Back
to reality - September 2nd 2001 - by Pablo
Fremantle
17.18 (120)
Adelaide 11.17 (83)
St Kilda and
Brisbane did everything possible to give Adelaide a home final but
wooden spooners Fremantle denied them the right with a 37-point victory
at Subiaco Oval tonight. If Adelaide had won, they would've finished
sixth.
But Fremantle relegated the Crows to eighth place and booked them
a first-up meeting with Carlton next weekend.
The Crows had
a scare when star midfielder Simon Goodwin left the field in the second
quarter with an injured ankle. The All-Australian sat out the remainder
of the quarter with ice on his ankle but returned after half time
to see out the game.
Best for Adelaide was dual Norm Smith medallist Andrew McLeod.
The match started
with a tribute to retired star Tony Modra who was a crowd favourite
at both clubs.
Adelaide coach
Gary Ayres said he had not monitored the results of the other matches,
which were finished by halftime here, so he had not been in a position
to use the lure of a home final as a motivator during the break.
And he took offence
at a line of questioning regarding the other results and how they
would affect his club.
"That's
a pretty ordinary question, what did you think I was doing out there?"
he asked. "Didn't you think I was coaching a game? We
couldn't have any control over that, all we could control was the
results of the other matches."
Ayres said the
loss was a dose of "deep and meaningful reality"
but he was determined it would not stop the momentum Adelaide had
built over the second half of the season.
"We now
have got to look forward to what we can do in the next seven days,"
he said. "We have to move forward, that's what I'll be
telling the players."
Goodwin
to stay - August 30th 2001 - by Pablo
Adelaide has
quashed speculation club champion Simon Goodwin could be traded to
Hawthorn for Nick Holland at the end of the season. Crows football
operations manager John Reid said such a deal had ''never been
talked about and never will be talked about''. ''It
is not under consideration and won't happen,'' he said.
Adelaide's need
for another key forward is well documented but the Crows will not
sacrifice a player of Goodwin's stature to lure their man. Last year's
club champion and dual premiership player has enjoyed another outstanding
season which has him in contention for a second successive All-Australian
jumper.
While Adelaide
will pursue a key forward - as it has done the past two years - Holland
is unlikely to be at the top of its wish-list. He is out of contract
at the end of the season but has suspect shoulders which have restricted
him to just six matches this year. A more likely target is his brother
Ben Holland who has enjoyed a career-best season with Richmond and
is out of contract at the end of the year.
Adelaide pursued
him vigorously two years ago. The Crows are thought to be interested
in promising Fremantle forward Daniel Schell and his teammate Clive
Waterhouse, while Melbourne's out-of-contract centre half-forward
David Schwarz is an interesting proposition. The player the Crows
most covet is Dockers forward Matthew Pavlich, who has expressed a
desire to return home to SA but is contracted to the WA club for another
year.
Gary Lyon claims
Adelaide's Andrew Eccles and Port's Bowen Lockwood could also be attractive
trade bait.
What
our club needs - August 30th 2001 - by Pablo
The Crows need
forwards. Darren Jarman is the club's leading goalkicker with 37 from
18 matches and, as good as he is, the veteran wizard could retire
within a fortnight.
Too much is required
from its gun midfielders and they have delivered. Andrew McLeod (27
goals), Mark Ricciuto (26), Mark Stevens (20) and Simon Goodwin (16)
have fleshed out Adelaide's attack. But the experiment with dominating
SANFL forward Adam Richardson (one goal from two games) has failed.
The Crows' hopes
of luring Fremantle's Matthew Pavlich back to South Australia have
been stopped for the present by his declaration he'll remain in Perth
until the end of next season. And with Brad Ottens settled at Richmond,
Michael O'Loughlin continuing to thrive in Sydney and Nick Holland
reluctant to transfer, the Crows will need be at their inventive best
to fill the forward void.
What your
club could give up
Adelaide's search
for forwards will be the club's prime goal and, unfortunately for
the Crows, rival clubs understand that as well.
