Round 15 Preview: Birds of a Feather

I think I'm done mentioning the finals. It was Coaching Genius and all round pain in the ass Chris Connoly who imposed a ban on the 'f' word during the first season (?) in which the Dockers threatened to win a few games.

But, for me, if we're good enough from here, over the last 9, we'll make it. If we're not good enough, forget the excuses, we won't make it.

Let's just see what happens. But regardless of whether or not our season extends beyond winter, we have some huge games ahead of us. Huge games against rivals, which I, for one, want to see us win.

The Dockers obviously. The Swans, that goes without saying. But also Collingwood. Essendon. Geelong. In fact, pretty much every team we face, because if you're not us, you're them and if you're them well...

"BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

 Now that the state of Victoria have passed out from crying, we can proceed. Seriously, what is it about the ‘boo’ which got all those freaks whipped up into a lather. I thought maybe Victorians were sensitive to that frequency of sound or something, but then 2 nights later when Crowley and Ballantyne were booed mercilessly, they said it was ‘good natured’. Wait a sec.

Guy who admits taking banned substance gets booed = disgrace.
Guy accused of pinching sore loser gets booed = part of the game.

So it goes.

But onto this one. Adelaide at Football Park (love that name, none of this sponsorship rubbish...unless they pay me to write it and then I'll gladly sell my soul). The Eagles have won 7 of 20 against the Crows at the ground, not so bad considering Adelaide dominated most of the clashes during the 90s on their home turf.


We really are birds of a feather. We both went deep-ish in the finals last season. We both had high expectations at the start of the season. We both have had utterly forgettable seasons thus far. We’re both 6-9. We both have not beaten a team in the top 8. The Crows are 0-6 from games against the top 8. We are also 0-6. We have both lost 1 game to a team outside the top 8: Carlton.

Yet despite the statistical similarities, I feel we’re the better team. Especially recently. I honestly believe our last 2 weeks of football have been the best football we’ve played. Hawthorn are far and away the best team in the comp (notwithstanding that they’ll probably lose on Saturday night, just ‘cause...well...curse) and we pushed them to the brink. We should’ve beaten Essendon, no doubt, but injuries to our already soft midfield and a short break (vs Bombers off a bye) surely influenced our demise.

Our midfield is still a major concern, but except for Dangerfield (who really does scare me) the Crows aren’t that potent. Their forward line is makeshift. They are, essentially, a mediocre side.

What we must do, though, is start well. I don’t know about you, but I feel that going down 4 goals to 1 is asking for trouble. That’s what has happened the last 2 weeks. Do that against the Crows in Adelaide and it will be very hard to rectify.

......Thursday 4:20.....Teams come out...shrieks....recomposes self...
 
I wrote the above before the teams came out.  The exclusion of Kerr has, to an extent, drained me of confidence. It wouldn't be such a concern if, say, a couple of Shuey, Selwood or Wellingham were playing. But the fact is, this is one of the weakest midfields (on paper) that we have fielded for quite a while.

Adelaide
B: Andrew Otten, Ben Rutten, Luke Brown
HB: Nathan van Berlo, Daniel Talia, Brodie Smith
C: Bernie Vince, Rory Sloane, Brad Crouch
HF: Aidan Riley, Ricky Henderson, Richard Douglas
F: Jason Porplyzia, Josh Jenkins, Matthew Wright
Foll: Sam Jacobs, Patrick Dangerfield, Scott Thompson
Int: Shaun McKernan, Rory Laird, Matthew Jaensch, Thomas Lynch
Emerg: David Mackay, Richard Tambling, Kyle Hartigan
In: S.McKernan
Out: B.Reilly (Shoulder)

West Coast
B: Will Schofield, Darren Glass, Mitchell Brown
HB: Jacob Brennan, Eric Mackenzie, Beau Waters
C: Andrew Embley, Matt Priddis, Matt Rosa
HF: Mark Hutchings, Josh Kennedy, Josh Hill
F: Mark LeCras, Dean Cox, Jack Darling
Foll: Nic Naitanui, Chris Masten, Brad Sheppard
Int: Patrick McGinnity, Bradd Dalziell, Jamie Cripps, Andrew Gaff
Emerg: Blayne Wilson, Cale Morton, Scott Lycett
In: J.Hill, J.Brennan, J.Cripps, A.Embley
Out: D.Kerr (ribs), S.Butler (back), As.Smith (calf), S.Tunbridge

Yet, fighting the irresistible urge to fall to the floor and assume the foetus position, this is still very winnable. Is it harder without the 4 guys mentioned above? Absolutely. But we still have Gaff and Priddis. We still have guys, who if they do their job, are good enough to give us a chance. Let's forget the problematic midfield. The Crows are no match for our forward line which is strengthened by the return of Hill. They have essentially nothing of concern up forward (except when Dangerfield is playing there...), especially when you look at our solid backline.

We need big games from the likes of Rosa, Masten, Dalziell and Hutchings. We need Cripps to show something. Perhaps Lecras can spend some time in the midfield?  

We don't need a miracle to win this game. We're playing football that's good enough to win. We just need a team performance; committed and consistent. 

Come on Eagles.

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Anyone else remember this during the 90s? I used to love this as a kid. Classic. Although I don't appreciate the 'West Coast Wankers' stickers. Was that before or after we kicked Geelong's arses in 1992 and 1994?