The 2019 Disaster

[TomK]

Forum's dead but need to vent so I don't care.

I don't even know where to start, the whole club is in dire state from top to bottom, from the coaches, the selection panel, the football department, the CEO, to the chairman is all filled with people who are either unqualified, delusional, full of spin, or incompetent.

The coaches and the selection panel, specifically Pyke from what he says in the media, are still living in 2017 and believe this senior group of players are still good enough. We have a garbage game plan, there is no fast ball movement, and our constant backing of senior players, despite the fact they prove time and time again that they aren't good enough, says all you need to know about the current set-up of the club, they breed mediocrity and the culture within the playing group that experience is more important than performance. All this considered, Pyke can piss off please and thank you.

In no other club around the league would ROB be playing SANFL for a cooked 31 year old Sam Jacobs after the year he had, he is one of the only positives for us this season and the club still managed to flower that up. Apparently Sauce expected to be straight back into the side after his injury and the lead ruck spot was his, not on merit, but because he was the senior player and that's just how it is, ROB playing well was irrelevant. Add in Talia saying on radio ''I had to play SANFL for the first years'' when speaking about Fogarty getting a game, it is a joke and too many players have got too comfortable with their gold passes thinking they run the club.

Mark Ricciuto saying today ''Whatever decision has to be made from top to bottom will be made for the betterment of the football club and the supporters should back our people in and if they don't, well then maybe they don't need to barrack for the footy club anymore'' is one of the most disgusting things to come out of this club, no flowering worries Roo, consider my membership cancelled then you fool. He's putting himself and his mates before the club's and supporter's best interests. It honestly sums up the whole club's attitude that we are lucky to have such an outstanding run club by the best football department in the league, give me a flowering break you arrogant tools. Ricciuto is a massive problem at the football club, he is the main reason why it is a boy's club now, here is the list of all the ex-Crows, aka Roo's mates, at the club =

Board Member = Rod Jameson
COO = Nigel Smart
Head of Football = Brett Burton
FWD Coach = Ben Hart
Ruck/AFLW Coach = Matthew Clarke
DEF Coach = Marty Mattner
Development Coaches = Matthew Wright, Brett Reilly, Paul Thomas
Runner/Academy Coach = Jason Porplyzia
Events Executive = Matthew Robran

Brett Burton is one of the main problems from that list, he is utterly incompetent, he ruined the Lions when he was there, along with Matt Hass who is now our High Performance Manager, and he was behind the Collective Minds bullshower last year and should've been sacked right then on the spot. I fear after Roo's comments though we will be stuck with this useless hack for quite a while.

A few of our on-field issues though, we have a lazy, unaccountable midfield that can't kick, is flat footed at centre bounces allowing opposition midfields to easily get it out, and is incredibly slow. Every time I saw a midfield set up of Crouch, Crouch, and Sloane I just instantly conceded we'd be losing that centre bounce. Our forward structure is one of the worst in the league, which isn't helped by our slow ball movement but still, the amount of times we were going forward this year where the only option up the field is either Eddie Betts or Lachie Murphy in a contested marking situation where they have to fly over packs is unbelievable. It's not all surprising really when you have a two time failed assistant coach in Ben Hart as your forward coach to be honest, he should join Burton on the way out. I guarantee you when I say that ANY forward would struggle in our current set up.

Thoughts on a few players:

Hugh Greenwood: Average year not helped by another interrupted pre-season. 28 start of next year, in a position where we are already slow, and wanting a 4 year deal, looking at it from a completely unbias viewpoint I can understand why the club is most likely going to trade him while he has value and we're heading into a rebuild. ily hugh :-*

Riley Knight: your classic list clogger, please go

Jenkins: Plays his role well in a team that moves the ball quickly, aka Crows 2015-17, but bit of a flog so looking forward to having him out the club

Bryce Gibbs: This trade makes me want to puke now, looks like an uninterested, lazy hack now, trade for a bag of peanuts and that's probably insulting to the peanuts

Gallucci: This bloke sitting in the SANFL while we continued to give useless games to Richard Douglas and David Mackay is both pathetic and unsurprising, needs to be played in a midfield role, not stuck on a HFF

Sloane: Love Sloaney but why does he get absolutely 0 criticism, especially when you consider his fellow co-captain cops it from everywhere? Very, very average second half of the year, after his first half was very good, and continues to struggle making an impact when he gets attention on him. If one of the Crouch Bros aren't traded, I think he needs to change his role to one of the flanks allowing more speed into middle. Heart of the club so needs a big pre-season.

