So approaching mid season with the embarassing record of 2-8 I thought it'd be a decent time to have a look at exactly where this club is sitting right now. I'll give the kids out there a warning right now that this is a long winded post so apologies in advance for your impending doom and loss of 3 hours. Also thought I'd throw this out there since I was absent during my faceoff thread due to unforeseen circumstances (apologies brucetiki!)
Anyways, onwards and upwards.
Regardless of your opinion on our list strength/depth/fitness etc I'm sure none of us had the club sitting 2-8 (2-9 when Freo have finished sodomising us) and 1 game above wooden spoon pole position. I thought I'd throw out there what we're doing right, what we're doing wrong and what exactly I'd like to see changed at this club to return us to our rightful place in the upper echelon of the AFL ladder.
What we're doing right/The Positives:
Jeez not a nice section to start off with. Hard to find positives when the club is sitting in its current position but there are a few.
Richard Douglas:
Aka Dougie the Pizza (Whipping) Boy. After years being played as a makeshift small forward due to a list devoid of options we've seen an absolute transformation in this guys game. From a fringe player, he's become our form midfielder this season. Admittedly still can miss a target from time to time but he's sticking his tackles, getting in at the bottom of packs and racking up his own ball. The other sign for me that he's starting to feel like he belongs is everytime he runs into an open goal 40 out he seems to slot them. Pan back 18 months and this was the guy who'd miss set shots from 30 out.
It's a remarkable transformation when you consider he was the first name uttered when potential trades came up last year and yet our midfield now looks at its most potent when he and Patty are in the middle. 30 possessions against the Saints will hopefully signal the coming of age of this young man.
Patrick Dangerfield:
Not often do elite level footballers that have the potential to change the game off their own boot come along. This kid is one of them. Forget the Tippett's and Walkers of the world, if this kid fulfills his potential he has the ability to be the best player of his generation. Strong, impossible to tackle, great disposal off both sides of the boot and natural leadership ability through his actions - the greatest shame is that we don't have 2 of him (He'd make a nice Forward option too). Probably the biggest criticism of him is that he doesn't earn himself enough easy possessions but with a greater fitness base that will come. He's shown in glimpses in the middle of the ground that he'll become the most feared inside midfielder in the game IMO.
Has the (old) Chris Judd turn of pace, the bullocking strength of a Ricciuto and the neat disposal by foot that, whilst not quite putting him at that elite level, will be damaging enough that once he's burnt off everyone around him he'll comfortably be able to hit a target on the lead. Biggest concern will probably wind up being his injury proneness due simply to the way he plays. We want a 15 year superstar not a 5 or 6 year enigma that could've been but wound up burnt out due to chronic injury.
Ivan Maric:
Probably flown under the radar a bit but for mine has shown more leadership qualities consistently than any other player this season. Will never be an elite level ruckman but has a heart the size of an ox. Is the first one in to defend his teammates when they're being attacked/niggled, consistently floats back across the defensive 50 and picks off marks with no concern for his safety (ala the traditional oldschool ruckman) and his hitout work has improved markedly as the season's gone on. Furthermore possesses one of the great goal celebrations of the modern AFL and is actually a decent kick of the footy (when he decides to kick it).
Youngsters Getting Gametime:
The one major shining light in such a season of injury and woe. Petrenko, Davis, Cook, Schmidt, Sloane, Armstrong, Gunston and to a lesser extent Walker have all had gametime pumped into them as a result of injury/form loss to senior players. Whilst none have truly stamped themselves on the game, we've seen glimpses of what each will offer in the future, Davis, Petrenko and Gunston particularly impressing. Fast tracking their development is now imperative when you consider our current age profile and these names must be persisted with.
...aaaand that's about it... Sad really isn't it? Feel free to add to the positives if you can think of anymore. I'm certainly struggling
What we're doing Wrong/The Negatives:
And here commences page 1 of a 3200 page bible....
