Preview Changes: R8 vs Essendon

[1970crow]

At least we've finally dropped Kelly

Which begs the question as to why we went with the extra defenders/wings causing players to be forced out of position and play ahead of the ball. Kelly's been the same week in and week out. Good defender, ball momentum killer. There are more concerns with this coaching group than originally thought. They really don't seem to know what they're doing at all.

 

[Pugsley]

Going to laugh so hard if Hartigan kicks 3 or 4 this week

I don't feel that you will be laughing.

 

[1970crow]

Im happy with a winless season as it will place even more pressure on Chappy, Roo, the rest of the board and Fagan.

It will highlight their incompetance even further.

I do feel for Nicks thought, he's on a hiding to nothing.

As I've posted before, he's been given the shit sandwich of shit sandwiches. But it's up to him whether he eats it or not. And his selections suggest he's not only eating it, he chose it from the menu.

 

[1970crow]

Himm’s a bust imo... would rather frampton. Both arent great but framptons better!..

so sick of seeing himmelburgs cement hands drop mark after mark.

Kelly finally being ommitted is a plus.

but still no idea why hartigan or mookay arent given the arse..

I feel the same way with EH. But can we just leave him there for 4-5 weeks and see if he can build into something and then rule a line through him and then do the same with Frampton. Our coaches remind me of my first game as captain of my primary school cricket team. I had NFI what I was doing and cycled through all the bowlers randomly, 1 over at a time. What's a spell? Coach clued me in after that effort. Maybe we just need a coach for Nicksy.

 

[1970crow]

Nah even then I don't want it.

That stain stays with you forever.

If we go winless, it's what the people in control deserve. It's quite funny really. To get a win, we need to get better. They're not using selection to try and get better. Their focus on this week alone actively reduces their chances of getting the win they're desperate for. But they can't see that because they're incapable of looking beyond this weekend's 4 points.

 

[1970crow]

So we've dropped Kelly, that's good at least. Makes our defence a touch more dynamic.

McAsey survives too, that's good.

Stengle wasn't dropped after a poor start back.

The rest is meh

Our defence won't really be more dynamic. McAsey won't provide meaningfully more rebound power than Kelly. But if we're going with a static defensive group, I'd rather get games into McAsey than Kelly. It's a low bar, but then, it's a low bar.

 

[hey shorty]

If we go winless, it's what the people in control deserve. It's quite funny really. To get a win, we need to get better. They're not using selection to try and get better. Their focus on this week alone actively reduces their chances of getting the win they're desperate for. But they can't see that because they're incapable of looking beyond this weekend's 4 points.

Its not what most of the players deserve, or what most people here deserve.

The majority of the people surrounding the club don't deserve the shit that comes with a winless season.

Even in a half baked season like this one.

 

[1970crow]

Round 8 average age: 25yr 3mth
Round 8 average games: 84

Older average age than Port by a month with 13 games less experience.

But we're blooding the kids. We are, we just are.

 

[Scrogdogg]

The average age comparisons etc. don't show anything we don't know - we have a heap of experienced players are who aren't performing, and a heap of younger players who are just starting out, combined with a bog average middle group.

Our issue isn't our kids - it's that we're playing all of our kids for the first time at once rather than having had them gradually exposed over the last 2 years at the expense of underperforming experienced players.

We're paying for lazy, reactive and arrogant list management. "Oh well, we've got a new footy department now, we'd better rebuild". No, it was obvious more 18 months ago we needed to inject some youth and the cliff was coming.

No , it was obvious more years ago. Just thinking about the last 2years of Thommo. Week after week after week. We do not move on faithful club servants. our ruthlessness amounts to dropping a pensioner player for 1week then bringing him back because he has found form.....?

 

[cleanhands]

Who even cares anymore - just sit back and watch the shitshow.

Not even going to bother

 

[1970crow]

Why are we going in so tall when Essendon only have 1 tall forward & a medium?

You would think we were playing West Coast.

Whislt I'm ok dripping Kelly, this is the week we are better off with another medium or small not a tall.

When have we ever selected to match opposition or conditions? Nicks may be new to the club, but that doesn't mean anything changes, it's still the AFC.

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

Going to laugh so hard if Hartigan kicks 3 or 4 this week

If he kicks 3 or 4 it will mean that he's had 25 or 30 shots at goal

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

If we go winless, it's what the people in control deserve. It's quite funny really. To get a win, we need to get better. They're not using selection to try and get better. Their focus on this week alone actively reduces their chances of getting the win they're desperate for. But they can't see that because they're incapable of looking beyond this weekend's 4 points.

It's an interesting paradox that we only ever look as far ahead as this weekend but at the same time we pay no heed whatsoever to our opponent or the weather conditions.

It's as though our 22 exists in its own bubble

 

[Thetrader15]

As I've posted before, he's been given the sh*t sandwich of sh*t sandwiches. But it's up to him whether he eats it or not. And his selections suggest he's not only eating it, he chose it from the menu.

Well they do have chicken salt back at AO this year - everything tastes better with it

 

[Thetrader15]

Our defence won't really be more dynamic. McAsey won't provide meaningfully more rebound power than Kelly. But if we're going with a static defensive group, I'd rather get games into McAsey than Kelly. It's a low bar, but then, it's a low bar.

I think McAsey will play forwatd with Berg and Tex, while Talia, Hartigan and Doedee will be down back.

Kelly out means we have just 3 dour defenders (Brown, Talia, Hartigan), which is a much better balance.

