Review AFLW Round 9 - Adelaide v North Melbourne. Sunday 29 October @ Norwood Oval

[JP Sauce]

They need to sort out their handball happy ways - 138 kicks, 120 handballs , has caused all sorts of issues over the last 2 weeks, Hatchard with 24 alone in a quite shocking performance

Handballs are a huge concern, because few players have the penetration to clear a stoppage and the accuracy of almost everyone today was poor.

 

[Firewalker]

Sidenote, brucetiki might know, why weren’t they wearing their Pride round guernsey’s like other teams this round given they’re away next week?

 

[beartoo]

Thought North were the better side most of the day yet we win. Our mob put the res into resilient.

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[Tas]

Good win, we lacked a bit of polish. I think we have made some inroads this year to get closer to Dees and Crows, could be an interesting finals series.

 

[ams4crows]

Kelly is legit putting in a yellow jacket season! She has been dead set amazing and have loved watching her play!

Shame Brisbane chose this week to put in a weak effort against Stkilda and not last week.

Brisbane seem to be our bogey team more so than Melbourne or North

 

[Firewalker]

Good win, we lacked a bit of polish. I think we have made some inroads this year to get closer to Dees and Crows, could be an interesting finals series.

Definitely made inroads through that improvement with second tier players, lack of finishing/goals from ground level/non marking targets inside 50 probably just cost them.

Don’t think Emma Kearney will have an easier day either from any other team but that defence has improved a lot.

 

[TubbsFarquhar]

Kelly is legit putting in a yellow jacket season! She has been dead set amazing and have loved watching her play!

Shame Brisbane chose this week to put in a weak effort against Stkilda and not last week.

Brisbane seem to be our bogey team more so than Melbourne or North

Brisbane have put in a few ordinary performances this season. They also lost to Richmond and Collingwood. For whatever reason, we just really struggle against them.

 

[dplggr47]

Kelly’s ability to finish at pace from a distance is like gold in this competition. Would be close to most improved player in the comp?

I reckon Gardiner would be most improved, followed by Goldsworthy, Kelly and Toogood.

 

[cmndstab]

Had to do some shopping so only got to catch the second half on replay. Jesus Christ, my heart! It's funny how we were far and away the better team against Brisbane and yet lost, yet we were far and away the worst team today and won. Thank goodness for Kelly, probably our best player again! And Sarah Allan back was very useful.

Very ugly game and some dismal performances from normally reliable players - Hatchard chief among them - but hopefully we've blown out the cobwebs before finals. Now we just need to get through the WC game without any suspensions or injuries.

Top spot is still a possibility if we get up and Melbourne go down to Brisbane.


Edit: I can't tell you how tough it was to resist the urge to just skip ahead and see the final score, especially when it was so close for the entire second half! Credit to our defence, as much as they were a bit off today, holding North to a single goal in the second half is a seriously good effort.

 

[cmndstab]

I’ve been slightly annoyed/worried with Charlton dropping in and out of games recently so she’ll need to step up big time on Sunday.

Didn't agree with this comment during the week, but geez, she had her worst game of the season today. She was one of several players who seemed determined to try and run through tackles, look for a second option, etc, and just kept coughing it up over and over again.

When you're playing a high-pressure side like North (or Melbourne/Brisbane for that matter) you have to take the first option, because someone will always be there to close you down.

 

[Firewalker]

2 weeks in a row the Crows midfield has been 2nd best to their opponents, huge concern, wheels are wobbling a little in there as Charlton not making the strides the team would’ve wanted this season playing a part with most of her value now seen as a defensive option on the opposition. Riddell’s ability to break away also exposing the holes that have been there for a while now, also Garner, Riddell and Bruton exposed Marinoff and Hatchard by standing alone forward in heaps of space off the ball and letting those 2 possession chase and quite literally at stages fight over the same ball.

The amount of space some of North’s prime movers had on such a narrow ground is hugely disappointing.

