Preview R3: Changes vs. North Melbourne

[adelaidecrows]

Our best at AO is more tthan enough to beat them.

Upsets happen man. They could come looking to play a GF style intensity and we could just be caught napping. Its a 1% game buddy. Im not saying we we lose, make no mistake. I do think we should win. But its not the certainty we think it is. North have a bucket of talent on that list.

 

[adelaidecrows]

Do all our tall defenders need to intercept though? Worrell and Murray very good at it but also defend well. For balance, think we improve by having a defender able to shut out the opposition best key forward.

Keane took 1 mark for the day, had 3 kicked on him by a ruckman, made skill errors and bad decisions. While we have our full squad available, there should be consequences to playing a bad game.

Its the only way to make competition for spots work. Players who are performing below par over a couple of weeks should be dropped regardless of winning. If we dont do it, golden ticket syndrome creeps in.

So this week, Davis, Nicks and the selection commitee should be trawling over everyones performances over the first two rounds and if your output is below par, its back to the sanfl. No question. Its getting the best performing players into your best 23 by the end of the home and away year. Only way to do that is to command elite standards. Nicks has proven to be extraordinarily bad at this by consistently playing poor performing players.

So as of now, they should identify a way of getting Dowling and Nankervis into that side. If that means dropping Curtin and Draper so be it. If Keane gets dropped and Butts comes in, so be it. But what I think would be a disaster is continuing to select the same players every week regardless of form.

 

[AFC979810]

Do all our tall defenders need to intercept though? Worrell and Murray very good at it but also defend well. For balance, think we improve by having a defender able to shut out the opposition best key forward.

Keane took 1 mark for the day, had 3 kicked on him by a ruckman, made skill errors and bad decisions. While we have our full squad available, there should be consequences to playing a bad game.

No. There should be a consequence for playing multiple bad games.

 

[baldandbroke]

I love how after absolutely trouncing a very undermanned Bombers, the AFL Media's point of interest is our defence letting 100 points through.

Eight things we learned: Hawthorn's depth is scary

Hawthorn's depth is scary, Geelong has some weak spots plus more round two lessons

www.afl.com.au

​

​

4) The forwards are flying, but Crows need to tighten their defence​

Having won its opening two matches by a combined 124 points, helped by a rampaging forward line, one might expect Adelaide could very well be untouchable this year. But giving up 100 points to an inexperienced Essendon attack on Saturday showed there is still plenty of vital improvement left in the side. Coach Matthew Nicks was balanced on the topic post-match, noting that "other factors" outweigh the score conceded, but there are clear areas for the Crows to focus on in coming weeks. And the Crows have time to work on it given they won't face a 2024 finalist until meeting Geelong in round five. But in line with the old adage that defence wins premierships, finding a way to consistently balance its own devastating attack with a tight defence will be key to maintaining this momentum. - Gemma Bastiani​

Whatever.

I love the way our defence is setup. It's an attacking unit, like the rest of the team.

We all hated when Nicks tried to make us a defensive team, hated it. We can't be both ultra-attacking AND ultra-defensive in the back 6 - no-one has that luxury. Worrell and Max are as miserly as any, they hate losing contests ... but they can attack too. Hinge is gold back there - as good as any at his role. Milera hasn't shown much yet, but has not been horrible either. We will let a few through the cracks because of that attacking nature, but I WELCOME it.

Keane makes mistakes? All good, he takes it on as much as any. He will get his rhythm soon, he was an intercept machine last year.

I'll take a 10 goal win at the MCG ANY day of the week - against ANY opposition. Could not give a rats about them getting to three figures.

 

[NSolis]

Back to back 6 day and then 5 day breaks coming up after this game. There might be some merit in rotating the team a little and keeping players fresh. Will be interesting to see if that comes into the selection decisions.

Wouldn't be stunned if we did and made 1 or 2 changes to a winning side, but would obviously be a very different approach to previous years and you run the risk of being seen to take North lightly.

 

[Danger in Texas]

I love how after absolutely trouncing a very undermanned Bombers, the AFL Media's point of interest is our defence letting 100 points through.

