very well at all and to still be competitive is great for the boys!

But I heard Mcleod isn't fully right, because after the game he seemed very sore and in pain!

I can see the bigger picture though of us worrying about cementing 3rd place and then tackling the finals head on!

 

[Macca19]

Originally posted by ajmart
Don't worry about this result guys as all that matters for Port in a season is beating us.

Of course. Keep telling yourselves this, we'll just keep laughing at most Crows supporters telling us what we are thinking. In fact i dont know why Port play the entire season. They might as well only play the two Showdowns considering thats all we care about. Thankyou for telling me, and every other Port supporter, what we care about. I can now see that me thinking we were in this competition to win the premiership at the end of the season is a mistake. Thankyou very much for clearing that up for me. Ah well...no more footy for me this year then....Showdowns are finished for the year...bring on cricket season!!!! Remind me during the week of the Showdowns next year so i can bring out my footy gear from the closet and watch those two games. Im not gonna bother watching the other games considering the Showdown is all that matters to us! No point. Give us a buzz when the next Showdown is on...im leaving BigFooty tell then.

Honestly we couldn't care half as much as they do about winning the showdown

Is that why you are coming up with all these excuses as to why you lost?

We had no incentive to win today, were without 2 of our best three players, our full back and our full forward, we played one of our worst games for the season, the umpires were against us all day (Josh Carr's "mark" in the final quarter was disgraceful), and they could still only beat us by 8 points.

Love the excuses! But if thats what makes you sleep at night then keep telling yourself that a half strength Adelaide side with pro-Port umpiring beat a full strength Port side in unbelivable form. Here i was thinking the Crows had the better form coming into this week!! How silly of me!! We had two of our best midfielders (one in AA contention), our best defender in Hardwick (almost walk up start to AA this year), and another one of our best defenders out in Kingsley.
Did it ever cross your feeble mind to think that the reason you played one of your worst games of the year is because Port made you look bad? The fact that Port pressured you time after time, contest after contest into making many many many unforced errors...you ever think that might be the reason you played one of your worst games of the year??

No incentive to win....what a stupid bloody thing to say. Right...two weeks before the finals, playing the 2nd best side in teh competition, a team who you will most likely be playing in the first week of the finals, your biggest rival that has won its last 4 (now 5) games against you...and you had no incentive to win??? What a load of absolute rubbish.
What incentive is there against Richmond next week then?? A crap side playing on a ground they usually get thumped at...gee...if there was no incentive to win against Port then why bother showing up at all next week!

As for the umpiring. You mention the josh carr mark...yet you must think its fine that Bickley fouly clobbers Wakelin late and there is not even a free in it - when its likely Bickley is gonna get 2-4 weeks!!!! There were about 40 umpiring decisions just as bad as Josh Carrs dropped mark.

As for only beating you by 8 points. You mustnt think highly of your side if you expected a Port side without 4 of its best players and losing its full back before halftime to thump your mob. If you think we were going anywhere near full pace youll have a big surprise come finals time. We were going 75% pace out there today.

If Stevo had kicked even 2 of the sitters he missed we would have won.

More excuses!! For someone who doesnt care about Showdowns and in a game where there was no incentive to win youre certainly coming out with the excuses arent you!
If Francou had of kicked the sitter he missed in the first quarter, and Tredders and CCC kicked their sitters that they missed in the last then we would of won by more!!! Could play this game all night!

We will cream them in the finals, I have no doubt about this.

If it makes you sleep at night!

Looking forward to the finals!

is there incentive there is it?? Will there be incentive when you play us in the first week of the finals?? I mean, considering if you lose that one then there is always the semi final the next week...what possible incentive could you have for winning the final against us!!!

 

[PrideofSA]

Macca has some truth to what he is saying...the boys did go out there to win, but it didn't happen!

But a loss now (after 5) especially to the 2nd team is probably good in terms of the bigger picture. It was a finals type test for both sides and to lose mean we can work on what didn't go right, because if you have it all your way leading into the finals things sometimes fall apart!

Can't wait til Mcleod, Goodwin, Ricciuto, Bassett and Welsh are all fit and finding form!

Well done to the younger boys today for stepping up, because, the older guys will perform in the finals, and it is the younger guys we need to perform to really excell in the finals!

