Crows 2014

[carey]

Serious question... Not stirring sh*t...

I know walker is only 2 games in but has been very average.
Does he deserve the hype he gets?

I'm not saying he cant play, As he clearly can but to answer your question about the hype no I don't believe he warrants that type of hype.

[bennymacca]

Serious question... Not stirring sh*t...

I know walker is only 2 games in but has been very average.
Does he deserve the hype he gets?

Pretty harsh to judge him on his first 2 games back from a knee reco.

He looks like he hasn't adjusted to the pace of the game yet. Got to some great positions and got both hands on it a number of times but just didn't stick the mark.

Also didn't look like he wanted to really test out the knee by stopping and turning quickly etc.

I am pretty happy with his comeback so far. He has looked dangerous at times but just isn't quite there. People say it takes half to a full season to be back to your best. Hopefully he can get back to the form that saw him kick 60 odd a couple of years back

[bennymacca]

Serious question... Not stirring sh*t...

I know walker is only 2 games in but has been very average.
Does he deserve the hype he gets?

I'm not saying he cant play, As he clearly can but to answer your question about the hype no I don't believe he warrants that type of hype.

He is one of those "heart and soul of the club" type of guys. You can see that others life because he is there.

Hopefully this week against the Gold Coast he can start to clunk a few because if he does that his confidence will skyrocket.

[woodublieve12]

Serious question... Not stirring sh*t...

I know walker is only 2 games in but has been very average.
Does he deserve the hype he gets?

Pretty harsh to judge him on his first 2 games back from a knee reco.

He looks like he hasn't adjusted to the pace of the game yet. Got to some great positions and got both hands on it a number of times but just didn't stick the mark.

Also didn't look like he wanted to really test out the knee by stopping and turning quickly etc.

I am pretty happy with his comeback so far. He has looked dangerous at times but just isn't quite there. People say it takes half to a full season to be back to your best. Hopefully he can get back to the form that saw him kick 60 odd a couple of years back

should he be playing if thats the case?

[bennymacca]

Yep absolutely.

Not a structural issue, but a confidence issue. And you don't build confidence by staying in the twos for months.

He has been far from our worst player in the last two weeks (though he did shank one or two kicks)

Crows disposal is disgustingly bad though. It has cost us two games against opposition that we should beat easily.

The recipe to beat the crows is pretty clear now. Deny space for smith and Mackay to run, and the rest of the team don't have the footskills to hurt you and so the turnovers will come.

Both Carlton and Melbourne (and the pies for a half) have beaten the crows in a scrap, as soon as the game opened up a bit we threatened to win but our kicking just wasn't good enough.

[woodublieve12]

Former Hawthorn captain Shane Crawford has said Melbourne should offer Adelaide's Patrick Dangerfield an eight year deal worth $10 Million.

[bennymacca]

Brain fades aside, he is worth it. Not too many that can both win the inside ball and hurt you on the outside. I would be happy for the crows to pay whatever they want to keep him.

[bennymacca]

Also give him the captaincy next year. (Or permanent co captains with Rory)

[Robran]

Walker just needs to work harder when the ball comes to ground. . We r the most frustrating team to watch in the Afl.. the remote control got smashed last night so frustrating its not funny gee I wish we still had jack gunston up forward for us as another target think pods will get sent back to the ressies looked ordinary last night...

[Jase]

Yep absolutely.

Not a structural issue, but a confidence issue. And you don't build confidence by staying in the twos for months.

He has been far from our worst player in the last two weeks (though he did shank one or two kicks)

Crows disposal is disgustingly bad though. It has cost us two games against opposition that we should beat easily.

The recipe to beat the crows is pretty clear now. Deny space for smith and Mackay to run, and the rest of the team don't have the footskills to hurt you and so the turnovers will come.

Both Carlton and Melbourne (and the pies for a half) have beaten the crows in a scrap, as soon as the game opened up a bit we threatened to win but our kicking just wasn't good enough.

Love the arrogance, you are only % ahead of the Blues now, who have won 4 of their last 5... Please explain why, you should easily beat any team, when your's is decidedly average (at best)...

I'm not for one second saying Carlton are anything but average themselves, so why should the Crows easily beat them?

[bennymacca]

How is that arrogance?

If you look at the games, we played well below our best in those games. Credit where it's due, melb and Carlton played well, but if the crows play near their best they would have smashed both teams.

Contrast that with the port and geelong games. Felt like we played well yet still lost. That's because we weren't good enough.

The crows best is much better than the two teams you mentioned. I don't think that's controversial. The problem is we don't do it anywhere near enough.

[Red Rocket]

How is that arrogance?

If you look at the games, we played well below our best in those games. Credit where it's due, melb and Carlton played well, but if the crows play near their best they would have smashed both teams.

Contrast that with the port and geelong games. Felt like we played well yet still lost. That's because we weren't good enough.

The crows best is much better than the two teams you mentioned. I don't think that's controversial. The problem is we don't do it anywhere near enough.

