R7 - Adelaide v Melbourne & GWS v Port

I'd say it is Ginge. When you consider the "ideal" match up's around the competition for Rutten, they are very few and far between.

Jono Brown is about the only one who stands out. The likes of Cloke, Reiwoldt (x2), Tippett, Franklin, Kennedy, Schulz, Daniher, Day, Patten, Cameron, etc etc all cover too much ground for Rutten to run with. All key forwards at some point in each and every quarter of a match end up in the defensive 50 and Rutten just isn't equiped to go with them any more. Add to that Hartigan looks the goods while Shaw and Talia cover the ground and air, Rutten's AFL days are surely numbered.

He'll play some more games this year for sure, but he'll see plenty of the SANFL grounds too.

Booney wrote:I'd say it is Ginge. When you consider the "ideal" match up's around the competition for Rutten, they are very few and far between.

Jono Brown is about the only one who stands out. The likes of Cloke, Reiwoldt (x2), Tippett, Franklin, Kennedy, Schulz, Daniher, Day, Patten, Cameron, etc etc all cover too much ground for Rutten to run with. All key forwards at some point in each and every quarter of a match end up in the defensive 50 and Rutten just isn't equiped to go with them any more. Add to that Hartigan looks the goods while Shaw and Talia cover the ground and air, Rutten's AFL days are surely numbered.

He'll play some more games this year for sure, but he'll see plenty of the SANFL grounds too.

Yep, I agree. He'll be assuming a defensive 'development' role in the SANFL from now on I would think.

It probably just comes down to how Hartigan performs against quality opposition now. GWS/Bulldogs/Melbourne are one thing, but if he does the job against Collingwood in a couple of weeks then the door might well be shut on Rutten (barring injury of course).

Interesting though, Callinan has a role with the younger mid/forwards.

With Shaw and Hartigan in the AFL side, who is Rutten going to be working with?

Some kid who'll be a top defender when he goes back to his local side.   

..... that's not such a joke though. I remember my younger brother having a similar situation when he was playing for South (prob about a decade ago I'd say). In a situation not dissimilar to this one Nigel Smart was in the twighlight of his career and had found himself back there.

My brother was plying his trade off half back for the Panthers at that stage and the coach (Rob Pyman I reckon) got Smarty to sit with him and have a chat about defensive strategy. He was super pumped when he came out of the change rooms after the game!

Alas, a career at SANFL/AFL level wasn't to be for my brother in the end, but it's those types of situations that have a positive effect for the greater good of the game and the kids who play it as a whole, and that really shouldn't be underestimated.

Two late changes for the Power Hartlett and Carliie out with the flu in Newton and Stewart

anthony tucker's commentary is terrible to listen to on ABC radio. listening at the ground shows how many players he gets wrong.

Terrible Adelaide, just terrible. One of the hardest games I've had to watch in years.

So tired of us being bloody front runners.

On the flip side Roos has definitely got Melbourne's defensive game sorted.

Up there with the loss to Fitzroy in 95.

Once again I watched a Crows team so far up themselves that they thought they could coast to a win.

They are a dumb team.

After many years, they still cannot kick goals from 25 metres out, straight in front,

Played well:  Talia, who I regard very highly.

Dangerfield, who operates at a level which shows just how far below that the rest are.

Mackay, some dash and penetration.

Thompson, gave plenty.

I think the bell is tolling for Reilly.

By the way, did Jason Dunstall mention Adelaide at all in his comments?  I thought he was coaching and barracking for Melbourne via the commentary box.  Australia seems incapable of employing all non-biased callers.

Finally. I'm not one to call for coaches to be sacked, but I think Brenton Sanderson needs to show some more flair and imagination, as well as a few more footballers who hurt more when they lose.

Funny you mention the Fitzroy loss sapaul, I was thinking exactly the same thing.

I've had my season tickets for 5 years now and they have only made the finals once in that time.

It's just the same stuff that let's them down over and over. They just wilt under pressure with terrible disposal, and the goal kicking, the just don't know how to nail the ones they need too. We're talking easy goals, right in front.

Drives me insane.

We had 22 more inside 50s.   