 

[Zombie]

Originally posted by PrideofSA
Was anyone near the Northen End Goals?

The Umpiring was dreadful

Edwards took a mark....not paid (this was disgusting)

Burton was pushed in the back......not paid

Shir was pushed in the back......not paid

Port player tripped his own player.....free kick paid!


All were very obvious!

In the end we gave up on the decisions of the umps!


But I"m glad we only lost by 8 points because we didn't play very well at all and to still be competitive is great for the boys!

But I heard Mcleod isn't fully right, because after the game he seemed very sore and in pain!

I can see the bigger picture though of us worrying about cementing 3rd place and then tackling the finals head on!

You always see the ones that affect your team hey? They were the 3 best umpires in the AFL and did a reasonable job. As for the Port player who tripped his own player the actual free kick was paid for the Crows player standing on Waeklins head a few seconds after he tripped over Montgomery, but don't let the facts get in the way of a good story. Shir's "push in the back" was actually a hand on the back whilst spoiling which Shir tried to milk, the umpire wasn't fooled. Edwards mark wasn't a mark because C.Cornes touched the ball just before Edwards got there, you always pay the man in front.

As for Adelaide didn't play well, well you would say that in any result other than a massive Crows win. Ayres said he was very happy with his teams performance, personally I thought the Crows played fairly well, they stayed hard at it and didn't let Port blow them away despite Port controlling pretty much the whole match.

 

[PrideofSA]

Without doubt we were very intense and hard at it, but the pressure to perform wasn't up to scratch. Some bad shots on goal, poort delivery into the forward line, and the lack of tagging Francou. Haven't we learned from that mistake before!

 

[gretel_killeen]

If Stevo had kicked even 2 of the sitters he missed we would have won

Ah yeah right and Josh Carr kicked 2.3, Shaun Burgoyne, Carr, Tredrea, Cornes, Dew and CCC all missed easy goals. If this..If that...shoulda woulda coulda...Port won, that's all that matters. "If" the Port forward line converted even 25% of the midfields (and especially Francous) work in the 3rd quarter, they woulda won by 8+ goals.

 

[PrideofSA]

I think it just comes down to the fact that both team were under enormous pressure all the time and very few easy kicks or marks were taken all day. That and the wind had a bit to do with the kicking!

 

[gretel_killeen]

By the way any crows fans that complain about the umpires are complete morons. Wakelin gets his cheekbone broken by a premeditated, vicious elbow to the face, designed to take the All-Australian full back out of the game because Mark Stevens couldnt even get a touch against him, and Port don't even get a free kick for it? Any free kick or non-free kick situation in todays game paled in comparison to that. Up until today i respected Bickley, but that was just a dirty, dog act. He didn't have the balls or skill to take Wakelin out fairly like Pickett or Voss would have, with a well timed bump, he had to go in with the point of the elbow. Wakelin wasn't even looking in Bickleys direction. Bickley should get 6 weeks but will probably get 4.

Monty will get off, if you look at the replay closely, he doesn't connect with any real force at all. Kind of like the Jakovich one a few weeks ago.

 

[PrideofSA]

Who knows with the Tribunal. But I doubt Bickley would premeditate that kind of act. I guess Power supporters like to think that but it makes them feel better, although it looked bad and Bickley hasn't a hope, they seem to want him to deliberately do it.
Some ppl are never satisfied!

 

[Crow54]

Macca 19 and gretell killeen - thank you, thank you, thank you for visiting our Board! You have shown me the true way. You have taken the blinkers from my eyes.

The Power is the most magnificent team in the competition. They are perfect. Our players are hopeles. Bickley is a dirty vicious dog.

Please have a lovely day. A lovely week. A lovely year. You are blessed to be barracking for the most wonderful team in the world.

When you win the Grand Final, please come back and grace us with your most humble presence.

 

[PAfolwr]

Originally posted by PrideofSA
Who knows with the Tribunal. But I doubt Bickley would premeditate that kind of act. I guess Power supporters like to think that but it makes them feel better, although it looked bad and Bickley hasn't a hope, they seem to want him to deliberately do it.
Some ppl are never satisfied!

Can you describe the play from just before the ball went into Wakelin's area to after it left there?
Where did it come from, where did it go from there, when did he get hit, that sort of thing. Just curious that's all.