Come on Benny take your Crow coloured glasses off for a minute.
The supporters, media and the club has overated this side for too long, even it your absolute best you would barely be a top 8 club. Too much is left to too few and I would say you have 10-12 genuine C to D grade footballers, until the club addresses this you will continue to float around the 8th to 12th mark. Be honest and tell me how many Crows would make Hawthorn, Port, Geelong or even Freos side?
Would think lucky to be 4 or 5. Time to pension off a few of the oldies like Podsiadly, Rutten, Reilly etc and play the kids like Cameron. Cant see what good its doing playing Ellis-Yeoman, Grigg, Crouch in the SANFL

[bennymacca]

10th seems about right for us given the way we are playing. Not saying they are a top 4 side, never have.

But we should beat Melbourne and Carlton...

[woodublieve12]

10th seems about right for us given the way we are playing. Not saying they are a top 4 side, never have.

But we should beat Melbourne and Carlton...

should you????

[Sorry Dude]

How is that arrogance?

If you look at the games, we played well below our best in those games. Credit where it's due, melb and Carlton played well, but if the crows play near their best they would have smashed both teams.

Contrast that with the port and geelong games. Felt like we played well yet still lost. That's because we weren't good enough.

The crows best is much better than the two teams you mentioned. I don't think that's controversial. The problem is we don't do it anywhere near enough.

Come on Benny take your Crow coloured glasses off for a minute.
The supporters, media and the club has overated this side for too long, even it your absolute best you would barely be a top 8 club. Too much is left to too few and I would say you have 10-12 genuine C to D grade footballers, until the club addresses this you will continue to float around the 8th to 12th mark. Be honest and tell me how many Crows would make Hawthorn, Port, Geelong or even Freos side?
Would think lucky to be 4 or 5. Time to pension off a few of the oldies like Podsiadly, Rutten, Reilly etc and play the kids like Cameron. Cant see what good its doing playing Ellis-Yeoman, Grigg, Crouch in the SANFL

Couldn't agree more RR.
Pods was only offered a contract to fill the void until Walker is back up and about, and it hasn't really paid off overall. But he has been servicable.
Reilly has had his time, but I think he offers quite a bit in the twos.
Rutten - the game has passed him unfortunately. Being a crows fan the Truck love automatically comes with the territory, but it is becoming harder to keep that candle lit.

On the rest that need a talking to:
Wright - No pace, skill level is a worry at times, he has a crack but couldn't stick a tackle in an U/8's game
Hartigan - Needs to work on his skills. Can be a very servicable player IMO

Servicable, but need to lift:
Douglas - Probably a bit harsh, but is a key senior player for our club now, and I don't think he is with it at the moment
Mackay - Needs to work on a bit of consistency. Has it there to be a great outside runner, but sometimes I get the feeling he isn't always in the game
Betts - Already been mentioned a lot
Brown - you'd forget he was out there a lot of the time. But he does have a crack and keeps his opposition number quiet
Laird - Great game yesterday, still lacking a little composure/ consistency, but is still only a kids and it will come

I think we need to go forward and begin planning for the next couple of years. The team IMO should look a little like this

B: Brown Talia/Hartigan Laird
HB: Smith Talia/ Hartigan Jaensch
C: Mackay Thompson Martin
HF: Otten Walker Douglas
F: Betts Jenkins Grigg
R: Jacobs Dangerfield Sloane
B: Otten Cameron Kerridge (Lyons)
E: Ellis Yolmen M.Crouch Rutten

(this team is based on fit players at this time)

Goind forward the list will be cleared of - Graham, Porplyzia, McKernan

[bennymacca]

In my humble opinion, yes.

And in terms of people that would get a game in every other team?

It's not that many, correct there.

Danger
sloane
smith
Jacobs

Those are probably our a graders. People who would play on most other teams:
Thompson
talia
walker (when back to peak fitness)
betts (in before the chortles)
Jenkins would play in most teams too.
Brad crouch
Douglas
Lynch


Drops off a lot after that.

I wouldn't even say they are guys that shouldn't be playing afl. Just that instead of having 2 or 3 or 5 fringe players we seem to have 8-10. Guys that are good enough for the top level but we just have too many of them, and they won't win you games of footy.

People like shaw, brown, Martin, kerridge, podsiadly laird Lyons grigg Hartigan are all regular members of our side when to be a strong club we really only should have 3 or 4 of those sorts of blokes in the side with the rest as depth players.

Guess the loss of some recent draft picks is hurting in that regard because we should have two extra first rounders running around there now but because of the Tippett debacle we don't.

And put gunston Tippett Davis back in there and we would almost be top 4. The Tippett debacle is probably hurting more than we thought, especially for our depth

[MatteeG]

Talia will be a nice replacement for Lake in a year or 2...

[bennymacca]

Talia will be a nice replacement for Lake in a year or 2...

Booooo

[woodublieve12]

Talia will be a nice replacement for Lake in a year or 2...

And danger could be handy for us, playing second fiddle to Hannebery, kennedy and Jack....

Back with his mate Tippett

[Jim05]

Not sure if confirmed or not but just said on 5aa that Dangerfield has a fractured verterbrae