Lazy defence. Simple as that. Disrespected their opponents. Too much expectation on too few. Crows won't make the finals on the style of football (ie unaccountable) they are currently playing.

And I saw that in Port today also.
30 points wasn't what the margin should have been.
Defensive pressure by Port was very slack at times and a top side would have exposed that.
They are not going to be given the opportunity to be so arrogant each week.

Chambo Off To Work We Go wrote: Disrespected their opponents.

i know it is easy in hindsight but that comment is spot on, all we heard (not sure about the papers as i don't buy them anymore) in the media is ''Collingwood on Thursday'' nothing about concentrating on the next opponent..........as for Collingwood they are playing well & i still don't rate them or their coach but they will smash the Crows who obviously over achieved in Sandersons' first year

Agree with that about just talking about the Collingwood game as if yesterday was a given.

Not all the Clubs fault though, they have no control over what the media says really.

Still, wasn't a lot of talk about Melbourne this week from them.

On another note, I see there is a social media campaign from a couple of supporter groups to stop the leaving early bollocks. Good to see, the number one thing that ***** me about my fellow Adelaide fans.

Ouch Adelaide fans, ouch.You blokes turnover more than a sausage on a BBQ!

Jacobs looked like a tired man and is having to do extra work around the ground when Jenkins or Podsiadly disappear. That makes his life hard. McKernan, Jenkins and Graham look to be offering skant relief for the big Sauce bottle.

On that, Sanderson hit the nail on the head about players going missing for extended periods of time. Adelaide suffer that all to often and the likes of Dangerfield and Sloane get lumped with heavy tags and the midfield gets shut down too easily.

Jenkins and Podsiadly in the forward half had zero impact, Betts was lucky to get on TV for most of the game and the likes of Grigg,Brown,Wright,Petrenko,Reilly and Crouch ( this kid looks really good ) either had no impact or very little through the second and third quarters.

Worrying times for Adelaide fans when they are turning on each other too.

*Purely a wind up here*

How did that chanting practice go again?   Eerily quiet at the Crowval Saturday.

Port did what was required against a rapidly improving GWS.

Gray, Polec, Wingard, Monfries and Lobbe all had servicable outings while Schulz kicked 6 goals with a bout of gastro.....pretty good effort.

Bit fortnight with Fremantle and Hawthorn coming to Adelaide either side of the bye.

How did Ben Newton go, Booney?

Great lad.

He went ok, had about 15 touches and got himself a couple of hard ball gets and clearances.

As noted in todays paper, with his late call up his family weren't able to get from Perth > Canberra to see his first AFL game. Pity.

I think he's clearly ahead of Mitchell and Moore in Port's AFL line-ups. Obviously Hartlett replaces him next week, unless they look elsewhere for a change.

He'll play more AFL football, for sure.

Thanks. He always had ability, but long-term injury held him back at Westies.

I was very impressed with him when I saw him last week against the Magpies at Alberton. Bigger, tougher and effective.

Booney wrote:*Purely a wind up here*

How did that chanting practice go again?   Eerily quiet at the Crowval Saturday.

I can definitely see your point and do believe Adelaide fans aren't exactly the best as supporting their team - BUT - did you see anything worth cheering about Booney? It was shocking stuff.

Truly shocking.

Being an Adelaide fan is like the worst form of torture at the moment. Thank god for the bye, because I need a break from it FFS.

This is what I posted on another site about the fun that is being an Adelaide fan these days....

Gees. I’m over it.

Here I am sitting at my computer on another Monday morning after an in-excusable loss. This endless cycle of ups and downs is just sucking my energy and enthusiasm for the Club and the game completely dry.

Supporting the Adelaide Football Club feels like the worst kind of torture some days.

That game on Saturday was right up there with the worst I’ve ever witnessed from Adelaide. It was painful beyond words. I was literally writhing in my chair continuously. If the neighbour took a peek over the back fence and got a look at me through the window she probably would’ve rung triple zero on the assumption that she was witness to some terrible electrical related accident.

Forget water-boarding, ASIO should get a tape of this game and keep it on file for any Adelaide Football Club fan who is identified in the future as a national security threat. They would sew up the case before the tape reached half time, said fan would have no choice but to lay there secrets bare rather than face the prospect of watching another half.

