Preview R3: Changes vs. North Melbourne

[Captain Furious]

True re Dixon a couple of times but I didn’t think it was the right match up vs Dons and he gave away free kicks leading to 2 of Drapers goals didn’t he?

Not sure why Murray didn’t get he match up. Ditto for Larkey this weekend

Because Murray plays on the biggest forward threat. Draper is not that. He kicked 3 because Keane is our weakest defender for defensive technique. Let's not forget the Amarty debacle. And De Goey's game winner. Keane is our weak link defensively but we've decided that his upside and marking is worth the squeeze.

 

[Tas]

As Feenix pointed out in one of his podcasts our centre square work wasn’t great on the weekend. And ROB needs to significantly lift to get anywhere near Xerri who is probably the best ruckman in the league now.

Kangas have a mountain of midfield and running talent - potentially 5-6 elite youngsters inc FOS. It’s their still suspect backline and bottom handful of players on the team that’s their weakness. They ain’t wanting for top end talent going forward

Yeah, backline still the most suspect line. It would be nice if Comben can turn into a good key defender, atm he is capable of taking contested marks back there but is making a fair few rookie defensive mistakes atm. Logue turns 27 this year, he should be around for a while, he might be back this week. Corr is pretty average.

I think Will Dawson is a good key defender prospect, still 19 and is 200cm, we are thankfully in a position now we don't have to throw too many kids in. Whitlock is currently playing down back in the VFL atm but I would imagine he will end up forward.

Thankfully Fisher can't get a game so that is a positive that there are some kind of standards. I think the backline hasn't been as terrible when there has been some effort at putting pressure around the ball.

The midfield isn't putting enough defensive pressure as I would like, Parker was pretty critical of some of the defensive running round 1 and it improved a bit against Melbourne. I think that will improve a lot when Wardlaw comes back from injury in a few weeks.

Powell has had a big pre-season and he has been good in Wardlaw's absence. We also aren't rushing Duursma, he looks a million dollars in moments and can do a lot of damage but he still needs some development in terms of his consistency and defensive efforts.

I will be keeping an eye on Urquhart's progress this year, surprised we picked him up in the draft last year but glad we did, inside mid that is also very aggressive, very fast and has a tank, we currently run with Tucker and Stephens on the pine but they wont be around long term and they are part of that bottom handful of players you are referring to. I think once they make way for younger/better players that will be a positive.

I am hoping we can be competitive this week but I would expect Crows to win comfortably unless you guys have a shocker in the midfield, like Melbourne.

 

[Captain Furious]

I am hoping we can be competitive this week but I would expect Crows to win comfortably unless you guys have a shocker in the midfield, like Melbourne.

Teams will be going to school on Crows now and the obvious answer is not just limit I50s but how the ball is coming in. Been hearing a lot this week about how we're lowering the eyes and finding targets but that's a lot easier when the opposition don't put pressure on the ball carrier. Essendon were woeful, didn't really want to tackle or even close down space. I'm sure that will be Clarko's focus because if you allow Adelaide 40+ clean entires, they'll kick a winning score. So not so much hoping we have a shocker in the midfield but forcing us to hack forward or kick long to contests - this is how Hawthorn are winning games with one of the weaker midfields in the comp on paper - force a contest or loose ball with midfield defensive pressure and then catapult.

 

[119others]

Haven’t seen anything, saw an injury update article and he wasn’t on that, only Gallagher and one other.

someone somewhere from the club said its a non issue and definitely playing on the weekend

 

[Tas]

Teams will be going to school on Crows now and the obvious answer is not just limit I50s but how the ball is coming in. Been hearing a lot this week about how we're lowering the eyes and finding targets but that's a lot easier when the opposition don't put pressure on the ball carrier. Essendon were woeful, didn't really want to tackle or even close down space. I'm sure that will be Clarko's focus because if you allow Adelaide 40+ clean entires, they'll kick a winning score. So not so much hoping we have a shocker in the midfield but forcing us to hack forward or kick long to contests - this is how Hawthorn are winning games with one of the weaker midfields in the comp on paper - force a contest or loose ball with midfield defensive pressure and then catapult.

Yeah, I made a similar comment on our board that Crows will kick a lot more than 1 goal if we give them 19 inside 50s in the third quarter like we allowed Melbourne, because they were kind of just hacking it forward and Comben was marking enough in the corridor that it forced them to go places they didn't want to go. Melbourne had a pretty good game the previous week with GWS and their midfield was at full strength so atm it is still a bit hard to read where teams are at.

Mitchell has done a great job putting together a really effective midfield, we struggle with them because the are a mature physical big bodied midfield and we just didn't have the players who were physically prepared in previous years. I am just not sure how much slack there is in their midfield, how much better can they get? They don't seem to have the class in the middle that Brisbane or GWS have there. I still think they will win a lot of games, may even end up top 4, but as Port have found out, there is a big difference between winning H&A games and getting to and winning flags. If you have major flaws in your system they tend to get exposed in finals.

 

[TBM]

Any update on how Sid is recovering from his corkie on the weekend?

Went back on the field after only a few minutes off. And not mentioned in the Injury Update. I assume he’s fine.

 

[Slim258]

North still conceded a lot of I50s (actually lost the count by 3) but Melbourne just can’t punish teams, has been their issue for a few years.

North are still average defensively and we are kicking a big score with 56 I50s like Melbourne had.

North are better, but these are games we should be comfortably winning. They also haven’t beaten us in Adelaide since 2003.

