Thoughts on how to fix the Sloane issue

[dylan123]

Whether it helps his issue much, I don't really know but I'd love to see every one of our players actively go over to the guy who is tagging Sloane to bump him. If someone tackles him, other guys jump on, make it rough and have him know he's going to receive contact all night from 21 other players. At least he'll be a little more tired when Sloane is in a position to go for the ball which might give him the leg up he needs.

I find it insane the opposition team is all coming up to bump Sloane and the rest of our team is no where to be seen. Get physical and give the tagger that kind of physical treatment back and then provide some blocks for Sloane so he can work himself into the game.

It's such an easy thing to do and that kind of contact on the tagger will wear him down some for very little cost to us. At a loss why we don't do anything like that, well not really, it's pretty predictable Adelaide football.

 

[Elite Crow]

Whether it helps his issue much, I don't really know but I'd love to see every one of our players actively go over to the guy who is tagging Sloane to bump him. If someone tackles him, other guys jump on, make it rough and have him know he's going to receive contact all night from 21 other players. At least he'll be a little more tired when Sloane is in a position to go for the ball which might give him the leg up he needs.

I find it insane the opposition team is all coming up to bump Sloane and the rest of our team is no where to be seen. Get physical and give the tagger that kind of physical treatment back and then provide some blocks for Sloane so he can work himself into the game.

It's such an easy thing to do and that kind of contact on the tagger will wear him down some for very little cost to us. At a loss why we don't do anything like that, well not really, it's pretty predictable Adelaide football.

Not only that, when you've got the opportunity to hurt him you have to take it. He gets the ball, hammer him bloody hard so it takes a while for him to get up. Keep doing it. Sure you might give away a couple of frees but I'd rather give away some frees to get Sloane back.

 

[marty36]

Not only that, when you've got the opportunity to hurt him you have to take it. He gets the ball, hammer him bloody hard so it takes a while for him to get up. Keep doing it. Sure you might give away a couple of frees but I'd rather give away some frees to get Sloane back.

Sloane will work it out he'll take responsibility for his game


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[Elite Crow]

Sloane will work it out he'll take responsibility for his game


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We can have both

 

[marty36]

We can have both

We can try, but taggers are great at their job and those that can't handle them fail, those that can will succeed, and it isn't that hard to tag its easier to be negative than creative

It's nothing new you know do you think roo got tagged or Macca, then you have the likes of Judd and GAJ who were tagged their entire career


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[19thcrow]

A 2nd game plan would be great. We are too predictable blueprint has been set and we play the same so it works. Throw a spanner in the works and throw the teams that beat our usual game plan.

Idea: at 1st bounce when they try to rough Sloane up put Tex in there his got some cu#t about him.

Idea: start the game with Sloane and Laird swapped around Laird in the guts and Sloane on HB. Throw the opposition game plan.

Idea: Bloody hard tag one of the Dangerwood types if they going to tag Sloane ffs. Dangerwood vs Crouch brothers spells disaster. With our lack of star midfielders we should be tagging at least against quality midfields.

 

[marty36]

There is another solution to bringing sloanes game back up

We hear of trying these blocking tactics these can be dangerous as frees will be given away which can result in goals

Players can look for Sloane and give him more of the ball as a receiver if this was done he could end up with up to 10 possessions a qtr the opposition coach will soon move his number one tagger of him as it will be seen as a failure


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[Huntercrow]

Give Sloane a tagging job. Take out their best player. This will negate his tag. It will then be up to the opposition coach to decide if it is worth continuing.

 

[Squiba]

Wouldn't mind Beechy coming off the back of the square and polaxing the tagger, repeatedly.

Either the tagger will give up or be too scared to be effectual, or the opposition will start to try protect the tagger, detracting from their game

 

[baldandbroke]

Our mids are a bit one dimensional. Need more Cameron in at the centre bounces.

Maybe Sloane should be a half forward that can take a couple of centre bounces a quarter? He's a great mark, good set shot, excellent tackle, superb at applying pressure. I know it feels like a loss... But maybe the team wins from it?

I still like the idea of Kelly as a tagger of the oppositions most damaging mid [emoji5]

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[marty36]

Our mids are a bit one dimensional. Need more Cameron in at the centre bounces.

Maybe Sloane should be a half forward that can take a couple of centre bounces a quarter? He's a great mark, good set shot, excellent tackle, superb at applying pressure. I know it feels like a loss... But maybe the team wins from it?

I still like the idea of Kelly as a tagger of the oppositions most damaging mid [emoji5]

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Is Kelly capable of running with a GAJ, dusty danger Pendlebury bonts wines kennedy shuey Fyfe Heppell


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[skoobydoo]

Sloane will work it out he'll take responsibility for his game


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Sheesh! If there is one player that 'takes responsibility' for his game it is Sloane.

