#44 - Matt Crouch

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Are people seriously saying we only drafted him because of his name? He averaged nearly 40 touches in the TAC Cup, he is a hard nut and was, quite simply, the best available player which is what you do with your first pick. Besides, you can never have enough hard-nosed midfielders, just look at Brisbane in 2001-03 and Geelong.
 
roo2macca said:
Are people seriously saying we only drafted him because of his name? He averaged nearly 40 touches in the TAC Cup, he is a hard nut and was, quite simply, the best available player which is what you do with your first pick. Besides, you can never have enough hard-nosed midfielders, just look at Brisbane in 2001-03 and Geelong.
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That's exactly the thing. We could have taken a speculative outside midfielder or we could settle for the best inside midfielder of the crop. At pick 23 to get the best of in any position is something you don't pass up on. The only other player I'd probably be happy the club taking with the players that were available was Lewis Taylor. Even then though Lewis Taylor was probably in the good to middle of the road in terms of outside players, where as crouch sits quite comfortably at the top of the inside midfielders. Ogilvie said he was going to take best available, and that happened to be the brother of brad, which is just an added gift that has fallen into Adelaide's lap :)

Good point about game style as well. I talked about this is another thread after the GF but that game was so contested and scrappy, that almost all skill level and structures when out the door when trying to win the midfield contest and it was just about getting the ball out of the congestion and into the 50. A player with crouchs ability to get the ball clear and feed a team mate would have been critical in a game like that and he would dominate in those environments 11/10 times. Crows play a very contested brand of footy that bodes well for finals games and it served us very well in 2012. Having a lot of talented players that can dominate as an inside midfielder would be slightly worrying if we played such a heavy run and carry game like north, but we don't.
 

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I actually don't mind his kicking action - bit of a wobbly ball drop but a pretty laconic style which I like. Also have to remember that he missed two months of footy this year due to that broken hand so he would've been a bit rusty. Anyway, just get Grigg to show him how to kick a footy with the left foot - crouchy will be fine. Skills and fitness can be refined at training - aggression to fight for the bill and win that contested ball cannot.
 
arusso707 said:
That's exactly the thing. We could have taken a speculative outside midfielder or we could settle for the best inside midfielder of the crop. At pick 23 to get the best of in any position is something you don't pass up on. The only other player I'd probably be happy the club taking with the players that were available was Lewis Taylor. Even then though Lewis Taylor was probably in the good to middle of the road in terms of outside players, where as crouch sits quite comfortably at the top of the inside midfielders. Ogilvie said he was going to take best available, and that happened to be the brother of brad, which is just an added gift that has fallen into Adelaide's lap :)

Good point about game style as well. I talked about this is another thread after the GF but that game was so contested and scrappy, that almost all skill level and structures when out the door when trying to win the midfield contest and it was just about getting the ball out of the congestion and into the 50. A player with crouchs ability to get the ball clear and feed a team mate would have been critical in a game like that and he would dominate in those environments 11/10 times. Crows play a very contested brand of footy that bodes well for finals games and it served us very well in 2012. Having a lot of talented players that can dominate as an inside midfielder would be slightly worrying if we played such a heavy run and carry game like north, but we don't.
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I'd add Trent Dumont to that list. With the way the cards fell, if any name other than Crouch, Taylor or Dumont was announced as our pick I would have put holes in walls.

People bang on about Hartung and his speed. There are massive question marks about his football ability, and he reeks of 'athlete rather than a footballer' to me (and many recruiters).

I was also praying Apeness would be off the board by pick 23. Made a lot of sense for Freo to take him with their lack of tall forwards. I'm not a fan of using the first pick in the draft on a tall who has previously had a knee reco. Our record in drafting tall fwds / rucks early in drafts is absolutely disgusting, and not something I ever want to go through again.

I see M.Crouch as the perfect replacement in waiting for Thommo, who will almost definitely retire after the end of the 2014 or 2015 season. Let Crouch develop a tank in the twos for the next year or so, then unleash the ball-winning beast to play alongside his brother in what promises to be one of the best midfields in the comp in 2015/16 (with Dangerfield, Sloane, Grigg, Douglas and co).

