Where do we need to improve next year?

[Johnnyklug]

The issue is the club will think because we won 18 games, we don't need to try anything different to get better.

Never mind that we had a generous fixture, a dream run with injury and other teams didn't do their homework on us until late in the season.

We just need to work harderer for longerer.

It wasn’t that generous. We had double up games against three top six sides, Hawthorn, Collingwood and Gold Coast.

 

[Not Darryl Moss]

Do not extend him, let's see how the season goes. No finals and seeya Nicks.

What a week to go off the Lions after being on them for another flag all year. Belted by the Suns a few weeks ago, then repaid in full yesterday. May not have the cattle this year, but that's different to not having the game.

Lack of finals exposure saw the Crows and Suns out. Gotta build on the two games experience they got this year. All the remaining finalists have had to do this. Crows MUST win a final in 2026 or Nicks is out. Crows MUST clear out Tex, Smith, Murphy and anyone that's not gonna be part of their next premiership team in 2027. Need to find greater run and speed through the middle against the best.

Didn't snag Nasia the Messiah, but neither did Port, so that's a plus, but no A-graders like Dawson and Ranking wanting to come home either. 2026: Make the finals, win or or Nicks is done. Be Ruthless.

 

[Mattrox]

We also need to not be afraid to use the more free flowing game style. Not using it takes away one of our attacking weapons. You can't win if all you do is parry, thrust , parry, parry, parry. Too predictable and easy to defend.

 

[Crowhorse]

From the WCE game onwards, AFC have been getting ragdolled in the midfield. Seemed to have lost hard strength in that area…. burning out from a long season? Who knows?

Then take Rankine out of the situation and we’re looking very crowbotty with little to no intensity.

Is hard core strength a blind spot for Burgess? Most of the team can afford to do what Thilthorpe did to bulk up and go from there… see how many clearances we lose then.

Prob the only one that needs to lose weight is ROB, bloke needs to move 10x better than he is.

You can be as strategic as you want, trade in xyz, but if the strength and intensity isn’t there, you’ll rarely win a final.

 

[Fud#3]

We also need to not be afraid to use the more free flowing game style. Not using it takes away one of our attacking weapons. You can't win if all you do is parry, thrust , parry, parry, parry. Too predictable and easy to defend.

And that's exactly what the opposition focuses on.

Good teams in finals come up with strategies to do that, we just didn't compose ourselves when the pressur was really on. Coaching and players are all accounable for that.

 

[Soggy2112]

The issue is the club will think because we won 18 games, we don't need to try anything different to get better.

Never mind that we had a generous fixture, a dream run with injury and other teams didn't do their homework on us until late in the season.

We just need to work harderer for longerer.

I don’t think that’s a fair criticism. Our list management team has been very proactive basically since the exodus at the end of 2019.

We were obviously very close to getting NWM, which obviously suggests that they know adding top end quality in the midfield is important. Unfortunately, there’s as much luck involved in recruiting as any kind of smarts, so we’ll see where it lands.

 

[Soggy2112]

From the WCE game onwards, AFC have been getting ragdolled in the midfield. Seemed to have lost hard strength in that area…. burning out from a long season? Who knows?

Then take Rankine out of the situation and we’re looking very crowbotty with little to no intensity.

Is hard core strength a blind spot for Burgess? Most of the team can afford to do what Thilthorpe did to bulk up and go from there… see how many clearances we lose then.

Prob the only one that needs to lose weight is ROB, bloke needs to move 10x better than he is.

You can be as strategic as you want, trade in xyz, but if the strength and intensity isn’t there, you’ll rarely win a final.

Strength was not an issue 6-7 weeks ago. In fact we were leading the league for breaking tackles.

It’s a genuine mystery to me what happened to Soligo, Berry and Peatling. They looked timid. It might be between the ears as much as anything.

Who knows, maybe they did run out of steam at the end of the year?

 

[betterthanu]

Pedler playing forward this year is fine given his injury interruptions but he is the player on our list that could be a powerful inside midfielder. If his body holds up, he needs a full, uninterrupted preseason training in the mid imo

 

[glengowan]

The midfield:

• We need Draper and Curtin to be genuine midfield options in 2026. Hopefully that comes with a huge pre-season and improvement you'd expect from a 1st and 2nd year player.
• We need Taylor and Pedlar to be pushing for Soligo, Peatling and Berry's positions in the midfield.
• Rankine and Rachele. We missed their class.
• McAndrew needs some game time early in the season to see if he is any good. We can't just rely on O'Brien. We need another Ruck on the list from somewhere.

The defence:

The defence is sound. Keep Butts if possible. I'd like to see Oscar Ryan develop and be an option in 2026, replacing Smith. What is holding him back?

