Melbourne vs Adelaide - 26/8/2012

Another danger game this weekend. Adelaide should have no trouble with Melbourne you would think, but you never know what can happen in end of season 'junktime'.

In want of better words - lol - hopefully the coach got 'stuck into them' and they come out to play.

A win should be without question.

The more interesting thing should be whether they can show they're back to better form and skill.

Talia will definitely play this weekend. A relief, I think they definitely felt his absence in the second half last week against the Lions.

The other news is that Brad Green has moved his retirement forward by one week so that his final game is this weekend at the MCG. Could give the Demons a bit extra this weekend.

On paper, the Crows should win this game easily. However, the Crows lost alot of credibility in their pathetic effort at the Gabba last week, and this weeks game looms as more dangerous than it really should be.

If the Crows go into this week's game with the same attitude as last week, then they will lose. Hopefully Sando reads them the riot act pre-game - emphasising that a repeat performance of last week will not be tolerated, and that will give the side enough spirit to get over the line.

The Crows of 2012 will not want to humiliate themselves two weeks in a row, and I think this will ensure the side will get over the line.

Should they lose, I'd like to see Sando do something similar to this post-game (frankly, if they lose to Melbourne they deserve to be put through a punishing training session like this)

Team for Sunday's game is:

B: Sam Shaw, Ben Rutten, Graham Johncock

HB: Michael Doughty, Daniel Talia, Brodie Smith

C: David Mackay, Nathan van Berlo, Bernie Vince

HF: Richard Douglas, Taylor Walker, Jared Petrenko

F: Matthew Wright, Kurt Tippett, Jason Porplyzia

FOLL: Sam Jacobs, Scott Thompson, Patrick Dangerfield

INTERCHANGE FROM: Luke Brown, Ian Callinan, Josh Jenkins, Tom Lynch, Jarryd Lyons, Brent Reilly, Aidan Riley

INS: Tom Lynch, Jarryd Lyons, Jason Porplyzia, Aidan Riley, Brodie Smith
OUTS: Chris Knights (omitted), Rory Sloane (elbow)

Sloane is a loss but Adelaide should be able to cover him against Melbourne. In fact, if they want to do any kind of damage in September they must be able to cover him easily against the 3rd to bottom side.

I can't believe we're even concerned about this match. I agree Brucetiki, the Crows of 2012 should smash this one home. I think the ghosts of the past couple of seasons still haunt us supporters though!

Another important element to this game is that it's being played at the MCG. Adelaide need to take the opportunity to play well on that deck ahead of finals, given that they could be back there in a couple of weeks. The only other time they played their this year they got smashed by Hawthorn, and from memory I can't recall us winning there since around 2008??

From memory, our last win at the MCG was in 2009 against Melbourne (the game Melbourne kicked 1 goal to 3 quarter time and nearly won it)

Ah, not a particularly happy memory then still. The last decent win I can recall was in 2008 when we came from behind to knock off Hawthorn convincincly on a Friday night (I was at the G that night).

Has not really been a happy hunting ground for quite sometime. Not that we play there that much, usually only once or twice a year - so hard to maintain any sort of record with such little exposure.

How much has Walker improved his defensive game and his team game?

I'm impressed.

I agree R&B, he was everywhere yesterday. Loved the way he worked up the ground. He has become the complete key forward package this year. If he hadn't been rubbed out for 5 games this year he would've sewn up the Coleman easily.

We were out all weekend - so I didn't see or hear the game.
But was mighty happy when I heard the score !!

Well, a very good win yesterday. While it was convincing though, I think there are still plenty of areas to work on ahead of finals. I was pleased to see that Sanderson was still not entirely satisfied with the performance in his press conference after the match.

I’m not going to lie, I was concerned early in the game. Our ball use was terrible, at one stage the stat flashed up that the entire Melbourne score came from Adelaide turnovers. I think the current tactic against Adelaide is to play tight man on man football across the ground and this is causing a bit of panic when Adelaide uses the ball. I was very pleased that the boys managed to break those shackles. The only way to beat those kind of tactics is with pure gut running, something they didn’t do after quarter time against the Lions.

Despite those few negatives I have to say that two weeks out from finals it was bloody good to see the footy charging through the corridor of the MCG in the hands of Adelaide players. Let’s hope we see that sight a few more times before the end of September.

Major Talking Points

- Walker is now the complete package. His work up the ground and off the ball is now as spectacular and comprehensive as his finishing skills.
- Great to see Tippett back in form. He even had a heavily landing at one stage but played out the game untroubled.
- Gut running can beat the most negative of tactics, and more importantly will win finals.

Gut running is a mark of true courage, IMO.

I agree with you totally, GN, really good observation.