Port v Melbourne & Adelaide v GC

Evening all,

So, this weekends games.

Port in a canter over Melbourne - although Melbourne have certainly got Roos' defensive game working now and are much tougher to score against, so I don't reckon the Power will actually have it all their own way.

As for Adelaide - who are we going to get, Jeckyl or Hyde? It looking increasingly like Adelaide will miss finals and they will be seriously up against it this week against the Coasters. Season could be over by Sunday night.

Discuss away.

Adelaide have to make a couple of changes this week.

I think Matthew Wright needs a rest to be honest. I'm surprised he didn't get the subs vest actually last week. Get Grigg or Crouchy back in.

Also time for Hartigan to have a spell (has been good, but it still young and pretty raw) and for Otten to get his chance.

Will be heading along Sunday, not optimistic at all TBH.

Wright was sub against Gold Coast in Queensland last year. He kicked 4 in the quarter and a bit he was on for. We've struggled in our useage of the sub. Wright is an ideal sub.

Port will win. Close to 100 if weather is fine.
Adelaide are favourites which is surprising. Gold Coast are better and if they want to play finals will win and win well.

Couldn't understand the logic behind picking Lyons and then handing him the subs vest last week. Surely if you bring a bloke in you give him a start and hand the subs vest to someone who needs a kick in the pants, otherwise the change is pretty much a waste of time.

Well, you 19th men/women, this for mine is Adelaide's season in one match.

Against a young team, who despite being third on the ladder, are vulnerable to quality opposition and an opponent who Adelaide would expect to beat in both sides current make up. However, one side is playing consistent football and winning regularly while the other is up and down....well, I don't need to tell you what Adelaide's season has been filled with.

If Adelaide are to have any hope of playing finals football in 2014 ( which for mine I don't think they will ) they must beat Gold Coast on Sunday. Talia and Rutten should have the better of their younger opponents while the weight of Thompson, Douglas and Dangerfield should be too strong for the Gold Coast team to bash into all day.

But that will only be the case while the ball is in dispute. Once out in the open Gold Coast will run, run and run some more and Adelaide seem to be lacking genuine pace through the midfield rotations. Sure, they have pace, but only a few posses real game busting pace.

Adelaides barometer, Dangerfield, is banged up and banged up pretty bad. He's too much value to risk but I think he and the coaching staff would see this as a must win and to win they must have him in. He'll play with the season on the line. He might not be 100%, well, he won't be, but he'll be out there for his side. Admirable indeed.

I don't think it will be enough. Gold Coast by 17 points.

Alice Springs and Melbourne posses a little challenge for Port.

Roos is building from the back and he would have his group facing this as the biggest defensive challenge in the AFL right now, stopping Port Adelaide. ( Actually, it's Sydney but I digress )

Roos will see this as a real indicator for the pressure the Dees apply and I expect the bulk of this game to be played in Ports forward 50 with loads of entries and difficulty in scoring. They'll flood back, get hands on it, bomb it to Dawes, we'll pick up the scraps and bring it back in.

We might bust them open, we might not, but I think most people expect a comfortable Port win. Melbourne are better than GWS, but we would have left Canberra with a nasty taste only winning by 38 points over the young Western Sydney lads. I think we'll have a pretty ruthless attitude in this one and win big.

We also have Moore, Stewart and Neade coming into the side and those three blokes will want to get in and stay in a winning team and all of them offer some real strength to our set up. Midfield muscle in Moore, flexibility in the almost end to end ability of Stewart and the forward line pressure of Neade.

Port by 68 points.

Nice work, Booney and I agree with you about Adelaide's game being its season in one match.

I also agree with your summary in total.

This is no way any sort of vendetta against Sanderson, but his game plan is starting to puzzle me a little.

Against Collingwood we saw a lot of "scrum" type activity where numbers around the ball kept it in close allowing Dangerfield and Thompson to muscle over the ball and move it Adelaide's way. The few times Pendelbury and Beams got out on the open they hit the scoreboard and then Adelaide closed it down again. Sanderson mentioned before the game that you might see a more defensive team tonight.

Then against Carlton a similar pattern unfolded, but this time it kept Carlton in the game instead of out of it. It gave Carlton a chance to hold the ball in and break free from time to time to score. This is all well and good if defensive pressure is high as it was against Collingwood but was down against Carlton and they lost.

So my thinking, if the game plan is so reliant on an extraordinary defensive effort is it the right plan for the team you are coaching?

Clearly, well potentially at least, the Collingwood effort was one out of the bag when Sanderson might expect it to be the norm.

I'll watch Sunday with interest.

I was surprised with their game plan against West in their Reserves.

They put on an enormous flood for a large chunk of one quarter.

Yes, I know   

Otten in for Hartigan the only change. Crazy that this will be Otten's first game for the year.

