Round 1, Adelaide vs Essendon Review

Essendon 18:9 (117)

Def

Adelaide 11:16 (82)

See the Bombers fly up, up!
To win the premiership flag.
Our boys who play this grand old game,
Are always striving for glory and fame!
See the bombers fly up, up,
The other teams they don't fear,
They all try their best,
But they can't get near,
As the bombers fly up!

Disappointing performance from the AFC in front of a sold out home crowd, poor kicking for goal, poor decision making under pressure all added up to the Crows getting their ar$e$ served up to them on a plate again.

Guess its a little unfair to blame the playing group however for behavior that clearly started at the top of the management of the club though.

Served up again? I thought it was round one.

I'm not sure what you're alluding to with the behavior comment either.

Tough night tonight, Adelaide played poorly particularly in the midfield, but it's very early days yet. The likes of Dangerfield and Sloane will respond.

I think Essendon's longer preseason showed tonight also. Comfortably the better side tonight in the end.

big & harsh call after one match , surely with what Essendon has gone through you'd expect them to 'fire up' hell even Cronulla won their first match this year

A HA memo to myself, next team to get done back them to win their next match

I am not trying to be rude, but Adelaide did better than Essendon last season and with a sold out crowd behind them they should have had every advantage to win it and should have been expected to, by their fans also, making excuses for them helps no one.

No excuses offered by me. Beaten by a better side on the night tonight. One match does not maketh a season however.

Picked Essendon. Only 1 point off the margin too, just need 8 more right this round and I might be a chance to win a whopper.

We'll still finish ahead of them.

Adelaide just looked like they forgot to take their vitamins...

*boom* *crash*

Adelaide played brilliant football for the first 10 minutes, racing out to a 22 point lead. It looked like it was going to be a long night for Essendon, but Essendon responded, and Adelaide crumbled under Essendon's response, racing out to an easy 35 point win.

A very lazy pre-season for Adelaide has now began to creep into the season proper. The players are going to have to pull their heads out of their backsides soon or the season will be over very quickly for them. There was very little cohesiveness in the side tonight. Players unable (or unwilling) to read the play, long bombing kicks to nowhere, handpasses to unsuspecting players who would subsequently fumble and turn the ball over, a pathetic defence that bled goals easily for most of the night. All up, it was a shocker of a night for Adelaide.

I didn't think our defence was too bad BT. Otten, Talia, Reilly, Henderson, and Brown before he went off all did the best they could. They were under seige though, and there's only so much you can do when your midfield is letting their opposition run rampant.

Last night was all about the midfield, or lack theirof, for mine.

One slight concern I have is the effect of the new ruck rules on Sauces game. He had the least impact last night than any game I can recall since he's been at the club. I hope his advantage wasn't his bodywork, otherwise the game could be very different for him from now on.

If Talia did the best he could, he won't see much game time this year IMO.

In terms of the new rules, you just have to wait until Round 14 or so before the umpires forget about having a hot whistle for these stupid little things and then the game may get slightly back to what we're used to.

I wonder though, has anyone thought that the rule changes have been necessary due to legal ramifications. I get the feeling the AFL has brought these changes in to somewhat prevent a player or ex-player from suing the organisation if they get injured or have long-term medical issues as a result of the game.

You read and see so many stories now about what concussion is doing to players we watched in the 80s and 90s.

Hard to believe that with the "new Modra" (Walker), and the "new Judd" (Dangerfield), that they could play so badly.

I'm looking forward to the "new Platten" (Sloane) and "new Glenn Jakovich" (Talia) calls throughout the coming year, too.

Once Hird put Hocking onto Dangerfield as a tag his possessions for the rest of the game did not equal those of his first quarter. Without the influence of Dangerfield the Crows began to crumble. No doubt the other AFL coaches watched that with some interest. Others must step up to take the load from Dangerfield if the AFC is to be successful in coming weeks.

Ben W wrote:Once Hird put Hocking onto Dangerfield as a tag his possessions for the rest of the game did not equal those of his first quarter. Without the influence of Dangerfield the Crows began to crumble. No doubt the other AFL coaches watched that with some interest. Others must step up to take the load from Dangerfield if the AFC is to be successful in coming weeks.

Paddy must stand up. If he is as good as everyone keeps saying he is - the next Judd etc. those types of players handle a tag - mostly with ease, through hard running and heart. If he can't he may end up the next Danyle Pearce.

Yes of course, but they do require some assistance in the stoppages from teammates too with blocks and shepherds etc.

Judd receives that protection from his teammates.

I heard one of Dangerfield's teammates expressing their need to do this now that he is a marked man.

