Crows: The Flood is on?

[sydney-dog]

Blue Boy
I like your thoughts

I think the Crows will line up as follow

F ROO BOCK PROPLYZIA
HF JOHNCOCK McGREGOR WELSH
C KNIGHTS THOMPSON VAN BERLO
HB MASSIE STEVENS MATTNER
B MACCA RUTTEN BASSETT
1R HUDSON SHIRLEY EDWARDS
INT GRIFFEN JERICHO DOUGHTY TORNEY

I agree with your thoughts on Hinge, I would love to see him get another opportunity, maybe to come in for Torney and hopefully Gill can start to place some pressure on the key forwards.

On Griffen, he was actually recruited as a forward, it will be interesting if either Maric or Meesen form starts to warrants selection, whether Craigy will start to look towards playing Griffen more as a forward rather than a ruckman

Possible Key Match ups

My view and I will be interested in Dutchy's thoughts, I think the Kanga's might go with

SPUD on ROO,
PETRIE on BOCK
BROWN on McGREGOR
ARCHER on WELSH
RAWLINGS on THOMPSON

I think the Crows will go with

BASSETT on EDWARDS
MATTNER on GRANT
MASSIE on HARVEY
SHIRLEY on SIMPSON
VAN BERLO on SINCLAIR
STEVENS on JONES

This allows Rutten to play on Archer, Brown or Hale if they push forward, if not maybe Rutten will get the opportunity to play further up the ground

[Dutchy]

Reckon you will find Brown and Hale up forward trying to stretch Adelaide...I can only remember one game that Brown was in defence this year and also has kicked some goals at Cararra this year

[Booney]

Man up on Welsh,McGregor and Roo,let Bock run around doing what ever he does in the forward line (IMO,a backman,and that alone).

Stop McLeod by pushing him into the midfield,sound strange? Gives him less opportunity to get fed by Mattner,Rutten and co. which from half back he is most damaging.

Let Bassett get his 25 "Bowden" touches as they do no damage and you are well on your way to beating the Crows.

Adelaides defenders are the best attackers around,McLeod,Johncock are the two to stop.

[Blue Boy]

I think the Crows will go with

BASSETT on EDWARDS
MATTNER on GRANT
MASSIE on HARVEY
SHIRLEY on SIMPSON
VAN BERLO on SINCLAIR
STEVENS on JONES

Id like to see Johncock go with Harvey - has played him very well in the past.

Stevens is probably not the best match up for Jones - Id rekon Laidley would like that match up

I would also like Mattner on the wing SD - Vanberlo seems a much better option on a HB flank for me.

[sydney-dog]

Blue Boy,

At present Johncock may struggle to go with Harvey, given his lack of match conditioning, Harvey is one of the fittest and hardest working players in the comp...

Steves on Jones, I would give Stevens first crack, if Jones gets couple of early goals, Bassett, Mattner, Torney or Massie all become suitable options

Mattner, I just think Craigy's made the decision to play Marty of HB, I don't think we will see Van Berlo of HB because of his running capability, he is one of the fittest blokes at the club, so I can't see Craigy moving Van Berlo from the wing / midfield, another option for HB is Doughty

[Blue Boy]

Blue Boy,

Mattner, I just think Craigy's made the decision to play Marty of HB, I don't think we will see Van Berlo of HB because of his running capability, he is one of the fittest blokes at the club, so I can't see Craigy moving Van Berlo from the wing / midfield, another option for HB is Doughty

Very true about Van Berlo and his fitness but with playin HB in the crows side you would be doin a fair bit of runnin anyway.

When I go watch Crows Train I have noticed that Mattner has been set up in defence and is often positioned in Ben Harts old role. So yes Mumbles has him playing in defence but he is a wingman and needs to be left unshackled so to speak.

When a coach has his mind made up I often know it is hard to change there mind - maybe near impossible. I do have a bias being a Sturt supporter and have seen him play his best and most damaging football as a wingman - I think to me it is likened to asking the Birdman to play in defence.

[sydney-dog]

Intersesting point about the shackles

I think this is a team issue, when Craigy won the role he realised his list was not great so he developed a game plan around a strong defensive game plan, this was the right decision because the crows have become a very competitve side

The issue, the players now have a natural defensive instinct, the challenge for the Crows is to remove the shackles and attack the game more, without losing their defensive quality.

Maybe your right, to achieve this, should we look at players in different roles

Van Berlo - HB
Johncock - FWD
Mattner - Wing
Hinge - HB
Jericho - HB / Wing
Rielly - HB

[Blue Boy]

Intersesting point about the shackles

Van Berlo - HB
Johncock - FWD
Mattner - Wing
Hinge - HB
Jericho - HB / Wing
Rielly - HB

These guys in those areas sound good to me.

Thompson rested up forward more often would be nice to.

[sydney-dog]

in regards to Thompson, agree, but it's tough to play the entire game these days, he has definitely spent some time up forward this year

[RoosterMarty]

It makes it even harder when forwards push back to help the middle/defence... it's not really a "rest" like the old days (it's still a rest in the SANFL though).