Oh, and he's left-footed too. You might even say that this factor alone addresses a glaring need for our club, with Grigg, Shaw and Podsiadly the only others on the senior list if I'm not mistaken. :D
 
Its interesting that his weakness has been brought up so much. Geez if that is the kids only problem we are laughing.

There is a reason for the tank being the way it is and its called summer cricket. He doesnt have any injury issues and he is just 17-18 years old, I would be shocked if he hasnt made an improvement by the start of February in time for some warm up matches maybe.

I hope he doesnt make it though to these matches, we need to be fielding teams that are injury free and ready to hit the season hard with seasoned bodies.

His elder brother changed dramatically after a strong preseason, I dont see why MC cant do the same.

Am I wrong in that he looks bigger than his brother when they both came to our Club? (yes I know Brad was a year younger)
 
jumboprince said:
I think Crouch dropping to 23 had a lot to do with that god damned haircut of his.

It had to be a sticking point with a lot of clubs
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We should get in the ear of the best upcoming 2014 draftees and tell them to grow ridiculous hairstyles as well :thumbsu: Giant beehives and bouffant curly mops. Scare away every other club, then we swoop on in, draft them, send them to the Crows hairdresser and bam.

I can't believe we haven't done this before!
 
cmndstab said:
He's got a bigger frame, but it doesn't look like a typical footballer frame.

I wouldn't be surprised to see him tone down, and then put weight back on once his body matures.
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BoB doesnt look all that big in terms of mass, think hes just more a big boned type with some seriously broad shoulders. Definitely a bigger frame that his brother though at his age.
 

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Im a little miffed why some people are sipping the boot into Matt Crouch? Not long ago he was considered a top 10 pick this year. He has had simply outstanding form this year, both at TAC and VFL, is the brother of Brad and we managed to get him at 23. Im happy. He has a similar story to Mitch Grigg, so the fact he slipped means we should have over looked him as well.
 
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Cleric said:
Im a little miffed why some people are sipping the boot into Matt Crouch? Not long ago he was considered a top 10 pick this year. He has had simply outstanding form this year, both at TAC and VFL, is the brother of Brad and we managed to get him at 23. Im happy. He has a similar story to Mitch Grigg, so the fact he slipped means we should have over looked him as well.
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Don't worry about them, I'm extremely confident they'll soon be eating their words when they actually see the lad play and his rabid attack on the footy and opposition ball carriers and his ability to take clean possession in packs and feed the pill out with lightning quick hands to our runners!!.
 
Bicks said:
Don't worry about them, I'm extremely confident they'll soon be eating their words when they actually see the lad play and his rabid attack on the footy and opposition ball carriers and his ability to take clean possession in packs and feed the pill out with lightning quick hands to our runners!!.
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Thats the problem, we dont have any runners! We have enough of the Matt Crouch type player in Thompson, Danger, Lyons, Sloane etc
 
Hell Boy6669 said:
Thats the problem, we dont have any runners! We have enough of the Matt Crouch type player in Thompson, Danger, Lyons, Sloane etc
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Can never have too many players that can win their own pill IMO, and I'll be surprised if Danger and Sloane don't play a lot more "outside" once Matt develops.
 
Bicks said:
Can never have too many players that can win their own pill IMO, and I'll be surprised if Danger and Sloane don't play a lot more "outside" once Matt develops.
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Maybe they might put Mackay on the wing.

Personally, I don't see the big deal, two thirds of the battle is getting the ball. Look back at the Dangerfield thread and you get an idea that people always want something different than what we got. If we had picked Boyd over Aish, people would have complained about that
 
Bicks said:
Can never have too many players that can win their own pill IMO, and I'll be surprised if Danger and Sloane don't play a lot more "outside" once Matt develops.
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Matt Crouch will become a stoppage specialist. His team mates will love him dishing the ball out to them. To be a successful team you must win contested footy and this guy is a beast at it.
 
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