The performances (on field/off field and both) of 'Senior Players':
Bernie Vince, Nathan Bock, Graham Johncock, Scott Thompson. 4 Names at the start of the season you would have comfortably pencilled in as top 5-10 in our B+F and all were potential winners of the coveted yellow jacket. Unfortunately due to lack of fitness, lack of form and lack of brain matter we've seen some less than glorious performances from the 4. Constant murmurings surrounding Bock and Thompson suggest both may potentially be seeking to continue their careers with other clubs. Whilst this could well be a media beatup there's often no smoke without fire and the reality is if this is what the boys really want then I'd be exploring all options.
Vince and Johncock are probably the 2 most disappointing members of this group however. At a time where we've been crying out for leaders these two decide to break basic team rules and wind up removing themselves from the selection frame just when we need them most. For Johncock it's become a worrying trend and Vince seems to be falling back into old habits. Whilst many have claimed Vince is a result of 'not handling the newfound pressure' if being an elite AFL footballer is what he wants he needs to get used to it and suck it up. If the club is serious at the end of this season they'll sit the 4 boys down individually and ask them 1) WTF they're planning on doing and 2) If they're really serious about being a part of our future campaigns. If they are then these boys need to start showing it with their actions more than their lip service.
You could probably include van Berlo and Porps here too but I've excused them due to cameos and recent form with van Chosen One.
Shane Warne being replaced as the 'Sheikh of Tweak':
Congratulations to the Adelaide Football Club's coaching staff you're officially the newly crowned 'Kings of Spin'.
"We're not concerned about our pre-season form"
"We're right where we want to be"
"We're learning and improving and it's all about the process"
"We can't replace the big 4 because there's no better options on the sidelines"
"We don't need some of the big 4 and we can't guarantee them games."
"It's a form issue not a fitness issue."
"It's a fitness issue not a form issue."
Confused?
Me too!
We've put out so many conflicting reports that I'm pretty sure I've established the problems in our pre season revolve around Zombie Dinosaurs who feed on footballs attacking during pre season and leaving us football-less.
It makes about as much sense as what we've been told so far.
I'd actually love SOMEONE at the club to come out and say 'We got this pre-season preparation wrong, we're doing a full evaluation of our fitness staff and scheduling this post season and no-one, regardless of age or seniority is safe at this club unless they're performing on field AS OF NOW.' Combining some of the press conference crap we've heard with the disgraceful handling of the Tyson Edwards situation and you've got a cluster**** of conflicting statements, spin and a supporter group who's simply lost faith in whether the club is actually telling the truth or spinning us more tripe. If the club is serious about openness and transparency then they'll sort out their media handling this off-season.
Fitness and the Pre-Season:
Contentious at best, a disaster at worst. In the modern AFL underdone players and a lack of run in players legs during the pre season can cost you games and in some extreme cases entire seasons. Whilst we were unlucky with some of the injuries copped a club of our size shouldn't be experiencing the amount of injuries we have over recent times.
Who's responsible?
Craig? Schwerdt? A Combination? It's not really for us to lay blame but it's another area the club needs to sort out and quickly. At one point we had 16 players listed as unavailable on our injury list and a swathe of players who were supposedly playing at less than 100%. For a club of our ilk this is a basic area that should never have gotten so out of control and must be addressed.
Andrew Mcleod:
Strange to put this under negatives but bear with me. This man would comfortably be leading our Best and Fairest at the moment. He's silk, he's one of the best players the AFL has seen and he could form a reasonable argument to being the greatest crow of all time. Trouble is he's 34. It's a bit of a sad indictment that this man is carrying our club at the moment when really he should be the cherry on top of the cake - not the cake itself. If he was 24 our whole list structure changes but sadly my anti-ageing time machine is in its early stages.
Tackling:
Gather round kids and let me tell you a tale of the good old days. The days where tackles used to stick, where we were renowned for our hardness at the man and ball, where when we tackled a player they hurt. Those were the good old days and this is now. We've fast deteriorated into the worst tackling and pressure side in the competition and in the modern AFL it's probably the most important facet of any teams performance. Clubs use tackles and tackling pressure as a KPI to indicate whether they've played well enough to win or not. I genuinely can't think of a time where I've walked away from a game in the last year or so and thought 'wow our tackling was ferocious'. We simply don't stick tackles anymore and yet we don't seem keen to address the problem?
