Rnd 4 Match Day Thread Adelaide Crows V Sydney Swans. 19.10pm (ACST) Adelaide Oval.

[liz]

Mills just occasionally takes risks he could get away with at U18 and NEAFL level but maybe not at AFL level. But overall I thought he was very very good for someone so young. He's as courageous as they come, and as good overhead as Heeney. It's certainly exciting to think we've got those two (and Parker) to run around in our midfield for the next decade.

Toby was another who belied his lack of experience (and late call up). He is slow but he clearly thinks like a footballer and doesn't just stop and spectate once the bounce has happened.

[Melbourne_Blood]

Totally disagree with Smith having a bad game. Betts ended up with 4? True. But at least 2 of them were pretty soft over the top goals that were the result of bad turnovers by us. His work on Betts, and in general in defence was top notch. That marking contest in the last Q when he went back with the flight against two much larger crows was incredibly courageous.

[aardvark]

For us to win Smith needed to keep Betts quiet. Didn't happen.

[MattW]

Mills just occasionally takes risks he could get away with at U18 and NEAFL level but maybe not at AFL level. But overall I thought he was very very good for someone so young. He's as courageous as they come, and as good overhead as Heeney. It's certainly exciting to think we've got those two (and Parker) to run around in our midfield for the next decade.

Toby was another who belied his lack of experience (and late call up). He is slow but he clearly thinks like a footballer and doesn't just stop and spectate once the bounce has happened.

He's very determined, Mills. His demeanour suggests he won't be beaten. This determination manifests in incredible courage to win the ball. He does make some poor kicking decisions at times but i am certain that's down to inexperience and that he'll learn quickly.

It was great to see Heeney lift to new heights in a big game. And he's cool. You just knew he'd land that set shot from 50 with 90 sec to go.

I think we lost that in the backline. They had a shot at goal with 54% of I50 entries, we had 46%. Rampe was collosal. Laidler and Grundy were mostly good. Teddy gave up too many possessions to his opponent

[CureTheSane]

Still say effective forward entries are poor from the Swans.
Adelaide didn't allow players to drift into position, and aside from Heeney, our players seemed a bit lazy in putting in the hard work to be either able to mark uncontested or even in one on one battles.

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Was a great game to watch.
Not often I can sit and watch a loss and not be too upset afterwards.

[Nico]

I didn't see the game so can only go on stats and what has been said on here.

Towers seemed to have a howler. If he is consistently soft then he will quickly go down the pecking order. He surely can't keep his spot in front of Rose.
McVeigh - appears to have been a mistake playing him. You can't afford to have under done players anymore, no matter who they are. Probably wouldn't have played if it was a final.
Jack being concussed - he has such an influence that this may have been the difference in the end.
Cracking game and I don't know that I have seen match stats so even.

[Nico]

Mills just occasionally takes risks he could get away with at U18 and NEAFL level but maybe not at AFL level. But overall I thought he was very very good for someone so young. He's as courageous as they come, and as good overhead as Heeney. It's certainly exciting to think we've got those two (and Parker) to run around in our midfield for the next decade.

Toby was another who belied his lack of experience (and late call up). He is slow but he clearly thinks like a footballer and doesn't just stop and spectate once the bounce has happened.

And Mills hardly played any footy last year. With him and Heeney at the club for many years we can't help but play finals year in year out. 2 genuine stars.

[wolftone57]

Great game to be there. Mucho intensity in the midfield, but we were exposed often without anyone to kick to up forward. Just kicking long and hoping we would be fast enough to run onto it. We succeeded sometimes, nearly enough, but its an opportunistic way to try and win a game. Heeney was a joy to watch.

I think we were exposed for pace when Smith broke the lines. Unfortunately we had the wrong match up for him. Towers went to him late and he faded a bit. But that left Atkins and Milera to cut you up. Their runners were very good and some of our blokes didn't pay them enough attention. But that will change as our side develops. Our delivery was at times, and in some very tight situations, a bit sloppy and in the end with a couple of home town non-calls it cost us the win. I wish people would stop knocking Mills, he was very good and if you can't accept he's a kid and might make one mistake per game until he finishes developing then you are a harsh person. I hope you are as perfect in your job. but players who continually make blues even after a 200 game career are a worry.

It was a sensational game and if both of these sides keep bringing this sort of footy to the table they will both be top 4. I didn't expect anything of this year but obviously the players and coaches have other ideas. The sort of footy we are playing is super and there is huge competition for spots. Not sure about the bombing to Buddy in the last quarter. Thought we went back to the old game for a while. No player would want to have a bad game because there are a big group in the reserves who are just waiting to pounce on your spot. The reserves won by 97 points.

Three things I learned;

1. Adelaide are a top side and are very well coached. They also have huge outside depth and their insiders are pretty good too. Their defence is better than expected.

2. Heeney is just beginning to break out. The universe help the other sides when he finally does break out completely. Mills was pretty good too.

3. If Teddy gets picked next week, we risk him being weak link and against Weagles we can't afford that.

[wolftone57]

I'll add to those who appreciated a high quality intense game.

The game could have gone either way, but Adelaide deserved the win. They took it up to our midfield and beat us in the areas where we should have had a considerable advantage. However slight, they had more contested possessions and clearances. When they won the ball they took advantage of holes in our defence, an area where we were also supposed to be strong. They looked a more settled team and didn't make many errors. It was very solid performance from a quality team.

I was disappointed with our defense in general, particularly Reg and to a lesser extent Ted. We shouldn't be giving up 113 points. We also had a return of our problems of getting the ball out of our backline.

