The Neil Craig Appreciation Thread

[Cap]

Well after 3 weeks of bagging the crap out of him. For everything he has done wrong

He got todays game plan in action

He moved Knights Forward

He moved Douglas to middle

He did what ever he did to Reilly

He got Doughty to Tag Judd

He continued to put Tippet in the ruck... clearly our best ruck

He still plays the young fella's in the face of a 4 game losing streak.

since he did everything else wrong over the last 3 weeks, surely he gets a bit of credit for the win?

 

[magtrev]

I had to have a laugh when after beating Carlton by over 7 goals, the first call i heard on the radio after getting to my car after the game was bagging Craig for our third quarter.

 

[relapse]

I also noticed that for the first time in weeks we had significantly more kicks than handballs and we had a good win, a co-incidence ? I think not

 

[Drummond]

He coached as well as I've seen today, in fact he's made pretty decent moves the past 3 weeks as you noted.

An 'Appreciation Thread' is a bit OTT though.

 

[StillCrowing]

I was particularly happy with the time wasting tactics in the last few minutes of the first half. It ensured that we can brag about keeping a team goalless in a half of football. I loved watching every minute of that!

 

[aneale]

Well after 3 weeks of bagging the crap out of him. For everything he has done wrong

He got todays game plan in action

He moved Knights Forward

He moved Douglas to middle

He did what ever he did to Reilly

He got Doughty to Tag Judd

He continued to put Tippet in the ruck... clearly our best ruck

He still plays the young fella's in the face of a 4 game losing streak.

since he did everything else wrong over the last 3 weeks, surely he gets a bit of credit for the win?

Radar should get dropped every week. Shirley should do the Club a favour and get reported in every SANFL game he plays from now on

 

[Sir Vlado]

Wow, who would've thought that we'd get a Craigy appreciation thread now.

Yes he did do a pretty good job today, but maybe an appreciation thread is a bit too far.

 

[CaptainDangerfield]

I have been suprised by all the Douglas negativity on this board. He was obviously being played out of position but for obvious reasons. He is a natural midfielder. IMO the midfielder playing as a small forward is one of the hardest positions to play, very easily to get lost. At worst, Douglas will be a very handy midfielder. At best....who knows.

As for Knights thank god I'm not the only optimist on this board or Chris Knights could be wasting away in the SANFL with the incorrect label as "rubbish player, poor disposal". Nice to see a Crows player who tackles to hurt. GUN.

 

[macca23]

I have been suprised by all the Douglas negativity on this board. He was obviously being played out of position but for obvious reasons. He is a natural midfielder. IMO the midfielder playing as a small forward is one of the hardest positions to play, very easily to get lost. At worst, Douglas will be a very handy midfielder. At best....who knows.

As for Knights thank god I'm not the only optimist on this board or Chris Knights could be wasting away in the SANFL with the incorrect label as "rubbish player, poor disposal". Nice to see a Crows player who tackles to hurt. GUN.

Nice to see a bit of positivity there for a pleasant change Springy.

It really has pissed me off with the uneducated calls every week by some for these two to be dropped or traded.

Thank god Craig has kept the faith because they are both talented players when played in their correct roles. Douglas in particular has had to do it tough playing the small forward role when his natural game is on-ball.

As for Knights he has always been a good player who has attracted excessive criticisms if he ever did the odd stray kicks, being singled out even if the whole team had trouble hitting the side of a barn.

Well done by both and I hope their critics enjoy their humble pie.

 

[SydCrow]

Dougie's disposal is still not good enough under pressure

he gets plenty of it though

on topic - we got steamrolled last week and didn't try to stem the flow - this week we try to keep possession and slow it down in the 3rd quarter and the "experts" in the commentary box say things like - we didn't get 9 goals in front by kicking it sideways.

so did NC tell the guys to play tempo footy?

 

[Bockchoy67]

Nice to see a bit of positivity there for a pleasant change Springy.

It really has pissed me off with the uneducated calls every week by some for these two to be dropped or traded.

Thank god Craig has kept the faith because they are both talented players when played in their correct roles. Douglas in particular has had to do it tough playing the small forward role when his natural game is on-ball.

As for Knights he has always been a good player who has attracted excessive criticisms if he ever did the odd stray kicks, being singled out even if the whole team had trouble hitting the side of a barn.

Well done by both and I hope their critics enjoy their humble pie.

The intense criticism regarding Knights' disposal has always been unwarranted. He has his moments where he'll flunk the kick or choose the wrong option, but he's still young and people make mistakes.

He's got an elite ability to find the ball. His ability to hurt on the scoreboard is a junior trait that is beginning to really show. And frankly his disposal so far this year has been pretty much a non-issue. His kicking was great today, both in front of goal and around the ground. That kick to Goodwin was perfect.

He could be something special if he takes the next step.

 

[Cap]

Wow, who would've thought that we'd get a Craigy appreciation thread now.

Yes he did do a pretty good job today, but maybe an appreciation thread is a bit too far.

