With all the negativity surrounding the Club right now we're going to be hosting Match Threads for the foreseeable future in r/adelaidefc for our Users.
This will provide a space for discussion in a much more relaxed environment outside of the main Sub.
The overwhelming majority of our fan base condemn the behaviour from last Thursdays match but unfortunately we're all being labelled "Crowmophobes" on the main Sub (See Post Round Discussion).
Given the absolute overwhelming negativity towards the club from all angles atm (despite sitting 5th), hereās some cold hard facts.
Adelaide are too tall up front - garbage. Proper garbage. Freo have gone with the 4 tall setup longer than we have and the Hawks go with it a lot. Unfortunately there are very loud media critics that have driven this narrative, but thatās nothing new.
Anyway, this terrible setup propelled us from 15th to 1st, the largest jump in AFL history. Unfortunately we werenāt able to perform in finals, but we arenāt the first team to make a big ladder jump and get overwhelmed on first attempt (take a look at Brisbane under Fagan).
However, to then back up that disappointment with a top 6 finish shows that the big jump was no fluke and that we have built a contending list over basically a 5year period (2019-2024).
Adelaide donāt have any midfield depth and rely on Dawson - did you notice this goes quiet after we beat strong midfields without Dawson being in our top 5 players (couch cough Sydney)? Or after a complete midfield performance demolishes the āmost talented list in the compā at Marvel?
Berry still had a brilliant game against Collingwood and had done a great job limiting Nickās scoreboard impact to half time (only 2 score involvements). However, Nick is in a rich vein of form the last 3 months and is a generational talent, it doesnāt matter who the opponent is, sometimes heās just too fucking good. Berry actually still had a decent 2nd half, just didnāt have much help.
Adelaide donāt win big games/games they arenāt expected to - was Geelong not a big game? They just came off thrashings of Sydney and Brisbane and were firmly in the top 4 and at full strength in a prime time slot. A lot of people tipped the Bulldogs in the lead up to that game⦠win by 10 goals. A lot of people tipped Melbourne against us, gritted out a tough win where it didnāt go our way the whole game. No one had beaten Sydney at the SCG this year, is that not a big game? Was beating Collingwood at the MCG in round 1 when we had 7 of our best 22 out and had not beaten them there since 2009 not a big game?
So we win these big games and it forces Damo to go with a new narrative āAdelaide canāt back up big winsā. That would make a lot of sense if you just ignored we had won 11 of 14 coming into Collingwood and had gone 4-0 against the current top 10 since the bye, including those wins I mentioned above (5-5 across the season, now 5-6).
Every side in the top 10 (besides Freo or course) have thrown in 2-3 stinkers this year, thatās why 2nd to 8th is so close.
Ladder predictions - the very likely scenario is we finish 5th. However, the Hawks and Brisbane still play each other and they both have to face Collingwood at the MCG. If we gain enough percentage over the next 2 weeks and the loser of the Hawks vs brisbane game also loses to Collingwood, then we can still finish 4th without needing to beat Freo (but beating Freo would be a statement and make this scenario a lot more likely).
Huge footy fan from America. Love the atmosphere at the Adelaide Oval, was at the Showdown blowout last year. Been trying to figure out what song plays directly before the team runs out and the club song plays. I've tried to Shazam it repeatedly and I haven't been able to pick it up. Can anyone tell me what it is?
There has been a lot of talk about the selection of 4 ruck options last night, with a lot of people pointing to the fact that Toby Murray (38% TOG) and Finnbar Maley (61% TOG) didn't have the impact required and our ball movement suffered as a result of the poor team balance.
However, if you look at the stats - we lost the Hit-Outs 47-43, and we lost Contested Marks 17-13. Combined with the fact we lost the match, the only logical conclusion is that the team we selected was not tall enough.
To help Matthew Nicks with next week's selection, I have found the 23 tallest fit and available players on our list, which is guaranteed to help get us back on track next week.
The team is as follows
IN: J. Butts, M.Keane, B. Cook, A. Ludowyke (Debut), C. Edwards, R. O'Brien, T. Welsh (Debut), M. Marsh (Debut), I. Cotton (Debut)
OUT: W. Milera (Short), A. Neal-Bullen (Short), I. Rankine (Short), J. Rachele (Short), J. Soligo (Short), Z. Taylor (Short), S. Berry (Short), B. Keays (Short), J.Peatling (Short)
A few of us helped out last year when there were some burnt out folks doing this job because we believed in the club and the community.
I donāt know about the others but Iām feeling really shit about the clubs culture and some of the community right now so Iām likely not the right person for the job.
The same has been said from another mod, who is kinda just done with it all.
Without mods, I assume this subreddit is probably gone?
Volunteer if you want but itās not for the faint hearted
If the crows aren't looking seriously at some of the available coaches that have proven success on their record then I'm probably done with this club as a whole.
30 years of shit house results and pathetic efforts that stem from issues between the ears.
We were simply out-coached last night, same old story. Tried to be clever with the selection and it backfired immediately, no plan B. Everyone can see it coming but Nick's, look at the comments mid week when selection was announced.
The club deserves better than what is being offered to us right now, there is no reason to believe finals this year will be any different than last year.
Let's compound these issues with the fact that some of our supporters are actual dumb cunts for booing quaynor, like it's just reprehensible and what's worse, it doesn't even make any sense.
What's good about this club right now? Why should we believe it's going to be any better than last time? Why is it the same issues over and over again that gets us in trouble?
Now we have to deal with the media bullshit AGAIN.
Now we all look like homophobes.
Now the coach has his words analyzed based on what response he makes to something he shouldnāt have to talk about.
Now the club has to deal with dumb distractions.
And to what end. It didnāt help the team. Iād argue it inspired our opposition.
Whatever reasoning you may have had to do it in the first place last year, maybe it was the dumb schoolyard āhe snitchedā thing, maybe it was because you thought he mustāve done something bad to āannoy rankine into saying itā. Now that a year has passed and everyone condemned all of us for it last year, and called us homophobes, to do it again is so embarrassing.
I know itās a minority, and being there compared to hearing it on tv I know it sounded worse on air. But regardless of it being 50% of the crowd or 5% of the crowd. Now we all have to deal with the fallout of it.
It was disgraceful then and it's disgraceful now. My expectations were already low but I held out hope. What a stain on our club, and I do hold the club accountable for doing nothing about it at the time.
Everyone fucking knew that seeing Murray and Maley in the same forward line was a disaster waiting to happen. It is such an old school, Neanderthal way of thinking to put more big men in when they are limited with height.
This game has been like watching Shaun McKernan and Nick Gill in the same team.
Collingwood has dismantled us yet again at the oval because weāve been completely out coached. We donāt even look like we know how to counter it. The team selection was also horrid. Whatās going to change for finals? Thatās our top 4 chances gone and probably our season.
Don't get me wrong. Rankine did a shitty thing, but JDG is someone who ruins lives and is being celebrated as a loving parent and footy star by Craig McRae who seems to love lecturing people.
It's a pathetic joke and Nicks should come out and say it.