Eight things we learned: Hawthorn's depth is scary

Hawthorn's depth is scary, Geelong has some weak spots plus more round two lessons

www.afl.com.au

​

​

4) The forwards are flying, but Crows need to tighten their defence​

Having won its opening two matches by a combined 124 points, helped by a rampaging forward line, one might expect Adelaide could very well be untouchable this year. But giving up 100 points to an inexperienced Essendon attack on Saturday showed there is still plenty of vital improvement left in the side. Coach Matthew Nicks was balanced on the topic post-match, noting that "other factors" outweigh the score conceded, but there are clear areas for the Crows to focus on in coming weeks. And the Crows have time to work on it given they won't face a 2024 finalist until meeting Geelong in round five. But in line with the old adage that defence wins premierships, finding a way to consistently balance its own devastating attack with a tight defence will be key to maintaining this momentum. - Gemma Bastiani​

Whatever.

I love the way our defence is setup. It's an attacking unit, like the rest of the team.

We all hated when Nicks tried to make us a defensive team, hated it. We can't be both ultra-attacking AND ultra-defensive in the back 6 - no-one has that luxury. Worrell and Max are as miserly as any, they hate losing contests ... but they can attack too. Hinge is gold back there - as good as any at his role. Milera hasn't shown much yet, but has not been horrible either. We will let a few through the cracks because of that attacking nature, but I WELCOME it.

Keane makes mistakes? All good, he takes it on as much as any. He will get his rhythm soon, he was an intercept machine last year.

I'll take a 10 goal win at the MCG ANY day of the week - against ANY opposition. Could not give a rats about them getting to three figures.

This tells me Ms Bastiani didn’t watch the game

 

[BRL121]

Our best at AO is more tthan enough to beat them.

Last time there we got creamed by LDU and Simpkin. We will need to be up to scratch in the midfield. Also, this game will show us whether we are adaptable, picking horses for courses, such as Butts on their big FF.

I think bringing in a tagger and/or a FB stopper are things we should do freely this year, depending on the matchups. I don't want to see another 9-goal Amartey match, for example.

 

[AFC979810]

It's the first test for our defensive group. Essendon and St.Kilda combined had 1 forward that was worthy of attention (Higgins).

North have Larkey and Zurhaar with Jack Darling a very good 3rd tall.

 

[Crow till I die]

I love how after absolutely trouncing a very undermanned Bombers, the AFL Media's point of interest is our defence letting 100 points through.

Eight things we learned: Hawthorn's depth is scary

Hawthorn's depth is scary, Geelong has some weak spots plus more round two lessons

www.afl.com.au

​

​

4) The forwards are flying, but Crows need to tighten their defence​

Having won its opening two matches by a combined 124 points, helped by a rampaging forward line, one might expect Adelaide could very well be untouchable this year. But giving up 100 points to an inexperienced Essendon attack on Saturday showed there is still plenty of vital improvement left in the side. Coach Matthew Nicks was balanced on the topic post-match, noting that "other factors" outweigh the score conceded, but there are clear areas for the Crows to focus on in coming weeks. And the Crows have time to work on it given they won't face a 2024 finalist until meeting Geelong in round five. But in line with the old adage that defence wins premierships, finding a way to consistently balance its own devastating attack with a tight defence will be key to maintaining this momentum. - Gemma Bastiani​

Whatever.

I love the way our defence is setup. It's an attacking unit, like the rest of the team.

We all hated when Nicks tried to make us a defensive team, hated it. We can't be both ultra-attacking AND ultra-defensive in the back 6 - no-one has that luxury. Worrell and Max are as miserly as any, they hate losing contests ... but they can attack too. Hinge is gold back there - as good as any at his role. Milera hasn't shown much yet, but has not been horrible either. We will let a few through the cracks because of that attacking nature, but I WELCOME it.

Keane makes mistakes? All good, he takes it on as much as any. He will get his rhythm soon, he was an intercept machine last year.

I'll take a 10 goal win at the MCG ANY day of the week - against ANY opposition. Could not give a rats about them getting to three figures.

I wouldn't read too much into the defense shipping 100 points. They had around 60 on the board at 3/4 time and the game was completely in the bag. It was a shootout in the last. I'd suspect our mindset will change when it needs to and we need to lock down

 

[Mostyn]

Its the only way to make competition for spots work. Players who are performing below par over a couple of weeks should be dropped regardless of winning. If we dont do it, golden ticket syndrome creeps in.

So this week, Davis, Nicks and the selection commitee should be trawling over everyones performances over the first two rounds and if your output is below par, its back to the sanfl. No question. Its getting the best performing players into your best 23 by the end of the home and away year. Only way to do that is to command elite standards. Nicks has proven to be extraordinarily bad at this by consistently playing poor performing players.