Probably the second most frustrating aspect of our on field play at the moment.
Our first you ask?
Predictability!:
When you watch us with the football coming out of our backline in attack and kicking in from a point you know what's going to happen. Our 'Crowbot' reputation used to be worn like a medal of honour of sorts. No longer can it be said that being predictable and 'knowing' what we're going to do before we even do it is a good thing. Other clubs have figured us out. Shutdown Johncock, Bock and Mcleod whenever they're in the backline as they're the architects. Allow us the short kick in but pressure the ball carrier ALWAYS when we're moving out of our defensive 50 and most importantly roll the zone across the ground with the same speed at which we switch the football (which inevitably we'll always do at some point when pressured) and we'll almost always crumble.
It's frustrating how predictable we've become across the ground and how few alternatives we have to our main game plan. In the middle of the ground you often see an opposite number leave his man and run to the support player before our guys have even dished. Why? Because clubs have studied us and KNOW which option we'll take before we even take it. If Craig wishes to continue as the coach of our football club he needs to address this area and take away that predictability which other teams are now completely aware of.
Our ball movement has become staggered, sluggish and ineffective purely because clubs have taken away our regular avenues to goal and we're like a rabbit caught in the headlights.
So Where to from Here?
Now admittedly this has all been personal opinion but here's where some of you might really disagree with me. If you do, feel free to add your opinions
Aggressive Trading:
Tippett and Dangerfield. That's it. The only two names who would be on my 'untouchable list' at this very moment. If the right offer comes in and the chance to improve our list through moving players on comes along then I'm all for it. Not only should we respond to clubs interest but we need to start sounding players out too. I'm not talking ridiculous trades either (Newsflash kids - Jacky + our first Rounder doth not Gibbs + Carlton's first rounder make). If we get decent offers for guys the likes of Knights, Rutten, Thompson, Mackay, Johncock etc we need to seriously consider it. I'd even be willing to bundle Walker and a pick if it meant snaring an elite AFL footballer. Sometimes the most outlandish moves reap the greatest rewards (Hi Chris Groom!).
Everyone's looking on at the Gold Coast entering the competition with such angst but we should be approaching it as an opportunity to snare some decent draft picks by moving players on. We have a depth of KPP sized players at the moment and rightly or wrongly they're valued more highly across the league during trades. Lets utilise our strength and seek out players we feel will add to our next premiership tilt.
Off Field Cleanout:
Whether or not this club is led by Neil Craig is irrelevant. The time has come that this club had a cleanout. Fitness needs a massive rejig, the boys club mentality needs to bite the dust and some of our assistants need to assess whether or not this is the best environment for them. This season to date has been a disasterpiece and much of it can be put down to off field management of players and the gameplan rather than the players there to execute it. At the halfway mark of the season our off field management as a whole would have to be graded as a big fat F minus. This leads on to the next key aspect.
Ruthlessness:
We're a big club so lets start acting like it. Hunt out of contract players and staff from other clubs, be ruthless in the handling of business affairs, give our little brothers across town nothing but take whatever we can get (cue: This...is....SPARTA!). We have this nice guy attitude which is good to a point, but how about we starting throwing a bit of weight around?
Show a bit of initiative AFC and start acting like the big boy in town instead of the bullied redhead.
Change in the Recruiting Mentality:
Kinda goes hand in hand with taking a more aggressive mentality. I'm not asking the club to be reckless and show their hand but year after year we see at least 2 or 3 players emerge as very good AFL footballers that have either starred in their respective local leagues or stagnated on another AFL list. Fremantle have become kings of this and as a result have two excellent footballers in Broughton and Barlow. J-Pod is another similar guy for Geelong (although I could probably kick 5 a week with the delivery that dude is getting).
