AFL 2010

[bennymacca]

he's made finals with good players, anyone could have coached those teams to finals - the list got him there

this year was the first time that significant expectations were actually put on the crows. the other years they have been predicted to either sneak into the finals or finish outside the finals, and they have consistently exceeded these expectations.

but he isn't evolving the team, he hasn't improved it

tippett dangerfield, vince, mackay, otten. shall i go on?

the good players are now old, and the crows are now fighting to not win the wooden spoon

everyone knows that the crows are not the second woest team in the AFL, its bleedingly obvious.

also, i am guessing that you would say that the crows have a much older list?

well once again you would be wrong, they have the same average age as port

West Bulldogs - 24.0 years old (72.1 games)
StKilda - 23.9 (66.4)
Geelong - 23.8 (70.1)
Sydney - 23.7 (61.8)
Hawthorn - 23.4 (52.7)
Collingwood - 23.4 (67.4)
Adelaide - 23.3 (58.9)
Port Adelaide - 23.3 (54.1)
Brisbane - 23.2 (61.4)
Fremantle - 23.1 (58.0)
Essendon - 22.7 (44.7)
West Coast - 22.7 (46.0)
North Melb - 22.5 (43.0)
Melbourne - 22.5 (43.7)
Carlton - 22.5 (48.3)
Richmond - 22.4 (42.3)

he's one dimensional - ive never seen him make a move on matchday that's changed a game

this is the one thing that i can agree with, he is a little slow at making changes.

Crows went from a top 4 team to bottom 4 team in the space of 6 months. There's only 1 person to blame on that. If something isn't working, you change. Not just keep at it hoping it will work eventually.

if your structures have worked for 5 years, and suddenly after 6 games they aren't, what are you inclined to do? i would think toughing it out is the way to go.

I'm suprised someone hasn't blamed injuries. Vince, Knights, Symes and Otten do not turn that team into a top 4 contender.

no, but getting limited pre-seasons out of bock, van berlo, mackay, porplyzia, tippett, symes, otten, vince, burton, etc etc etc certainly does have an effect.

it is clearly evident to me that most of these players were underdone at the beginning of the season - thats why the crows looked sluggish and turned the ball over a lot. their high handball game requires a lot of run and an up-tempo style, which just didn't work because the players weren't up to their usual standard of fitness.

at least choco admitted he had some downfalls with regards to match day coaching and they brought in Dean Laidley.

the mail i heard when the appointment was made (from the radio) was that mark williams had nothing to do with the laidley appointment. in fact he was being earmarked for the top job, because people were getting sick of how mark williams was running the show.

but credit to him and laidley, they seemed to have brought a tougher aspect to ports game this year.

[maccatak11]

laidley will be an assitant coach at west coast next year.

He's a great sports scientist. But he isn't a good coach.

I love ignorant idiots who keep spouting this crap.

Having a good scientific understanding of the game helps to MAKE craig a good coach. He played over 300 SANFL games, and has done a long coaching apprentiseship at various levels. Its not like they plucked a scientist from obscurity to coach in the AFL.

The ONLY criticism of Neil Craig if that he is possibly inflexible - or perhaps he just puts faith in his players to get the job done.

Case in point: Brent Reilly starts the game on Simon Black on the weekend, and keeps him to only a few possessions in the first quarter. In the second, Simon black, being the champion that he is, has a blinder and about 10 touches, getting brissy back into the game.

At that point, Craig could have made the change, but he pumped up reilly at half time, told him to go out there and shut him down again, and black had minimal impact for the remainder of the game. Hindsight is great. Where is Craig's praise for NOT making this move?

Inflexibility is a comment made by armchair experts after something has not worked.

[AceLosesKing]

Pretty happy to have Laidley at the House of Pain next year tbh.

[bennymacca]

laidley will be an assitant coach at west coast next year.

really? haven't heard this one.

surely he had more than a 1 year deal at port.

if i had the option of coaching port or west coasts list, i would prolly choose port. they seem to have a bit more upside at the moment (nic nat notwithstanding)

[AceLosesKing]

laidley will be an assitant coach at west coast next year.

really? haven't heard this one.

surely he had more than a 1 year deal at port.

if i had the option of coaching port or west coasts list, i would prolly choose port. they seem to have a bit more upside at the moment (nic nat notwithstanding)

Yeah Laidley was announced a while back, at the start of the year I think - I have no idea what his deal with Port was.

We keep getting bogged down with a few injuries, but yeah I wouldn't disagree with you there. Kerr is past his prime, wouldn't surprise me to see him retire this year, if he doesn't I can see him doing one more year at best (no idea what his current contract is).

[bennymacca]

yeah kerr has been wrecked with injuries, which have slowed him down a lot.

he has also struggled with getting a heavy tag every week - he would just run around and do what he wanted when cousins and judd were there

[bennymacca]

laidley will be an assitant coach at west coast next year.

done a bit of googling, and the only reference i found about laidley possibly joining west coast was before he signed with port.

he also signed with port for 2 years

[AceLosesKing]

Wow wtf I am way off, I swear Laidley signed with us.

I haven't been following AFL as much as I used to, but wow :/

http://www.watoday.com.au/sport/west-co ... -d3gy.html

[rcon]

Just want to vent here, what is with everyone saying Edwards has the right to a farewell game? Craig come out toward the end of last season stating no one would be gifted farewell games if they played on. Period.

Seriously, if you don't want to play on under those circumstances, DONT PLAY ON!

Not hard really!

Selfish whinger - things aren't going my way, so I want a different deal to the one i signed up for.

[gundog]

Amen ......Craigy the brilliant coach .......300 SANFL Games with Norwood........Coach of Norwood.... a total flop.

The game has gone past his game plan, just look at how Geelong play their game it changes from week to week, even the Dee's have a better game plan than the Crows.

The Crows can look forward to a future of being in the bottom 8 for the next few years....Gone or Going this year or next year:- Goody, Bungy, Truck, Birdman, Doughty, Stiffy and then Stevens and Bock have maybe a couple of seasons left in them with not much being available in the draft for a few years where's the next batch champions coming from, perhaps a look at the SANFL & VFL for a few mature age players (its worked for Geelong)

And seriously benny the cunt take of you Blue, Yellow and Red glasses off and assess your team truthfully.

And you scoffed at my tounge in cheek predictions, how close am I for the mid season W/L Ratio, not sure about the 1st part but it could still happen.

Biggest news story .......Crows sack Craigy mid season as crows slump to 3wins and 8 losses