So as of now, they should identify a way of getting Dowling and Nankervis into that side. If that means dropping Curtin and Draper so be it. If Keane gets dropped and Butts comes in, so be it. But what I think would be a disaster is continuing to select the same players every week regardless of form.

Dowling? Please.

Maybe Butts for Keane, though you lose his offense which has been a positive.

Nank needs to wait for a genuine loss of form or fitness, and Dowling wouldn't be in the next five to come in.

 

[adelaidecrows]

Dowling? Please.

Maybe Butts for Keane, though you lose his offense which has been a positive.

Nank needs to wait for a genuine loss of form or fitness, and Dowling wouldn't be in the next five to come in.

totally missed the point. but ok.

 

[Captain Furious]

I love how after absolutely trouncing a very undermanned Bombers, the AFL Media's point of interest is our defence letting 100 points through.

Eight things we learned: Hawthorn's depth is scary

Hawthorn's depth is scary, Geelong has some weak spots plus more round two lessons

www.afl.com.au

​

​

4) The forwards are flying, but Crows need to tighten their defence​

Having won its opening two matches by a combined 124 points, helped by a rampaging forward line, one might expect Adelaide could very well be untouchable this year. But giving up 100 points to an inexperienced Essendon attack on Saturday showed there is still plenty of vital improvement left in the side. Coach Matthew Nicks was balanced on the topic post-match, noting that "other factors" outweigh the score conceded, but there are clear areas for the Crows to focus on in coming weeks. And the Crows have time to work on it given they won't face a 2024 finalist until meeting Geelong in round five. But in line with the old adage that defence wins premierships, finding a way to consistently balance its own devastating attack with a tight defence will be key to maintaining this momentum. - Gemma Bastiani​

Whatever.

I love the way our defence is setup. It's an attacking unit, like the rest of the team.

We all hated when Nicks tried to make us a defensive team, hated it. We can't be both ultra-attacking AND ultra-defensive in the back 6 - no-one has that luxury. Worrell and Max are as miserly as any, they hate losing contests ... but they can attack too. Hinge is gold back there - as good as any at his role. Milera hasn't shown much yet, but has not been horrible either. We will let a few through the cracks because of that attacking nature, but I WELCOME it.

Keane makes mistakes? All good, he takes it on as much as any. He will get his rhythm soon, he was an intercept machine last year.

I'll take a 10 goal win at the MCG ANY day of the week - against ANY opposition. Could not give a rats about them getting to three figures.

I get it, we looked great and won by 10 goals. Good times. But we can’t stick our head in the sand and pretend everything’s perfect because we won’t play injury ravaged bottom 6 teams every week. The past 2 years we’ve had a finals capable team but repeatedly lost games to inferior teams by giving up easy goals, goals against the run of play and goals in blocks. It may not be structure or players but it is something. I’ve seen teams win by 20 goals and look less dominant than we did both weeks. The dominant part is awesome but we won’t win a flag if we give up 100 points to VFL level forward lines.

 

[Kane McGoodwin]

It's the first test for our defensive group. Essendon and St.Kilda combined had 1 forward that was worthy of attention (Higgins).

North have Larkey and Zurhaar with Jack Darling a very good 3rd tall.

Zurhaar isn't a tall, but needs attention

Darling would be their 2nd tall.

 

[Danger in Texas]

Dowling? Please.

Maybe Butts for Keane, though you lose his offense which has been a positive.

Nank needs to wait for a genuine loss of form or fitness, and Dowling wouldn't be in the next five to come in.

Nank’s next man up if any defender or wing gets injured. Dowling would probably be next after him?

 

[GreyCrow]

I think people are missing the point regards 100 points

We took the foot off - because thats what good teams do when its beyond doubt. Its a form of resting in game

Do you all think we let them get to 100 if we only had 90? Of course not - we controlled the game

 

[GreyCrow]

I get it - we are all still shellshocked and full of PTSD but understand the game was won and won well

 

[AFC979810]

Zurhaar isn't a tall, but needs attention

Darling would be their 2nd tall.

Only 190cm! I stand corrected!

Call me crazy - but feel like he plays much taller.

 

[AFC979810]

Possessions per score involvement. Not really much in the stat and you have to remember that Crouch is deployed to the most stat rich aspect of the game. Not playing Crouch might cost us a few stats, but what we potentially gain in terms of spread and dynamism could more than make up for it.

Crouch 3.2
Keays 2.2
Soligo 3.0
Dawson 4.25
Rankine 2.5
Peatling 3.25
Draper 4.5 (2.67 last week)
ANB 2.6

This is a shallow and silly view.

