How happy would Eade be?

[ledge]

Being the coach of us and putting the game in perspective just how happy would Rodney be?
Well we got the 4 points , thats excellent, now does Rodney work on the positives or negatives?
What things do you think he should look at?
My thoughts are... our forward line tends to crowd itself.
Hudson when resting from ruck,maybe scouting across half back and cutting out opposition full forward?

[ledge]

Maybe i should ask coondog for Rodneys thoughts, just his overview not details i suppose because that might be giving away something. just how happy is he about our overall game.

[hujsh]

Relieved or happy?

[ledge]

good point, bit of both i suspect, always sleep better with a win though too

[Crizza]

Exciting start to the year, most pleasing was our intensity and second efforts-features that went missing last year.

It is always great to win our first game but without throwing a blanket on a great game, it is only round one, and this time last year we had knocked off Geelong convincingly.

If I were Rocket, these thoughts would direct my opinoin;
1: Either team could have won today.
2: We still have a few to come back into our 22
3: Great win, but lets not get ahead of ourselves
4: Melbourne next week, they got pumped by over 100 in their 150 year birthday first game, be weary of the wounded - these are games we must win by as much as possible!

[Mofra]

We got the points against a tough ball side with 3 of our starting 6 defenders carrying niggles. I'd be happy.

[The Underdog]

It definitely wasn't all roses and I'd imagine he'd be telling them that.
To be brutally honest, I'm not sure we were the better side all up. I thought Adelaide were a lot cleaner than us for a fair bit of the game and the reason that our backs were beaten so comprehensively was that we allowed them too much easy possession through the midfield especially through the 2nd and 3rd quarters.
I thought most of their goals came from cleaner pieces of play. I mean Gia's goal out of the air was great but he and Johnno should have never got themselves into the position that a kick from mid air was the best option. Overuse and poor options were still a problem.
I'm certainly not saying it was all bad. The first quarter was fantastic and our physical pressure for much of the game was a vast improvement, we also kept running and pressuring to the end, but there's still plenty of work to do. Guys like Lake and Wight looked underdone and will be better for the run unquestionably.

[The Coon Dog]

I thought most of their goals came from cleaner pieces of play. I mean Gia's goal out of the air was great but he and Johnno should have never got themselves into the position that a kick from mid air was the best option. Overuse and poor options were still a problem.

I thought that at the time too. We were certainly made to work harder that's for sure. From memory in that 3rd term, Johnno played on then jagged one from an angle, there was Gia's hack out of mid air & Cam Wight off the ground. Whilst we didn't make it easy for ourselves, we just hung in, unlike late 2007.

[Throughandthrough]

...not as happy as the membership dept I guess!

[ledge]

And what is our membership now, did we have a few come on board on sunday did we?

[The Underdog]

I thought that at the time too. We were certainly made to work harder that's for sure. From memory in that 3rd term, Johnno played on then jagged one from an angle, there was Gia's hack out of mid air & Cam Wight off the ground. Whilst we didn't make it easy for ourselves, we just hung in, unlike late 2007.

Completely agree that the pleasing thing was there ability to fight and to get the win, but some things came off for us today, a la Johnno playing on and snagging it off 2 steps that won't on another day. We need to be more systematic which I felt that the Crows were in their good passages of play. Don't get me wrong I don't want to take too much gloss off, but still need to make better decisions with the ball. Our work off the ball (2nd quarter aside) was a vast improvement.

[LostDoggy]

Completely agree that the pleasing thing was there ability to fight and to get the win, but some things came off for us today, a la Johnno playing on and snagging it off 2 steps that won't on another day. We need to be more systematic which I felt that the Crows were in their good passages of play. Don't get me wrong I don't want to take too much gloss off, but still need to make better decisions with the ball. Our work off the ball (2nd quarter aside) was a vast improvement.

