The Crows 2014 Premiership Team

[betterthanu]

Cheers mate. With him out of the side there is very little information in Melbourne as to where he is at.

A lot of Richmond supporters while dissapointed in what he was as a footballer dont dislike him as he seems like a good guy. Which is why some of us are interested in how he is going but find those that selected him so high as the incompetents.

It would be a shame for a guy to be reviled by two teams because he was overrated by recruiters. Its their fault.

I saw him at times last year providing some nice run across the half back line. Has that spot been sewn up by someone else or was he lacking in that role.

Hes not been playing that bad for Sturt but with our small injury list, most crows in the SANFL are up and about. Half back is his spot and theres probabaly at least 3 in front on him for a spot.

 

[A FEW GOOD MEN]

Sunday's match puts our 2014 premiership challenge into perspective.

Our best 22 (as selected in round 1 and 2) are never going to be able to do the job in 2 to3 years time. My question marks over Rutten, Johncock, Reilly and Doughty were confirmed. Dogga had a great game but who is going to back him to match Cyril's improvement over the next two years?

We need to start playing Shaw, L Thompson, Jaensch, Brown etc as soon as possible to find out who will make it and who wont. Even Talia and Hendo are no certainties. The key to defence these days is the ability to defend strongly when the opponents have the ball and then rebound quickly with long accurate kicking when the ball is turned over. Doesn't sound like Rutten, Doughty and Reilly to me.

The good news is we won the clearances so at least our future midfield looks to be on track.

 

[Paladin]

Sunday's match puts our 2014 premiership challenge into perspective.

Our best 22 (as selected in round 1 and 2) are never going to be able to do the job in 2 to3 years time. My question marks over Rutten, Johncock, Reilly and Doughty were confirmed. Dogga had a great game but who is going to back him to match Cyril's improvement over the next two years?

We need to start playing Shaw, L Thompson, Jaensch, Brown etc as soon as possible to find out who will make it and who wont. Even Talia and Hendo are no certainties. The key to defence these days is the ability to defend strongly when the opponents have the ball and then rebound quickly with long accurate kicking when the ball is turned over. Doesn't sound like Rutten, Doughty and Reilly to me.

The good news is we won the clearances so at least our future midfield looks to be on track.

Sounds like Hendo, Jaensch and Brown to me. Back six mix is all wrong. Sando favours hard bodied tough contested types and has done a good job improving our weakness from last year. We now need some run and carry. Defence is slow and stagnant. Should be creating goals not just saving them.

 

[AdelaideFan14]

Just over a year on from this thread's creation and a few players have gone, making the line-up for this year and next year interesting. What's everyones thoughts at this stage of the season as to what are best 22 for next year or even 2015 will look like?

FB: Brown Rutten Laird
HB: Reilly Talia Otten
C: Sloane Dangerfield Smith
HF: Lyons Walker Douglas
FF: Petrenko Jenkins Lynch
FOL: Jacobs Thompson Crouch
INT: Van Berlo Wright Kerridge (Henderson)
RES: Jaensch Martin Vince

 

[amer]

We'll be worse next year than this year. Look at the personnel moving over the hill, and those in line to replace them. Only way we improve is if we land a couple of high grade free agents. Desperately hoping we are successful with that.

 

[1990crow]

We'll be worse next year than this year. Look at the personnel moving over the hill, and those in line to replace them. Only way we improve is if we land a couple of high grade free agents. Desperately hoping we are successful with that.

We should get at least one. Probably two. Tippett's contract and the fact we used that spare cash for this season to front load contracts will mean we will have over $1 Million to go spending.

 

[amer]

We should get at least one. Probably two. Tippett's contract and the fact we used that spare cash for this season to front load contracts will mean we will have over $1 Million to go spending.

We do have the money, this is true. Do we have the ability as a club to attract anyone worth the money?

 

[Carmo]

Has anyone looked at the OP and the first few posts in this thread? Prophetic work by the boys!

 

[Elite Crow]

Superdraft

 

[Kane McGoodwin]

We'll be worse next year than this year. Look at the personnel moving over the hill, and those in line to replace them. Only way we improve is if we land a couple of high grade free agents. Desperately hoping we are successful with that.

Who are current personnel who are over the hill?

Stiffy is arguably already out of our best-22.

"Slow" man Rutten will be around for a couple of more years yet.