Adelaide's trading
credo, though, is to give a bit to get a bit. It might choose to offload
one of its rucks, possibly Ben Marsh or Rhett Biglands, if it is able
to secure the targets it has identified.
Strategy
As with every
other club in the league, Adelaide ranks its squad on a regular basis.
The review will continue beyond the finals series and into the week-long
trading period.
Adelaide needs
to discover more firepower. It is too easy for more powerful clubs
to isolate the star Crow midfielders and then exploit its forwards
and, inevitably, penetrate what is a solid defence. The Crows' priority
is to net a gun forward.
Three-star
trades
Rhett Biglands:
Still developing. Needs more time, but has plenty of potential.
Brett Burton:
Adelaide's highest flyer. Has battled injury and needs a consolidating
season. Highly rated.
Ken McGregor:
Raw and full of promise. Needs a strong pre-season and could be very
useful.
Ben Marsh: Premiership
ruckman who has survived a knee reconstruction.
One-star trades
Evan Hewitt:
Reasonable first year with the Crows, but may not have done enough
to escape the trade market.
Chris Ladhams:
Pacy midfielder who struggles for match time in Adelaide.
Dermott
Breeton 2001 Side - August 30th 2001 - by Pablo
Dermmie recently
chose his All-Australian side and with his selection criteria as follows
"is that I will not name a Hawthorn player in the side. I
never write critically about the Hawks, so I'll never write glowingly
about them, either. But, Hawks who are candidates will be mentioned."
Sounds interesting. However Dermmie failed to even mention the stella
years of Mark Riccuito and Ben Hart. However Mark Stevens (Center
Half Back), Darren Jarman (Forward Pocket) and Simon Goodwin (Ruck
Rover). Our only nominee was
Rover:
Andrew McLeod (Adelaide): Cleaned up his disposal as the season wore
on.
Just another award for accolade for our little champion.
McLeod
2nd best - August 30th 2001 - by Pablo
McLeod came
second in the Herald Sun AFL Player of the Year award. Behind Brisbane's
Simon Black. Even though there is still 1 more match to play Black
has sealed the award with an unpassable 8 point lead. 3rd and 4th
spots went to Brisbanes Jason Akermanis and Michael Voss respectively.
Why
McLeod is so good? - August 29th 2001 - by Pablo
What makes
this player so talented?
- He is multi-positional
: Equally damaging as a running half-back, crumbing half-forward
or key midfield player.
-
Wins the ball on the burst : Similar to Kevin Bartlett at his best,
McLeod has the ability to take the ball at full speed from a ''front
and centre'' crumb or read the ball off the pack and burst through the
lines.
-
Difficult player to tag :
Because of his burst and second gear it is very difficult to tag him
without breaking the laws.
- Outside pack
player : Because
of his ability and speed, most of McLeod's possessions are outside the
pack. This does not mean he is a receiver; simply that he has the acceleration
to step away from all opponents. Outside-the-pack players hurt the opposition
more as their disposal is far more damaging. McLeod has the ability
to take the ball from inside and turn that disposal into an outside
creative option with sheer speed.
- Major goalkicking
threat : Similar to Peter Matera playing at his absolute best,
McLeod has the ability to kick at least five goals in any key game
that he plays. This makes him a huge threat even when his disposal
numbers are lower than usual.
- Low to the
ground strength : More than any current-day player McLeod has
outstanding core stability and strength. He can take the ball at one
grab and use his leg muscles to power into a second gear from almost
a standing start. He outruns many players by two to three metres in
the first five metres.
Trade
Bait - August 28th 2001 - by Pablo
It's fast approaching
that time of the year when recruiting managers and player agents become
an integral part of the footballing landscape.
They will come
to rely on, and trust each other, more than they may care to admit
in the quest to do the right thing by their respective business partners.
In the case of the recruiters, it is the club, while for the managers
it is the players whose futures they are entrusted with.
The Adelaide
clubs have multiple genuine rucking options on their lists. The Crows
have Matthew Clarke, Rhett Biglands, Ben Marsh and young Lawrence
Angwin.
