Rd 19 v Crows

[Nico]

Oh how we miss the run and hardness of Wicks and Jmac.

[mcs]

I believe that game may very well have been lost at selection. We were up against the best defensive/contest team in the comp and they bring in 2 of our softest players in Rosas and Bice. Rosas is a deadset sponge cake. He hates body contact and got beaten one on one every time. How about at the end of the 3rd quarter when he actually looked to have is opponent cold and out the back, when he inexplicably tried to turn on to his left foot and slipped over. He was away with only the goals in front of him. Then Bice; he despises body contact and gives us no run at all. That soft kick late in the game sums him up. Takes a mark, is clear and tries to spot up a 30 metre pass when all of Australia knew he had to kick it long. Where in the hell was he in the first quarter when they ate goals off the ruck contest. You you can almost see him whince when he goes near a contest. He had one tackle.

We may have spent our petrol tickets in the 3rd quarter but it doesn't excuse the fact that they slaughtered us out of the centre like they did in the first quarter. What in the heck was McLean doing when he kicked it sideways.

That's close to Heeney's worst game. Yet he had 29 possessions. Not questing his endevour, but some of his really poor decision making. Every week he gets a clean possession at a centre bounce, gets around his man, then handpassess backwards. Everyone knows quick centre clearances are vital with the 666. Oh no, not us. Warner was the only player trying to get clear. It drives me spare that this has been our Achilles heel for years. In the last quarter Heeney has the ball on the HFF, clear on his left side and he tries to get back on to his right foot. He could have darn near kicked a goal on his left.

Another thing I noticed; very close to half time, I saw on the AFL app who was on the bench, Campbell for 8 minutes. He was playing a great game. Meanwhile Rosas was nowhere to be seen.

Mills and McCartin played terrific games, but Roberts was back to his 2025 static game. Warner is an absolute star as is Papley.

Hall-Kahan is one that got away.

We hang on to second by our finger nails.

Funny how we all see footy differently. I thought McCartin had good moments, but several really poor ones early, a couple of which cost us goals.

Our player management in terms of Time on Ground is a bit all over the place - but certainly not being helped by the fact we have a midfield in and under player that can't play more than 66% game time in Sheldrick. Can't be good for the rotations at all.

Bice is frustrating - all the ingredients there to be a Marty Mattner style player. Except for, as you point out, the bloke just doesn't like the contact it seems.

[imuninformedtwo]

I had my day on Bice in the lead up to the match and recent weeks and others have said it too in here. As for switching him and Serong, no. Serong plays his best footy on a wing. Leave him there. You can’t hide passengers on a wing anyway. Just drop Bice. Get Kyle back in.

As for Rosas, he didn’t help himself at all, particularly with Cootee and Dattoli doing what they’re doing in reserves.

Although that brings me to another point. Gus has talents and attributes, but we need midfield depth and if we can’t produce more than 60 percent ToG it’s a worry. Heeney is getting battered by the week and JMac is still weeks away. If we bring in one of Cootee or Dattoli, give them some time in the middle and don’t just poke them down forward.

[crackedactor 01]

I had my day on Bice in the lead up to the match and recent weeks and others have said it too in here. As for switching him and Serong, no. Serong plays his best footy on a wing. Leave him there. You can’t hide passengers on a wing anyway. Just drop Bice. Get Kyle back in.

As for Rosas, he didn’t help himself at all, particularly with Cootee and Dattoli doing what they’re doing in reserves.

Although that brings me to another point. Gus has talents and attributes, but we need midfield depth and if we can’t produce more than 60 percent ToG it’s a worry. Heeney is getting battered by the week and JMac is still weeks away. If we bring in one of Cootee or Dattoli, give them some time in the middle and don’t just poke them down forward.

13 tackles from Cottee was impressive and 22 effective disposals from Dattoli was also very good. It may be time to give them a run as our future looks bleak. Also had to laugh when I heard about Adelaide supporters complaining about the umps. I counted at least 4 times Papley was held when he was nowhere near the ball. When you wrap your arms around a big forward its a free kick, when you do the same to a small forward its play on.?

[Nico]

13 tackles from Cottee was impressive and 22 effective disposals from Dattoli was also very good. It may be time to give them a run as our future looks bleak. Also had to laugh when I heard about Adelaide supporters complaining about the umps. I counted at least 4 times Papley was held when he was nowhere near the ball. When you wrap your arms around a big forward its a free kick, when you do the same to a small forward its play on.?

What is starting to annoy me is they keep recycling the same blokes. Has Cox lost his nerve and playing safe. If so it's not working. If these boys keep starring in the 2's and he keeps promoting the same softies then they will start looking elsewhere.