Tex: Pretty inconsistent year but still managed to finish 9th in the league for goals with 43 and don't think you can question his effort. He wasn't helped by a few things I mentioned above, a shower forward structure, a midfield that can't kick (especially inside 50), and our slow ball movement, so considering all that I'd say he had an okay year, not great, but not as bad as some like to think. Needs to drop more KGs for 2020. Mainly cops it from flogs who think they're experts

Mackay: This bloke playing 220 games for the club shows you how much they accept mediocrity, nothing against David, I'm sure he's a great bloke and he doesn't pick himself, but we'll be better off once we're unable to pick him for the seniors

Eddie: Hope he stays around to finish his contract off but only as depth, just a terrific person to have at the club and would be a shame to lose him

Jones: It's crazy that in the past two weeks when Chayce has gone into middle he has looked great and we've managed to get the centre clearance, absolute joke he played majority SANFL this year and should be playing 22 next year as a full time mid thanks

Atkins: go away and never come back

Jacobs: Great player for the club in his prime but we should be letting him go, never should have been brought back for ROB

Douglas: It's a shame when a player plays on a year or two too long, can't blame him for that, gotta get payed, but these past two years have really soured a good career.

Tom Lynch: Prime trade candidate to a contender while he has value, and with Fog and Himmelberg needing games next year most likely with Tex, it would be beneficial to move him on to bring some more pace and pressure into the fwd mix

Alex Keath: Really big bright light for us this year but, like Hugh, he is 28 next year so trading at his age while he has value makes sense, but one thing he has going for him is there's not as much depth in his position like there is for Hugh, so I wouldn't be surprised if we open up the chequebook from that perspective but not bothered either way

I could keep going with some others but this is getting too long and I'm getting bored of typing but I think that's most of it :P Just quickly, trade targets should be Luko, Francis, and Fantasia who I've heard rumours about all of them. And to finish, another issue at the club is our work in the media, the amount of spin we keep dribbling out is tiring, specifically from Chapman and Fagan, both frauds.

[Nige]

This is my favourite post on the forum.

[Mat0369]

I like that we get pick 8 to go along with Stocker

[TomK]

I like that we get pick 8 to go along with Stocker

And we'll enjoy pick 3.

Tell me a club that wouldn't trade pick 8 + pick 19 for pick 3? I'll wait.

[Grazz]

Agree with pretty much all of that.
Jenkins can bugger off, to many games where he gives nothing, ok you're not hitting the scoreboard
work harder and give something of use to the team and a bit of a flog as you said lol.

Your stats on Tex says yeh it's been ok. Been dirty on him a few times this year
but you're right the delivery has been shower from our mids and others, it's poor
they way we transition forward. This is a very slow team and on a lot of lines.
I'd like to see Tex up the ground more and delivering the ball he's got a good leg.

Don't get me started on the boys club that Adelaide FC is off the field i'll be here all night.................
I'll just say it's a flowering disgrace from top to bottom. If your keeping Pyke sack the other
White Goodmans and let him pick his own coaches, cause this lot is shower.

[Grazz]

I like that we get pick 8 to go along with Stocker

And we'll enjoy pick 3.

Tell me a club that wouldn't trade pick 8 + pick 19 for pick 3? I'll wait.

Not being a smart arse but a genuine question were we even chasing Stocker ?

[Mat0369]

And where would Stocker sit in the draft this year? It was supposed to be a deeper draft last year so it's a win for us netting Stocker with a year of development and a top 10 pick (which we will likely trade) this year

[Grazz]

I like that we get pick 8 to go along with Stocker

And we'll enjoy pick 3.

Tell me a club that wouldn't trade pick 8 + pick 19 for pick 3? I'll wait.

Not being a smart arse but a genuine question were we even chasing Stocker ?

Anyone ?