I still think the forwards are too slow. I would leave berg out and play Hartigan as the 2nd ruck, or just go with 4 mids for the odd bounce, maybe with Seed / Doedee as the official ruck

 

[Thetrader15]

It's an interesting paradox that we only ever look as far ahead as this weekend but at the same time we pay no heed whatsoever to our opponent or the weather conditions.

It's as though our 22 exists in its own bubble

Tomorrow will be fine and sunny. Bring in the talls...oh, we already did

 

[hey shorty]

If he kicks 3 or 4 it will mean that he's had 25 or 30 shots at goal

4 goal 26 will go close to winning the game.

 

[arsene wenger1]

I feel the same way with EH. But can we just leave him there for 4-5 weeks and see if he can build into something and then rule a line through him and then do the same with Frampton. Our coaches remind me of my first game as captain of my primary school cricket team. I had NFI what I was doing and cycled through all the bowlers randomly, 1 over at a time. What's a spell? Coach clued me in after that effort. Maybe we just need a coach for Nicksy.

Surely if us supporters can figure out how a rebuild works he would be able to work it out.

Im guessing our coaches don’t pull the strings at the AFC

 

[BACCS]

If he kicks 3 or 4 it will mean that he's had 25 or 30 shots at goal

I remember the only set shot he had a couple of years back and it surprisingly went dead straight!

 

[1970crow]

Its not what most of the players deserve, or what most people here deserve.

The majority of the people surrounding the club don't deserve the sh*t that comes with a winless season.

Even in a half baked season like this one.

Of course they do. You get what you deserve. If they get a win, they deserve a win. If they don't, then they deserve the winless season. And supporters definitely deserve it, they've been supporting this selection philosophy for years. "The 20th to 22nd players aren't the difference, stop melting". Even if they're right, it's the foundation of the argument to cycle kids through the 22, not the Otten, Mackay, Douglas et al that they wholeheartedly endorsed. Most supported, even this year, playing injured Sloane. Supporters have absolutely earned and deserve a winless season if it eventuates.

And we're maximising our chances for another crack at one next year with our selection philosophy. You can bet we'll be desperate to keep all our seniors and next year will look almost exactly like this year.

 

[1970crow]

Surely if us supporters can figure out how a rebuild works he would be able to work it out.

Im guessing our coaches don’t pull the strings at the AFC

I'm near certain that they don't. We have a club created strategy, the coaching group fit into it, it's not driven by them. But then, we only recruit those who buy into the philosophies, so even if they did drive it, there'd be no change anyway.

 

[Cap]

I don't feel that you will be laughing.

We are Crows fans, we don't laugh.

We just angst, they'll make a movie about Crows fans angst one day.

BBQ at Chappys, 4 fans invited to a BBQ at chappys share their angsty views on life in a coming of age story.

 

[dylan123]

Is cover for ROB really a big issue? His aerobic fitness is reported to be one of his strengths.

I see ROB as a very fit player who contributes around the ground, lays tackles, takes a few marks but just isn't very talented at winning taps. His problems aren't related to endurance or work rate but actual talent. I doubt we ever turn him into an elite ruck but that wouldn't matter so much if we had midfielders who actually resembled AFL footballers.

I don't think it should be however it seems to be something the coaching staff is mindful of if they were talking about a second ruckman during the week and Himmelberg coming in. It's something we need for 10-15% of the game which shouldn't warrant a spot for someone else if they can't contribute elsewhere but also a position I wouldn't want to see a Tex/Fog playing in for 10-15% of the game if they're in the centre bounce. We've been pretty lucky having the likes of Tippett and Jenkins in recent years who have been good goal kicking forwards whilst being able to compete in the ruck to a reasonable level (not that JJ was great in the ruck).

I think ROB with the centre bounce is always going to struggle to dominate as she doesn't jump well but it doesn't mean he can't nullify the other ruck and win his fair share around the ground. Last season he averaged 33.1 hitouts a game, currently going at 23.4 a game this season (29.2 if it was a full length game) so if he can do that much, surely his actual tap work can be improved too.

 

[jenny61_99]

Is that why we rushed Tex back in after only one week to rest his knee?

C'mon Jen, it's painfully obvious that we're rinse and repeating what we did last year (backing the boys in) despite having a weaker playing and coaching group than in 2019.

It's desperation.

Tex... the one that kicked goals And took the game on? That Tex?

I don’t think it’s painfully obvious at all. There are some players you have in when you can. In my book, Tex is one of those. But we’ve played more youngsters in the first seven weeks than we probably did for the whole of Pyke’s tenure. We did not immediately play McKay or Hartigan and we haven’t played Gibbs since restarting. We’ve dropped Matt Crouch and others. We’ve also moved players to different positions. That shows a very different approach to recent years. And for goodness sake... it’s a bloody farcical fixture that requires flexibility. I’d prefer they didn’t play either of DMac or Hartigan but I can see why they have (given the lack of experience). I figure if you are going to lose with those players in, you might as well lose with the kids... but I’m not an afl coach. I reckon we’ll get to see most of our squad over the next three rounds!

 

[marty36]

I'm near certain that they don't. We have a club created strategy, the coaching group fit into it, it's not driven by them. But then, we only recruit those who buy into the philosophies, so even if they did drive it, there'd be no change anyway.

Who is them?

Is it the coaches

Or is it Fagan who is the boss of the club

Or is it the board who appoints Fagan

Or is it the AFL who approve and appoint the board

Or is it the clubs that approve and appoint the AFL commission

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