I think the free agent market will be limited, but that doesn't stop us throwing some $'s at an uncontracted player (eg. Gorringe) & threatening to take him in the PSD.

 

[Kane McGoodwin]

We do have the money, this is true. Do we have the ability as a club to attract anyone worth the money?

Target players at other clubs not getting an opportunity (eg. Lycett/Gorringe) & also use spare million to throw above market $'s at a quality player - either free agent (eg. Thomas) or uncontracted player. If the $'s are significant over what the player can get elsewhere, there is a fair chance they may move (eg. Goddard).

 

[Mismatched]

We'll be worse next year than this year. Look at the personnel moving over the hill, and those in line to replace them. Only way we improve is if we land a couple of high grade free agents. Desperately hoping we are successful with that.

I disagree, I think we have massive upside in our side at the moment. Sure there's 2 or 3 genuine best 22 guys who are getting older, in Thompson, Rutten and Reilly, but really I think we can expect another good 2-3 years from Thommo, Ruttens probably got another year and Reilly is playing one of the easier spots on the ground and IMO will be easily replaceable, with many options already on our list.

B: Laird (1) - Rutten (198) - Reilly (185)
HB: Brown (7) - Talia (36) - Otten (51)
C: Henderson (46) - Thompson (227) - Smith (36)
HF: Wright (45) - Walker (68) - Douglas (118)
F: Petrenko (63) - Jenkins (15) - Lynch (13)
1R: Jacobs (64) - Dangerfield (93) - Sloane (61)
I: Crouch (3), van Berlo(166), Mackay (90)
S: Kerridge (2)
E: Jaensch(38), Porplyzia(114), Vince (111)

Above is a potential best 22 come the start of next year, bolded are players who will start 2014 25 year old or younger, italicised are those who will be 30 or above, with current number of games in brackets. That's the majority of our side 25 years old or younger, players who still are yet to, or only just entering the peaks of their career, ie between 25-30 years old. On the weekend we played a younger side than the Bulldogs who are well within a rebuild period.

I think there's a lot of upside and improvement still to be seen within that massive group of players 25yrs and younger. These are the guys who will carry us forward, already this year we've seen a number of older guys struggling to hold their spot (Vince, Porplyzia, Johncock) or even find a spot (Callinan, Tambling).

Then we have to consider the massive elephant in the room. We had a horrendous, horrible, disgraceful, even embarrassing off season. Not only did we lose one of our most important players in Tippett for nothing, we got fined $300k, lost 1st/2nd round draft picks, key off-field figures were suspended including our most senior Assistant coach. Then you consider we started our preseason late and approached the NAB cup with absolutely no purpose. Oh and our Coach spent a large portion of the preseason getting married and hence being absent from training, which is fair enough for him, but hardly ideal. We're coming off our worst ever preseason ever, is it any wonder we've looked well behind the 8-ball so far this season?

Give us a half decent preseason, a free-agent or two and I think we'll see some massive benefits.

Quite frankly I think this season will be a bit of a transition season, where Sando really starts to put his own stamp on the side, instead of just playing a revitalised Craig side. More importantly we'll be getting vital match experience into our 20-25 years old brigade, if you look at the vast majority of Grand Final sides over the past 20 years or more, they are packed with guys 25-30 years old, with greater than 100 games experience. We did really well last year considering our inexperience, but this year looks like its going to be a really tough one with many sides looking like they're absolute quality. We'd be absolutely remiss if we didn't keep half an eye on next year.

Personally I think next year is when our window well and truly opens.

 

[Elite Crow]

Good post but Truck hopefully plays his 200th against the Hawks at home, cool. Should be a belter for the big fella, been a legend and deserves a big effort.

 

[amer]

James - cheers for putting that together. There's no doubt the majority of our side is in a bracket where they shouldn't be getting worse, and where a few will make strides in the near future. What worries me is the state of our top end. If we break that squad down, who among them comprise what one would consider a premiership core, and how many of those you've identified as improvers are simply complementary to that group?

Most would agree Rutten and Thompson rank somewhere around our top 5 most important players. They occupy two spots down our spine. I don't count Reilly, he is hardly Mr. Dependable and should be replaced easily as you say. But we are walking the tightrope for output with the age bracket Rutten and Thompson are moving into, and both are absolute structural lynch pins. Stars. Elite players. They will leave holes that cannot be patched over by the improvement of a Wright, Petrenko, Jaensch, Henderson or Mackay type player. They are the fillers in your 22, decent contributions amongst them, but interchangeable and eminently replaceable players.