In Round 1 North let Dogs have 57 Inside 50's & in Round 2 - 56.
In Round 1 we had 59 & in Round 2 - 63.

We will get the chances, we just need to convert.

 

[Thrillthorpe7]

In Round 1 North let Dogs have 57 Inside 50's & in Round 2 - 56.
In Round 1 we had 59 & in Round 2 - 63.

We will get the chances, we just need to convert.

I’m not worried about our ability to convert

 

[Coopers]

Teams will be going to school on Crows now and the obvious answer is not just limit I50s but how the ball is coming in. Been hearing a lot this week about how we're lowering the eyes and finding targets but that's a lot easier when the opposition don't put pressure on the ball carrier. Essendon were woeful, didn't really want to tackle or even close down space. I'm sure that will be Clarko's focus because if you allow Adelaide 40+ clean entires, they'll kick a winning score. So not so much hoping we have a shocker in the midfield but forcing us to hack forward or kick long to contests - this is how Hawthorn are winning games with one of the weaker midfields in the comp on paper - force a contest or loose ball with midfield defensive pressure and then catapult.

So what will that mean though - teams try to just get it forward and lock it in their forward line so our guys don't get a look in.

However that's something everyone tries to do anyway...

 

[Crow till I die]

Teams will be going to school on Crows now and the obvious answer is not just limit I50s but how the ball is coming in. Been hearing a lot this week about how we're lowering the eyes and finding targets but that's a lot easier when the opposition don't put pressure on the ball carrier. Essendon were woeful, didn't really want to tackle or even close down space. I'm sure that will be Clarko's focus because if you allow Adelaide 40+ clean entires, they'll kick a winning score. So not so much hoping we have a shocker in the midfield but forcing us to hack forward or kick long to contests - this is how Hawthorn are winning games with one of the weaker midfields in the comp on paper - force a contest or loose ball with midfield defensive pressure and then catapult.

Its one thing for teams to recognise it, its another for them to be able to stop it. With Rankine, Draper, Peatling we have real pace now and with Dawson, Soligo and Curtin, we have ace ball users and Crouch in ripping form feeding it out.

Maybe sides will leave an extra on the outside of the contest to try and stifle us, but if that takes one away from the contest, we might find we are winning it direct and moving forward anyway.

 

[VictorianCrow85]

Paul Curtis has kicked 6 so far and had a heap more chances. He will need a strong matchup.

Your forward line is pretty scary however. Your smalls just as much as your talls with archer out. It will be interesting to see if we rush Logue back. I hope we don’t.

Always liked Paul Curtis, nice to see him starting to really come on as he always had good traits. That said I hope he spuds this week lol.

 

[Scorpus]

We've gotten rid of Murphy from the emergency list!

 

[Peter Doherty]

AFL Squad Selection: Round Three

Adelaide hosts North Melbourne on Sunday

www.afc.com.au

 

[Cromulant]

Dowling, Turray and Nank emergencies.

I'd expect no change

 

[Samcro24]

Murphys not even emergency!!!!!!!

 

[adelaidecrows]

Based on the emergencies I suspect one of Draper or Curtin will be sent back to the Sanfl. The sudden inclusion of Dowling i think indicates he is selected.

 

[JTGroove]

No Murphy!!!!!!!!!

 

[Alwaysacrow]

Based on the emergencies I suspect one of Draper or Curtin will be sent back to the Sanfl. The sudden inclusion of Dowling i think indicates he is selected.

I doubt it. I think they'll go in unchanged unless Draper has an issue.
Good to see Dowling named though instead of Smurphy.

 

[Cromulant]

Based on the emergencies I suspect one of Draper or Curtin will be sent back to the Sanfl. The sudden inclusion of Dowling i think indicates he is selected.

How to you figure that ??

 

[cmndstab]

I think it's more likely that Dowling ends up as an emergency, but if he does come in presumably it would be on the wing, rather than in the roles Draper and Curtin have been playing. I imagine he's cover for Cumming.

 

[adelaidecrows]

How to you figure that ??

Round 1 is this week and therefor there was no real form guide from dowling to push him into the emergencies as a reward. It could literally be nothing. But to me it indicates a change has been made and it could be as simple as Draper being sent back to the Sanfl for a full game and Dowling is the sub.

 

[Cromulant]

Round 1 is this week and therefor there was no real form guide from dowling to push him into the emergencies as a reward. It could literally be nothing. But to me it indicates a change has been made and it could be as simple as Draper being sent back to the Sanfl for a full game and Dowling is the sub.

I figure its a no change sign again.

Just changing the names on the emergency list

 

[adelaidecrows]

I think it's more likely that Dowling ends up as an emergency, but if he does come in presumably it would be on the wing, rather than in the roles Draper and Curtin have been playing. I imagine he's cover for Cumming.

You could be right. I know previously if a player has been omitted they are not even on the emergencies. If cumming is carrying an injury could be a late ommision. I didnt know he was.

 

[Cromulant]

You could be right. I know previously if a player has been omitted they are not even on the emergencies. If cumming is carrying an injury could be a late ommision. I didnt know he was.

Hes not.

Murray is the one under a cloud

 

[adelaidecrows]

Hes not.

Murray is the one under a cloud

Im only going off what people are saying. lol

Lets assume Dowling is in for Draper. Draper probably is in need of a full game. Im not sure anything is wrong with that to be honest. Back to back games as sub probably indicates they want to give him a full game. Its hard to argue that while Draper has had an impressive pre season, he probably hasnt commanded a spot yet.