Was i kidding myself

[DG]

with the draw that we have, i really thought we were a decent chance for the eight, and possibly even upset a few top sides this year, but geez after saturday night, am i just kidding myself? i thought after the hawthorn win that we shouldve been 3-0 by now, but the last 2 weeks have had patches of some of the worst footy that ive seen us play. Can we turn it around with a few tweaks, or is there something seriously wrong...

[McRooster]

Rory Sloane is to blame.

Ever since his courageous performance against Hawthorn (playing the game out with a broken jaw and thumb) we have almost instantly become akin to the Lion in the Wizard of Oz. We have lost Sloaney who sets the aggression  and intensity benchmarks around the club. No-one is stepping up with the AFL required attack and vigour, or lack of narkiness if you will.
It could be said that Scott Thompson is playing hard and that Dangerfield will always attack but with our depleted squad those two are having to run and receive more rather than apply bodied pressure to their opponents.

We need Sloaney.

Taylor Walkers withdrawal from the contest on three occasions (the most blatant on the members side when he should've hit Trengove hard) speaks volumes of how marshmallowish this side has become in only 3 weeks. Too busy trying to play 'nice' football, free of errors and zone structures correctly set. For crying out loud - kick the bloody thing!!!
Tippett continues to show his lack of football understanding, although undeniably a talented player when the ball is coming to him, he just doesn't have the instinct or knowhow to find it when it is not. Maybe he would be better suited to a different Friday night sport - but I've seen netballers go harder at the ball than him, so he might not get a gig. This is not helped with the lack of small crumbers available for the Crows, meaning we simply can't go long at the tall targets up forward, rather we have to try and isolate the contest - something other sides quickly overcame against us and zoned back.

# 9 is the new barometer for our side and we need him back to or someone to adopt his tenacity. I have actually sent the club a message of a new logo suggestion and their response was "why would change our logo to an Ostrich?" - I said back to them "It's not an Ostrich, it's a Crow with it's head stuck up it's ......" ;)

Pull your head out Crows, make some mistakes, take the game on, leave the field as men who have battled and fought for 4 quarters NOT ONE, show us why we love the red, blue and yellow!!!

YOU are the PRIDE of SOUTH AUSTRALIA - show some of it.

[Wes Mantooth]

Rory Sloane is to blame.

Ever since his courageous performance against Hawthorn (playing the game out with a broken jaw and thumb) we have almost instantly become akin to the Lion in the Wizard of Oz. We have lost Sloaney who sets the aggression  and intensity benchmarks around the club. No-one is stepping up with the AFL required attack and vigour, or lack of narkiness if you will.
It could be said that Scott Thompson is playing hard and that Dangerfield will always attack but with our depleted squad those two are having to run and receive more rather than apply bodied pressure to their opponents.

We need Sloaney.

Taylor Walkers withdrawal from the contest on three occasions (the most blatant on the members side when he should've hit Trengove hard) speaks volumes of how marshmallowish this side has become in only 3 weeks. Too busy trying to play 'nice' football, free of errors and zone structures correctly set. For crying out loud - kick the bloody thing!!!
Tippett continues to show his lack of football understanding, although undeniably a talented player when the ball is coming to him, he just doesn't have the instinct or knowhow to find it when it is not. Maybe he would be better suited to a different Friday night sport - but I've seen netballers go harder at the ball than him, so he might not get a gig. This is not helped with the lack of small crumbers available for the Crows, meaning we simply can't go long at the tall targets up forward, rather we have to try and isolate the contest - something other sides quickly overcame against us and zoned back.

# 9 is the new barometer for our side and we need him back to or someone to adopt his tenacity. I have actually sent the club a message of a new logo suggestion and their response was "why would change our logo to an Ostrich?" - I said back to them "It's not an Ostrich, it's a Crow with it's head stuck up it's ......" ;)

Pull your head out Crows, make some mistakes, take the game on, leave the field as men who have battled and fought for 4 quarters NOT ONE, show us why we love the red, blue and yellow!!!