[TomK]

And where would Stocker sit in the draft this year? It was supposed to be a deeper draft last year so it's a win for us netting Stocker with a year of development and a top 10 pick (which we will likely trade) this year

I'm not sure, I don't deal with hypotheticals that can't eventuate, but that's nice, let's call it a win win and you can go start a wankfest on the Carlton board.

I like that we get pick 8 to go along with Stocker

And we'll enjoy pick 3.

Tell me a club that wouldn't trade pick 8 + pick 19 for pick 3? I'll wait.

Not being a smart arse but a genuine question were we even chasing Stocker ?

Anyone ?

Ogilvie said on the AFL Road to the Draft podcast the other week that we would've been less likely to do the deal if Duursma was still available at our pick, but he wasn't definitive either way, he didn't say anything about our interest in Stocker from memory.

[Grazz]

And where would Stocker sit in the draft this year? It was supposed to be a deeper draft last year so it's a win for us netting Stocker with a year of development and a top 10 pick (which we will likely trade) this year

That's nice, let's call it a win win and you can go start a wankfest on the Carlton board.

I like that we get pick 8 to go along with Stocker

And we'll enjoy pick 3.

Tell me a club that wouldn't trade pick 8 + pick 19 for pick 3? I'll wait.

Not being a smart arse but a genuine question were we even chasing Stocker ?

Anyone ?

Ogilvie said on the AFL Road to the Draft podcast the other week that we would've been less likely to do the deal if Duursma was still available at our pick, but he wasn't definitive either way, he didn't say anything about our interest in Stocker from memory.

Cheers mate, I can honestly say I never heard anyone from the club mention him, media included and didn't hear any rumours of us looking at him on any social media sites. I don't know what Carlton people heard in Vic or elsewhere that we didn't hear in SA in the bubble of the press/media etc at that time of year. Where did " we wanted him even come from".
Keep seeing it thrown up though.

[DazBurg]

love the post Tom, enjoyed the read love the passion

with the stocker thing i think it was more they wanted to get ahead of other teams that may of taken him
(not 100% on this but vaguely remember reading that was why they traded up)
think it was a case of whoever was more likely to do a deal so they could get stocker as he would be gone by their next pick

no that they were worried crows would take him
either way i think in hindsight has worked out well for both clubs

[Ringo]

Can hear your pain Tom and Grazz but live in hope that the right decisions will be made off field and you can turn it around. You can follow our blue print we were shocking 5 years ago worse than you were but getting the right people off the field changed that.
Sorry for giving you Burton and Hass but look at our injury record this year with the medical staff we have.

[RaisyDaisy]

Adelaide football director Mark Ricciuto has clarified his comments telling fans to trust the process after the Crows’ disappointing end to 2019.

In an interview on Sunday Ricciuto said fans who didn’t agree with the club’s process “don’t need to barrack for the footy club” before clarifying his position on Triple M Breakfast on Monday morning.

“That didn’t come out right and I want to fix that up,’’ Ricciuto said.

“I respect and love the Adelaide Football Club supporters, always have and always will. “Absolutely they’re entitled to their opinion, I was probably referring to a very small amount of the supporters who are never happy no mater what happens.

“I 100 per cent take back that comment, I didn’t quite get that right,’’ he said.

The Crows won just two games after the bye beating only Gold Coast and St Kilda before finishing the 2019 season with a 34-point loss to the Western Bulldogs on Sunday.

And Ricciuto said they would leave no stone unturned in trying to turn things around in the off season.

“The review of the football department and the club means everyone is reviewed, whether it me or Chappy (Chairman Rob Chapman) or the boot studder or the fitness coach,’’ Ricciuto added.

“Absolutely everyone you have to look at to make sure you have the right footy department,’’ he added.

“If anyone has got to go, whether it’s me, Pykey (coach Don Pyke) or Brett Burton or the captain (Taylor Walker), the club is more important than the individual.

“The club will do an internal review as we always do and they’ll do an external review with people have got nothing to do with the football club and then get the information from both and make a decision form there.

“That’s what the supporters want and that’s what the supporters will get.

“Everyone wants the right thing for the Adelaide Football Club and I’m certainly not going to stand in the way. If I’m the problem I’ll be gone and I’m sure if Pykey knew he’d be gone as well,’’ he said,.

