Adelaide

redandblack wrote:I've been away for 3 weeks and what a difference in that time. I've come back to Adelaide on 7 and 1 and Dangerfield now a superstar.

What happened in that 3 weeks??

It's always the same when I get back from holidays.

I watched last night and nothing much had changed

Seriously, though, it was a tough match and credit to Collingwood, as I thought the pressured Adelaide to the extent that the often fumbled under 'perceived', but non-existent pressure, even allowing for the conditions.

Random thoughts, having not seen the Crows for a few weeks:

Tippett is a star and has improved his kicking.

Johncock had a bit of a shocker, I thought.

Porps looks well out of touch. Any chance he'll be back at Westies for a week or two?

No worries, fair enough then, I didn't make the Bulldogs game.

Maybe it was just the whole atmosphere with the full house and everything, it just felt like we were getting a bit ahead of ourselves.

Bugger off back to Europe R&B!

Yea, your comments on Porps are warranted I think. Hasn't been in great touch this year IMO. Callinan has stolen his thunder as the opportunist forward.

I'm pretty sure Porps is spending more time in the midfield though it could be taking a bit for him to adjust to this. I don't think he'll be back at Westies unless Adelaide have a sustained run of poor form.

No, I'm sure Adelaide will keep him there while he finds form.

I'd be happy to be baqck in Europe to allow the Crows to keep winning, GN

(Please send the funds directly to my account)

Although - as a supporter - of course I would have loved to see the crows conintue their winning streak - I wasn't too upset that they lost. I don't think it will hurt them at this point (fingers crossed)

I don't blame you R&B - I blame all the tipsters who didn't tip Adelaide for the past few weeks and then all jumped on them last night. The weight was too much

Talking of full house - I was interested to know attendance - wasn't mentioned on TV that I saw.

Do you know GN/BT?

Also while stating 'full house' reminded me of the 97-98 days when I had to line up at the local BASS outlet for 2 hours just to get a ticket to a crows game. Funny stuff - don't think my son believed me when I was telling him..lol.

And if you had those tickets firm in hand you dare not, not go.
Even to the point where one Hawthorn game we sat in pouring rain for (just about) the whole duration of the game.
Young son by our side - our 'water proof' clothing was not water proof after gallons of water being dumped on us.
One person behind us jokingly stated 'child abuse' for taking then 8 year old to the game...lol.

These things build character

Attendance 44238

A few spare seats in the back corner of the northern stand, but the rest of the ground looked packed.

Okay cool.

Excuse my ignorance - lol - how many does AAMI hold these days?
What's the record attendance?

If you happen to know..lol

Capacity is around 52 thousand I think.

Was the biggest crowd I've seen in the 2 years I've had season tickets, people everywhere.

The cynic in me made me cast my mind back to last year and a very cold and wet night against Sydney when the lowest crowd ever attended a Crows game, around 26k. Where were all those people then??

Nothing like the bandwagon firing up again.

Gingernuts wrote:Capacity is around 52 thousand I think.

Was the biggest crowd I've seen in the 2 years I've had season tickets, people everywhere.

The cynic in me made me cast my mind back to last year and a very cold and wet night against Sydney when the lowest crowd ever attended a Crows game, around 26k. Where were all those people then??

Nothing like the bandwagon firing up again.

Could it be Ginge that many of them simply joined the boycott of AFC matches at Football Park until action was taken by the club over Neil Craig? Stephen Trigg had made it clear that no action at all would be taken over it and I suspect that it was only the plummenting of the Home Match attendances that forced them to to something. I have no doubt that Trigg would very much have liked to have had Craig still there this year and I believe it was only as a result of the members campaign that anything was done about it.

Dangerfield re-sigs for 3 years with the Crows

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/sport/afl/crow-patrick-dangerfield-to-sign-soon/story-e6frecoc-1226369060851

Somewhat tieing in with what Ben has said above, I would be very surprised if Danger would have re-signed this early (if at all) had Craig still been at the club.

Gingernuts wrote: The cynic in me made me cast my mind back to last year and a very cold and wet night against Sydney when the lowest crowd ever attended a Crows game, around 26k. Where were all those people then??

Nothing like the bandwagon firing up again.

Okay so that covers our family

But since we're back on the band wagon
We are considering perhaps going to the Crows v St Kilda night game.

So just need to ask you regulars - where would be the best place to try and get seats?
(In your experiences)

We have a seat on the outer win about 3 rows back which is pretty good.

A little further back may provide a slightly better view, but I like being close to the boundary.

The second teir of the northern stand is alright, but I find it a bit far away from the action for my liking.

Thanks GN

With the Crows having the bye this week, lets take a look at how they've gone so far this season.

So far, Adelaide have exceeded all expectations. They started off with a brilliant pre-season which culminated with Adelaide winning the NAB Cup. Their great form continued into the opening couple of rounds of the season with wins over the Gold Coast and Western Bulldogs. a loss over Hawthorn saw Adelaide come back to earth, but wins over GWS and Port saw them with a 4-1 record - a record largely expected of Adelaide given their soft start to the season.

With this soft start, people didn't really know what to expect of Adelaide. Yes, they had a 4-1 record, but their 4 wins were against lowly sides, and their only game against a genuine finalist chance resulted in a big loss. They now faced a tough 4 weeks where they faced Sydney (in Sydney), Geelong, Carlton (in Melbourne) and Collingwood. Many expected Adelaide to struggle, with few expecting they'd actually win any of these games. What we witnessed was some brilliant form from Adelaide - starting with an incredibly gutsy win over Sydney at the SCG. This lead to the Crows hitting red hot form with an impressive 50 point win over Geelong and a 69 point win over Carlton before their colours were lowered with a somewhat shock loss to Collingwood. The first half of the season saw Adelaide record a win over a dysfunctional Fremantle side to see them reach their halfway point of the season 8-2.

