Playing Pittonet left us a runner short vs a very pacy and youthful Crows team.....Berry really burnt us when he came on and I think there is merit in suggestring TDK probably operates better alone vs some opponents with part time help rather than combining with Pittonet. As I said I found it strange we went with two rucks vs a one ruck Adelaide.....vs the Bombers with Draper and Goldstein it makes sense but the Crows?
It all looked fine to me while Saad was still out there, we looked pretty good when Pitto came into the ruck and gave us some momentum, even if Cerra is in the loss of Saad isn't covered by Carroll, and Carroll in the Mid doesn't free us a running HBF. When Pitto came in we needed Cowans or Cincotta as a sub.
The last few games he has played, Kemp looks better when he can get up the ground but he was bogged in D50, is that our own doing of a opposition tactic?
Early on we used the ball horribly and it kept the Crows in the game.
Finally, let's not blame the MC for the poor ball use on the day, at times our uncontested possessions looked like an episode of the Keystone Cops.
Crows had more one percenters and more uncontested possession which probably indicates they worked a bit harder for each other. We won the clearances which probably shows you thats a tad overrated as a stat but no doubt their accuracy up forward kept them in the game and we frittered away a few chances.
Watched the replay today, Crows were clean with the footy, we looked liked we'd greased up before going out on the ground.
It made the difference, they were clean, they had time and space, we wasted a lot of effort and found ourselves under pressure all the time due to an attack of the fumbles.
Another thing, we disposed of the footy far too often to stationary targets, Crows moved as a group, relentless. Some of that may be because injuries are forcing us into using players outside of their normal roles.
Finally, Marvel doesn't suit us, the surface is too fast and it's maximises the pace deficiency between our on ball crew and the opposition. Play the Crows at The G and we probably win by 6 goals.
Fans like to gloss over that in the last few weeks we've also been using Kennedy alongside Cripps in the ruck, but that's a shock tactic, you get away with it once or twice but not more often, it ends once the opposition are alerted to it.
Of course it's only an option against select opponents and midfields.
The ruck had nothing to do with our loss yesterday, it's just fans clinging to something to blame, and a bit of opportunistic rock throwing.
Subjectively we seemed worse when TDK was on the ball, for reasons I've already outlined, and he is the more mobile option for those of you purely focussed on chains of play. But O'Brien is in his head now, and it's likely TDK will never truly better him, all we can do is find ways for TDK to break even or become useful in other areas when we oppose O'Brien. We have to make O'Brien chase TDK, at the moment O'Brien basically ignores TDK.
We literally won game(s?) last year without a recognised ruck.
You, among others, have pointed out how pointless some ruck stats are.
You, amonth others, have pointed out that the around the ground work is more important than what happens in the ruck.
So why are you, among others, so fixated on the need for a second ruck in the side?
For the record, Harry did not attend a single ruck contest.
Beyond the ruck Pitto had 6 clearances yesterday and kicked a goal and 5 score involvements, and without winning much in terms of other ruck stats when he went to the centre he either slowed the Crows or swung momentum our way. Because Pitto is suited to opposing O'Brien.
If Pitto's not there and TDK continued to get smashed we'd have been forced into moving BigH into the ruck, early in the game BigH was out only effective F50 player.
You're obsessed with some of this ruck stuff, you've gone the early crow with SoJ and other secondary ruck options and now you're committed to it, it's leaving you blind to the wider picture. Yesterday the ruck stats had Pitto and TDK equal, but nobody on the planet could watch that game and think Pitto and TDK had the same influence.
Not total blame, just part of the reason we are not playing as well as we are capable off. The ball comes into the forward line and is brought to the ground often enough for the small forwards to create opportunities - they are not taking them.
Some of that is decision making by the Mids or HBFs, about where they kick the footy, and also coaching tactics.
We tend to play a game to get the SFs goal side of the footy rather than front and square.
Finally, it's easy to ask where are they, but for example you also do not want SFs getting in the way like Fantasia on BigH!
