Adelaide v Fremantle, AAMI Stadium

So the Crows are 2-2 after last week losing to the in-form Hawks, while the Dockers are1-3 after putting in a terrible performance against the Tigers in Perth. I’ve written a bit about the Dockers so far this season, unfortunately I was unable to get my preview for the match last week up but the game provided me with some kind of saving grace after some close losses left me down from earlier matches. They were thoroughly outplayed by a hungrier Tigers team that were quick and ran hard and the 10 goal margin was just about a 100 point turnaround considering the spread was 35 in Freo’s favour. I don’t want to write too much more about them at this stage as nothing has changed since I last wrote. They are too slow, poor work ethic, lack a strong defence and miss Paul Hasleby. They have finally lost patience with Chris Tarrant and I think that one good season is all he will ever have and if the rumours are true will not be at Freo or most likely any club next season. Looking through their team I believe there are at least 10 or 11 players who would not get a game for Geelong or Hawthorn which shows they really are well off the pace. Despite young Rhys Palmer and Chris Mayne (who was one of the only shining lights for the Dockers last week) adding youth and speed to the midfield Crowley, Dodd, Mundy, Solomon, M.Carr and McManus are all slow and really are not offering much and questions are raised as to whether they have much more too offer. Another problem is where to play McPharlin and Pavlich who are the only two match-winners in the team. McPharlin is a fantastic forward but has to spend time in defence to make that area stronger. They need to play him and Pavlich as the two key forwards and get some smaller quicker options to surround them Farmer, Mayne are the only two I can see in their team for this match who could play that role. Find another key defender so McPharlin can play forward, while Pavlich just needs to be in the action maybe up the ground a little more. Last weeks effort was poor and a few changes have been made, so I expect the Dockers to at least come out early with plenty of intensity though I doubt it can be sustained.

The Crows played poorly last week against the Hawks, don’t get me wrong the Hawks were great particularly given they missed a host of stars, but I thought the pressure and work rate was well down then their usual high standard. Neil Craig won’t be happy with the effort and a return to their home ground against a poor working and poor defensive team that Fremantle have so far shown themselves to be should allow the Crows to hit back with a strong hard working win.

They’ve opened up their game style after injecting some youth into the midfield but they all usually work hard and that will be the difference between the two teams. As well the Crows have a solid defence with Rutten and Bock good match-ups for Pavlich and McPharlin should he play forward which he likely will though he was named in defence. A strong defence and hard-working midfield will trouble the Dockers and should see the Crows back on the winners list. I think they can do it by over 20 points.



Pick : Adelaide -18.5
Odds : 1.91
Stake : 8 / 10
Bookmaker : SportingBet
Date : 2008-04-19
Match Result : 88-71
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