Crows vs Lions
General -
Watched 3 quarters only, as it was getting really ugly and the Crows were fielding a shadow team which made it kind of useless to try and read much into it. Wet weather footy which made it interesting and more useful than most games as it kind of forces the contest. Was a pretty one-sided game as you'd expect from the teams playing and picked.
CBA
Crows
Crouch - 15
Laird - 15
Schoenberg - 12
Berry - 11
Hately - 7
Pedlar - 5
Keays - 7 (All in Q3 when Crouch was on minutes limit)
Lions
Neale - 17
Rayner - 11
Bailey - 11
Clug - 11
Lyons - 11
Berry - 9
Cockatoo - 2
Rucks - Genuine 50/50
Kick-ins
Rich - 100%
Macpherson - 5
Jones - 2
Hinge -1
Davis - 1 (stinker on the first and didn't take another)
Crows - Honestly had too many missing to really gauge anything from this match. When missing that many midfielders and key players it's just impossible as the flow on effect is a) no idea where other players will play and b) they get smashed so badly that you can't really see a lot of many. I thought they were gallant though, which is something.
Fantasy relevant again...
Jones - Draft only but HB and was solid.
Keays - Played forward the entire first half with limited midfield bursts, zero CB, when Crouch went onto minute limits in the 3rd he went into the middle, wasn't a great sign that the Lions then piled on a ton of goals on the back of repeat CB clearances! Still can't kick and is the obvious guy to reduce midfield minutes to me.
Crouch - Minute limitation is enough for me to put the line through him. He played very well though and was their leading CBA guy at HT.
Hately - The role was fine but just couldn't find the ball. Not sure what happened to the kid at GWS who couldn't get away from it. A cross next to his name from this game.
Thilthorpe - Outmatched by Andrews but was solid in the contest.
Rachele - Role is not good but it's not terrible. Was a genuine HF rather than pocket and did have some freedom to roam, even got to the back pocket a few times. He oozes class with the ball, especially good at the in close handball while being tackled. I think this game was a big tick for him as a player but at his price with that role I'd still rather take someone else. JS should be good though, already got more tricks than their other forwards.
Pedlar - Solid midfield minutes but like Hately he really failed to make it count, obviously they're outclassed but wanted to see more from him. A dash for mine, as just can't read anything unfortunately.
Soligo - Started on the wing and first couple of touches came quick and were decent. Struggled mightily from there and probably took another quarter and a half to get the next two. Some signs but, like Pedlar, mark incomplete.
Taylor - Did a couple of nice things but didn't seem to play much at all.
Hinge - Role was good, laid several fantastic tackles, great sign for a guy with heavy shoulder strapping and coming back from major shoulder issues. Interesting to see a relatively poor kick in MacPherson taking kick-ins over him, not a great sign, albeit MacPherson continually running into trouble and kicking long should be the end of it for him. I thought it was a tick but the fantasy score will be pretty poor unless he junked hard. Probably got 30 from tackles though factoring in the couple of HTB he also won.
Berry - Another who had a great role and didn't cash in. Same story as the other kids.
Schoenberg - Role was really good but also didn't have much impact. Looking for statements from those guys on the fringe of the midfield to demand the minutes and he was another who really failed to make any statement.
Laird - Battled well without help but was quiet by his standards, hard to judge when the midfield gets smashed so thoroughly though.
Davis - Playing HB, did a couple of nice things but, like so many Crows, just not enough in what's probably a limited audition.
ROB - He looked alright but, broken record, didn't do much and definitely wasn't demanding selection. Strachan took a significantly high amount of the ruckwork as well.
Strachan - Seemed to be playing off the bench, never a great sign for a 2nd ruck but also not a good sign for the first ruck as generally only see this from legit ruck battles. He was solid, ROB was better though.
Lions - Absolutely smashed them, Fa gan was pretty true to his word with midfield mix and it worked. Coleman and Zorko near term best 22 guys missing so reckon we got a really strong indicator of how things go. Zorko is a significant curve ball though as where he slots in changes things for a lot of players.
Daniher - Was dominant up forward, genuinely wouldn't surprise me if he goes 90+ this year, loved how he went about it.
Robinson - He's not done yet, was very good on a wing.
Clug - Started HF, roamed freely from there, mostly wing but also a solid amount of CBA, to be fair he was inflated in this area by being in there for what was basically ~5 straight CB clearance goals to the Lions in about a 4 minute period, absolute onslaught. Looked decent but nothing in his role that I'd say was "positive", for mine this game was an x despite playing well.
Berry - This is what I'm looking for when I say a "fringe" midfielder needs to demand his spot. I'd say he was best on ground by a decent margin, dominated clearances, tackled like every Crow had stolen his dog and just went hammer and tong. Looks very fit, ran really hard. Role was as expected, started on the wing and rotated through genuine mid, wing and HF, basically he and Clug rotated through those spots for the most part. One of the firmest ticks I've jotted down from a preseason game.
Neale - Another firm tick here. Midfield role was clean, rested forward a bit and wont get that kind of supply usually but was playing with a dry ball out there, so clean, covering the ground really well. Just looked tip top.
Rich - Took every kick-in I believe, copped a big knock but was back on a couple of minutes later. Genuinely could score even better this year and another big tick.
Madden - Did nothing wrong at HB, also did nothing to demand a spot. Was just solid.
Rayner - This was an interesting game. Role was as advertised but he basically looked best when forward. I have to say that my physical assessment was "he looks chunky" but he does have a weird body shape so that doesn't help. Struggled early to find the ball despite the excellent role, did build into it in the 3rd when the dominance hit red levels. For mine this was a dash game, the role was a tick, the outcome of the role a cross, would hope for more in a whitewash as well. I reckon one of those games where if you wanted to pick him you'd have seen plenty and if you didn't want to pick him you'd have seen plenty and if you're neutral you're utterly confused.
Lyons - Clear loser in the midfield talk, forward a lot, not in the CB an awful lot (he's another a bit inflated by 3rd quarter flurry). He played well but there definitely seems to be a conscious shift towards the more dynamic and explosive guys and he's clearly behind Neale.
Bailey - As advertised, like Rayner I think he did more damage as a forward though than as a mid, a couple of nice breaking clearances but mostly kind of got lost a bit. For mine their best mids are still quite clearly Berry, Neale, Lyons and Clug but Bailey is only going to learn it by being around it. Did some really nice things. Reckon there's a 90+ season in him without any real role change and if he can cash in the 100 range is definitely possible. I do think he's behind a couple of the other names still though, mostly because of who he's fighting for midfield scraps.
Fort - Stole a lot of OMc's work. Was a genuine 50/50 of ruck CBA. Playing forward a good sign for his role and terrible for OMc. Thought he was really solid and Strachan is better than almost any 2nd ruck he will face so that's a good takeaway.
Answerth - Playing wing mostly, was really, really solid. Kicked a couple of goals. Hard part for him is how many other guys played wing and were better, not sure they can all fit in. Probably would have been better if he was HB where there is a clearer chance at a spot but the versatility doesn't hurt at all.
Wilmot - Perhaps the most impressive of all the Lions, there's not a lot of him but he laid several crunching tackles and plays well above his weight. Great speed and looks to have a very classy right peg on him. Wish we knew for sure where Zorko fits in, maybe back round 1 I guess, and Coleman as well but I thought he was significantly better than Madden and better than Answerth, who are probably in a 3 way battle for a spot. Looked capable of very decent fantasy scoring. JS will be suspect I guess but if he plays like that it wont. Big tick.
As usual, any other names then just @ me