Rather than solely targetting athletic ability, I'd love to see us lose the affinity with 'tween' KPP's and blokes who can run 4 marathons in one day and instead devoting just one pick mid to late each national draft on a more mature guy who is tearing it up in the SANFL/WAFL/VFL. I'm not suggesting reaching for these types of players over a guy who we've done loads of homework on and are certain will become a player, merely that if it's a choice between a local league star and a guy who's never seen a football before but pushed Haile Gebrselassie for 3/4trs of the Boston Marathon then let's lean with the footballer for a change.
Developing alternate gameplans:
But we have 5 Gameplans already? Stevens Forward (with everyone else as named), Stevens back (with everyone else as named), Mcleod forward (with everyone else as named), Mcleod in the middle (with everyone else as named) and Mcleod back..... etc
I don't mean one player moved around, nor do I mean 'hmm, we tried switching it that way but it didn't work so lets switch it back!'. I mean a genuine alternative to our mainstay gameplan. I mean preparing 2 or 3 different tactics that are so different from one another that you genuinely notice a difference right across the board. Heck I'm fine if they don't even work I'd just love to see a deviance from the stubborn persistence with our one failing gameplan.
We have no answers atm to teams who shutdown our plan A and sadly for us it seems to be happening quite a bit. I'd actually love to see someone like a Laidley at our club who focussed solely on the tactical side of things and nothing else.
Change the Logo Back:
We all said no good could come from the 'Mighty Adelaide Velociraptors' logo didn't we AFC? The superstitious voodoo witch inside me says it's the logo's fault. The aesthetic Derek Zoolander in me says it's really really ridiculously fugly and the footy supporter in me says we look like we copied the Hawks, Eagles and Baltimore Ravens and failed in the process. Please just change it back (I know it won't happen but a guy can dream)
........ ZE END!
So this is what I've come up with in an afternoon. Thoughts/Comments/Slander/TL;DR? Any glaring omissions/inclusions? Disgusted at my lack of acknowledging Brian Donnelly's hidden potential to tear the game of AFL apart at the seams? Add on from here. My rantings are just a starting point.
BTW I await Jenny's positive spin on every point I've made with glee (Joking Jen )
Anyways, onwards and upwards.
Regardless of your opinion on our list strength/depth/fitness etc I'm sure none of us had the club sitting 2-8 (2-9 when Freo have finished sodomising us) and 1 game above wooden spoon pole position. I thought I'd throw out there what we're doing right, what we're doing wrong and what exactly I'd like to see changed at this club to return us to our rightful place in the upper echelon of the AFL ladder.
What we're doing right/The Positives:
Jeez not a nice section to start off with. Hard to find positives when the club is sitting in its current position but there are a few.
Richard Douglas:
Aka Dougie the Pizza (Whipping) Boy. After years being played as a makeshift small forward due to a list devoid of options we've seen an absolute transformation in this guys game. From a fringe player, he's become our form midfielder this season. Admittedly still can miss a target from time to time but he's sticking his tackles, getting in at the bottom of packs and racking up his own ball. The other sign for me that he's starting to feel like he belongs is everytime he runs into an open goal 40 out he seems to slot them. Pan back 18 months and this was the guy who'd miss set shots from 30 out.
It's a remarkable transformation when you consider he was the first name uttered when potential trades came up last year and yet our midfield now looks at its most potent when he and Patty are in the middle. 30 possessions against the Saints will hopefully signal the coming of age of this young man.
Patrick Dangerfield:
Not often do elite level footballers that have the potential to change the game off their own boot come along. This kid is one of them. Forget the Tippett's and Walkers of the world, if this kid fulfills his potential he has the ability to be the best player of his generation. Strong, impossible to tackle, great disposal off both sides of the boot and natural leadership ability through his actions - the greatest shame is that we don't have 2 of him (He'd make a nice Forward option too). Probably the biggest criticism of him is that he doesn't earn himself enough easy possessions but with a greater fitness base that will come. He's shown in glimpses in the middle of the ground that he'll become the most feared inside midfielder in the game IMO.