 

[marty36]

Sheesh! If there is one player that 'takes responsibility' for his game it is Sloane.

Is he ATM ?


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[skoobydoo]

Give Sloane a tagging job. Take out their best player. This will negate his tag. It will then be up to the opposition coach to decide if it is worth continuing.

Did some of this last game where Sloane goes to another creating a threesome, allowing the other Crow to position up and move differently. We have left Sloane to the wolves. It requires team strategy.

 

[marty36]

Did some of this last game where Sloane goes to another creating a threesome, allowing the other Crow to position up and move differently. We have left Sloane to the wolves. It requires team strategy.

He's our highest paid player for a reason if he can't handle the heat

I am confident Sloane will work through it, it's up to him if he wants to be elite like Judd GAJ danger that is what he will cop


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[skoobydoo]

Is he ATM ?


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Yes. Not once during the past weeks of continual harassment by all and any opposition player in his vicinity, prolonged scragging, blocking and holding, has he ever looked beaten or bewildered or shown body language that pleads for assistance from his teammates or more pointedly the umpires. If he performed as some PA players who dive and posture at every opportunity then we could criticise Sloane as irresponsible, but he is not. His intensity and work rate has never been open to question.
He is shouldering the load and it requires greater effort and enginuity by his team and his coaches to work through his current targeting. This is a team problem requiring a team solution.

 

[marty36]

Yes. Not once during the past weeks of continual harassment by all and any opposition player in his vicinity, prolonged scragging, blocking and holding, has he ever looked beaten or bewildered or shown body language that pleads for assistance from his teammates or more pointedly the umpires. If he performed as some PA players who dive and posture at every opportunity then we could criticise Sloane as irresponsible, but he is not. His intensity and work rate has never been open to question.
He is shouldering the load and it requires greater effort and enginuity by his team and his coaches to work through his current targeting. This is a team problem requiring a team solution.

If he isn't truly elite, I think he is elite and will work through it

He has failed against a close checking player as have all the superstars on occasions but more often than not they win out I'm backing Sloane to get his shit together those superstars don't rely on others is upon themselves

If he wAnts to be up there with danger GAJ and dusty he will succeed and I think he will, forget PA gray is not elite


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[baldandbroke]

Yes. Not once during the past weeks of continual harassment by all and any opposition player in his vicinity, prolonged scragging, blocking and holding, has he ever looked beaten or bewildered or shown body language that pleads for assistance from his teammates or more pointedly the umpires. If he performed as some PA players who dive and posture at every opportunity then we could criticise Sloane as irresponsible, but he is not. His intensity and work rate has never been open to question.
He is shouldering the load and it requires greater effort and enginuity by his team and his coaches to work through his current targeting. This is a team problem requiring a team solution.

Also, Sloane is the type of player that will sacrifice himself for the good of the team.

It does show how much tagging makes sense at the centre bounces, if they are going to let the little holds and blocks happen (like they currently are). They take Sloane out of the contest with one of their lesser players, and leave Matt Crouch and Brad Crouch to try and create good entries from a centre bounce ... as well having the better player that was going to be in the centre - somewhere else on the field to cause problems.

When we play Geelong ... they play Scott Selwood, Dangerfield, Adam Selwood as a tagger when we have Sloane in the centre bounce group. One Cats player dives at the ball the other tries to get free for the release. If we keep Sloane out of the centre bounces and play a tagger in there on Selwood - they would add someone like Guthrie to try and get the clearance with Dangerfield. We would need to add some pace like Cameron or Hampton to give them something to think about. Ultimately, if a team can rotate heaps of players through there effectively - the opposition end up chasing their tails trying to get the right matchups.

I also think the tag on Sloane has been more effective since Hampton has been injured. He was a player that was making a lot of tackles and causing problems for opposition matchups.

The only long term solution to get rid of the tagger would be to treat all players like they treat the forwards right now ... Arms around the player is a hold ... Restrict them slightly by the arm, hold ... engage a player without looking at the ball, free. That would stop a tagger immediately.

As an aside, do centre bounce clearances equate to wins? Dunno. Are we too fixated on who wins those tussles?

 

[skoobydoo]

Also, Sloane is the type of player that will sacrifice himself for the good of the team.

It does show how much tagging makes sense at the centre bounces, if they are going to let the little holds and blocks happen (like they currently are). They take Sloane out of the contest with one of their lesser players, and leave Matt Crouch and Brad Crouch to try and create good entries from a centre bounce ... as well having the better player that was going to be in the centre - somewhere else on the field to cause problems.