I was also hoping for more from Towers, but he doesn't seem to perform when the pressure's on. I hope the Papley miracle isn't over yet, but he had a slow one.

I was surprised to read our tackle stats. At the top of the table was Toby with 9, followed by Macca and Cunningham with 8.

I think there are several changes to come in this team over the coming weeks as we sort out which of our youngsters are truly ready for the big time. Looking forward to getting Reid and Rohan in the side.

Credit to both teams for giving footy fans a real treat.

Ludwig I'd go the other way. At least Reg held his own in the contests and won half and half. Teddy was just diabolical. Slow, beaten in nearly every contest and disposal was a disgrace at this level.

[Luke Shannon]

I think we were exposed for pace when Smith broke the lines. Unfortunately we had the wrong match up for him. Towers went to him late and he faded a bit. But that left Atkins and Milera to cut you up. Their runners were very good and some of our blokes didn't pay them enough attention. But that will change as our side develops. Our delivery was at times, and in some very tight situations, a bit sloppy and in the end with a couple of home town non-calls it cost us the win. I wish people would stop knocking Mills, he was very good and if you can't accept he's a kid and might make one mistake per game until he finishes developing then you are a harsh person. I hope you are as perfect in your job. but players who continually make blues even after a 200 game career are a worry.

It was a sensational game and if both of these sides keep bringing this sort of footy to the table they will both be top 4. I didn't expect anything of this year but obviously the players and coaches have other ideas. The sort of footy we are playing is super and there is huge competition for spots. Not sure about the bombing to Buddy in the last quarter. Thought we went back to the old game for a while. No player would want to have a bad game because there are a big group in the reserves who are just waiting to pounce on your spot. The reserves won by 97 points.

Three things I learned;

1. Adelaide are a top side and are very well coached. They also have huge outside depth and their insiders are pretty good too. Their defence is better than expected.

2. Heeney is just beginning to break out. The universe help the other sides when he finally does break out completely. Mills was pretty good too.

3. If Teddy gets picked next week, we risk him being weak link and against Weagles we can't afford that.

Teddy will be picked because there is know one better at the moment. Talia won't be a factor until very late in the year and Reid is propably still a month away. Allir is getting good reports in the reserves but is he a better option than Richards?

Over the next month I think Rampe will be very important. He is the present day Leo Barry (undersized full back). He did a great job on Walker and will probably get John Kennedy this week. Rampe is such an amazing athlete. A rare combination of endurance, speed, vertical leap and body strength. I wonder what he did to those poor players who were running around the Sydney AFL when he played for UNSW / Easts.

[MattW]

3. If Teddy gets picked next week, we risk him being weak link and against Weagles we can't afford that.

So who plays for Ted? I'm unconvinced by Xavier. Aliir was BOG yesterday, but it's a tough initiation. Ted is 2 games back and will be smarting. Reckon he deserves a little longer to prove he's still got it.

[liz]

Aliir is very athletic but his defensive work might not be good enough yet. He's getting good at chopping off leads - the classic 3rd tallish defender. The only problem at AFL level is that the good sides will put someone on him to make him accountable. It would be interesting seeing him play on a wing.

I don't think he'll come in against West Coast, but if he keeps up his consistent reserves form, it would be fun to see him get a chance against one of the lesser teams to see if he can bring something different to the mix.

[barry]

Reg was good. Ted was bad but rampe stepped up to cover him. Mcveigh did nothing.

Well probably persist with Ted at the smaller SCG because his lack of speed wont be exposed, but we all knew defense was our problem in 2016.

[liz]

Ted was pretty good last week. Not so much this week, but the Swans defence was under pressure for most of the night. They didn't get the protection from the midfield that they've enjoyed for the first three weeks, and Adelaide used the ball reasonably well coming forward, at least for parts of the game.

He's the best we've got in that role right now, and I don't think he was the reason we lost. Our midfield was ever so slightly down on their ball handling skills and weren't able to make the most of the great pressure they did apply. That's where the game was lost in my eyes.

[Ludwig]

Aliir is very athletic but his defensive work might not be good enough yet. He's getting good at chopping off leads - the classic 3rd tallish defender. The only problem at AFL level is that the good sides will put someone on him to make him accountable. It would be interesting seeing him play on a wing.

I don't think he'll come in against West Coast, but if he keeps up his consistent reserves form, it would be fun to see him get a chance against one of the lesser teams to see if he can bring something different to the mix.

Ted was pretty good last week. Not so much this week, but the Swans defence was under pressure for most of the night. They didn't get the protection from the midfield that they've enjoyed for the first three weeks, and Adelaide used the ball reasonably well coming forward, at least for parts of the game.

He's the best we've got in that role right now, and I don't think he was the reason we lost. Our midfield was ever so slightly down on their ball handling skills and weren't able to make the most of the great pressure they did apply. That's where the game was lost in my eyes.

Agree with both posts. We need to have a bit of stability in defence and Reg and Ted are the best we have atm. We might try Aliir in the following game against Brisbane.

Adelaide are a good example of persistence in the development off their backline. I wondered if Hardigan and Brown were up to AFL standard last year, but are really solid defenders now. Laird has gone from an unknown to AA contender. They played Lever before he was truly ready and now it's paying off. It may be hard for us to make the transition from Reg and Ted without taking some risks on a young defender. We may even give a go to Davis in the forward line and try Reid in defence. Talia going down was unlucky given the situation with our KPPs.