A Preseason Preview 2006- Part 16 of 16 - Crows

[pahoffm]

The Crows
Well this is the one that I got very, very wrong last year.
Adelaide's performance, last season, was enormous. With a list that looked to be split between either too old or too young, they finished, at the end of the H&A, on top of the ladder.
This year the coaching staff are the same with Neil Craig steering the ship, with assistance from Don Pyke, David Noble & Paul Hamilton again.

The list is as follows:
Matt Clarke 200 100 32
Rhett Biglands 200 103 28
Jonathan Griffin 202 90 20
John Meesen 200 95 20
Ben Hudson 198 108 27
Ken McGregor 195 97 25
Ivan Maric 198 97 20
Adrian Bonaddio 196 101 20 rookie
Chad Gibson 195 99 19
Ben Hart 190 83 31 vet
Nathan Bassett 190 87 29
Ian Perrie 194 102 27
Scott Stevens 194 84 24
Trent Henschel 194 91 23
Nathan Bock 193 92 23
Ben Rutten 191 99 23
Luke Jericho 190 86 21
Alan Obst 192 83 19 new
Tom Redden 190 76 18 rookie
Jason Torney 187 84 29
Brett Burton 185 83 28
Scott Welsh 187 89 27
Kris Massie 189 87 26
Robert Shirley 185 84 26
Martin Mattner 189 83 23
Scott Thompson 185 84 23
John Hinge 187 85 20
Bernie Vince 185 82 20 new
Brad Sugars 187 81 19 rookie
Chris Knights 185 82 19
Mark Ricciuto 184 93 31
Simon Goodwin 184 87 29
Andrew McLeod 181 80 29
Brent Reilly 184 84 22
Jason Porplyzia 180 80 21 new
Nathan Van Berlo 184 80 20
Richard Douglas 180 68 19 new
Darren Pfeiffer 183 80 18 new
Tyson Edwards 178 81 29
Matt Bode 178 76 27
Michael Doughty 178 79 26
Graham Johncock 179 85 23
Hayden Skipworth 177 75 23
Sam Elliott 179 72 18 rookie

So, another list of 44, including 1 vet, 5 newies and 4 rookies.
19 of the 44, (43%) are 190cm plus, which is higher than the norm. They've got 6 on their list below 180cm, which I think is about right.
18 of the 44, (41%) are 25yo or above. Therefore most of the list is under 25yo, which is a good sign for a developing list.

Let's look at the spread.
Twilight = 28+yo
Prime = 25-27yo
Development = 22-24yo
Junior = 18-21yo

<180 Small Runners
Twilight: Edwards 29
Prime: Bode 27, Doughty 26
Development: Johncock 23, Skipworth 23
Junior: Elliott 18

180-184 Smaller Mediums
Twilight: Ricciuto 31, Goodwin 29, McLeod 29
Prime:
Development: Reilly 22
Junior: Porplyzia 21, VanBerlo 20, Douglas 19, Pfeiffer 18

185-189 Taller Mediums
Twilight: Torney 29, Burton 28
Prime: Welsh 27, Massie 26, Shirley 26
Development: Mattner 23, Thompson 23
Junior: Hinge 20, Vince 20, Sugars 19, Knights 19

190-194 Mobile Key Position
Twilight: Hart 31, Bassett 29
Prime: Perrie 27
Development: Stevens 24, Henschel 23, Bock 23, Rutten 23
Junior: Jericho 21, Obst 19, Redden 18

195-199 Key Position/ Ruck
Twilight:
Prime: Hudson 27, McGregor 25
Development:
Junior: Maric 20, Bonaddio 20, Gibson 19

200+ Ruck
Twilight: Clarke 32, Biglands 28
Prime:
Development:
Junior: Griffin 20, Meesen 20

Adelaide have actually been subtly savage over the summer. They've chopped a few of their tall boys from the list. Gone are Krueger, Watts, Andrews & M.Stevens. Most of their newies & rookies are small to medium runners. It could be another example, like Brisbane, of getting the talls right first, then getting the runners after.
They looke overdone for talls in 2005, yet this year they've cut a few back, and added some runners. Wonder how it will pan out for them.
Hudson's recovery from knee surgery will be important to them.

And for positional coverage:
B: Johncock 23 Rutten 23 Bassett 29

HB: Hart 31 Bock 23 McLeod 29
Massie 26 Obst 19 Torney 29
Redden 18 Gibson 19 Hinge 20
Pfeiffer 18

C: Mattner 23 Ricciuto 31 Burton 28
Van Berlo 20 Knights 19 Vince 20
Sugars 19 Douglas 19

HF: Goodwin 29 Perrie 27 Thompson 23
Jericho 21 Henschel 23 Porplyzia 21
Stevens 24

F: Welsh 27 McGregor 25 Bode 27
                       Bonaddio 20 Skipworth 23

R: Biglands 28 Shirley 26 Edwards 29
Hudson 27 Reilly 22 Doughty 26
Clarke 32 Elliott 18
Griffin 20
Meeson 20
Maric 20

The crows seem to be able to cover all positions. They do look better on the flanks this season.
Last year, they finished the H&A on top, got some crucial injuries, then fell away.
Was last year only a tease, or will they be there again? Their NAB Cup form looks good, but how much do we take from it?
To me, this season, the draw is the key. The crows have exceptional records at both AAMI Stadium & the Telstra Dome. They get 12 games at AAMI & 4 games at Telstra. So you can lock in about 16 games, which puts them again into the top 4. After that, a trip to Subiaco, Sydney, Brisbane or the MCG could upset them.

 

[mk33]

I am going to have a go at this.
Unfortunately I do like the Crows this year. They have solid yet unspectualar key defence in Rutten and Bock with Bassett, McGregor capable of helping.
Have multiple options as key forward, Welsh as FF with Hentschel, McGregor , Perrie all capable of kicking 4 goals.Depth willcome from rookies Jericho, Chad Gibson.
On ballers, wings and flanks are well covered by good hard running players that use the ball well in Doughty, Thompson, Goodwin, Ricciuto, Edwards, Burton,Reilly, Mattner and youngsters Skipworth, Van Berlo and Knights.
With Hudson injured Biglands will be first ruck with support from Clarke but Maric and Meesen do have good wraps.
Johncock appears to be the only small goalkicker but small of their running players can kick a couple.
Look good when on son, which we saw against last year running from the midfielder and spotting 3-4 options up forward.
A well balanced side that are supposly very well trained in fitness to run the year out.

My tip at this stage.

Players on Rise
Key defence Rutten and Bock just get the job done each week last year and may All Australian this year (Rutten did last year)
Reilly and Thompson emerging running players who will replace Goodwin and Ricciuto more often in midfielder. Thompson will be out to redeem himself from his finals performance.

Now or Never
Kris Massie and Scott Stevens will both be low on the pecking order of players this year and will struggle to add to their games tally.