When we play Geelong ... they play Scott Selwood, Dangerfield, Adam Selwood as a tagger when we have Sloane in the centre bounce group. One Cats player dives at the ball the other tries to get free for the release. If we keep Sloane out of the centre bounces and play a tagger in there on Selwood - they would add someone like Guthrie to try and get the clearance with Dangerfield. We would need to add some pace like Cameron or Hampton to give them something to think about. Ultimately, if a team can rotate heaps of players through there effectively - the opposition end up chasing their tails trying to get the right matchups.

I also think the tag on Sloane has been more effective since Hampton has been injured. He was a player that was making a lot of tackles and causing problems for opposition matchups.

The only long term solution to get rid of the tagger would be to treat all players like they treat the forwards right now ... Arms around the player is a hold ... Restrict them slightly by the arm, hold ... engage a player without looking at the ball, free. That would stop a tagger immediately.

As an aside, do centre bounce clearances equate to wins? Dunno. Are we too fixated on who wins those tussles?

Your last sentence first - I have posted before re my concern, that the catch cry, now echoed by all and sundry that to nudge the Crows off their game all that is required is to tag out Sloane, may have a mental rub off on the players themselves. And this is where I want to see a full on team benefits of owning the problem and its fix.
And this runs into your comment about giving the other team 'something to think about'. I like the proactive ness of this where we initiate how we go about things rather than just back everyone in to tough out any situation. Pyke seems to prefer that we operate in a known, established, we did it our way game plan, and this is fine when playing to our strengths. We are known for this. The comments by Geelong players after the last encounter that 'we got exactly what we expected from the Crows' was kinda shocking to me and shows how predictable we were/are.
You are right that centre clearances don't always equate to wins so maybe we need to do some things that turn this 'tag Sloan' theory to our advantage. I just hate the scenario of games where our game plan/style is a known given before the first bounce. We need some proactive unpredictability, starting with the Sloan tag response.

 

[CrowBloke]

Not only that, when you've got the opportunity to hurt him you have to take it. He gets the ball, hammer him bloody hard so it takes a while for him to get up. Keep doing it.

I've given a thumbs-up "like" to this and every post that has mentioned or supported this theme ie clobber the bloke tagging Sloane.
I'm not talking pushing, shoving, verballing etc. Line the bloke up and put him on his butt, hard. Often. I haven't seen anyone reported for pushing a bloke to the ground --- happens often, every game. GET INTO Sloane's tagger at every opportunity and make the tagger not want the job he's been given. The free kicks that might cause can be of minimal damage if Crows players down the field know that Sloane's tagger is going to get hammered, so man up and expect the ball to come their way.

Give Sloane a tagging job. Take out their best player. This will negate his tag.

I like this idea, which makes a threesome and makes Sloane's tagger less effective.
Problem: with this and all the suggestions of playing Sloane out on a wing --- Sloane is most effective for the team at getting the hard, inside ball via contested possession, then feeding off to our outside runners (also a strong mark in general play and does a lot of the 1 %-ers too). His tagger stops him from doing that and so would playing him wide (wing) or as an outside runner. However, getting Sloane to reduce the contested possession effectiveness of say, JSelwood, would create a nett neutral balance (ie Sloane and the bloke he tags both get fewer contested possessions) and make our other inside mids more effective. Well, hopefully.

 

[Sanders]

the best thing we can do to help sloane is to not be so one player dependent in the middle.
if we had other strings to our bow, it would be harder to justify as someone else would fill the gap. teams generally don't like tagging because it takes the tagging team out of their plan, their structures and they lose as much as they gain.

but we are so thin in the middle, the payoff is worth it.

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

There was a stat on one of the footy shows that we've had the most 30+ possession games this season from individual players. Something like 27 times one of our players has reached 30. Collingwood were next.

That's no dramas if they're on fire but becomes a bit of an issue if we're relying on Sloane, Laird and M Crouch to always get 30+ for us to win. If 1 or 2 of them have a quiet game, get tagged or miss through injury/suspension and there's a gaping hole. Daniel Hanneberry said that ideally you'd have a more even spread.

 

[marty36]

Sloane will clearly play head to head with Selwood next game he isn't capable of going to danger will fix all issues


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[Southerntakeover]

the best thing we can do to help sloane is to not be so one player dependent in the middle.
if we had other strings to our bow, it would be harder to justify as someone else would fill the gap. teams generally don't like tagging because it takes the tagging team out of their plan, their structures and they lose as much as they gain.

but we are so thin in the middle, the payoff is worth it.

Also limits our capacity to throw him forward as a way of breaking it up.

Still not something we're likely to fix mid season.

 

[JPetro83]

One of pur players needs to get stuck into Rory's tagger.. help Rory as much as they can by getting stuck into his tagger.. be hard and tough. play dirty.. unsociable footy!