Crouch is #1 at our club for contested possessions, centre clearances and tackles.

He is playing the grunt role. He is doing the dirty work that allows our skillful mids to dominate.

 

[hippyhippy]

North is a real danger game IMHO... ldu is a hard match up like rankine will be for them.

 

[Cromulant]

North is a real danger game IMHO... ldu is a hard match up like rankine will be for them.

Except Rankine hits targets.

Itll be a tough day, but like the past 2 games, if we are as good as we think we should be.... we dont lose this game.

 

[davos44]

I love how after absolutely trouncing a very undermanned Bombers, the AFL Media's point of interest is our defence letting 100 points through.

Eight things we learned: Hawthorn's depth is scary

Hawthorn's depth is scary, Geelong has some weak spots plus more round two lessons

www.afl.com.au

​

​

4) The forwards are flying, but Crows need to tighten their defence​

Having won its opening two matches by a combined 124 points, helped by a rampaging forward line, one might expect Adelaide could very well be untouchable this year. But giving up 100 points to an inexperienced Essendon attack on Saturday showed there is still plenty of vital improvement left in the side. Coach Matthew Nicks was balanced on the topic post-match, noting that "other factors" outweigh the score conceded, but there are clear areas for the Crows to focus on in coming weeks. And the Crows have time to work on it given they won't face a 2024 finalist until meeting Geelong in round five. But in line with the old adage that defence wins premierships, finding a way to consistently balance its own devastating attack with a tight defence will be key to maintaining this momentum. - Gemma Bastiani​

Whatever.

I love the way our defence is setup. It's an attacking unit, like the rest of the team.

We all hated when Nicks tried to make us a defensive team, hated it. We can't be both ultra-attacking AND ultra-defensive in the back 6 - no-one has that luxury. Worrell and Max are as miserly as any, they hate losing contests ... but they can attack too. Hinge is gold back there - as good as any at his role. Milera hasn't shown much yet, but has not been horrible either. We will let a few through the cracks because of that attacking nature, but I WELCOME it.

Keane makes mistakes? All good, he takes it on as much as any. He will get his rhythm soon, he was an intercept machine last year.

I'll take a 10 goal win at the MCG ANY day of the week - against ANY opposition. Could not give a rats about them getting to three figures.

Agreed, we saw an ultra defensive game yesterday with Freo and the Swans, it was awful and it wasn't even exciting at the end.

If Adelaide won 90-60 we would be getting lauded, instead of every analyst talking about how awful Essendon were. We completely outworked them, pressured their ball movement and broke into space aggressively. The Sam Durham / Jake Soligo play which ended up as the Rankine boundary goal was indicative of that, Soligo could have stayed with their 2nd best mid but decided to attack.

They had periods where they kicked 2 goals in a row, but instead of going defensive we pushed for the next one, which then became 3 in a row and the lead restored/fire snuffed out.

 

[Bob Neil]

NMFC’s forward line as named on the weekend with my suggested matchups based on our defence:

HF: Sheezel (Milera/Hinge) - Larkey (Murray) - Pink (Worrell)
FF: Curtis (Laird) - Darling (Keane) - Zurhaar (Michelanney)

 

[FR0GGY]

Not suggesting it will be easy but getting worried about north at home? Come on people!

 

[Trigger13]

Make no mistake. There is a day coming very soon where our boys drink this bath water, rock up and just assume they’ll get it done. And get absolutely pantsed. We all know it’s coming.

Let’s hope it’s not this Sunday.

 

[VictorianCrow85]

Upsets happen man. They could come looking to play a GF style intensity and we could just be caught napping. Its a 1% game buddy. Im not saying we we lose, make no mistake. I do think we should win. But its not the certainty we think it is. North have a bucket of talent on that list.

Yes North were excellent yesterday though Melbourne played as badly as I've seen a side play this year in the last part of 3rd quarter & 4th. They have no forward line or connection so just butcher the ball at every turn, I would expect us to be far better on this front.

The other factor is North whilst they've played a couple solid games to kick off the year both have been at Marvel, big difference to travel away which I would imagine their travelling record is quite abysmal so jury would still very much be out if they can get that side of things in order quickly.

Still, as you say, can't take it lightly, you just never know with a side like that who might really get hungry after a taste of success & their best match in years.

Don't mind if we are forced to take it more seriously & work harder, will only prepare us better for coming weeks anyway.