Has the (old) Chris Judd turn of pace, the bullocking strength of a Ricciuto and the neat disposal by foot that, whilst not quite putting him at that elite level, will be damaging enough that once he's burnt off everyone around him he'll comfortably be able to hit a target on the lead. Biggest concern will probably wind up being his injury proneness due simply to the way he plays. We want a 15 year superstar not a 5 or 6 year enigma that could've been but wound up burnt out due to chronic injury.
Ivan Maric:
Probably flown under the radar a bit but for mine has shown more leadership qualities consistently than any other player this season. Will never be an elite level ruckman but has a heart the size of an ox. Is the first one in to defend his teammates when they're being attacked/niggled, consistently floats back across the defensive 50 and picks off marks with no concern for his safety (ala the traditional oldschool ruckman) and his hitout work has improved markedly as the season's gone on. Furthermore possesses one of the great goal celebrations of the modern AFL and is actually a decent kick of the footy (when he decides to kick it).
Youngsters Getting Gametime:
The one major shining light in such a season of injury and woe. Petrenko, Davis, Cook, Schmidt, Sloane, Armstrong, Gunston and to a lesser extent Walker have all had gametime pumped into them as a result of injury/form loss to senior players. Whilst none have truly stamped themselves on the game, we've seen glimpses of what each will offer in the future, Davis, Petrenko and Gunston particularly impressing. Fast tracking their development is now imperative when you consider our current age profile and these names must be persisted with.
...aaaand that's about it... Sad really isn't it? Feel free to add to the positives if you can think of anymore. I'm certainly struggling
What we're doing Wrong/The Negatives:
And here commences page 1 of a 3200 page bible....
The performances (on field/off field and both) of 'Senior Players':
Bernie Vince, Nathan Bock, Graham Johncock, Scott Thompson. 4 Names at the start of the season you would have comfortably pencilled in as top 5-10 in our B+F and all were potential winners of the coveted yellow jacket. Unfortunately due to lack of fitness, lack of form and lack of brain matter we've seen some less than glorious performances from the 4. Constant murmurings surrounding Bock and Thompson suggest both may potentially be seeking to continue their careers with other clubs. Whilst this could well be a media beatup there's often no smoke without fire and the reality is if this is what the boys really want then I'd be exploring all options.
Vince and Johncock are probably the 2 most disappointing members of this group however. At a time where we've been crying out for leaders these two decide to break basic team rules and wind up removing themselves from the selection frame just when we need them most. For Johncock it's become a worrying trend and Vince seems to be falling back into old habits. Whilst many have claimed Vince is a result of 'not handling the newfound pressure' if being an elite AFL footballer is what he wants he needs to get used to it and suck it up. If the club is serious at the end of this season they'll sit the 4 boys down individually and ask them 1) WTF they're planning on doing and 2) If they're really serious about being a part of our future campaigns. If they are then these boys need to start showing it with their actions more than their lip service.
You could probably include van Berlo and Porps here too but I've excused them due to cameos and recent form with van Chosen One.
Shane Warne being replaced as the 'Sheikh of Tweak':
Congratulations to the Adelaide Football Club's coaching staff you're officially the newly crowned 'Kings of Spin'.
"We're not concerned about our pre-season form"
"We're right where we want to be"
"We're learning and improving and it's all about the process"
"We can't replace the big 4 because there's no better options on the sidelines"
"We don't need some of the big 4 and we can't guarantee them games."
"It's a form issue not a fitness issue."
"It's a fitness issue not a form issue."
Confused?
Me too!
We've put out so many conflicting reports that I'm pretty sure I've established the problems in our pre season revolve around Zombie Dinosaurs who feed on footballs attacking during pre season and leaving us football-less.
It makes about as much sense as what we've been told so far.
