R8 - Adelaide v Geelong & Carlton v Port

Well, onto Round 8 and Adelaide's relentless draw continues with a blockbuster Friday night clash with a red hot Cats outfit. They wouldn't be happy with the way they played against the Bulldogs and will be keen to atone.

Port have another golden opportunity to build form and confidence against Carlton, although Carlton have won their last 3 so will be no push over.

A couple of intriguing match ups. Post away.

Well it's fair to say that Adelaide had a bit of an off night last Saturday night against the Dogs. That said, when we had an 'off' game against the Dogs early last season they smacked us by 70 odd points. I find this very encouraging, not just for this year, but for Adelaide's prospects over the next 3 - 5 years.

Every game this year Adelaide has displayed some serious fight. Even when they have been down on form as they were last week, they (to steal the catch phrase from across Port Rd) never give up.

For me as a supporter it's not necessarily about individual results - it's about endeavour, hunger and intent. Because if the players are attacking each game, each quarter, each contest with the right mindset, then the results will look after themselves. IMO Adelaide have delivered in this area, and I am thoroughly enjoying watching them each and every week.

I have no reason to doubt that this will change against Geelong on Friday night. Adelaide will be desperate for the win. Dangerfield will be a huge factor in the game, and knowing the big game player he is he is all but a certainty to be best on ground for the Cats whatever results.

On the flip side though is a bunch of former teammates who will be itching to prove that he made the wrong decision. It won't be spoken about, but I have no doubt that it will be a factor in the game. You can't tell me that the players that were/are close friends with him, and the captain in particular, won't be keen to send him a message.

No doubt about it, this will be (another) cracking game involving Adelaide, and I think Adelaide will get the job done. The crowd will be up and about with 50k+ hanging from the rafters, Walker to be BOG, Sloane to be back to his best, and B Crouch to find his touch on the Friday night stage.

It's set up for a beauty!

Friday night looks a good chance to be rain free, so hopefully a great contest between two genuine sides. I like the Cats to have a serious tilt at the flag this year IF they can stay healthy. I don't think the Crows are quite in that bracket yet, due mainly to defensive action and possibly midfield depth, but they've shown how devastating they can be when they get it right, and facing them at Adelaide Oval is now one of the hardest road trips in the business. At this stage it looks a coin flip for mine, although I'll probably wait until I see the lineups .... And then flip the coin.

I fancy Port in the other game .. One thing that's very admirable about the Bolton lead Carlton is the honesty of effort they bring on a weekly basis now. However Port have far more talent in their ranks, and now that they've re-discovered their work rate and some confidence, i think they might bring the Blues back down to earth a bit. They play the fast deck of Etihad well when they're going, and with Wingard, Dixon, and a host of potential goal-scoring mids, I think they'll get this done comfortably.

You'd hope Sloane, Thompson, Walker and Betts couldn't play that badly again.

Crowd to boo him, Geelong will win and he'll get 3 Brownlow votes.

Adelaide v Geelong –

Take a ride into the danger zone, I’m gonna take a ride intoooooo the danger zooooooone. Yes, I’m going to attend a Crows v Geelong game, my two favourite things behind gout and a prostate examination. Wish me luck. It really is a blockbuster FNF with Adelaide hosting the Cats, with Pat the Cat coming err, home? Well, he went home, this was his home, it’s now his old home now that he’s back home. Boo they will, oh will they boo him or what? Should be a cracker this one with plenty on the line for both sides. Adelaide got robbed again, I believe, good signs as they were down on output from plenty of guns and still had a chance with a minute to go, while the Cats made a meal of the Eagles on home turf.

Adelaide could well be a little miffed by the umpiring again last week, but Crow fans rest assured, every fan at every game is perplexed at the moment. As noted above, good signs in some respects with Adelaide getting little from key play makers Sloane, Douglas and Thompson, nothing tangible from Betts or Walker and they still had a chance to pinch it with a minute to go. Pinch it they would have, soundly beaten in the middle and leaked in the back half but still managed over the 100 point mark. Showing the options up front are prolific. Jenkins adding some value to his contract with a genuine bag full, 8 majors. Can’t let the Cats have 60+ I50’s though and that will be a focus for them this week, tighter in the middle to help out the backs.

The Catters are right in amongst it in ’16, bar the loss to GWS in Canberra by just 13 points ( no lone soldiers there ) they are faultless. Wins over the Hawks, the Eagles and a big one over Port away shapes as solid form. Dangerfield will be the focus of all in a postcode starting with a 5 this week and why wouldn’t he be? Question for Adelaide, you know all his tricks, you know he rises to the big occasion and you know he’ll have set himself for this one, do you have the player to quell his influence? In a word, no. It will be get it before he does and the heat will be on Adelaide’s mids to take it to him.