So what have we learnt about the Crows so far in 2012? They are a completely different side to 2011, and have already won more games in 2012 that what they did in 2011! Brenton Sanderson has brought in a hard and tough game plan that the side is learning and playing well to. The failing point so far being whenever conditions turn wet and slippery, with Adelaide struggling with ball use in the two games played in wet and slippery conditions against GWS and Collingwood.

What does the rest of the season hold for Adelaide. They start off with a good mix of games against a variety of opponents in St Kilda, North Melbourne, Richmond, Port and GWS. If Adelaide win 4 out of these 5 games, then there's their 12 games needed to qualify for finals. They then enter a very tough 3 weeks with matches against West Coast, Geelong and Essendon. With at least 2 (and possibly all 3) being fellow top 4 sides, it is vital the Crows win their mix of games against these sides if they're going to have a successful finals series. Following this run they then have what appears at this stage a very easy run home with matches against Brisbane Lions, Melbourne and the Gold Coast to round out the season. Adelaide should win all 3 quite comfortably.

Based on current form, Adelaide could win as many as 17 or 18 matches this season, which sees them comfortably in the top 4. Lets see if they can continue their brilliant form...

It has been an awesome year so far for the lads, challenge is not to drop off now and rest on the fact that other clubs have sat up and taken notice.

Walker/Tippett is a premiership winning duo up forward.
Jacobs is excelling, and Jenkins learning all the time.
Sloane and Danger have been unreal, I didn't expect Danger to get so good so quick, and I didn't expect Sloane to get to where he is.
The other firm of VB, Vince, Thompson is as outstanding as always.

Dare I say it?

Don't Gazz, keep the lid on!

Great write up Brucetiki. We all new the talent that the Adelaide list had, and after being mocked for stating so in the last couple of years it's nice to finally be able to point to the scoreboard so to speak.

All that was needed was some fresh leadership, and some experience. The great thing about current form is that the upside is still massive, there is plenty of room for improvement still.

Here's hoping we're in for a period of sustained success over the next few years.

Great depth this week being able to bring in Knights, MacKay & Smith for the outs of Vince, Johncock & Martin.

Smith hasn't done a lot wrong, but Martin certainly deserves a couple of games IMO with some cracking SANFL form.

Really keen to see what Knights can serve up tonight. The last couple of years he seemed to have lost both pace, and the distance on this booming left foot.

Would love him to nail a couple of goals from outside 50 tonight.

While the last time the two sides met St Kilda obliterated the Crows by 100+ points (which ended up being a blessing for the Crows as it resulted in the demise of Neil Craig), the Crows have won the previous 2 matches against St Kilda at AAMI Stadium.

The one worry I had about tonights match was the potential it would be a wet game, given how poorly the Crows have played in wet conditions this year. However, it looks like it will stay dry (besides the dew of course), which will help the Crows.

I'm a little surprised that Knights got a recall over the likes of Symes, but I expect Knights to fulfil the faith put into him by the coaching panel.

The Crows should win by about 24 points tonight

Yep, the wet weather concerns me also. Think we should get up though and I hope it stays dry as it makes for a better spectacle.

Well the Crows got over the line...just against St Kilda despite dominating for 3.5 quarters.

The Crows were generally brilliant throughout the first 3 and a bit quarters. They played fierce, they fought and fought and attacked and attacked. Was fantastic to see Tippett have his kicking boot on as well. The last half of the last quarter was a bit of a concern, where we left the door slightly ajar and the Saints took full advantage of it and nearly got over the line, but the Crows were saved by the bell.

The Crows now have another 9 day break before playing North Melbourne next Sunday evening at Etihad Stadium.

Also, good to see the St Kilda cheer squad do some quality proof reading on their banner...

I think last night's was a timely reminder of the fact that Adelaide is still a very young side, with many of it's matchwinners still yet to reach the 100 game mark.

Whilst so far this year they have been able to push past this, last night showed that the tanks are still not quite at the capacity required. It's a concern for finals if we come up against a seasoned and experienced side.

Still, a great game on the most part and 4 points in the bag, and plenty of games left to improve on the bad points to come out of the game.

Tough week at the selection table this week. Johncock & Vince both good to come back in, who's unlucky enough to go out?

Brodie Martin would have to be one (unfortunately, would like to see him at least get 1 more game). Not sure who else.

And good to see Daniel Talia as the Star Search (?) Award winner this week.

They should win this comfortably, which sets them up nicely with their draw.

Yes, congratulations must go to Daniel Talia.

He is an old school defender and really great to watch live. He & Shaw look like a likely combination down back, Rutten must be loving their support down there after the last couple of years.

Regarding selection pressure, I am struggling to remember a time when there was this much competition for spots in the first 22. The club really is in a great position at the moment, no doubt about it.

Speculation around Tippett's future in the paper again today. Gee they twist the truth for a good story, how is this quote from Andrew Capel:

The 25-year-old, who booted five goals in the win against St Kilda last Friday night, is from Southport and has long said he wants to finish his career in his native Queensland.

Correction, he's long said that he would like to return home again at some stage. At no time has he said that he would like to finish his career there.

I'm not saying he's not considering offers, but saying that he's always said he wants to finish his career in QLD is really stretching things.