Crows vs Geelong: Dangerfield clinic provides plenty of room to grow | Graham Cornes
Crows fans may have disappointed by their loss at the hands of Patrick Dangerfield this week, but Gather Round football is the real winner, writes Graham Cornes.
After the three-quarter time break of the epic Crows/Geelong clash at Adelaide Oval, as the teams lined up, the gentleman sitting beside me turned and said: “Watch Dangerfield, he’ll win this game off his own boot.”
A Geelong supporter, he’d travelled from Victoria like so many others eager to soak up the atmosphere and find out what all this Gather Round fuss was. He knew his football and he particularly knew Geelong.
“The great mystery is how close the game is. You should be miles in front”, he had told me at half-time.
At one stage the Crows definitely were miles in front.
For a moment it looked like another one of those perfect home games. You know the ones. The Crows take charge, swarm around the ball and dominate all night under a clear sky on a beautiful night. They go on to win comfortably.
That was the plan. It had started like that. Perhaps the crowd noise has been louder but if it has, I can’t remember.
When Taylor Walker spun on to his left foot, eluding the much more athletic Mark Blicavs, and goaled, the grandstands literally shook. I’ve never heard as much noise at Adelaide Oval. Surely it was going to be a good night.
Most teams leading by five goals half way through the second quarter would go on and win – IF - they don’t get ahead themselves. But those big leads in the second quarter can seduce those of weaker mind. It’s not a conscious thing because coaches spend that half-time break reinforcing the dangers of relaxing and sitting on a big lead. But the subconscious sometimes takes over and the intensity diminishes. It doesn’t have to be by much. One team lifts, the other relaxes, and the balance of power changes. Recognising and controlling momentum is a much-understated coaching talent. So it was on Thursday. Geelong looked a different team after half-time as they quickly gobbled up the Crows lead, although the Crows did settle and had regained the lead by three-quarter-time. “Watch Dangerfield”, he said. So I watched Dangerfield. I refused to boo him like I once did and marvelled at his powerful football talent. The mystery is, if a fan can predict Dangerfield’s influence, why can’t the Crows coaching panel. The ageing superstar ended the game with four goals, two critical ones coming in a frenetic last quarter. To be fair to Adelaide’s defenders, they did have their hands full. Jeremy Cameron, who had done very little in the previous three quarters, found his absolute best and kicked three goals in the pulsating quarter.
So Geelong prevailed in a classic game of football with both teams scoring 100 points or over. Unless you were a Crows fan it was the perfect start to this Gather Round of football. Having had only a five-day break after their loss the Gold Coast, did they run out of legs? Had they been affected by the humid conditions up there? Using the shorter break as an excuse is always a cop-out. They are professional athletes, trained to peak fitness by professional scientists. Look at the other sports that schedule high-octane contests over the course of a sporting week. Think soccer, tennis, basketball. Remember the days of the national carnivals where teams would play three matches in a week. No, the shorter week is a lame excuse. However, the impact of the weather conditions may have some validity. A combination of the travel and having to perform in humid conditions could have a negative impact but a team has to be collectively tough enough mentally to overcome that. But they weren’t.
The Crows do have other issues. The forward line of tall forwards, Walker, Thilthorpe, Fogarty and Curtin at times looks top heavy. When it clicks and the ball is coming in quickly and accurately, it looks powerful but if the ball hits the ground, the lack of mobility is exposed. Adelaide had only one tackle inside its forward 50 on Thursday night. That is unacceptable. The ball comes out far too easily. Forwards rely on teammates further afield giving them a good look at the ball but football isn’t perfect and if it hits the ground, the forwards have to fight ferociously to hold it in there. Adelaide’s tall forwards aren’t ferocious enough when the ball hits the ground.
The Crows defence is still a bit shaky, particularly when it comes to controlling the star forwards. Dangerfield was dangerous but Jeremy Cameron who had had a quiet night up until then, kicked three goals in the last quarter. If the Crows had no obvious match-up to counter Patrick Dangerfield, they also had no obvious match-up to counter the speed and power of Jeremy Cameron. It’s disappointing to admit that the Crows defence is still a work in progress.
Wayne Milera is building to his best form but a couple of his teammates in defence, whilst stout-hearted and enthusiastic, are prone to making simple errors and turning the ball over.
The crowd, this new Gather Round crowd who normally don’t get the chance to watch their team in action would have been disappointed by the eventual capitulation of their team to a young, understrength Geelong team, but loyalties aside they could not have been disappointed by the spectacle. In one of those the calm balmy evenings that spoil us in March and April, Adelaide Oval came alive. With music, spectacular videos beamed on to the ground and a mesmerising laser display, the crowd was entertained and enthralled.
The loss at home was a reality check for those who had recklessly predicted finals glory for Adelaide, but it was a resounding endorsement of the vision of our Premier Peter Malinauskas to secure this festival of football. Never has a politician been so active, visible. and constantly available to promote the benefits of our state and our indigenous game. He has a vision that Gather Round in SA will become second only to grand final week as the most important week in the AFL’s schedule. It may already be.
So the Crows lost. Patrick Dangerfield dominated and the Geelong supporter beside gave me one of those “I told you so” looks.
But his finals words, as trite as they may seem, captured the evening: “Football was the winner”, he said. Alternatively, the Crows may have lost but South Australia was still the winner.
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Originally published as Crows vs Geelong: Dangerfield clinic provides plenty of room to grow | Graham Cornes
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