Very intense game of football played by the Crows early on, with a few individuals obviously putting up their hands for selection. Didn't seem to be as much fire from our boys, but physically they seemed to get better as the game wore on. I suspect our training load is still up a bit higher than it will be through the regular season and some are struggling with this, but medium and long passing by foot was definitely up a notch on previous practice matches.
Short passing was utterly woeful, but a lack of work rate when in possession helped explain most of these situations. Teams who play like Essendon* and Freo will maul us if we play such stagnant football through the middle.
The match came down to work-rate for both sides, and concentration for our boys. So many silly free kicks conceded by daft efforts at HB or slightly off-cue passes towards HF. A lot of frees again not paid to us, which has been a consistent theme all pre-season.
Hadley was somewhat missed out there and we appear to have settled on Grigg as Judd's replacement for round 1. Grigg was actually more impressive, although seems to have lost his hunger to have a ping when inside 50. There were probably a handful of times where I was left wondering why a player didn't just have a shot at goal rather than trying to square it up or wait for something to open up; we lack confidence in taking shots from 50.
Onto the players:
Walker - solid game mostly in midfield, clean with the ball and did plenty of team things (shepherds, chasing, etc). Would have liked to have seen him feature more up forward as he would provide a difficult match-up due to his athleticism.
Russell - extremely solid in defence and cut off a lot of kicks. Forced his way into the play in the last and created some extra drive which further propelled our comeback. Looks set for a good year. He and Bower love the corridor, and I resultantly love them.
Murphy - still blowing out the cobwebs. Got forward of the play with regularity and had a role at times on half-forward. Looks his composed self when in possession but touch isn't quite there yet. Will play round 1 but may not hit his straps for another round or so. Physically fine.
Gibbs - believe the 5AA commentators: he had a great game in the middle, regularly forcing turnovers and weaving his way through traffic. Seemed to be lighter on his feet in the second half and played with a reasonable burst of acceleration. Skills nearing top gear and was delivering well into the forward line. Set for a good year.
Judd - was Judd, although did get burned by his tag a few times when Adelaide had the ball. More than made up for it, but it's something he should pay more attention against quality direct opponents (Adelaide & Sydney in particular work him over in this regard).
Simpson - was Simmo, still working out a few kinks, and one of many of our midfield who insist on taking full possession of the ball before disposing despite the utter futility of it. If a bloke is clearly wrapping you up for the tackle, why wouldn't you knock on to your mate right next to you and lay in a shepherd. Frustrated me no end last season as it seems everyone wants the glory in this situation and backs themselves instead of playing the percentages. Straightened up our midfield play at times and always doubled up after feeding the ball off.
McLean - thought he was impressive outside of the clearances, and seemed to be doing some good work in the thick of it. Like many in our side he seems to have a touch of the fumbles at times but presented himself regularly in space through his superior read of the play and that gave him time to distribute the ball well. Looks like he's wearing concrete boots half the time and seems to have lost a yard from his early days at Melbourne. Despite this, I still feel he gets to more contests and makes more plays on the ball and the ball carrier than a Bentick-type did. Probably applies more pressure than Hadley to be honest, which would explain his omission.
Kreuzer - looked in good touch a lot of the time, although fluffed a few kicks at full pace. Combined with Warnock to control the ruck and resultantly the centre square, and linked beautifully through midfield. Virtually no time spent in a forward role, and it benefited him immensely.
Warnock - when in the ruck he was great and showed some fantastic bursts of speed to spread to present an option, and pushed back to nullify Tippet in many a contest. Some great spoils in midfield as well, including a cracker in I think the last quarter. Pushed forward to good effect and will complement Kreuzer's playing style extremely well from a tactical perspective.
Robinson - really impressed me today because he actually found another gear; looks like the pre-season work was slowing him down a cog. The problem was that while the burst came back, so did the glory boy antics. Took a great mark to force a turnover at one point, then blindly handballed just after he landed, resulting in a completely stupid turnover. Seems to find a way to be a liability one way or another, and lacks the discipline to play midfield at present. Does provide a spark up forward but needs to make better decisions in general play.
Yarran - class. Couldn't believe the Bronx cheers he was receiving when he successfully held possession on his own for about 30 seconds at half-back (in the last I believe). Short of pushing forward himself, not sure what more you can ask of a second year player; evaded about 4 blokes in that piece of play. Pushed up the ground and wasn't as much of a scoring threat but know he has that in him from previous viewings, and was providing more of a creative spark in the last. Should play round 1.
Grigg - another who surprised me today with a turn of pace, which should help cover for his lack of defensive nous. Was also pleased to see his disposal showing signs of hitting targets, but this appeared to be at the expense of a willingness to have a shot at goal, which was probably the best decision when he had the ball about 40-45 m out in the third. Wouldn't be completely adverse to see him in the side on the back of his performance.