He coached as well as I've seen today, in fact he's made pretty decent moves the past 3 weeks as you noted.

An 'Appreciation Thread' is a bit OTT though.

I was hoping the irony would be appreciated

 

[Sir Vlado]

I was hoping the irony would be appreciated

Nah, I don't mind the thread. It was just so unexpected seeing what Craigy has been copping as of late.

 

[jamesclean]

dudes sooking about one tiny appreciation thread in the face of a huge onslaught of criticism... christ

 

[noddy]

Well done coach.

 

[King Elvis]

We, and therefore, Craigy, hae always been in a difficult position, but Neil Craig is, without any debate, the best possible person to be in charge of the Crows at present.

He pisses me off at times, but on the whole, I love him, and I know, without question, that he has the long term interests of the Club as his number one priority.

And Chris Knights should be our next Captain.

 

[Damp Squarie]

Wow, who would've thought that we'd get a Craigy appreciation thread now.

Yes he did do a pretty good job today, but maybe an appreciation thread is a bit too far.

Exactly!
Just goes to show how fickle some of us are.

 

[jenny61_99]

so did NC tell the guys to play tempo footy?

No, the players have been given license to adopt it if they think it necessary. Last week in the third quarter against the rampaging Brisbane, Goodwin tried to slow it down - to boos from Crows supporters. Damned when they do, damned when they don't! Only problem with the players being given this leeway is that if they go into panic mode we get the ugly football we've seen. I think there's definitely a time for it and while it's not pretty, if done well (ie. skills wise) it pays off and can halt that opposition momentum. Good to see though, that there's less and less of it occurring.

Nice to see Craig get some accolades. It's ironic that some people on here think that Craig has somehow learned heaps in a week. Reminds me of Bill Cosby who said when he was 18 he thought his father was an idiot. Then when he turned 21, he couldn't believe how much his father had learned in 3 years!

The thing is, with this young team, we get glimpses of chocolates amongst the boiled lollies. What we saw yesterday was a sign of things to come. That's why it's easy to stay calm when all else around you are panicking. That's why it's easy to see that in the not too distant future, we will be a great team. Craig knows what he's doing... you just gotta have faith.

 

[The Sloane Ranger]

well coached yesterday Craigy

and Craigy has done a remarkable job with the young lads they are playing above their experience levels

 

[beartoo]

I can't read the gameplan as well as others on here are able to do. Was there a difference yesterday? We seemed to have options coming out of defence that haven't been there in previous weeks. Was it a change in tactics? Did we simply run harder? Was it Carlton's gameplan that gave us the options? Thoughts...

 

[smoovy]

I can't read the gameplan as well as others on here are able to do. Was there a difference yesterday? We seemed to have options coming out of defence that haven't been there in previous weeks. Was it a change in tactics? Did we simply run harder? Was it Carlton's gameplan that gave us the options? Thoughts...

There wasn't any change in gameplan, we just executed our skills better. Our handball was the best it has been for a long time, and as a consequence we didn't need more handball to make up for errant handballs to get us out of trouble.

If you watch the replay our handball in close at the clearances was outstanding.

 

[Stiffy_18]

There wasn't any change in gameplan, we just executed our skills better. Our handball was the best it has been for a long time, and as a consequence we didn't need more handball to make up for errant handballs to get us out of trouble.

If you watch the replay our handball in close at the clearances was outstanding.

Spot on! And this is something that irks me to no end when all these armchair experts come up with "game plan is crap", "Craig is running this club with this gameplan"! etc...

We have exactly the same gameplan as Geelong. They love to run in numbers and use handball to create and get out of trouble. The only difference is, thier skills are far superior to ours so they execute it exceptionally well.

We have come unstuck in recent times because our hands were not clean in close. We would fire out a handballs thats ment to set up the play but it would be a really crappy handball, either too high or too low, which subsequently puts the players under more pressure. Once your hands are clean, there is no overdoing of handballs because the first, second and third handball all hit the target and we are off and running.

Our hands in close yesterday were as good as they were back in 2005/06. Once our skill level, concentration and intensity reach some sort of consistency (and it will take some time) we will play a great attractive style of footy because we will be able to pull off this gameplan on consistent basis.

As things stand now, the skills and intensity is inconsistent and we sometimes come off as playing this handball at all costs gameplan which is not what we are about.

 

[twentydollarnote]

the only difference was we won the midfield we still have no forward line to kick to, all our goals came from midfield dominance.

 

[Stiffy_18]

the only difference was we won the midfield we still have no forward line to kick to, all our goals came from midfield dominance.

And we dominated because our hands in close were much cleaner and quicker which set up the play and doesn't give the opposition time to get more numbers in defensive positions to force us into more handball that goes nowhere.

 

[twentydollarnote]

yeah and when they dont have the ball its pretty hard to score.

Our midfield delivery to our forwards still sucks, even experienced players like goody and edwards dont look to hit a target often enough with what little forward structure they have to kick to.