Woeful

[valkorum]

Cic.  I know you're upset (you better be) but lets go back to the beginning of the season when you were saying the following:

1) Harvey being sacked is a joke
2) We wouldn't finish in the 8

Move forward to today and we made the 8, beat the reigning premiers in a final at the G and took it to the wire in the 2nd semi final.

Its been a good year.  I am very upset right now and disappointed in the efforts of Silvagni - looked out of his depth tonight, didnt even make a single spoil attempt against Walker.

As I said all year our window doesnt open until next year.  Time for the boys to take some time off, have a rest and then get stuck in for a big pre-season.

[Jay]

Freo, off you go
Freo, off you go
Cant stop the good old
Adelaide Crows

Freo, time to go
Got hit real hard. Go back to Subiaco
Freo, a 1 man show
We are the Freo chokers

[Cicjose]

how can you be 5 goals in front as the best defensive team in the competition and then not win the game.....

what a wasted season

I would hardly say that.

You got a new coach, managed to learn his new style pretty quickly and you got to the Semi-Finals and were ultra competitive there too. I'd say the season is a success for Freo, you can't honestly say that you expected to make the top 4/win the flag in the first season under a new coach.

http://www.afl.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/208/newsid/147679/default.aspx

Freo's players had little time to recover from the elimination final win against Geelong in Melbourne before fronting up to face the Crows in Adelaide six days later.

Despite the short turnaround, Fremantle burst out of the blocks to lead by 29 points early in the second quarter before being overrun, but Lyon dismissed talk that travel may have played a part.

"It's irrelevant - it's all garbage to be frank," Lyon said.

[valkorum]

@jayman - show some class you moron. 

[Ringo]

As an outsider would hardly classify your season as failure and woeful.

If at the start of the season someone was to say to you you will beat Geelong in the elimination final you would have laughed. 

Even the prospect of making the eight was considered unrealistic after about round 10. Season turned around and you made the eight. First season with a new coach as well so anything but a failure.

Fair enough in a final you should not let a 5 goal lead slip in a final but a few skill errors and ill discipline allowed Crows to come back into the game. 

So you should be proud of your team achievements this year. 

[Jay]

@jayman - show some class you moron. 

sorry mate. Got caught up in the moment late last night. Bit of friendly footy banter is acceptable i thought though. Was in good-nature, sorry if offended.

[valkorum]

@jayman - show some class you moron. 

sorry mate. Got caught up in the moment late last night. Bit of friendly footy banter is acceptable i thought though. Was in good-nature, sorry if offended.

Friendly banter is fine before and during the game but after the game show some class and respect. 

[Ricochet]

the team as a whole was obviously not fit enough

??? ??? ??? ???
Ross has one of toughest game plans of the comp, it demands a high level of fitness. If anything we would be one of the fittest teams in the comp.

simply ran out of legs, 2 6 day breaks with travel doesnt help.

Yep exactly, Freo played it down saying they're a "no excuse" football team but at the end of the day this would have seriously affected them.

lucky to ever be 5 goals up, Crows just played better in the second half, once they started playing good footy, it always looked inevitable

unfortunately you are right. We were very lucky with all Adelaides misses infront of the goals. Could have been a very different game if you guys kicked straight.

[Ricochet]

At the end of the day i am very happy with this years season. For a team that never really had any structure or (what looked like) a B-grade game plan, Ross has brought discipline, professional and a definite structure to the club that demands all players to step up. I only see positives for our club going forward. Our ability to win away from home this year is a massive one. Pav kicking so many goals is another, it shows our structures are working and we are winning the ball for him, rather than him searching up the ground to find it. Getting our guys through mostly a full season is another... guys like barlow and mundy will have a full preseason this year. These are all positives for the future.

and just on a side note... When Lyon took over Saints in 2007 they went from finishing inside the 8 (6th i think it was) in 2006 to finishing 9th in 2007. They finished 4th in 2008...

[CrowsFan]

lucky to ever be 5 goals up, Crows just played better in the second half, once they started playing good footy, it always looked inevitable

unfortunately you are right. We were very lucky with all Adelaides misses infront of the goals. Could have been a very different game if you guys kicked straight.

Amazing how a team can kick 5 goals 12 last week, then be at 2 goals 7 last night and turn that around to kick 10.2 and finish at 12 goals 9!! :o Finally got over the yips in front of goal!!

On the topic of Freo I certainly wouldn't call their season wasted, finished inside the top 8 and won a final in Melbourne for the first time ever. Would call it a successful season for a team with a new coach and game plan :)

[Colliwobblers]

The Dockers had no legs left, The crows will have no legs left next week, neither will the Pies or Eagles....

There is a reason a MASSIVE % of premierships are won by a team who finishes top 4.

Simple.

[AFEV]

The Dockers had no legs left, The crows will have no legs left next week, neither will the Pies or Eagles....

There is a reason a MASSIVE % of premierships are won by a team who finishes top 4.

Simple.

95.444% of Premiers since the beginning of the top 8 were in the top 4. 100% since we started using the system we use now.

77.77% since '94 (top 8 ) won their first final.

The Adelaide team of '98 is the clear odd one out...Didn't finish top 4 or win their first final.

[Colliwobblers]

^ statistical GUN

and think my point is valid :)

[elephants]

@jayman - show some class you moron. 

sorry mate. Got caught up in the moment late last night. Bit of friendly footy banter is acceptable i thought though. Was in good-nature, sorry if offended.

Friendly banter is fine before and during the game but after the game show some class and respect. 

Lighten' up mate, come on ;)

[Cicjose]

http://www.afl.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/208/newsid/147780/default.aspx

The downside to their first half was Freo's inability to impact the scoreboard, kicking 7.2 from 25 entries, which is a scoring rate of 36 per cent, allowing Adelaide to always be close enough.

Fremantle made an error in sending Alex Silvagni to Walker, who effectively became the match-winner. Walker has been the key forward for Adelaide who posses the most trouble for the opposition and they should have played Zac Dawson on him from the outset.

This would have allowed Silvagni to play on Kurt Tippett. Michael Johnson could have been used as a back up for Silvagni, despite his terrific performance on Friday.

It was a shock to see Zac Clarke come in for Kepler Bradley. No doubt Fremantle had its reasons for this but Bradley, with his knack of finding the football forward and kicking goals, may have been a worry for the Adelaide defence, especially with Pavlich not having a great influence and Freo's poor scoring conversion inside 50.