Setanta - played a good role up forward and would be our number 1 option at CHF and number 2 at FF. Presents really well although would have trouble in a pack situation, and is a risk when he feels he has to stab at the ball as his disposal can be quite wayward. Also stabbed at a shot at goal in the first quarter and missed badly from 20 m out. Provides good pressure and remains in the hunt when the ball hits the deck. Set to provide the same form we saw from him at CHF last year.
Bower - possibly best on ground. Got a chance to play more of a floating role than dealing with a direct opponent and relished the opportunity to rebound, punishing Adelaide with both his runs and his disposal. He was extremely clean by foot due in no small part by remaining balanced as he disposed, and got a little angry at himself and his kick at one point when he distributed sideways to Jamison because he was off-balance when he executed. Clearly it's something he's been made aware of and is working diligently on, for which I am glad. Might get an AA nod if he gets more opportunities to play in a role like today's.
Betts - anticipate him changing his name to 'Eddie Everywhere' by deed poll. Completely accurate description of his game; his fitness is at another level and the forward line could easily transition from the Fev show to the Eddie show if he has his way. Played more like Simmo than Simmo at times by doubling up his own efforts in midfield. Regularly disrupted Adelaide's ball movement despite his diminutive stature. Seems to be getting a bum wrap in the media on account of receiving receiving scant praise, because he is definitely set for a big year.
Henderson - continued to present well and at times was pushing all the way up to CHB to create issues for Adelaide's forward entires. Created a goal there through a magnificent smother. Definitely came in third behind Waite & Setanta in the key forward role and despite a fluffed mark on the lead at one point the only thing stopping him from going up a level is self-confidence IMO. Not enough fire in his game just yet. Like Setanta, not strong enough to impose in a pack situation regularly but that will come with time. Should play round 1.
Anderson - inconsistent game from him, does the team things but the minute he tries to show some flash, it all goes horribly wrong. Our desperation for another small/medium defender to play in Armfield's absence has us turning to Ando when he probably isn't up to it. Needs to work more on what he does with possession of the ball because he has the physical attributes to be a good medium defender, and his skills don't seem that far off.
Scotland - was solid when I saw him and didn't particularly notice him in the second half, people mentioned an injury in the thread but I don't recall a specific incident. Don't remember seeing him in the last quarter. Provided he's ok he should provide a good option through midfield to set up play and has had a really good pre-season.
Waite - looks the part for FF. Touch is good, leads are good, aerial ability is good; completely lacks the ability to recover at present to make the second efforts. Everything you'd expect from a FF.
Had a stint in defence where he looked composed but was regularly side-stepped with ease. Will take time before he can bounce around once more, but will be a primary target from the square in the mean time.
Thornton - Regular T-Bird effort, just about spent the whole game playing the last man. Our defensive unit looks rock solid and he is definitely a major reason why. Was forced to hold Tippet for portions and did a reasonable job on him but should have shown a greater readiness to enter aerial contests and ensure the spoil was made. A cheap goal was conceded because he backed his mates to reach underneath to spoil while they were back-pedalling. Didn't work out so well for him. Perhaps he was just taking it easy and protecting himself for round 1.
Houlihan - always solid in possession and presented well to receive at times. Seemed to fade in and out of the game but was involved in stoppage play at times. Will play round 1, but would like to see more run & carry or scoring threats from him.
Jamison - good game. Pulled out a ripper side-step when streaming along the wing on the rebound at one point that drew applause. Again, our back line looks like a superbly oiled machine, and he's a reason why.
Carrazzo - good solid game and disposal was more impressive, as well as his tackling save for one silly head high incident where he was clearly not paying attention to the play (despite being involved in it). Lazy swat of the arms and bump giving away a clear free when he could have wrapped the man in possession with ease. Looks set for his defensive forward role and will link well, although his kicking to leads was poorly flighted at times. One in particular was a good 3 metres wide of Yarran and skidded out of bounds, snuffing out a clean break forward.
Joseph - does all the 1%ers and solid link work. Disposal seems slightly better from last season and he will cause havoc when the opposition have possession. At times in the first half he was the only one chasing around through middle as we did a poor job of pushing back to force turnovers at HB, without actually manning up or zoning, which resulted in some soft goals to Adelaide ala round 22 last year. Not his fault however, and I think he had a good rest on the pine in the second half after playing every pre-season game so far.
Should note one thing I found disappointing about our defence of kickouts was how easily Adelaide drew our zone with the huddle, only to present what our boys thought was an unthinkable option, kicking over the zone to 55 m out, where sure enough, an Adelaide player was in space. At times this player would be in the corridor, so the lack of awareness and talk was deplorable.
Away from that, everything seems to be gearing up well for round 1, just our boys need to really work on how they present to their team mates in possession, particularly kick outs. I still think we'll give Richmond a hiding, but I'll wait for that performance before I assess how we'll fare ongoing. They were definitely in practice game mode for a good portion of this fixture.
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