Clearly the match of the round on the big stage of Friday night. Form? Both sides have it. Motivation? Never lacking. Can the Cats midfield keep the ball in their F50 enough to restrict Adelaide scoring? Unlikely, Adelaide get to 100 points pretty quickly with few I50’s, the Cats will be very hard to beat and I think the last couple of weeks might take the sting out of Adelaide. Cats by 9 points.

Carlton v Port Adelaide –

3 in a row for the Blues and clearly the message is getting through from Bolton and his working party. Exciting times for the navy Blues. Port have found a little bit of momentum and got the Tigers and Brisbane at the right time, no doubt about it, but a wins a wins a win. A big win was handy for some confidence.

The Blues have been happy with one in a row for the last few years but now this group looks like it’s ready to move forward and Bolton is leading them through a pretty fast learning process. First and foremost he has set the back line up but more importantly he’s got them playing a zone that works. No surprise given his time at Hawthorn. The players clearly believed in it, they’ve worked to get it better each week and the rewards are coming. Doesn’t hurt having a fit Kreuzer on the park, he’s giving them a contest, no world beater, but gives them a look at it. Throw in the clearance ability of Cripps and they’ve now got the ability to move it forward to Casboult who can clunk them as well as anyone.

Port are getting some better efforts from it’s prime movers in the last fortnight. Boak, Wines, Harltett in the middle are standing up and being counted. Pittard is getting some assistance from young DBJ and Broadbent has found some ball. Port, unlike the Tigers, have dug themselves out with some tackling pressure and intent to get the ball back, leading the competition with 80 tackles per game. Finally, some attack on the body and ball. 5th for clearances. Getting to work again. Trengove had much said about him last week, with good reason, he gave Port something they’ve wanted for 18 months. A ruckman willing to work around the ground and get his hands on the ball.

Finding this one really hard to pick. Head and heart disagree. Port owe Carlton one, Carlton are in pretty good form and much like Port the wins haven’t been over anything to write home about. Heart is it, Port but only just, 14 points.

Great write ups again Booney.

Interesting to read that Geelong has faced the combined might of Brisbane, Essendon, the Gold Coast, and a West Coast team (who really love to travel) on their home deck over the last month.

Perhaps their stocks are slightly inflated.

I agree, they have had a nice little run but that can be very beneficial ( as Port have just found ) by getting "your game" in the groove, building confidence and it's better ( as Adelaide are finding ) than smashing in against top 4 sides week in week out.

I think Geelong will start a little slow this week, because of that, I think Adelaide might be a bit sluggish towards the end, because of their recent weeks. Hawthorn, a stubborn Fremantle and then a run under the roof on that deck against the Dogs. Light week on the track I'd imagine for the Crow boys this week.

That it does. Adelaide in 2012 is an example of that also, had a sweet early run which gave them momentum towards an eventual top 4 berth despite them perhaps not being a top 4 quality side in retrospect.

I think Don Pyke will be quietly happy the first 8 weeks of death are done and dusted on Saturday morning.

And he would have taken 4-4....

He would've absolutely, and he may still have too yet. 5-3 would be nicer though.

Mackay is out for at least 3 weeks with a hammy. A tricky little one for selectors. No obvious like for like replacement for him at the moment. Milera could come back in and play that role, or it might be time for CEY to finally get a crack in 2016.

What is your thoughts on Friday night, Ginge?

Laird ready to come back?
MacKay a loss?
Talk of van Berlo coming in? ( to do a job on Danger.... )

Well, despite being down the last couple of weeks I'm actually quite confident going into this one.

Adelaide haven't lost at home since about R7 last year, and over the last couple of years their form at home at night in particular is very very good. Night games in front of their home crowd really seem to get them up and about for some reason.

I think Dangerfield will put in a best on performance for the Cats because that's the type of player he is, and I think overall the Cats midfield probably shades ours. Once again though I think it will be our attack that will cause all sorts of problems for the Cats defence, and the Cats attack would not be one that the Crows defensive unit would be that afraid of IMO.

Laird is a tough nut so may well come back in although I haven't heard anything suggesting he will. Mackay not a huge loss, but I would not be turning to Van Berlo. They should no full well that Dangerfield can't be stopped. Besides, they're better off just setting up across half back and waiting for the turnovers.

I think we'll get up, and potentially get up well.

I think the Cats backline is a little under rated, in regards to matching up with Adelaide.

Taylor and Lonergan to take the two big men, Mackie perhaps with Lynch and the very smart Enright on Betts.

The rucks are also a proposition for Jacobs, Smith and probably Stanley to pair up on Jacobs. Again, if Jenkins needs to spend more time on ball it makes the Adelaide set up out of whack, Lynch needs to stay home more. Geelong will be hoping the rucks go their way early and they run Jacobs ragged with a two man, perhaps 3 with Blicavs, working on the big Ginge. ( Not you )

Well that is what the missus calls me..... alright, she doesn't.