YOU are the PRIDE of SOUTH AUSTRALIA - show some of it.

tell us how you really feel!

nah just kidding roost - good breakdown

[McRooster]

^^^ nothing has changed  :'(

[DG]

yes it has, it has got worse

[McRooster]

yes it has, it has got worse

Touche DG  ;)

Listening to Neil Craig's reasoning tonight about why Patrick Dangerfield isn't played more in the mid-field I'm sure made sense to him  ::) If he keeps repeating it aloud then maybe he may actually begin believing it is a good idea to continue to play him forward :P
When Scotty Thompson was asked the same question last week -the two answers could not have been more different. What message then is getting through to the playing group I ask??

[CrowsFan]

Sorry roost haven't seen the interviews. What did Craig and Thompson say?

[PowerBug]

Craig should go. End of Story.

[Cruiseon]

As an aside, who would be in the frame to coach Adelaide when (and I really think it has to be when now) Craig departs?

I have a feeling that they will not heed the lessons from other clubs (good evening Matthew Primus, Michael Voss & Terry Wallace) and may opt for a former club player.

[McRooster]

Sorry roost haven't seen the interviews. What did Craig and Thompson say?

Sorry for the delayed response CF  :-[

It is a bug bear of Graham Cornes' and why Dangerfield isn't played more in the midfield and essentially Thompson last week said 'Patrick has only been in the system for four years and is still learning our patterns and structures, where to stand, where to position ahead of a stoppage and where to run' - FOUR YEARS!! How much time do you need to remember those plays that haven't changed in four years  ::)

Less than a week later Neil Craig response to the same question from Cornes was 'I'm confident Patrick can be a real power forward in this game. His attack on the ball is fierce and what we need when the ball enters our 50. Take the weekend for example (v Roos) our efficiency inside 50 was over 57%? largely due to Patrick.
*Earth to Neil Craig - it is the midfield that delivers that nut inside 50 and is where we are getting bent over, at the stoppage - someting that Patrick is undeniably strong and couragoeus at. Is it that lack of forward pressure from Taylor Walker that has kept Patrick forward or are you planning ahead for next year when Taylor is not there??

Our issues are that most of our scoring opportunities at the moment are being set up at half back (like the early 00's game style of many successful teams) and we do not have that effective penetration from that position to suit our fwd set up or the mid experience to carry that flow deep fwd and lock it in there.

As an aside, who would be in the frame to coach Adelaide when (and I really think it has to be when now) Craig departs?

I have a feeling that they will not heed the lessons from other clubs (good evening Matthew Primus, Michael Voss & Terry Wallace) and may opt for a former club player.

My mail is that it will be Simon Goodwin  ;) I may reveal more in Roosters Rumours soon!

[PowerBug]

McRooster. Where is Roosters Rumours located, and how about Simon Bickley (Is that his name?) taking the job.

[McRooster]

Take a trip downstairs PB it's in the Front Bar (FB)  ;)

http://www.fanfooty.com.au/forum/index.php/topic,21037.0.html

Keep up the good work and there's another place you can visit  :-X

While you are there you could also vote for your favourite FanFooty personality in...

http://www.fanfooty.com.au/forum/index.php/topic,23614.0.html

...feel free to nominate yourself as you have been posting well lately  8)

[PowerBug]

Thanks. Haven't really left the AFL DreamTeam and AFL clubs section since i arrived.

[nas]

You know the same applies to who ever coaches you guys. I feel that a new coach needs to come in & have the (attitude a la Blight) & dump the deadwood & do it is own way. Would Goodwin or Bickley do this? I think that they have too many ties to the oldies & maybe above (Ceo's etc) out vote them. 

Down the road same problem occurs. Different place (Port) we need an outsider with no ties & no hinderance from above to get rid of whoever he feels he should.

[McRooster]

I am a firm believer that is why Goodwin was so quickly ushered off to Melbourne to be a part of that strong, uber experienced Essendon coaching panel. This was a deliberate position placement. Hamilton was already there to guide him and it will that Victorian influence and edge he will bring back across the border, back home.

We tried with Shaw and Ayres, but they never connected with the culture - Goody will.

Blighty was handed a group of mature bodied men, match hardened and was always going to succeed. Don't get me wrong, Blighty was indeed 'The Messiah' and was strategically brilliant but it is almost like when Schumacher returned to F1. Nobody could deny Schumacher was 'The Messiah' of F1 but without his Ferrari he was never going to steer toward another World Championship.