The forwards:

• I'm concerned there is no depth currently on the list to replace Walker (who I think plays on next year), but if we can get Ah Chee from Brisbane, I think that would be a handy midsize option, but not at the expense of a 1st round draft pick.
• We obviously missed Rankine and Rachele - that improves our forward line immensely.
• I'd love to get one of the young SA tall forwards with our 1st pick in the Draft - Schubert or Marsh.
• I'd like Nick Murray to be trained as a forward over the pre-season.
• Give a list spot to a speedy, zippy goal sneak.

Retired: M.Crouch
Delisted: Murphy, Schoenberg, Burgess, Smith, Gallagher, Strachan (he might be already?)

List Need:
1) Developing Key Forward (could be 3rd tall)
2) Developing Ruck
3) Developing or mature age zippy, small forward
4) Tough nut mid, develop or mature age

Would take in Trade:
1) Ah Chee
2) Ready made Ruck who could challenge ROB's spot
3) Ready made hard and tough, in and under midfielder

Magarey Medalist Tom Lewis could be worth a crack.

 

[Mattrox]

Pedler playing forward this year is fine given his injury interruptions but he is the player on our list that could be a powerful inside midfielder. If his body holds up, he needs a full, uninterrupted preseason training in the mid imo

I hope we can get his body right, but I fear that his shoulder may be too far gone to be full time mid given how often he gets hurt.

Hope I'm wrong on that.

 

[Crowhorse]

Strength was not an issue 6-7 weeks ago. In fact we were leading the league for breaking tackles.

It’s a genuine mystery to me what happened to Soligo, Berry and Peatling. They looked timid. It might be between the ears as much as anything.

Who knows, maybe they did run out of steam at the end of the year?

I thought all that you mention were looking very slender towards years end, or were definitely playing like it. So it’s possible we’re not far off for 1/2 to 3/4s of a season. Or maybe they got complacent and lazy? Or preservation mode even.

Also comes back to player management and selections - nothing was gained, in fact it was a net loss, by playing Murphy, Smith, Burgess, could have rotated aforementioned players out quite comfortably whilst getting games into Draper, Dowling, Cook, heck even Schoenberg would have been an improvement at times as the midfield were completely gassed.

Then virtually no accountability for senior players (very much a Crows trait), Keays could have been dropped 3x this season.

 

[Soggy2112]

I thought all that you mention were looking very slender towards years end, or were definitely playing like it. So it’s possible we’re not far off for 1/2 to 3/4s of a season. Or maybe they got complacent and lazy? Or preservation mode even.

Also comes back to player management and selections - nothing was gained, in fact it was a net loss, by playing Murphy, Smith, Burgess, could have rotated aforementioned players out quite comfortably whilst getting games into Draper, Dowling, Cook, heck even Schoenberg would have been an improvement at times as the midfield were completely gassed.

Then virtually no accountability for senior players (very much a Crows trait), Keays could have been dropped 3x this season.

100%

All year lots of us were saying that we need to be using spots 18-22 to get games into guys with potential, instead of just picking whoever in the 2s was in the best form

 

[Doctor B]

Week 1 of finals.
CBA's minimum 40% attendance

After Dawson our midfield lacks the class of the other midfields.
We need to develop our recruited mids in the midfield in the SANFL, and encourage them to play to their strengths.

Anderson 96%
Newcombe
Brayshaw
Callaghan
Green
Dawson
Rowell
N Daicos
Nash
Serong
Young
De Goey
Neale
Atkins
Davies
Dunkley
Soligo
Worpel
Ashcroft
Pendlebury
Smith
Coniglio
Peatling
Berry
McCluggage
Holmes
Dangerfield
Ward
Bailey 40%

 

[GrommoT]

Obviously hasnt finished the way you want and I’m not here to try and tell you ‘hey THIS is how you SHOULD feel’ because obviously you’re gonna be disappointed when you get to the finals and then get knocked over etc.

You just did! ..... kidding

but I’m curious as to why you’re so pessimistic about your chances going forward??

Oh wait....

the midfield obviously being the main one - is there any logical reason you don’t think the players you have can’t just, you know, improve a bit?

Midfield (among other aspects like coach, game style) is the big reason and I think we have a reasonable amount of young midfield talent but need several seasons of getting strength and endurance into them.

Even our younger mids who are in the regular 22 like Curtin, Soligo, Rachele, Pedlar need another couple of seasons to build the endurance to be to perform strongly for a whole season and not get just get ground down, get cooked.

Other youngsrters like Sid Draper, Charlie Edwards, Dowling, Bond, Nankervis maybe ... will take even longer to be the seasoned players we need but hopefully we'll see them in the starting 22 next year.