At one point during the second term I just had to get up and leave room. I was so full of negative emotions that I had to ‘pull the plug’ (that euphemism again). It was just too much to bear. I went and played Thomas the Tank with my 2 and a half year old. An easy choice some might say - but she’s been carrying on like a half-metre high Hitler lately. So in essence the game was that bad that I preferred being a miniature dictators’ personal slave/chief architect, acting as her Albert Speer as she built her Fourth Reich out of train tracks and duplo for the benefit of her supreme Aryan nation of blue battery powered engines.

How did I get to this place? Driven into the clutches of a ruthless toddler dictatorship lest I be spared the horror that is a Crows game against the bottom side at home. Make no mistake, desperation sends a man to dark places.

The thing is that Adelaide aren’t just crap. In a strange way if they were just a terrible team I reckon could deal with that, for a while anyway. I would happily watch games on TV or trundle along live with my season tickets with no expectations or hope, knowing that a win was just a bonus.

But no, the Adelaide Football Club wants to slowly torture me with this seemingly endless cycle of taking me to the heights of hope and expectation, only to follow this with a dose of the worst kind of despair and humiliation, always perfectly timed so that the fall from high to low is at its furthest point. They have done it for years now, to varying degrees and scales – certainly in the last five years since I have signed up for season tickets, regularly attended games, and taken a dedicated interest anyway. It’s like the Club has a culture of self sabotage – just when it seems success is a certainty they do something terrible that returns those prospects to dust in an instant.

They’ve done it in games. They play scintillating football, building large leads and looking a million dollars – and just when you think the game is well and truly decided, they make a game of it again by gifting 3 or 4 goals to the opposition in quick succession with terrible skill errors. Then they’ll fight back …. but spray unmissable shots at goal from right in front.

They’ve done it over the course of a season. They will string several reasonably convincing wins together as they have done over this season, giving the impression that they have got their act together and are on the up, only to crumble and meekly lose to a cellar dweller on their home deck. I can’t bear it.

They’ve even done it over the course of several seasons. They went within a kick of a grand final berth in 2012 and it seems like they football world was at their feet – and then within a couple of weeks they’re outed as cheats, losing one of their best key forwards for nix, along with 2 years of first and second round draft picks to boot.

All I can say is thank god for the bye this week and a reprieve from this roulette wheel of football torture, because I am spent.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a battery powered empire to help build, and as we all know that doesn’t happen in a day. Reverend Awdry would be proud.

At one point during the second term I just had to get up and leave room. I was so full of negative emotions that I had to ‘pull the plug’ (that euphemism again). It was just too much to bear. I went and played Thomas the Tank with my 2 and a half year old. An easy choice some might say - but she’s been carrying on like a half-metre high Hitler lately. So in essence the game was that bad that I preferred being a miniature dictators’ personal slave/chief architect, acting as her Albert Speer as she built her Fourth Reich out of train tracks and duplo for the benefit of her supreme Aryan nation of blue battery powered engines.

   

Had to explain to my ex-pat Pommy boss why I was laughing so hard.

Lovely, quality post, GN. Sums up my feelings about Adelaide perfectly, too, although I'm nowhere near as passionate about Adelaide as you.

Infuriating team.

Gingernuts wrote:

Booney wrote:*Purely a wind up here*

How did that chanting practice go again?   Eerily quiet at the Crowval Saturday.

I can definitely see your point and do believe Adelaide fans aren't exactly the best as supporting their team - BUT - did you see anything worth cheering about Booney? It was shocking stuff.

Truly shocking.

Being an Adelaide fan is like the worst form of torture at the moment. Thank god for the bye, because I need a break from it FFS.

GN, I think there is a worse thing and that would be supporting Richmond, they would have to be the most enduring fans of all time, being let down year after year.

Yep that is true.
I said that to someone yesterday watching the end of their game.

When they win they are the most rabid lot going around.
I saw a Richmond / Brisbane game at the G a few years ago.
Richmond won reasonably easily, but not content with singing their club song, they sang it 5 times.