I'd actually love SOMEONE at the club to come out and say 'We got this pre-season preparation wrong, we're doing a full evaluation of our fitness staff and scheduling this post season and no-one, regardless of age or seniority is safe at this club unless they're performing on field AS OF NOW.' Combining some of the press conference crap we've heard with the disgraceful handling of the Tyson Edwards situation and you've got a cluster**** of conflicting statements, spin and a supporter group who's simply lost faith in whether the club is actually telling the truth or spinning us more tripe. If the club is serious about openness and transparency then they'll sort out their media handling this off-season.
Fitness and the Pre-Season:
Contentious at best, a disaster at worst. In the modern AFL underdone players and a lack of run in players legs during the pre season can cost you games and in some extreme cases entire seasons. Whilst we were unlucky with some of the injuries copped a club of our size shouldn't be experiencing the amount of injuries we have over recent times.
Who's responsible?
Craig? Schwerdt? A Combination? It's not really for us to lay blame but it's another area the club needs to sort out and quickly. At one point we had 16 players listed as unavailable on our injury list and a swathe of players who were supposedly playing at less than 100%. For a club of our ilk this is a basic area that should never have gotten so out of control and must be addressed.
Andrew Mcleod:
Strange to put this under negatives but bear with me. This man would comfortably be leading our Best and Fairest at the moment. He's silk, he's one of the best players the AFL has seen and he could form a reasonable argument to being the greatest crow of all time. Trouble is he's 34. It's a bit of a sad indictment that this man is carrying our club at the moment when really he should be the cherry on top of the cake - not the cake itself. If he was 24 our whole list structure changes but sadly my anti-ageing time machine is in its early stages.
Tackling:
Gather round kids and let me tell you a tale of the good old days. The days where tackles used to stick, where we were renowned for our hardness at the man and ball, where when we tackled a player they hurt. Those were the good old days and this is now. We've fast deteriorated into the worst tackling and pressure side in the competition and in the modern AFL it's probably the most important facet of any teams performance. Clubs use tackles and tackling pressure as a KPI to indicate whether they've played well enough to win or not. I genuinely can't think of a time where I've walked away from a game in the last year or so and thought 'wow our tackling was ferocious'. We simply don't stick tackles anymore and yet we don't seem keen to address the problem?
Probably the second most frustrating aspect of our on field play at the moment.
Our first you ask?
Predictability!:
When you watch us with the football coming out of our backline in attack and kicking in from a point you know what's going to happen. Our 'Crowbot' reputation used to be worn like a medal of honour of sorts. No longer can it be said that being predictable and 'knowing' what we're going to do before we even do it is a good thing. Other clubs have figured us out. Shutdown Johncock, Bock and Mcleod whenever they're in the backline as they're the architects. Allow us the short kick in but pressure the ball carrier ALWAYS when we're moving out of our defensive 50 and most importantly roll the zone across the ground with the same speed at which we switch the football (which inevitably we'll always do at some point when pressured) and we'll almost always crumble.
It's frustrating how predictable we've become across the ground and how few alternatives we have to our main game plan. In the middle of the ground you often see an opposite number leave his man and run to the support player before our guys have even dished. Why? Because clubs have studied us and KNOW which option we'll take before we even take it. If Craig wishes to continue as the coach of our football club he needs to address this area and take away that predictability which other teams are now completely aware of.
Our ball movement has become staggered, sluggish and ineffective purely because clubs have taken away our regular avenues to goal and we're like a rabbit caught in the headlights.
So Where to from Here?
Now admittedly this has all been personal opinion but here's where some of you might really disagree with me. If you do, feel free to add your opinions
Aggressive Trading:
Tippett and Dangerfield. That's it. The only two names who would be on my 'untouchable list' at this very moment. If the right offer comes in and the chance to improve our list through moving players on comes along then I'm all for it. Not only should we respond to clubs interest but we need to start sounding players out too. I'm not talking ridiculous trades either (Newsflash kids - Jacky + our first Rounder doth not Gibbs + Carlton's first rounder make). If we get decent offers for guys the likes of Knights, Rutten, Thompson, Mackay, Johncock etc we need to seriously consider it. I'd even be willing to bundle Walker and a pick if it meant snaring an elite AFL footballer. Sometimes the most outlandish moves reap the greatest rewards (Hi Chris Groom!).