A likely list
of names to be bandied around in the coming weeks, bearing in mind
the above rationale, may include:
Trade Bait
ADELAIDE: Any
ruckman, Andrew Eccles
Possible Trades:
ESSENDON: Jonathon
Robran
FREMANTLE: Clive Waterhouse
GEELONG: Clint Bizzell
PORT ADELAIDE: Bowen Lockwood
RICHMOND: Nick Daffy
SYDNEY: Ryan Fitzgerald
WESTERN BULLDOGS: Craig Ellis
Most
Valuable Player - August 28th 2001 - by Pablo
Who is the
game's Most Valuable Player?
The Most Valuable
Player Awards are set to take on a new name – in honor of a past
or present player. Traditionally,
the winner of the Most Valuable Player Award is recognised for his
versatility, ability to play under pressure, skill and courage, respect
for all players, overall value to a team and leadership.
Past and present
players have been encouraged to cast their vote on who the awards
should be named after.
Phillip Matera
considers Michael Voss the best captain in the league, Mark Ricciuto
the most courageous, Nathan Buckley the most valuable and Ryan Lonie
is his candidate for the rising star award.
Byron Pickett
also thinks Michael Voss is the best captain. He rates his team mate
Glen Archer as the most courageous player and Adelaide Crow Andrew
McLeod as the most valuable player. His rising star candidate
is Daniel Kerr from the West Coast Eagles.
We
can win - August 28th 2001 - by Pablo
The Adelaide
Crows has the form to be rated as AFL premiership contenders, coach
Gary Ayres said today. Ayres said the Crows were playing exciting
football and had class players ready to return from injury and further
improve the side.
'It is not
our intention to be there to make up the numbers,' Ayres said
'The football we have been playing is fast flowing and exciting
to watch and is being driven by an on-ball division that is finding
form and consistency. We are of the belief that, with a little luck
of course, we can be a premiership contender.'
Ayres backed
his team to beat any other side in the top eight on any ground.
'Travelling
is not an issue, nor is the ground we play on or the opposition we
face,' he said. We are a confident team playing well and have
faith that our game is good enough to win the important matches.'
'It is no
secret that (Andrew) McLeod, (Simon) Goodwin and (Mark) Ricciuto have
elevated their performances recently, but the form of players such
as (Mark) Stevens, (Nathan) Bassett, (Robert) Shirley and on the weekend
Brett Burton is pleasing. Mark Bickley's form of recent times has
shown he has the capability to return for another season, after being
touted as a possible retiree.'
'It is important
for us not to get too far ahead of ourselves. The Dockers have been
kicking reasonable scores and their victory over Hawthorn recently
proved they could win,' Ayres said concerning the Dockers game.
One
Week at a Time - August 27th 2001 - by Pablo
The Adelaide
Crows this week prepare for the AFL finals in perhaps the worst possible
way - a trip to Perth to play a virtually meaningless game against
the competition's worst side.
But midfielder
Simon Goodwin said the club would not be using the trip to Subiaco
to play Fremantle as a chance to rest. Adelaide wants to continue
winning, regardless of the opponent and the bearing on ladder positions.
'Winning form
is good form, we want to continue that this week, leading into the
finals we want to make sure we go on with our good form,' Goodwin
said.
If results in
this weekend's last home and away round fall as expected, the Crows
will meet Richmond in Melbourne on the first weekend of the finals.
'Certainly
throughout the year we've won just about everywhere we've played away
and we're quite confident going anywhere around Australia to win a
footy game,' Goodwin said. 'I think we've got a routine in
place and a training structure that is good for playing away games,
we're quite happy to play anywhere.'
'Everyone's
hungry at the moment. We've spent two years out of the finals, we
know what it's like to be there, but we've had two long hard years
out of the finals,' Goodwin said. 'It's just great to be back
there and we want to make the most of the opportunity.'
Adelaide is likely
to recall ruckman Matthew Clarke for the Dockers match after recovering
from a quadricep strain.
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