Pittonet gave us a bit especially early on…but yes, it may have cost us later in the game.
Only because of injuries, but that can happen for any position on the ground.
Fans seem oblivious to the risk of a single point of failure, which is the one ruck scenario, at least with Mids you have multiple points of failure so it's much easier to cover the loss of one.
If anything perhaps when we brought in Pitto we picked the wrong Sub, because we lost one HBF and it basically smashed our structure. Then we had a bunch of slower Mid types trying to become lockdown HBFs, or forcing mismatches on players like Rankine and Keays with slower heavier bodies, it's happened twice now, the Crows are making our MC look silly. The Crows almost scored at will despite a pretty equal battle between Weiters and Walker.
(btw., Williams best game for us I suspect, he tried to cover them all and never stopped working.)
On TDK solo, it's bizarre that fans want us to take TDK solo into a game against an opponent who has basically dominated him more than once, it's like they have no memory of the past.
Was BigH used in the centre at all yesterday, I don't recall seeing it?
(Perhaps BigH getting ironed out the week before put the wind up the MC, there is that risk again, a season impacting risk not just one game!)
I would have liked to see TDK go at it all day with OBrien. TDK and Pitto never really settled in to work him over. I personally Never want to see the two of them play together again, just my view.
It's untenable for these guys to go solo for a whole season and be right to go for the finals, they need to share the load at times with the target of being fresh and ready for finals.
It's as much about managing players through the season as it is about specific game day tactics.
Weitering will do better on Hogan than the more physical Walker and I'd expect TDK to do better vs Briggs who isnt at the same level as O'Brien. Toby Greene will be the main problem, played on our old mate Liam Stocker vs the Saints who did a decent job on him but he doesn't play too many average games and might be due for a big one..
Who's taking Toby, Williams or Newman are probably front runners, maybe someone like Cottrell could also give him some time. I think it was Newman / Cincotta last time we played them that shared the duty, they kept Green scoreless but he still had a heap of influence.
He plays with no confidence, like he is clinging on to his career by his fingernails.
If we had Martin and SoJ or Motlop in F50 Fantasia might be some use as the small forward, but he's not a player who can be roving while Durdin and Owies contest, it's just not going to work. We need Fantasia playing like Cottrell and he is miles off.
I said in the pre-game, I had to assume we had a lot of injuries because some players just weren't deserving / earning a spot. We've been clinging to a couple of blokes who just aren't delivering to AFL standards.
Fantasia is now a huge mistake, he might be useful on the track but on game day it's passed him by.
Ollie Hollands is struggling, the kid has got what it takes but he needs time away to regain some confidence.
Fans will jump on the selection of Pitto, but we would have been smashed if not for him today. TDK is having his best season but he's erratic and O'Brien is his bogey man. O'Brien showed today what the new ruck rule means, TDK can't jump over a bloke his size and as a result with O'Brien offering a stiff arm TDK can't get close to the ball. He tries to jump so high he lands off balance and then he is out of the ground contest. TDK would be better to surrender the tap and become a mid.
The commentary from Brown and King was spot on today, as many of us have been saying our MC needs to find a way for us to score some easy goals, at this rate we'll be run into the ground before the mid-season break.
You can't live on the razor's edge and expect never to be cut!
Walker has Weitering bluffed! Owies has too many brain fades!!
Walker, O'Brien and Keays have days out against us, they have the confidence now so it's likely they will always be a bogey side going forward.
Owies might have had a brain fade in the last but before that he was OK, our problem was the 3rd quarter when we burnt many opportunities. We've had 8 more shots at goal and lost by 2 pts, we should have been 3 or 4 goals up at 3/4 time not level, 3-7 to 5-1 with many of those 7 gettable.
Old Carlton came to visit - lowered our colours to a lesser team & relied on individual brilliance & too many passengers & bringing in Pitto only weakened TDK.
Personally I think Pitto was the better of the two today, TDK was soundly beaten again by O'Brien who seems to be TDK's bogeyman.
I think if we hadn't had Pitto we would have lost by a lot more.
