Blues 2016 H&A Discussion

[ossie85]

Well done Juddy, you should call it mate, you've done enough

[RiOtChEsS]

Judd  :'(

It was pretty depressing at the ground right after it happened. At least I got to be there for his last game

so hard to watch, what a great ride though, tip my hat to the navy blue bald eagle, legend.

Im really enjoying the new dashing in waves from the back line style of play, its exciting and the effort has been bloody good 8)

[Mat0369]

This is the copy past job of my thoughts on the game since I am in a bit better of a mood.

I thought we played extremely well, this was probably the best 4 quarter effort I have seen all year even though it was a loss. The first 15 minutes were brilliant, Simmo was playing loose and calling players into position to close up space. Once Simmo came off for a rest we broke down in transition the Crows were able to score quickly.

This was the best game I had seen Murph play in a while. He was simply amazing, he looked fit and firing. Hendo started slow but was very good after the first quarter. Simmo was amazing and lead by example again, it was awesome to see him running through the midfield again. He played a lot off the wing and through the middle in the 2nd half.

Cripps was good again, Graham looked good too, he showed a bit and has to keep playing. While Cripps and Graham are both plodders and can be beat in transition for leg speed, their contested and clearance wbork is awesome. When we start playing a better team defense we will be able to cover for them a bit more.

Buckley's run out of the backline was brilliant, like Graham he has to keep playing. It was good to see us running and attacking in numbers. It was almost like a flying V and it was great to watch. I haven't seen us run and attack like that in years.

Other players that were great included Curnow, Docherty, Everitt and Bell for their intent. While a couple of them butchered the ball a bit they kept going and you can't fault their intent

The gameplan also looked a hell of a lot better. We tried to avoid blazing away long and maintain possession while also trying to play on. The crowd got restless a few times because we were chipping back and sideways but the players had nothing ahead. It was a clear directive that they were told to switch and chip it around if they couldn't turn and go because Simmo went up and gave it to one of the young blokes that did the opposite. He ended up going to a contested one on one on the flank near the boundary line (which we marked) but there were 3 or 4 players calling for the switch 15 seconds before that. The run and carry was also great to see and we were trying to zone in defense with the loose (Simmo) chopping off and forcing the opposition to either kick it to a 1 on 2 or go short.

I think we dominated a hell of a lot of the game, while Adelaide had more scoring shots, the score board probably reflected the result. Adelaide were able to score a bit easier when they were dominating but we forced them into a few tough shots hence the behinds. At the end of the game they were able to exploit a couple of matchups (I'll get to that in the negatives) and in the end won the game.

One more positive before the negatives. Matty Kreuzer, welcome back to footy. While he may not have had the most in terms of disposals, his impact was huge. I will give a couple of examples. He managed to go back into defense a couple of times and effect some spoils that no other ruck on our list would have been able to execute effectively. One was a 1 on 1 where Sauce drew him deep, lead up to the ball and Kreuz spoiled the ball perfectly like a defender. The other one was late in the game when it was on the line, Kreuz comes in out of nowhere and executes another spoil, follows up, gets the ball and delivers it to an open team mate. He hit the score board, his tap work was brilliant and he tackled and pressured.

Now to the negatives, we had a few players that had absolute shockers. Sam Rowe probably played his worst game in a while. He was double grabbing everything that came his way. We were also trying to zone and Rowe was getting sucked up to the ball carrier when we already had a player in his face. This was resulting in Crows players getting loose out the back on their own for easy scoring shots. Tutt is 100% not an AFL level player, he just has no awareness and his disposal is shocking. We had quite a few players be poor by foot and it looked like a confidence thing because they normally hit targets. We also had a poor matchup late of Walker on Jenkins which was just a bad size mismatch.

If we can keep performing like this for the rest of the year it will do nothing but good for the future of the club and the development of some of these guys.

[RiOtChEsS]

great write up mate im on board with everything youve stated including Tutt.

Crippsy's endeavor was fantastic, so impressed with his progress, absolute warmachine 8)

[Money Shot]

Congrats Judd on an amazing career :'(

On another note what's the go with Byrne he looked really good when he played and then got injured.... Will he come back through the twos ya reckon!?

[Mat0369]

He would have to. It is a hamstring injury so he would have lost a bit of fitness

[Diesels Pups]

@Mat069, Glad to see someone else acknowledge the fact that Tutt is downright useless. Was rushing his disposal even though he had time to deliver to someone. Lot of mistakes and it wasn't just this game. He can go visit his mate  Jones down in the VFL, cause he not AFL standard. +1 right there.

[Mat0369]

I hated the moves (Tutt and Jones) when they happened and my opinion hasn't changed. Apart from the simple turnovers (like the kick across goal that rolled out of bounds when he had a teammate on his own with no one within 20 meters), he just doesn't play smart footy. He turned to wheel and go at one point at the half forward flank and there was already a Crows player on the mark so he put himself and his team mate under unneeded pressure who was running on his outside and tucked on the boundary line. He just had to hold the footy and find one of the open options inside 50 since we had plenty.

