Elimination Final Central v Norwood

[northerner]

Commiserations to all Centrals barrackers
Dogs have produced a few very good teenagers this season and have lots to look forward to
As for my mob , after being 0-5 they have done enough by making Finals
Today was a win and a half, nothing spectacular , but a win against a worthy opponent
I think thats it for the Legs this season , a great recovery
Another win would equal an amazing transformation during this season

Finntastic Heard well played

Thankless task producing decent teens... goneski b4 we benefit from them as a Club.

All season I felt we were the Alex DeMinaur of the comp... always giving our best, ensuring we were consistently beating the lesser sides, but (just like Demon) lacking the skill set to challenge the stronger sides.

Sadly a few players who underperformed in last years finals, failed again today.

Grant, Dittmar, Barry and Sharp worked hard in midfield (65% of our clearances and 45% of our tackles between them). Whitelum and Lochowiak had some impressive minutes.

[Dogs64]

Just lacked a bit of depth in the end. No doubt a number were playing with injuries. Unfortunately, average entry into the forward line and they seemed to find space well on the rebound. Never looked like our year, a lot went wrong. Hopefully, we can keep a majority of the team together.

Go Crows!

[JK]

Decent contest between two committed sides, timing of their form probably the difference. Both clearly rungs below the 3 above us. Need a near miracle next week

[southernbulldog]

Very disappointing end to the season.
I thought early in the season we had improved but clearly we didnt .
Early in the season we kicked some decent scores by getting the ball in quickly , but as the season went we reverted to
banging it long and our scoring dried up
Probably new coach,new players & new game plan next season.

[another grub]

McGreeeeeee

[Hazydog]

Restrained and Philosophical me… Better team won on the day with more leg speed around the contest and more mature big bodied talls creating more scoring opportunities, defending and creating turnovers better and generally looking more dangerous in attack. Came in with more momentum whereas the Dogs bizarrely brought in a 1st gamer as a key forward to complement a 4 or 5 gamer. As good as these kids will be it was a big ask to throw them into an elimination final together. Suspect as others have said the run for the Legs will end next week but who knows as at time of typing there a goal in the 2nd semi.
Bitter and Twisted me… Game was won and lost at the tribunal with Heard surely using up the last favour owed to Norwood by the SANFL for turncoating and effectively voting in the AFL

[dedja]

Go Crows!

Vaffunculo

[dedja]

C’mon Legs, you have one more win left in you

[pmackk]

C’mon Legs, you have one more win left in you

You’d think Adelaide will win I think they will get a couple back who couldn’t play this week.

[Booney]

Norwood had the momentum at the right time and Centrals had a couple of one-on-one moments in the last term that proved costly in a tight contest at the time.

Norwood's big blokes popped up at the right time late.

[Doddy]

Total of 11 touches from our wingers, that's a problem, cuts off some of the paths forward and slows us down. Missed Chisolm who as well as plenty of centre bouce attendance has done some good work on the wing at times this year, who has stepped up in finals past and who gets charged up and motivates others.

[dedja]

The Legs have been brilliant the last 2 weeks, but not sure what happened to the Dogs. A spirited win against the Crows then not much … a bit puzzling to be honest as they’re much more capable than those last 2 matches indicate.

[TDJ44]

Total of 11 touches from our wingers, that's a problem, cuts off some of the paths forward and slows us down. Missed Chisolm who as well as plenty of centre bouce attendance has done some good work on the wing at times this year, who has stepped up in finals past and who gets charged up and motivates others.

Lange and Shaw were very lucky to still be in the side.
They offer very little defensively and do not provide us with much run.
Stagnant was mentioned in a previous post,that pretty much sums up the way we play.
We have no run and carry type players,something the club needs to find over the summer.
Definitely need a couple of key forwards,besides Thomas the rest aren't a threat.
Schubert will get drafted,Cochrane may still end up at Port,Tomkinson not a genuine forward and Grace too small.

[dedja]

Just some other observations from 10,000 feet … when Central had that incredible run of flags, they managed to either keep a core group, or largely recruited players who were good, but not AFL targets. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I’m not sure that they had fantastic juniors, in quantity to either be good enough to get promoted to As or get drafted.

Fast forward to today, and the juniors teams are much better, there are now draft targets amongst them, and ‘mature’ age recruiting isnt the feature it was in the past.

It’s also a self fulfilling prophecy that once a team starts becoming successful, it’s easy to attract recruits .. so conversely, much harder when the team isn’t or hasn't been for a while.

Yes, times change, but have I misread the situation? (quite probable! )

[TDJ44]

From memory we did have some strong junior teams then.
The only two I can remember who were promoted in that time were Hurn and Varcoe.
Our depth certainly was stronger,very strong reserves sides in that era.
So we certainly didn't need to promote too many juniors and yeah Shannon Hurn was the only one who played
regular league footy when available.

Luck hasn't been on our side with mature age recruits since 2012 onwards.
Players like Bryce Retzlaff,Jackson Potter, Elliott Kavanagh,Ben Mabon,Darcy Fort,Nick Holman,Johan Wagner
and Mani Liddy have come and gone quicker than the club would like.
Probably missed a few but definitely haven't been able to build a strong list.
Every year seems the same,we are always 4 or 5 quality players away from challenging the top teams.

[Hazydog]

If memory serves (and it doesn’t always) I remember debating this at the time as we had as many (if not more) home grown players as anyone else at the time. As rightly pointed out our point of difference was 1. The quality of our interstate recruits 2. the ability to keep them together as a group for an extended period and 3. when a couple of recruits went home we were lucky enough to replace them like for like. Long time ago though now!

[azza1719]

I would've thought Mihail Lochowiak would provide good run and carry from a wing/half back. Hopefully he sticks around and plays a full season in the league side next year

[TDJ44]

I would've thought Mihail Lochowiak would provide good run and carry from a wing/half back. Hopefully he sticks around and plays a full season in the league side next year

Should have been playing, obviously the coach thought Shaw and Lange were better options.

[southernbulldog]

azza1719 agree with Mihail obviously Thommo didnt rate him perhaps if we get a new coach he will.

[northerner]

I would've thought Mihail Lochowiak would provide good run and carry from a wing/half back. Hopefully he sticks around and plays a full season in the league side next year

Should have been playing, obviously the coach thought Shaw and Lange were better options.

Nick had been dropped but played two strong games since returning. Ollie had played decent roles all year. However they both had poor outings; Ollie also struggled on the wing on last years finals.
Pudney also hurts us, as much as he always runs hard and has clearly worked on his defensive skills, his turnovers constantly burn us.
I agree Mihail would have been very handy; his strong body work and direct approach has Finals Footy written all over it. Chisholm likewise was a big loss. Sadly, his back had responded well and he would have played this week.