I'm not sure how many have noticed, but Thompson is not moving like he was last year. It's obviously a big call to make at this early stage of the season, but it's not inconceivable that this is terminal. That would be a big deal. The player with the sort of credentials to fill the spot vacated by a Scott Thompson in his prime is Crouch, and he is not going to match or surpass that output by next year.

We'll get better in 2014 if Rutten and Thompson can display some of the longevity of those who went before them (Goodwin and Edwards in particular), but this doesn't happen often in footy. We're looking at, potentially, needing to account for fading output of two premiership core type players, and the names listed as looming improvers don't appear to have the tricks to do that.

 

[Grenville]

I'm not sure how many have noticed, but Thompson is not moving like he was last year. It's obviously a big call to make at this early stage of the season, but it's not inconceivable that this is terminal. That would be a big deal. The player with the sort of credentials to fill the spot vacated by a Scott Thompson in his prime is Crouch, and he is not going to match or surpass that output by next year.

While i agree he's on the decline, Thompson strikes me as the sort of guy who will just drop off gradually over probably the next 3 years.
He's incredibly fit, and hasn't had a history of injuries. Plus he's pretty handy up forward (think back to when he first got to Adelaide before he was playing as a full time mid) which gives him an obvious role to slide into. Brad Johnson from the doggies is a good comparison i think.

 

[Allefgib]

Vince still on the radar for mine.

Running kpd possibly still the biggest gap. Not sure Siggins will be ready quickly.

 

[Footypie32]

James - cheers for putting that together. There's no doubt the majority of our side is in a bracket where they shouldn't be getting worse, and where a few will make strides in the near future. What worries me is the state of our top end. If we break that squad down, who among them comprise what one would consider a premiership core, and how many of those you've identified as improvers are simply complementary to that group?

Are you really saying that we've seen the best of those James_37 put in bold? Then there's those youngsters he didn't list, that fall into the unknown basket. Do you really see nothing positive about our side? Most posters weigh-up their posts with some positive AND negative points. I hate telling people how to post, but please try and balance your opinions a bit more...

 

[CrowAboutIt]

Are you really saying that we've seen the best of those James_37 put in bold? Then there's those youngsters he didn't list, that fall into the unknown basket. Do you really see nothing positive about our side? Most posters weigh-up their posts with some positive AND negative points. I hate telling people how to post, but please try and balance your opinions a bit more...

What are you talking about? Clearly players like; laird, brown, crouch and Jenkins have no improvement left in their game

 

[Footypie32]

What are you talking about? Clearly players like; laird, brown, crouch and Jenkins have no improvement left in their game

You forgot the has-beens like Talia, Smith, Walker and Sloane. Should think about moving them on at the end of the year.

 

[Vader]

The good news is that our spine is in excellent condition:
Rutten
Talia
Thompson
Walker
Jenkins

That gives us a very solid structure upon which the rest of the team is built. The overwhelming majority of our team is aged below 25, so there's plenty of scope for improvement still to come, in direct contrast to the crap written below:

We'll be worse next year than this year. Look at the personnel moving over the hill, and those in line to replace them. Only way we improve is if we land a couple of high grade free agents. Desperately hoping we are successful with that.

The big question is what happens to the likes of Porplyzia, Mackay, Reilly and Vince? If they can recapture their form from past glories, or even something close to it, then we'll have some really good depth. If they continue to play below their best, as they have thus far in 2013, then I think we'll just end up treading water as we pump games/experience into their successors, bringing them up to speed in 2014 instead of moving ahead towards our next premiership.

 

[AFC979810]

My side for rd 1 2015

B: Laird - Talia - Reilly
HB: Brown - CHB (trade/FA) - Otten
C: Smith - Kerridge - Wright
HF: Lyons - Walker - Hendo
F: Petrenko - Jenkins -S. Thompson
1R: Jacobs - Dangerfield - Sloane
I: Crouch, van Berlo, Douglas
S: Mackay
E: Jaensch, 2014 rd 1 draft pick,

 

[Heafy83]

If Petrie, from North, is still unsigned at the end of the year we must throw big $$$ at him come the end of the year as a free agent. He will be turning 31 next year but is the perfect second forward for Tex to launch a premiership assault.