Cats have a good backline - but a couple of them are getting a bit long in the tooth and can/have been exposed quite a bit of the last couple of seasons. Not like they've had a lot of work to do yet this season, Friday night could catch them by surprise a bit.

According to Roo this morning that little stunt at the airport yesterday was the brainchild/stitch up from MMM's national marketing department. He did not sound happy about it either. I doubt they were even Crows fans.

That was embarrassing tonight. Pathetic for large parts of the game. Jake Lever lazily making a half effort for a mark results in Geelong goal, plus numerous other lazy and gutless efforts. Seedsman missing from 15 metres out. 2 players I want to be seeing at Elizabeth next week and not on the Gold Coast.

Should've lost by 12-13 goals tonight, lucky Geelong couldn't kick straight.

Half way through the first quarter it had a last week look about it. Our kick outs (especially Henderson) were terrible. Smith should kick out and go long every single time like the one in the last 2 minutes against the Dogs that got us a goal. Seedsman will be dropped. Despite the closeness for most the night, we were never going to win.

Hmmm .. The faith I've placed in Port over the last 18 months has proven extremely costly. They have enough quality personnel to be winning far more regularly than they have been Imho. I'm a massive Hinkley fan, but if they miss the 8 this year some big questions need to be asked. What is wrong with Boak and Wingard?

Scrunch wrote:Hmmm .. The faith I've placed in Port over the last 18 months has proven extremely costly. They have enough quality personnel to be winning far more regularly than they have been Imho. I'm a massive Hinkley fan, but if they miss the 8 this year some big questions need to be asked. What is wrong with Boak and Wingard?

I said some where the media jumped or even created the Power bandwagon then when they started to loose changed wagons then went back on now both afl teams lost
Not sure what the media will do

Surely there's an issue some where Carlton lost how many players during the game yet came from behind to win
Game plan
Mind set
Recruiting exessendon players I dunno
Injuries

Brucetiki wrote:That was embarrassing tonight. Pathetic for large parts of the game. Jake Lever lazily making a half effort for a mark results in Geelong goal, plus numerous other lazy and gutless efforts. Seedsman missing from 15 metres out. 2 players I want to be seeing at Elizabeth next week and not on the Gold Coast.

Should've lost by 12-13 goals tonight, lucky Geelong couldn't kick straight.

Paul wrote:Half way through the first quarter it had a last week look about it. Our kick outs (especially Henderson) were terrible. Smith should kick out and go long every single time like the one in the last 2 minutes against the Dogs that got us a goal. Seedsman will be dropped. Despite the closeness for most the night, we were never going to win.

Harsh there boys, very harsh IMO. I didn't see a team that was lazy or gutless, more a side who's had to play finals intensity football for 2 months solid now and it was pretty clear that it has taken it out of them. The first 8 games have been relentless really, and we came up against a side who've hardly played anyone decent in a good month and were as fresh as daisies with confidence sky high.

The game was disappointing, don't get me wrong - but there's no need for rash decisions at the selection table. The season is still well on track as far as the long game goes. If someone would've offered me 4-4 after that first 8 weeks I would've taken it. We're still well in the finals race, we haven't gone backwards with the loss of Dangerfield, and if anything we've shown we've improved slightly and can match it with all of the best teams in the comp while still having a lot of scope for further improvement.

You've gotta keep the long game in mind here, a season is a marathon not a sprint. This week presents a great opportunity for the team to freshen up on the Gold Coast and reset for the next part of that marathon.

I'm very confident that from here Pyke and his coaching team can get this playing squad up and in right kind of touch to be ready and raring to go come September.

Measured and fair Imho Ginger. In some quarters not enough respect has been given to Geelong the other night. That's a very premiership capable opponent.

Agreed. I'm guilty of not rating the Cats as highly as I should've heading into the game. While their forward line is still not great IMO, their midfield and defence is top shelf.

The two players that caught my eye were Guthrie (what a player he is/will be) and Motlop who seems to be finally playing to his potential and finding some consistency.

***** me to tears to see teams like Geelong can spending all of 1 year in the 'wilderness' though. Bastards.

Probably just reaffirms the thoughts that Adelaide are just behind the leading pack. The smart sides with deep midfields have just a little too much for Adelaide to handle if, like the Sydney game, they aren't at their absolute best.

Booney wrote: Probably just reaffirms the thoughts that Adelaide are just behind the leading pack. The smart sides with deep midfields have just a little too much for Adelaide to handle if, like the Sydney game, they aren't at their absolute best.

The positive of this being we haven't dropped off with Dangerfield leaving as most expected. The flip side of course is that we may well have crossed into top 4 territory had he stayed.