 

[dplggr47]

Had to do some shopping so only got to catch the second half on replay. Jesus Christ, my heart! It's funny how we were far and away the better team against Brisbane and yet lost, yet we were far and away the worst team today and won. Thank goodness for Kelly, probably our best player again! And Sarah Allan back was very useful.

Very ugly game and some dismal performances from normally reliable players - Hatchard chief among them - but hopefully we've blown out the cobwebs before finals. Now we just need to get through the WC game without any suspensions or injuries.

Top spot is still a possibility if we get up and Melbourne go down to Brisbane.


Edit: I can't tell you how tough it was to resist the urge to just skip ahead and see the final score, especially when it was so close for the entire second half! Credit to our defence, as much as they were a bit off today, holding North to a single goal in the second half is a seriously good effort.

She struggled on Randall early on, but it did free up Biddell to be more attacking.

 

[Firewalker]

She struggled on Randall early on, but it did free up Biddell to be more attacking.

Don’t know if my eyes deceived me but looked like Biddell went forward late in the quarter before Kelly’s goal.

Thinking it was maybe caused more by Shierlaw going off the ground but with Allan back Clarke should look to do that more often to stretch opposition backs with either Prowse or Biddell especially in games like today with the forward line not functioning great.

 

[dplggr47]

Don’t know if my eyes deceived me but looked like Biddell went forward late in the quarter before Kelly’s goal.

With Allan back Clarke should look to do that more often to stretch opposition backs with either Prowse or Biddell.

Yeh, I saw that too. They did mention Biddell started her career up forward, but defenders going forward? I think I prefer Prowse as she's a better contested mark.

 

[dplggr47]

Had to do some shopping so only got to catch the second half on replay. Jesus Christ, my heart! It's funny how we were far and away the better team against Brisbane and yet lost, yet we were far and away the worst team today and won. Thank goodness for Kelly, probably our best player again! And Sarah Allan back was very useful.

Very ugly game and some dismal performances from normally reliable players - Hatchard chief among them - but hopefully we've blown out the cobwebs before finals. Now we just need to get through the WC game without any suspensions or injuries.

Top spot is still a possibility if we get up and Melbourne go down to Brisbane.


Edit: I can't tell you how tough it was to resist the urge to just skip ahead and see the final score, especially when it was so close for the entire second half! Credit to our defence, as much as they were a bit off today, holding North to a single goal in the second half is a seriously good effort.

Melbourne have the wood over Brisbane (6 wins to 2), Brisbane have the wood over us (7 wins to 3), we are even with Melbourne (5 to 5) and all teams have the wood over North.

 

[Firewalker]

Know after the finish to last year I thought Randall’s days in the midfield should’ve been numbered and that’s how it’s played out but after the last 2 weeks feel she needs to go back into the midfield for finals, need some toughness back around that ball especially with Hatchard now staying more standoff-ish around packs.

 

[BucketsNj]

Didn’t deserve that, like at all, decision making from the coach down just was so poor all day.

Just enjoy it, perhaps

 

[cmndstab]

Don’t know if my eyes deceived me but looked like Biddell went forward late in the quarter before Kelly’s goal.

Thinking it was maybe caused more by Shierlaw going off the ground but with Allan back Clarke should look to do that more often to stretch opposition backs with either Prowse or Biddell especially in games like today with the forward line not functioning great.

She was definitely up there, but I assumed she was just following her player there. Every other time I saw her it was down back.

We did try her up forward once late in a game where we weren't going to win (possibly the Melbourne final last season?) but it didn't really work then. She's a defender, through and through.

As for Randall, I'm happy to continue using her as our Ms Fixit, but the more I see her play other roles the more I'm convinced that her best role is in defence, either playing loose, or in a super-tight lockdown role. Less likely to completely destroy her body there, too.

