Stuff I stole from the Adelaide board

RW

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Interesting article about the Crows' treatment of Taylor Walker. I wonder if Davo's career would have lasted longer if we had been able to find a way to get the most out of his talent?

(Please don't turn this into a thread criticising Roos or Kirk, I just thought Sanderson's approach to managing Walker's personality was interesting. The tow truck anecdote is hilarious!)

Living in the 'world of Tex'

The boy from Broken Hill had paid the price for parking too often next to the players' entrance at AAMI Stadium, which is a "No Standing" zone.

But it wasn't the Charles Sturt council pulling Walker into line, it was his teammates.

"We're just trying to keep his feet on the ground though, that's part of his personality as well," Sanderson said.

"The boys towed his car away because he always parks in an illegal car spot here at the stadium.

"So they organised for him to have his car towed away while we were training.

"So those sort of things all make up the world of Tex."
 

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barry fu

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#2
Well done rw. This board needs some distractions on reading the historical documents of diatribe doing the rounds.

The competition as a whole could do with another couple of Tex's! Long may he lead!
 

CAS79

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#3
Interesting article about the Crows' treatment of Taylor Walker. I wonder if Davo's career would have lasted longer if we had been able to find a way to get the most out of his talent?

(Please don't turn this into a thread criticising Roos or Kirk, I just thought Sanderson's approach to managing Walker's personality was interesting. The tow truck anecdote is hilarious!)

Living in the 'world of Tex'
You mean like having him barred from every KFC?
 

J_Moore

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#7
Didn't he carve up both Richards and Grundy in our last meeting?

He's still, overall, a lazy footballer at the moment, still. Will probably step up for finals, but the key to beating Walker is not making things easy. He'll do the ocassional freaky thing that there's really no stopping, but if you cut off clean supply and don't allow him easy leads, he can be shaky. People big up his one-on-one ability, but he's much better when the ball is on the ground than in the air.

He'll still kick 3-4 goals, though.
 

S120

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In fact Walker kicked 4 of his 5 on Ted (not due to any woeful play from Ted really, more brilliant delivery from their midfield and even better finishing from Walker himself). Grundy did pretty well on him when he was switched off of Tippett (who he had kept quiet all night incidentally).

J_Moore is bang on with needing to stop clean supply and easy leads IMO. Do that and Walker, I feel, will struggle in one on ones with Ted.
 

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PyroCrow

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#12
Didn't he carve up both Richards and Grundy in our last meeting?

He's still, overall, a lazy footballer at the moment, still. Will probably step up for finals, but the key to beating Walker is not making things easy. He'll do the ocassional freaky thing that there's really no stopping, but if you cut off clean supply and don't allow him easy leads, he can be shaky. People big up his one-on-one ability, but he's much better when the ball is on the ground than in the air.

He'll still kick 3-4 goals, though.
Sorry to intrude but most people that have seen more than about 2 of Tex's games this year would be hard pressed to call him a "lazy footballer". Pre-2012? Yes. This year however he has massively improved his workrate and has become one of our best defensive players in the forward 50.

Looking forward to the game on Saturday:thumbsu:
 

J_Moore

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Sorry to intrude but most people that have seen more than about 2 of Tex's games this year would be hard pressed to call him a "lazy footballer". Pre-2012? Yes. This year however he has massively improved his workrate and has become one of our best defensive players in the forward 50.

Looking forward to the game on Saturday:thumbsu:
I have seen all but 3-4 of Walker's games this year. I have seen most of the games he's ever played. I was there at his debut against Collingwood in 2009, and have followed his career pretty closely. In fact, I have a standing bet with my partner's family that he'd be one of the best 5 forwards in the league by 2014. They're slowly coming around. I rate the bloke, and know far more about the Crows than your post assumes.

I still don't find it particularly difficult to say he's often lazy.

Here goes: he is often pretty lazy. Not just in terms of his defensive work (which, while he has got better and does have his moments, is nowhere near as good as most of your other forwards; it's not uncommon to see him half-heartedly jogging along 5 metres off the pace while the ball leaves the 50), but he's not great under the high ball, and he'll often find himself out of the contest if a mark is spilled and there's a few people around the ball. And he's not usually putting in really long leads to make his own space (he's getting better at it, but he's not doing it consistently).

If you give him 10-20 metres clear for him to lead into, he'll absolutely murder you (provided your midfield is having a good day in terms of delivery), but if you block it up and make that hard, that's your best chance of curtailing his influence. He's more your Tony Lockett than your Wayne Carey.
 

RW

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He's more your Tony Lockett than your Wayne Carey.
That's not necessarily a bad thing, though! I'd like to think that the modern game hasn't completely killed off the stay-at-home full forward. Nick Davis might have had a reputation for not being the greatest runner, but that's not what he was in the team for. Players like Walker generate excitement because of their ability to do the improbable.
 
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