Interesting thoughts re game plan and I can't disagree really

for those that are confident of this result & have tattsbet account they are having a promotion (maximum bet $25.00 @ $5.00 dividend) on BOTH ADELAIDE & PORT to win 20 +

yes, i've taken that so watch one of them stuff it up on me

I thought Port played particularly arrogantly today at times.
They went a very risky option time and time again, hoping Melbourne's defense was not up to it.
Well I think Melbourne are starting to be much more accountable and close in their defensive efforts.

It was only a handful of Demons skill errors at critical times, that got Port over the line.

I see the same thing in Geelong at times, where they have played with their success and become defensively complacent. Sydney chucked everything at them and they just wilted.

If Port don't stay focussed and fresh, then they are going to suffer in a similar way come end of season.

You can't take any opposition lightly anymore.

I'm watching on delay, so I don't know the result, but gee, Adelaide are just a dumb team.

Watching the third quarter and there's no doubting their effort or intensity, but I'm constantly thinking how dumb they are.  Then Gold Coast kick a goal and attack agin with only 20 seconds tom play when Pods marks in defence.  Instead of slowing it down, he plays on with his man next to him.  The kick is smothered, but fortunatel goes to another Adelaide player.

What's the right play?

Long down the line, I'd say.

No.  He decides to square up a short pass.

Intercepted, goal, siren.

God, they're dumb.

Is Jaensch capable of playing football when he has time with the ball, without using his free hand to indicate something entirely useless?

I think Gingernuts once said it and he was spot on. Too often the Crows play not to lose rather than back themselves to win. They have some real potency up forward to I{ dont understand why they don't play to their strengths more often.

Sloane has brain fades. Second week in a row.

Sloane yet again was huge for the Crows in the last quarter even with a few errant kicks

Random thoughts:

Daniel Talia is an outstanding man-on-man defender.

Brodie Martin is stepping up.

Smith can play.

I think it's fair to say Walker is back.   

To be a top side, they need to make better decisions at critical times.

Happy to be proven wrong. Well Done Crows

redandblack wrote:Smith can play.

Reckon he might be leading the club champion at the moment.

Reckon Jaensch would be close sapaul.

bayman wrote:for those that are confident of this result & have tattsbet account they are having a promotion   (maximum bet $25.00 @ $5.00 dividend) on BOTH ADELAIDE & PORT to win 20 +

yes, i've taken that so watch one of them stuff it up on me

they both tried stuffing it up on me, however fortunate to collect    

Went to the game today and while thee was still the odd brain fade, generally their decision making was a lot better.

Thought our defence was superb today in particular, and our attack looked dangerous every time it went down there. Great to see Tex up and about again too.

Again though, how was that the same team as last week? The yo yo season continues.....

I went and saw this today. First game at the new AO.

What the Crows don't do well is back each other up in running in numbers or going to the man under pressure to help. Even things like putting a block on etc.

Until they all routinely do all of those things, they are going to be an average side.

There are some positives for me. They "potentially" have a damaging attack. Despite what the media pundits have said, I like Jenkins, Walker and Pods in the side as collectively they are hard to match up on. On today's form, they all had their moments, the most obvious being Walker.

But collectively they all need to be mentally switched on with less lapses.
The game today was an arm wrestle where Gold Coast too had similar lapses until the last quarter where Adelaide were much more efficient and finished with more running.

As for the spectacle, I was pleasantly surprised. The facilities for catering were very "Etihad / MCG" like. And they have dispensed with the AAMI rubbish about lids on drinks, standing in yellow boxes and the like. In short, perhaps stadium management has grown up a bit on the back of the Victorian way of doing things.

And finally, whoever laid out the oval must know their stuff!

A few people have rubbished the standard of the game yesterday, but personally I found the whole game very entertaining.

There were a few skill errors no doubt, but there was also some genuine skill and polish on display at various times from both sides.

I loved watching Garry Ablett go about his business in particular - he is by far and away the best player I have ever witnessed live. His ability to read the play and pre-empt what will happen next is almost superhuman, like he has a sixth sense or something.

One thing I have really enjoyed about AO is that it provides a fantastic experience no matter how your team is playing or whether you even have a particular attachment to the 2 sides out on the park. It's just a great day/night out, full stop.

I think that's a fair Post Ginger. Yes there were mistakes from both sides (as there were in every other game I saw on the weekend) but there were definitely some skillful highlights. Was an entertaining game to watch.
I think the Crows need to take a leaf out of Port's book, and not play within themselves so often - Perhaps that will come if they get more favourable results and build confidence. Port almost play without fear and if they concede a higher score than they'd like, seem to have that belief that it won't matter because they have the ability to still score more themselves. Given the Crows major asset (as I see it) is their forwardline, they need to find that same belief.
Have been saying for the last two years they need to get regular games into Jarryd Lyons and I still believe this kid has what it takes to be a very, very solid AFL footballer.