Thursday night’s Gather Round opening will put Adelaide under pressure. True, a two-team, one-newspaper, football-mad town is winless. After last week’s setback, the local paper called them “Easter Bunnies” on the back page. They beat a well-organized and defensive Melbourne on Thursday. Mini nine irons, sideways kicks, plain midfield, poor ball movement, and willingness to make rival interceptors’ lives easy remained season-long difficulties.
We acknowledge their flaws. They struggled with their opponent the most. I want a straightforward kill. Instead, they faced a talented, in-form Melbourne, fresh off a win over Port Adelaide, who would constantly challenge them. The Crows haven’t defeated top interceptors this year.
They fed Tom Stewart against Geelong on Good Friday, with Alex Pearce and Luke Ryan winning. Nobody bombed or hoped against MelbourTheiTheir mechanisms process uncomfortable forward motions.Relax, work angles, and choose holes. Crows did it occasionally. They overblasted, and Steven May and Jake Lever intercepted 12 to take control. May ohave overcomerib damage. Goalkeeper, organizer, thwarter, thumper, and hardest opponent.
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Also problematic was Melbourne’s on-ball squad. Crows lack Demons’ midfield variety. Their midfielders are reliable and score well. Same footballer variations. Jordan Dawson, the only difference maker, has struggled this year and been slow on his feet, but he performed well last night. Christian Petracca excelled. Yesterday was his football lesson, and today is his Central Market culinary demo. Maybe the best player in the nation. No player is harder to tackle.
Another Dees star is Caleb Windsor. He handles bustle, dropped balls, and tough kicks well for his age. He moves like a young Craig Bradley. Windsor, at seven, may be the draft steal, but Harley Reid received more column inches than Bruce Lehrmann.
South Australia-only rounds benefit the Crows. Their Gather Round victory last year was incredible. Complete offense midway through the first quarter. After early reconstructive humiliation, they popped. They halted. They averaged nearly 16 goals per game last year. Just over nine this year.
They kicked to the Cats a week later, took too many talls against Gold Coast in the wet, and never looked like scoring against Fremantle last week in a tight contest. It was more detailed on Thursday, but they were lazy and failed.
Usually positive Matthew Nicks was a frustrated coach last night. He stated the structure was strong, but execution, decision-making, and ball movement were slow. Hard from here. Only five of the 162 VFL/AFL teams that lost their first four reached the finals. They stagnated after years of progress. Rebuilding teams is mostly right. Melbourne shows your standing, but the Crows were too plain, sloppy, and unprepared to compete.
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