[shaker]

Haha thought Ricciuto would be back pedalling like crazy after such an arrogant comment still think supporters will hold him to task , all this talk of offloading quality players is a bit puzzling sure the obvious ones but the Crouch boys is a bit of over reaction list is good just need to play more young blokes next year , would ROB got a game this year if Jacobs didn't get injured ?
Seems to me the people running and coaching the club are the problem not the players.

[Grazz]

Can hear your pain Tom and Grazz but live in hope that the right decisions will be made off field and you can turn it around. You can follow our blue print we were shocking 5 years ago worse than you were but getting the right people off the field changed that.
Sorry for giving you Burton and Hass but look at our injury record this year with the medical staff we have.

Cheers Ringo,still have little faith our club will make the tough calls as your's did. I think there may be more of this until they wake up.

Thanks RD didn't hear that interview. Roo attempted last night on twitter to walk the first statement back in a poor way.


Mark Ricciuto
@markricciuto
·
15h
Replying to
@TheNTNews

@Fages1
and 2 others
Im sorry for my choice of words at the end they definitely didn’t come out as intended. I respect 99% of Crows fans & their opinions, I also love the club as much as anyone possibly could that’s why I do the role I do at the club. Listen to the full interview if you have time.
END

The supporters were unhappy with this 2nd statement telling him he should respect the opinion of 100% of it's supporters not just those he agrees with as Football Director.
It was another bit of a backhander suggesting it's only 1% of the club that are dismayed with what's going on at the club on and off the field which is naive of him. At the Pies_Crows game the last at home 90% of the fans seated around me were all cutting crook at the club for reasons Tom mentioned and more. Other twitter uses stated the same was happening where they were sitting for a large chunk of the season particularly after the byes.

He still believed it's a very small % of supporters that are disgruntled  ie 1% but 99% are content with the clubs direction, he's with them. It's laughable and tbh todays statement is another walk back of the 2nd statement which blew up as much as the 1st one. It's taken him three goes to get it right and anyone thinking the 3rd statement is his real authentic statement is probably also a little naive.
I don't doubt that his feelings are closer to the first two statements and the third was a reaction to someone higher up up telling him to pull his head in and issue this statement and quickly to quell the anger he's created.

There wouldn't be to many other ex Crows players the fans love and respected more than Roo for obvious reasons but sometimes great players don't become great coaches or management. There's no doubt in my mind he's helped create a boys club at Adelaide FC and he defends his mates and the direction they're going everytime it's been questioned and he's still doing it.

Chapman and Roo still saying it is in no way a boys club, i'll let you all decide how much credit you give to those statements.


Director of Football: Mark Riccuito
Board Member: Rod Jameson
COO: Nigel Smart
Head of Football: Brett Burton
FWD coach: Ben Hart
Ruck/AFLW coach: Marty Clarke
DEF coach: Marty Mattner
DEV coaches: Matty Wright, Brent Reilly, Paul Thomas
Runner/Academy Coach: Jason Porplyzia
High Performance Manager: Matt Hass
List Manager: Justin Reid
Events executive: Matthew Robran

And to add insult to injury there's not alot of coaching lists at clubs that are worse than this lot and those that are certainly aren't worth emulating.

Since the camp it's my belief they lost the players then and there by keeping Burton the organiser of some new age nut jobs to come in and flower with the players minds. The dickhead should of been sacked not long after or immediately after that crap.
Then and there began the downfall and just a short 44 games later from what we were in 2017 I give you the present day Crows
we have right now because the club backed the coaching group and not the players as they probably should of..
Rumour has it there's 4-5 that want out because of this and the coaching group in general.

If were going to keep Pyke till his contract expires then lets let him pick his own coaches not those that Roo and others think he needs and deadwood that's been there to long now. Give the bloke a chance on his terms if he's to stay.

I'm usually a quiet supporter you don't see me ark up very often and you can go back through history and see rarely will I comment on anything whether I agree or disagree. I rant with Dudge and me brother in law but very very rarely make it public here or on social media.
There comes a point when you've witnessed enough of a shower show with scant disregard for change that even supporters like me can't keep your mouth shut anymore the frustration is far to strong.