Mids like Laird & Dawson are the seasoned players that can last a while seaon and even, we need to smart and let them have a rest before finals, which I think is whay Dawson was rather down the last 2 games.

Overall, though I think our midfield shows promise with some organic growth though getting more talent would be geat, of course.

 

[Scorpus]

Strength was not an issue 6-7 weeks ago. In fact we were leading the league for breaking tackles.

It’s a genuine mystery to me what happened to Soligo, Berry and Peatling. They looked timid. It might be between the ears as much as anything.

Who knows, maybe they did run out of steam at the end of the year?

Reached the mental hurdle of making finals and then collapsed basically

 

[blighty]

The easiest thing to improve on is our game plan, develop a plan that suits some of the limitations of our players and work from there.

So true !! Good coaches develop game plans utilizing the talents of the squad. Nicks' strength is player relationships & nothing else. He is weak on game strategy, stubborn & unreactive during games. He cannot take this group any further & needs to be moved on. The last thing we need is another 'Nicks clone' so Simpson who displays the same defence first mindset cannot be considered. Buckley is similar to Simpson with broadly the same approach. We need a coach with Fagen like talents that value flair, forward craft with a real feel for those that play the game. I would look at James Rahilly or David Teague or of the existing coaches Adam Yze.

 

[UcantCme]

Midfield
Midfield
Midfield

Curtin and Rankine need to train all pre-season as mids

Draper to move to the wing

Soligo needs to find the next gear

Berry is not to the level

We need to trade in another top line mid

 

[GreyCrow]

Reached the mental hurdle of making finals and then collapsed basically

This seems most likely

We built ourselves up to make finals then went ' now what '

Easy for me to say - oh wait I already did - that the focus on one week at a time had some pitfalls and we got too cute

 

[Soggy2112]

This seems most likely

We built ourselves up to make finals then went ' now what '

Easy for me to say - oh wait I already did - that the focus on one week at a time had some pitfalls and we got too cute

One week at a time is one of the most overrated cliches in footy.

No successful team actually lives by that.

 

[GreyCrow]

One week at a time is one of the most overrated cliches in footy.

No successful team actually lives by that.

Publically we did

 

[George CantStandYa]

Not here to troll or stir shit so please be kind. Was just curious to read this thread as I think you guys have had an awesome year to come from as far back as you did and finish on top.

Obviously hasnt finished the way you want and I’m not here to try and tell you ‘hey THIS is how you SHOULD feel’ because obviously you’re gonna be disappointed when you get to the finals and then get knocked over etc.
but I’m curious as to why you’re so pessimistic about your chances going forward??

Admittedly the Crows are among the teams I watch least so beyond maybe half a dozen games this season I haven’t paid THAT much attention and it’s obvious from a number of posts what the common themes are that you all think are going to stop you from building on this year.

But in those particular areas - the midfield obviously being the main one - is there any logical reason you don’t think the players you have can’t just, you know, improve a bit? Or likewise with your coach? I mean hes had a fairly long apprenticeship and it bore fruit this year - is there a reason he can’t get better again?

Just from our experience there was a lot of thought around players like Atkins and the Guthries and Jack Henry and Miers and Close etc that ‘yeah they are AFL level players but they won’t improve to a level that will win us anything.’ But yeah, they did. Sure they had help from some pretty elite players too so I’m not dismissing that as a factor but I think you’ve had an awesome year and I don’t see you dropping off in 2026

Anyway, sorry to intrude like I said I’m not trying to be a dick just curious and yeah, I think there’s a lot more good than bad for your team atm

Want to swap coaches?

 

[Soggy2112]

Publically we did

I think in terms of selection we definitely did.

Murphy, Burgess, Smith, Schoenberg etc all played because they were probably the best option to get the win in that specific game. It didn’t seem like there was a lot of forward thinking.

 

[Cyclonus]

Surely we're looking for a VB replacement?

 

[Soggy2112]

Pedler playing forward this year is fine given his injury interruptions but he is the player on our list that could be a powerful inside midfielder. If his body holds up, he needs a full, uninterrupted preseason training in the mid imo

I agree that he has the skill set to be a mid, but I think at this stage his body is so far off being able to handle it that it isn’t worth trying.

If he could get through a season of majority AFL footy playing as a forward then we could look at pushing him in to the mids.

Doesn’t mean we couldn’t use him as a break glass in case of emergency type for 5-10 minutes when it’s needed.

 

[Crow till I die]

New midfield coach
Ruck
Ruck
Ruck
Ruck
Midfielder
Fast Winger
Rash and Ranks both playing in the same side.
Oh, and a RUCK!

FTFY