I know they have said he is in contract talks now with North, but that means squat until he has signed on that dotted line. If he is smart he should be waiting to see what offers come his way. I hope the crows recruitment staff are in his managers ear right now. I would be happy paying him $700k or even slightly more to get him here. Will have to pay a bit of a premium to get him out of melbourne.

Other than that another 1 or 2 outside mids, not sure who is available, and I think our team is pretty complete.

 

[Juveroo]

If Petrie, from North, is still unsigned at the end of the year we must throw big $$$ at him come the end of the year as a free agent. He will be turning 31 next year but is the perfect second forward for Tex to launch a premiership assault.

I know they have said he is in contract talks now with North, but that means squat until he has signed on that dotted line. If he is smart he should be waiting to see what offers come his way. I hope the crows recruitment staff are in his managers ear right now. I would be happy paying him $700k or even slightly more to get him here. Will have to pay a bit of a premium to get him out of melbourne.

Other than that another 1 or 2 outside mids, not sure who is available, and I think our team is pretty complete.

The market dictates what a player is worth, therefore I have no problem paying "overs" to get a particular player if that is what it takes. However the choice of player is where the issue lies. Petrie (IMO) is the wrong player, at his age Sando would have to genuinely believe that we would be in a position to win the premiership in 2014, as after that he would simply be too old and beginning to be going down hill as a player.

Also bear in mind, no player is going to leave a Melbourne club and come to Adelaide for a two year contract. Any player who is going to move as a free agent is looking to shore up their future, they're looking for as much money as possible, for as long as possible. Signing a 30+ year old player on a long term contract for big dollars is simply ridiculous and I don't think the AFC management will go for this at all.

 

[Kane McGoodwin]

James - cheers for putting that together. There's no doubt the majority of our side is in a bracket where they shouldn't be getting worse, and where a few will make strides in the near future. What worries me is the state of our top end. If we break that squad down, who among them comprise what one would consider a premiership core, and how many of those you've identified as improvers are simply complementary to that group?

Most would agree Rutten and Thompson rank somewhere around our top 5 most important players. They occupy two spots down our spine. I don't count Reilly, he is hardly Mr. Dependable and should be replaced easily as you say. But we are walking the tightrope for output with the age bracket Rutten and Thompson are moving into, and both are absolute structural lynch pins. Stars. Elite players. They will leave holes that cannot be patched over by the improvement of a Wright, Petrenko, Jaensch, Henderson or Mackay type player. They are the fillers in your 22, decent contributions amongst them, but interchangeable and eminently replaceable players.

I'm not sure how many have noticed, but Thompson is not moving like he was last year. It's obviously a big call to make at this early stage of the season, but it's not inconceivable that this is terminal. That would be a big deal. The player with the sort of credentials to fill the spot vacated by a Scott Thompson in his prime is Crouch, and he is not going to match or surpass that output by next year.

We'll get better in 2014 if Rutten and Thompson can display some of the longevity of those who went before them (Goodwin and Edwards in particular), but this doesn't happen often in footy. We're looking at, potentially, needing to account for fading output of two premiership core type players, and the names listed as looming improvers don't appear to have the tricks to do that.

So 2 of our top dozen players need to be replaced in 2 years, but the rest have an upside is a reason for concern. Compared to other clubs (eg. Hawks & Swans) & we are in very good shape.

Writing off Thompson as being on a significant slide after 4 games is ridiculous. We will gain more output from Crouch this year than what what we lose from Thompson.

Our problem this year isn't the top-end, but rather than the lower end players who have dropped off - Porps, Vince, Reilly, Stiffy, Callinan & Wright. These are not top-10 players & if they don't improve, we have players lining up to replace them (like was shown last week).

The sky isn't falling in just yet chicken little.

 

[Sanders]

Also bear in mind, no player is going to leave a Melbourne club and come to Adelaide for a two year contract.

Maybe. But the other argument is to sign a 2 yr contract as a restricted FA, and get the real big bucks, and choice, when you get full unrestricted FA.

I think the best players will eventually come to sign 2 yr deals at first go, whilst middling players will take the 3-4 year option as soon as they get the chance.