Cox quotes stats. How about calling out what happens on the ground. Both Brisbane and Adelaide exploited us by playing wide and leaving a player on the wing. How many times did Roberts trot in to take the mark when 30 meters away from the man. Adelaide had a man behind stoppages on our forward line, and how many times did he just take the handpass or mopped up. Adelaide do this stuff to us every time we play them.

The main differences between Cootee and Rosas is Cootee is prepared to put his body on the line and has much better skills.

[lwjoyner]

agree with previous comments "swansand" 1 on 1 defence . Roberts gone nackwards, Bice i am not sure. "nico" lost it at selection table Rocas and Bice.
Agree wholemost of the posts "SH" effort maybe only a couple can put there hands up. Braiden supurb for a guy with 1 reserves game and 10 weeks injury behind him Paps was paps and his second game back after an injury layoff. Warner good again but some woeful efforts thrown in, A great mark BUT what happended next " i wont despcribe" but its a symbal of most of our players undisiplined actions in disposal.
Selectors, how in hell did they pick Rocas, Bice and drop Harry K..
Angus not strong enough maybe Billie C (seems like a superb game in ressies) is maybe worth a punt as an onballer, Harry C (concussed I know,) is finished and cant hold the best small fwds anymore, Maybe Dane and Lloyd (who I admit has played reasonably lately) are also close to being finished. Issac I still think is carrying some sort of minore inury and although he finshes with a lot of invovlement and disposals is not the same Issac as ealier this season and he too is making some glearing mistakes. We sure miss JMc although he to makes some silly errors (like his dinky kicks) but he provides something in dash and effort. Wicks is also missed (HC) replacement he has improved out of sight this season, more disciplined than in previous years
As for the selltion table wont someone standup as say (1 on 1) strong defence is what we need, are they afraid do go ahainst Coxy and his obvious approach of play on play on like Nic did in last qrt without regards to anything else. Sure it looks great when it comes off but lately I dont know, oppostion know what we are going to do. Is Cox the problem with comments like we fell away fom what we do (weel maybe what we do is wrong) "nico" again in the post before this one says they keep reccling the same blokes. Has cox lost his nerve i think it is his brain (footy one) and his like for his gunho style/attitude.
Looks to me like another wasted year and if we dont finish second ,it will be straight sets again. Maybe we need to look to JL again tell him to forget about Tassie Or is it Goodwin who tried to introduce a similar style at the Deees b4 he was sacked, but I do know like most of us frustrated supporters we need to do something different.

[UUaswan]

Im enjoying the adversity

Year in year out we continually get rated and dont deliver

Teams know our weaknesses, time for change to deal with it rather than being the envy of everyone

Finals record blah blah blah

[lwjoyner]

I have just read the vfl pots. Seems like the seledtors should read them as well, played the conditions perfectly plenty of tackle. Billie C superb, Jesse D and HK very good with Snell and Green earning special mention

[rb4x]

IThe conditions called for hard players. Kyle and Cootee more suited than Bice and certainly Rosas. I would have had Snell in ahead of Rampe after he was beaten for speed by Amiss and undisciplined with his taunting free. Conditions should have suited Rampe but he did little while Snell was very good.

Selectors should look at who we are playing and ,ikely conditions when picking team. We had a side more suited for dry conditions where our fast handball game can excel.

[Nico]

IThe conditions called for hard players. Kyle and Cootee more suited than Bice and certainly Rosas. I would have had Snell in ahead of Rampe after he was beaten for speed by Amiss and undisciplined with his taunting free. Conditions should have suited Rampe but he did little while Snell was very good.

Selectors should look at who we are playing and ,ikely conditions when picking team. We had a side more suited for dry conditions where our fast handball game can excel.

This is the first time I thought Rampe"s career is cooked. I"ve been a fan of Lloyd but last night I felt that he too was nearing the end. Looked too tough for him.

[Roadrunner]

This is the first time I thought Rampe"s career is cooked. I"ve been a fan of Lloyd but last night I felt that he too was nearing the end. Looked too tough for him.

Guys, let’s get realistic: The Crows were much the better team last night and only a handful of our players kept us in the game- led by Chad and Paps. It seems obvious that as a team, we are not strong enough either physically or mentally. We may be scarred from our 2 embarrassing GF’s, but I think it’s deeper than that.

We are good enough to play finals but not good enough to win a flag. So if our aim is to do so, which iit should be, then we have to address the holes I.e. the weak spots in our team. When Nicks took over the Crows, they were easy beats and cellar dwellers. Now they have a team competing with Freo and the Lions who also were in similar positions a few years ago. What they all did was not rocket science: they made some astute trades bringing in established talent and due to their low position on the ladder, they were able to pick up the best potential players in the drafts over a few years. The result is where they are at present.