It seems like there are two schools of thought as far as offensive tactics goes -- the 'systematic' set-play, hit the lead type, and the play on at all costs, instinctive type set up and every club are a blend of the two to varying degrees, with Adelaide and Sydney on the one end of the spectrum, the Cats and West Coast a 50/50 blend, and us more on the other end of the scale. We've always played our most dangerous footy under Eade in a helter-skelter style, and it seems that most of our players are better when they have less time to think almost (ie. Gilbee kicking better on the run than from a set shot).. I remember the Round 1 game against Richmond a couple of years ago when almost half our goals came from 'magic' smothers, diving shots, off the ground soccers etc.

I guess the problem with a purely instinctive type game is that when things aren't going well there isn't a system to fall back on to grind out goals.

Welsh and Minson (which I thought was reasonable yesterday), though definitely helps straighten the team up and gives a bit more structure to the madness in our forward 50.

[hujsh]

With the whole going forward problem, I think that with confidence a lot of these problems, like get to the point where Gia had to kick a volley, will solve themselves. Hopefully a win against Melbourne will be the answer

[Mofra]

Will still outscored them for 3 quarters, and played the most abysmal brand of football for much of the second quarter. If we eliminated even half of those silly turnovers we would have had a comfortable victory. Hill had McLeod on him in only his second game - that speaks volumes about the kid.

Lake was very much underdone, an Eade has said as much. He will regain fitness over the coming weeks. Also take into account 2 of our 3 best tall defenders in Williams & Everitt are due to come back, whilst the loss of Eagle may only be short term & Ray is due back as well. Ray can release Griffen into more of the midfield rotation and if Eagle's injury is worse than expected we'll have Harbrow back week after next.

Tiller & Skip should provide handy back-up forward options as well. Overall we will be better for the run, and would expect a victory next week against Melbourne. The real test will come in the weeks after.

PS. Forgot to mention an underdone Gia who obviously was tired by the end of the game, and a cramping by the end of the game; both should run themselves into match fitness & imporve our running power over the next month.

[LostDoggy]

Being the coach of us and putting the game in perspective just how happy would Rodney be?
Well we got the 4 points , thats excellent, now does Rodney work on the positives or negatives?
What things do you think he should look at?
My thoughts are... our forward line tends to crowd itself.
Hudson when resting from ruck,maybe scouting across half back and cutting out opposition full forward?

He should be ecstatic. We won the game and we were very lucky to win it. For the sake of Bock kicking accurately the mood around the club and the media would be vastly different last night and today.

Having said that there was a tonne of positives.
Increased work rate in the clinches
The new additions in Welsh and Hudson doing well
Eagleton on fire and what a return by Giasiracusa
Cooney displaying almost career best form and a startling display by Josh Hill
Akermanis showing some of his spark of old
and West doing some things with his kicking that I thought had passed him.
I could go on and on

The negatives though need addressing
A defensive unit clearly out of sorts
Hahn and Cross having limited impact and looking lost to what their role is in the game plan
Players in a bad need of another gallop
Players taking their eye off the ball and the job at hand at critical moments
I could go on

Eade should be rapt with the result but we need to follow it up next weekend with a big result against an opposition in clear disarray.

[Bulldog4life]

Will still outscored them for 3 quarters, and played the most abysmal brand of football for much of the second quarter. If we eliminated even half of those silly turnovers we would have had a comfortable victory. Hill had McLeod on him in only his second game - that speaks volumes about the kid.

Lake was very much underdone, an Eade has said as much. He will regain fitness over the coming weeks. Also take into account 2 of our 3 best tall defenders in Williams & Everitt are due to come back, whilst the loss of Eagle may only be short term & Ray is due back as well. Ray can release Griffen into more of the midfield rotation and if Eagle's injury is worse than expected we'll have Harbrow back week after next.

Tiller & Skip should provide handy back-up forward options as well. Overall we will be better for the run, and would expect a victory next week against Melbourne. The real test will come in the weeks after.

PS. Forgot to mention an underdone Gia who obviously was tired by the end of the game, and a cramping by the end of the game; both should run themselves into match fitness & imporve our running power over the next month.


Excellent post. Agree 100%. We won and we will get better. Can't get better than that.

[ledge]

6 and a half wins after 7 games i dont think i need to ask this question , no losses bugger all injuries, nothing could be better could it?