 

[cmndstab]

2 weeks in a row the Crows midfield has been 2nd best to their opponents, huge concern, wheels are wobbling a little in there as Charlton not making the strides the team would’ve wanted this season playing a part with most of her value now seen as a defensive option on the opposition. Riddell’s ability to break away also exposing the holes that have been there for a while now, also Garner, Riddell and Bruton exposed Marinoff and Hatchard by standing alone forward in heaps of space off the ball and letting those 2 possession chase and quite literally at stages fight over the same ball.

The amount of space some of North’s prime movers had on such a narrow ground is hugely disappointing.

Riddell does that to every team, to be fair.

I agree, what North did so much better than us is trust their inside mids to at least neutralise the contest, and so had outside players waiting to receive the ball. Whereas we seem to just send everyone into the contest, with Hatchard a couple of metres out the closest we get to an "outside" option. From there, we try to emerge from the contest by breaking through tackles and sidestepping opponents.

It works when we can dominate the inside contest, but against a team like North our entire midfield group only barely manages to break even, and then gets smashed on the outside.

 

[Firewalker]

She was definitely up there, but I assumed she was just following her player there. Every other time I saw her it was down back.

We did try her up forward once late in a game where we weren't going to win (possibly the Melbourne final last season?) but it didn't really work then. She's a defender, through and through.

As for Randall, I'm happy to continue using her as our Ms Fixit, but the more I see her play other roles the more I'm convinced that her best role is in defence, either playing loose, or in a super-tight lockdown role. Less likely to completely destroy her body there, too.

I think like dplggr47 said Prowse should probably be looked at as the one to swing forward out of the 2.

Long term you’re probably right with Randall but for the end of this season specifically with how things are tracking in the midfield I think she might need to go in there to do some heavy lifting that Charlton still doesn’t look ready to do.

 

[cmndstab]

I think like dplggr47 said Prowse should probably be looked at as the one to swing forward out of the 2.

Long term you’re probably right with Randall but for the end of this season specifically with how things are tracking in the midfield I think she might need to go in there to do some heavy lifting that Charlton still doesn’t look ready to do.

Given the teams we'll need to beat to win a flag (North, Melbourne, plus another?) I agree. We need our best contested players through the middle of the ground.

I'd like to see Randall do a "reverse Phillips" role of starting in the middle and then floating back after the stoppage.

 

[BRL121]

Given the teams we'll need to beat to win a flag (North, Melbourne, plus another?) I agree. We need our best contested players through the middle of the ground.

I'd like to see Randall do a "reverse Phillips" role of starting in the middle and then floating back after the stoppage.

Is Randall tending towards cooked now? She doesn't seem capable of contributing a lot, apart from bullocking ahead with the ball and getting caught.

 

[dplggr47]

Is Randall tending towards cooked now? She doesn't seem capable of contributing a lot, apart from bullocking ahead with the ball and getting caught.

Hatchard has also gone well backwards this year.
Randall is only 32 and probably a bit sleep deprived the last couple nights with new baby.

 

[cmndstab]

Is Randall tending towards cooked now? She doesn't seem capable of contributing a lot, apart from bullocking ahead with the ball and getting caught.

Randall has a very specific skill set. She's super athletic and explosive, fearless, reads the ball early in the air, and has a long kick. That makes her ideal as a floating defender who gets into the right spots. As a midfielder she is useful but she's not a natural clearance player. As a forward she gets the ball well but is not an accurate shot for goal.

I think she's still every bit as useful down back, but she's not a competition leading midfielder and never really has been. Very useful, certainly, but not any more than that.

 

[dplggr47]

Randall has a very specific skill set. She's super athletic and explosive, fearless, reads the ball early in the air, and has a long kick. That makes her ideal as a floating defender who gets into the right spots. As a midfielder she is useful but she's not a natural clearance player. As a forward she gets the ball well but is not an accurate shot for goal.

I think she's still every bit as useful down back, but she's not a competition leading midfielder and never really has been. Very useful, certainly, but not any more than that.

I agree. Her strengths are down back or up forward, because she can take a contested mark.