Observing the stoppages from all clubs is like watching a chess game the way the pieces are moved about to open a clear path.

Some are obviously better at it than others when they have a gun midfielder who can exploit the narrowest of passage through the bodies.

bigclock wrote:

Ben W wrote:Once Hird put Hocking onto Dangerfield as a tag his possessions for the rest of the game did not equal those of his first quarter. Without the influence of Dangerfield the Crows began to crumble. No doubt the other AFL coaches watched that with some interest. Others must step up to take the load from Dangerfield if the AFC is to be successful in coming weeks.

Paddy must stand up. If he is as good as everyone keeps saying he is - the next Judd etc. those types of players handle a tag - mostly with ease, through hard running and heart. If he can't he may end up the next Danyle Pearce.

What? I've watched alot of Danyle Pearce and Dangerfield offers many things Pearce never did or will. Thats about as bad a comparison as I have seen.

Dangerfield needs to learn to give the first option up instead of tucking the ball under one arm and trying to burst through packs. It no doubt worked for him in junior grades and a little last year, although I think he is playing more "inside" now as opposed to the outside / half forward role he played more of last year. I think they are seeing him replacing Thompson as the ball winner in a year or two and are moulding him for that. He just needs to trust his instinct and give the first "give".

Sloane is more of a natural outside and I think he'll assume that role.

I think everyone just needs to calm down a bit full stop really.

If the Adelaide midfield serve up that effort for a month running, then it's time to reach for the red button.

I think focussing on Adelaide's shortfalls also takes away from the efforts of the Essendon midfield. They played cracking footy after quarter time.

I am concerned about the next game against Brisbane up there - but I do feel that the team is too good to serve up that sort of effort two games in a row. Not saying we'll beat Brisbane as they are tracking pretty well at the moment also, but I do think we'll see a better effort from Adelaide.

I didn't get excited once when talking about Adelaide, I promise.

Just chipped in my $0.02 worth....

I do have one thing I would like to add though, GN. That is you blokes will need to do everything you can to protect and preserve Jacobs this year. He is, IMO, your most important player by the length of Anzac Hwy and without him you will be hard pressed to give Thompson, Dangerfield etc first use of the ball. If I were coaching against Adelaide, he would be made to really, really earn every feel of leather. I mean really....really earn it.

Booney wrote:I didn't get excited once when talking about Adelaide, I promise.

Just chipped in my $0.02 worth....

I do have one thing I would like to add though, GN. That is you blokes will need to do everything you can to protect and preserve Jacobs this year. He is, IMO, your most important player by the length of Anzac Hwy and without him you will be hard pressed to give Thompson, Dangerfield etc first use of the ball. If I were coaching against Adelaide, he would be made to really, really earn every feel of leather. I mean really....really earn it.

Typical Port Adelaide.

The Dangerfield / Pearce comparison was only made to show that one good year counts for nothing if you can't back it up and do it when getting some serious attention from the opposition. No doubt Paddy will stand up like the champ he is. In hindsight the comparison was not a good one, Pearce is not worthy of even doing up Paddy's boots even at this stage.

Typical Port Adelaide? Thanks mate, I resemble that remark.

Booney wrote:I didn't get excited once when talking about Adelaide, I promise.

Just chipped in my $0.02 worth....

I do have one thing I would like to add though, GN. That is you blokes will need to do everything you can to protect and preserve Jacobs this year. He is, IMO, your most important player by the length of Anzac Hwy and without him you will be hard pressed to give Thompson, Dangerfield etc first use of the ball. If I were coaching against Adelaide, he would be made to really, really earn every feel of leather. I mean really....really earn it.

100% agree with you mate. Jacobs is Adelaide in a way. I do weep just a little each time I see Maric and Griffin playing their arses off. They we useless when we had them!

Gingernuts wrote:

Booney wrote:I didn't get excited once when talking about Adelaide, I promise.

Just chipped in my $0.02 worth....

I do have one thing I would like to add though, GN. That is you blokes will need to do everything you can to protect and preserve Jacobs this year. He is, IMO, your most important player by the length of Anzac Hwy and without him you will be hard pressed to give Thompson, Dangerfield etc first use of the ball. If I were coaching against Adelaide, he would be made to really, really earn every feel of leather. I mean really....really earn it.

100% agree with you mate. Jacobs is Adelaide in a way. I do weep just a little each time I see Maric and Griffin playing their arses off. They we useless when we had them!

I think they've been given a freer licence by their new coaches, finally allowing supporters to show their true talents and why they made it onto AFL lists in the first place. We all know Craig was a bit of a control-freak.