[Mat0369]

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2015-06-13/u18s-jack-silvagni-boots-six-as-metro-thump-wa

[Mat0369]

A replay of the game is on at 11 am tomorrow on Fox if you want to get a glimpse out our future

[Mat0369]

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2015-06-16/chris-judd-to-help-carlton-pick-new-coach

This is smart, the fact that Judd is on the panel. It should ease some of the tension between board and supporters as Juddy is respected on and off the field by both parties. He also has a fresh view from the playing group perspective so he might know what suits the group best.

[RiOtChEsS]

Fanbloodytastic effort today, such a breath of fresh air to see the lads hustling, speaking of lads and hustling, Mr Cripps 8)
loving everything about his game at the moment right down to his demeanor afterwards when it was obvious everyone was gushing over him and he was very nonchalant about it, would love to see him get some work into his overhead marking and kicking for goal, he is a nightmare matchup anywhere on the ground.
I thought the little nugget Graham was solid today to, first time ive seen him play freely, looked as though he feels at home in the team now and it showed through with how he went about it. 
I was impressed with John Barker's demeanor also, very calm and calculated, didnt at all seem surprised he just chalked up his first win as an AFL coach and then undersold it in the interview afterwards, i love our run and carry style and think we will only get better at it executing it as the teams confidence grows.

[Mat0369]

It was an amazing game and an amazing effort. We look like a completely different team out there. The last few minutes were so intense. I was trying to get time updates but didn't. You couldn't help but jump out of your seat when the siren went, it was an awesome feeling.

Cripps and Graham have continued to grow, everyone has been gushing over Cripps and rightly so, hence I figured I would talk about Graham. The fact this kid has not been getting games is a disgrace. He is a tackling machine, finds the pill and hits the scoreboard. He tackled with intent like the rest of his team mates and attacked every contest brutally. It will be tough to keep it up for the rest of the season because he is still very young, especially in that role, but we have seen enough to know he can play at this level.

Speaking of the tackling, I loved it. It was bordering on that 'unsociable' football style the Hawks played and that is what we need. If we are going to lose games at least make the opposition earn it and win the fight in close. One of the reasons the Hawks have been so successful is they play on the edge and try and put fear into their opponents. When you have some big boys like Cripps and Bell, they can physically intimidate most midfielders. Bell's tackle on Trengove epitomised this.

I have said previously we looked like the worst drilled and structured team in the league under Malthouse, this is no longer the case. The perfect example is the kickouts. We have a set play we have used a couple of times and pretty much moved the ball from kick in to the wing in 5 seconds. It is almost like an old school huddle with one player breaking on the 45, the kicker then puts it in front of the runner towards the flank, they then run onto it and kick it up the field. We ran it a few times perfectly. It is just little stuff like this, for much of the year we took the short kick into the pocket and then screwed ourselves struggling to get the ball forward. Simmo has also been nowhere near the last line in defense. He has either played loose or played on the wing which is perfect for him.

Murph is starting to string together a few top end performances and is leading from the front, all the leaders stood up on the weekend. Carrots, Simmo, Gibbs, Hendo and Rowe all played excellent games. It was great to see Rowe bounce back after having a shocker last week. It was an entire group contribution and everyone that played that day deserves some credit and a pat on the back, however they can't get caught up in the emotion of a single win. We have the Suns and Dogs in the next two, they need to bust their asses this week to try and beat the Suns who are in a pretty bad position and then play with the same intent against the Dogs. If we lose to the Dogs and show the same intent I won't be disappointed, but if we roll over and fall into those other bad habits then I will be pissed.

Onto the coach, John Barker is making a very strong case for this job. The turnaround has been nothing short of amazing and just watching some of the set plays and execution he and the coaching group that are implementing these have to be kept on. It is still early to make the call but on exposed form I would be happy for  him to get the job. It would be nice to maybe poach a key assistant away from another club to help him out but well done to the boys.

[Mat0369]

I just read Gibbs accepted the 2 game ban, I think the should have challenged

[Vinny]

Yeah agree with everything you've said, if Barker can maintain this level of competiveness and get the best out of the youth with the time left, I'd be more than happy for him to get the job.

The turn around has been actually insane. Cripps and Bell are the future, that play they had yesterday with Cripps' backward handball to Bell who drills it from 30 out was awesome. Just saw this stat, only player that has averaged more hardball gets than Cripps is Fyfe, what a jet.

I'm stoked that we are tackling, from a team that was 18th in the competition in the Malthouse period to the way we are tackling at every opportunity shows the change Barker has been able to bring. The effort is immense and the leaders seem to be stepping up, Murphy has been unbelievable in the last two games, he hurt himself and couldn't have much of an impact in the last quarter being off but the boys still got it done.

Great to see Kreuzer out there and flowering keep Jones out of the side...

Feel like we finally have something to look forward to, can't wait to see what SOS brings off the field too. Shattering that Judd is missing out on this, he didn't get to play in a win this year. :'(

Also found it interesting that there was small talk/possibility of Shiel coming to Carlton at the end of the season. Judd being his favourite player growing up and him being a massive Carlton fan. With SOS coming over, the potential was maybe there. Judd goes down with his career ending injury and Sheil re-signs with GWS in that week. Just a theory, I like to think it played a very small part in his decision? :P