Everyone's looking on at the Gold Coast entering the competition with such angst but we should be approaching it as an opportunity to snare some decent draft picks by moving players on. We have a depth of KPP sized players at the moment and rightly or wrongly they're valued more highly across the league during trades. Lets utilise our strength and seek out players we feel will add to our next premiership tilt.
Off Field Cleanout:
Whether or not this club is led by Neil Craig is irrelevant. The time has come that this club had a cleanout. Fitness needs a massive rejig, the boys club mentality needs to bite the dust and some of our assistants need to assess whether or not this is the best environment for them. This season to date has been a disasterpiece and much of it can be put down to off field management of players and the gameplan rather than the players there to execute it. At the halfway mark of the season our off field management as a whole would have to be graded as a big fat F minus. This leads on to the next key aspect.
Ruthlessness:
We're a big club so lets start acting like it. Hunt out of contract players and staff from other clubs, be ruthless in the handling of business affairs, give our little brothers across town nothing but take whatever we can get (cue: This...is....SPARTA!). We have this nice guy attitude which is good to a point, but how about we starting throwing a bit of weight around?
Show a bit of initiative AFC and start acting like the big boy in town instead of the bullied redhead.
Change in the Recruiting Mentality:
Kinda goes hand in hand with taking a more aggressive mentality. I'm not asking the club to be reckless and show their hand but year after year we see at least 2 or 3 players emerge as very good AFL footballers that have either starred in their respective local leagues or stagnated on another AFL list. Fremantle have become kings of this and as a result have two excellent footballers in Broughton and Barlow. J-Pod is another similar guy for Geelong (although I could probably kick 5 a week with the delivery that dude is getting).
Rather than solely targetting athletic ability, I'd love to see us lose the affinity with 'tween' KPP's and blokes who can run 4 marathons in one day and instead devoting just one pick mid to late each national draft on a more mature guy who is tearing it up in the SANFL/WAFL/VFL. I'm not suggesting reaching for these types of players over a guy who we've done loads of homework on and are certain will become a player, merely that if it's a choice between a local league star and a guy who's never seen a football before but pushed Haile Gebrselassie for 3/4trs of the Boston Marathon then let's lean with the footballer for a change.
Developing alternate gameplans:
But we have 5 Gameplans already? Stevens Forward (with everyone else as named), Stevens back (with everyone else as named), Mcleod forward (with everyone else as named), Mcleod in the middle (with everyone else as named) and Mcleod back..... etc
I don't mean one player moved around, nor do I mean 'hmm, we tried switching it that way but it didn't work so lets switch it back!'. I mean a genuine alternative to our mainstay gameplan. I mean preparing 2 or 3 different tactics that are so different from one another that you genuinely notice a difference right across the board. Heck I'm fine if they don't even work I'd just love to see a deviance from the stubborn persistence with our one failing gameplan.
We have no answers atm to teams who shutdown our plan A and sadly for us it seems to be happening quite a bit. I'd actually love to see someone like a Laidley at our club who focussed solely on the tactical side of things and nothing else.
Change the Logo Back:
We all said no good could come from the 'Mighty Adelaide Velociraptors' logo didn't we AFC? The superstitious voodoo witch inside me says it's the logo's fault. The aesthetic Derek Zoolander in me says it's really really ridiculously fugly and the footy supporter in me says we look like we copied the Hawks, Eagles and Baltimore Ravens and failed in the process. Please just change it back
(I know it won't happen but a guy can dream)........ ZE END!
So this is what I've come up with in an afternoon. Thoughts/Comments/Slander/TL;DR? Any glaring omissions/inclusions? Disgusted at my lack of acknowledging Brian Donnelly's hidden potential to tear the game of AFL apart at the seams? Add on from here. My rantings are just a starting point.
BTW I await Jenny's positive spin on every point I've made with glee (Joking Jen
)