Now our coaches and management have to make some tough decisions regarding our team, as I think we can agree that our bottom 6 is simply not good enough to win a flag. They need to make a call on our long- serving and loyal players in Ramps, Lloyd and Harry. They are now average at best and we need to blood young players like Dattoli ,Kyle, Cootee, Snell, Green, Phillipou and maybe some others and thus look to the future. We get beaten in clearances by the top teams so obviously we need to address our midfield and ruck positions.
Charlie and Serong were excellent trades last year and we have to identify and then obtain at least another 2 next year. This is not easy but that’s the job of our management! In the draft, we have to look at specific positions that are needed, not necessarily best available. This way, we can replace our bottom 6 over the next 2 years and give ourselves a great chance for a premiership.

At best, we maybe close to Hawthorn, Geelong, Collingwood and Melbourne but we’re nowhere near Freo, the Lions and the Crows at the moment, with our current team.
Cox will be a very good coach but this is only his second year and has improved a lot already. I’m confident that he can lead us to a flag but he and his co- coaches have to make some tough calls!

[Nico]

Nice post RR. Problem is recently Cox is starting to look like Longmire Mark 2. His selection this week was far too conservative and doesn't appear to be prepared to take the risk on young players. Before this week I thought keeping Kyle in the ones was a genuine punt on his development, but then disappoints by recycling Bice and Rosas. Apart from being soft these 2 just weren't suited to the conditions. It rained all week and the forecast was for more rain. I'm stumped as to why Snell hasn't been given games. Blind Freddy can see our defence is the problem but it appears Cox doesn't listen to Blind Freddy.

[Kafka's Ghost]

Guys, let’s get realistic: The Crows were much the better team last night and only a handful of our players kept us in the game- led by Chad and Paps. It seems obvious that as a team, we are not strong enough either physically or mentally. We may be scarred from our 2 embarrassing GF’s, but I think it’s deeper than that.

We are good enough to play finals but not good enough to win a flag. So if our aim is to do so, which iit should be, then we have to address the holes I.e. the weak spots in our team. When Nicks took over the Crows, they were easy beats and cellar dwellers. Now they have a team competing with Freo and the Lions who also were in similar positions a few years ago. What they all did was not rocket science: they made some astute trades bringing in established talent and due to their low position on the ladder, they were able to pick up the best potential players in the drafts over a few years. The result is where they are at present.

Now our coaches and management have to make some tough decisions regarding our team, as I think we can agree that our bottom 6 is simply not good enough to win a flag. They need to make a call on our long- serving and loyal players in Ramps, Lloyd and Harry. They are now average at best and we need to blood young players like Dattoli ,Kyle, Cootee, Snell, Green, Phillipou and maybe some others and thus look to the future. We get beaten in clearances by the top teams so obviously we need to address our midfield and ruck positions.
Charlie and Serong were excellent trades last year and we have to identify and then obtain at least another 2 next year. This is not easy but that’s the job of our management! In the draft, we have to look at specific positions that are needed, not necessarily best available. This way, we can replace our bottom 6 over the next 2 years and give ourselves a great chance for a premiership.

At best, we maybe close to Hawthorn, Geelong, Collingwood and Melbourne but we’re nowhere near Freo, the Lions and the Crows at the moment, with our current team.
Cox will be a very good coach but this is only his second year and has improved a lot already. I’m confident that he can lead us to a flag but he and his co- coaches have to make some tough calls!

Excellent post. The other thing we need to remember is that we haven’t had a settled team for months, and they’re playing like that. Lacking match fitness and cohesion. Freo, three games on top of the ladder at round 19, have had Hayden Young in and out, and that’s about it for the whole season.

[Roadrunner]

Nice post RR. Problem is recently Cox is starting to look like Longmire Mark 2. His selection this week was far too conservative and doesn't appear to be prepared to take the risk on young players. Before this week I thought keeping Kyle in the ones was a genuine punt on his development, but then disappoints by recycling Bice and Rosas. Apart from being soft these 2 just weren't suited to the conditions. It rained all week and the forecast was for more rain. I'm stumped as to why Snell hasn't been given games. Blind Freddy can see our defence is the problem but it appears Cox doesn't listen to Blind Freddy.

Agreed Nico-I’m giving Coxy a bit more time to grow into the role: I think he needs the confidence of being in charge with a bit more success under his belt to make the right calls. Bice and Rosas may be quick, but it was pretty obvious that with the weather outlook physical presence was more important. Even so, the Crows were quicker than us apart from the 3rd quarter.
Our defence was awful but the ball spent a lot of time there, just itching to be sailing through the goalposts. So our mids and forwards have to answer to Blind Freddy as well!

[dejavoodoo44]

Fogarty has been given three weeks for his whack on Cunningham. Which I think is about right: swinging stiff arm directly to the front of the head.