 

[Macca19]

Originally posted by Crow54
Macca 19 and gretell killeen - thank you, thank you, thank you for visiting our Board! You have shown me the true way. You have taken the blinkers from my eyes.

The Power is the most magnificent team in the competition. They are perfect. Our players are hopeles. Bickley is a dirty vicious dog.

Please have a lovely day. A lovely week. A lovely year. You are blessed to be barracking for the most wonderful team in the world.

When you win the Grand Final, please come back and grace us with your most humble presence.

Now thats a post!!!!!
No need to be like that is there...i mean...you guys wanted to lose considering there was no incentive to win!

 

[noddy]

Fact is we got beat & the paps have now won the last 5 showdowns, if that does not eat into the heart of all crow supporters then there something is wrong with you,
Francou killed us around the stoppages, Smart failed against Tredrae [ after shouting his mouth off earlier on in the week], Ports backline stifled our forwards & our delivery by hand & foot was poor for most of the day, in spite of all that our intensity & tackling was good & we only got beat by 8pts as well as fighting back when it looked like the paps were going to run away the game in the 2nd & 4th quarters,
Also where i was sitting in section N on the n/e pocket the pap supporters were great for most of the day & never over done the abuse & kept it to good natured drivel, i only left the stadium with 1 black eye & a torn crow scarfe so that wasn't to bad,

One last comment "The Bloody Umpires Crucified Us "

 

[Portia]

I'd just like to take this opportunity to note the absence of Port supporters flooding your board with inane threads, even though we won again.

Thank you.

 

[dbcrow]

My opinion (for those who care).

Port were the better team on the day. I think the major difference between the two teams was Tredrea and C. Cornes. To have not one, but two marking targets in the forward half made all the difference. Why the Crows insist on continually bombing it to a 50/50 contest in the forward 50 is beyond me.

Also seemed that Port's goals came a lot easier than ours.

Thought the headline in the Advertiser today said it all - "That's why the Crows need Carey" - not often I agree with Rucci, but I do this time.

Thought it was good that we kept the pressure up all day, and didn't have any of our famous "fade outs" for the entire game.

The Bickley incident was interesting - totally out of character in my opinion.....don't know what he was thinking. I think he'll go for 2-3 weeks, due to his good record at the tribunal. Shame about Wakelin though, hopefully he'll be OK to play towards the end of the season.

Crows had a lot to play for yesterday, despite what other people have said on this board. A chance to prove themselves as a worthy top four side. The only side in the top four they have beaten is Brisbane, having lost to Port Adelaide twice, Collingwood, Melbourne, Kangaroos and West Coast. They also had a chance to cement their position in the top three with Collingwood losing on Saturday night. Chances are now that we'll finish fourth.

This week against Richmond will be a tough game. They have won their past three and are in some good form. Having Roo and Goodwin back will be handy.

Cheers

 

[Port1978]

It really is amazing the kind of excuses you fruit loops supporters come up with when you lose....

 

[ok.crows]

Macca:

Bickley forcefully hit someone with a forearm to the face

Looked to me like it was Bickleys shoulder.

In either case though, shoulder or elbow, it can't be called "late" now, can it?

Wakelin had the ball. Bickleys arm was past Wakelin before contact was made.

Defies any definition of "late".

Reckles, yes. Dirty, or late? No.

Bugoyne was late.

 

[ok.crows]

Crows had a lot to play for yesterday, despite what other people have said on this board. A chance to prove themselves as a worthy top four side. The only side in the top four they have beaten is Brisbane, having lost to Port Adelaide twice, Collingwood, Melbourne, Kangaroos and West Coast. They also had a chance to cement their position in the top three with Collingwood losing on Saturday night. Chances are now that we'll finish fourth.

It would have been good for Crows to have won, but it will probably not affect their finishing position now they have lost.

Also, I thought Crows did enough to show they can beat Power. Crows didn't play that well, making more errors than normal. Crows were unlucky on numerous occassions - Edward's mark not paid, Burton's mark not paid, McGregor not paid 50m, Carr goaled after being paid a dropped mark, Stevens with 3.5 which should have been 5.3.

Just a bit of that luck turns our way, a tiny improvement in disposal and/or decision making ... and Crows win that game by four or five goals IMO.

Hopefully that is the way it will turn out when it really counts in September.