Crows tinker with secret tricks

Richard Douglas admits the Crows need to win at least seven from their remaining 10 home-and-away games to qualify for finals. Picture: Sarah Reed Source: The Advertiser

ADELAIDE players returned from their mid-season break yesterday further behind in their chase for an AFL finals berth - and with much to learn with changes in their playbook.

It will take until Saturday's re-start against Gold Coast at Metricon Stadium to see how coach Brenton Sanderson's rethink on the Adelaide game plan will manifest as a circuit-breaker against a three-game losing streak.

In the meantime, secrecy was the order of a farcical morning at West Lakes that might have reflected the pressure that increased on the 11th-ranked Crows (5-7) at the weekend.

They have moved from four to eight premiership points from a place in the AFL top eight.

A publicly declared open training session on Max Basheer Reserve at West Lakes was moved to an equally chopped up Thebarton Oval.

The reason for the move, according to Crows officials, was safety issues on Adelaide's regular training ground outside AAMI Stadium.

Yet, the surface was still safe for some Crows - such as young midfielder Brad Crouch, veteran Graham Johncock and in-form SANFL player Richard Tambling - to practise their craft.

Not only was there a change of venue but a rethink on training session status. It went from "open" to "closed" with two media outlets not only asked to leave Thebarton Oval but directed to stop filming despite being on public property.

Adelaide midfielder Richard Douglas may have been playing down how much change the Crows are being asked to embrace but he was not denying his team will be playing to a different theme.

"With tactical skills, we always have a closed session - as we did today," he said.

The Gold Coast scouts shut out of Adelaide's workouts this week can only report to Suns coach Guy McKenna the obvious. The Crows have recognised they have to rethink defence.

"We think we are playing some good footy (to attack) but the defensive side of the game has to improve a bit," said Douglas. "Hopefully, this week you will see much more pressure on the ball carrier and some stronger tackles.

"We'll tinker with a few little things. You will see that at the weekend.

"Nothing too major."

To qualify for consecutive finals series Adelaide needs at least seven wins from its remaining 10 home-and-away games - against the Suns, West Coast (home), Collingwood, Geelong (home), Fremantle, Port Adelaide (home), North Melbourne (home), the Western Bulldogs, Melbourne (home) and West Coast.

"We have to win seven of the next 10. We believe we're a chance," said Douglas.

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Moored in misery

Fremantle Dockers coach Ross Lyon issues instructions. Picture: Daniel Wilkins Source: Sunday Mail (SA)

THE man who preaches defence more than any other in football had to employ it when he was announced as the new coach of Fremantle.

It was September, 2011, and the Perth media was fuming at the injustice of the sudden sacking of Mark Harvey.

Ross Lyon walked into a press conference fire pit.

The first question was: "Ross, do you feel you've stabbed Mark Harvey in the back?" They kept coming.

"Has your reputation been tarnished?"

"How hard is it to arrive at a club where the members and fans don't really like you?"

"How can you honestly say you've been loyal and held integrity with St Kilda ... ?"

Lyon remained ice-cold. Unfazed, his poker-face was never close to cracking.

The resolve he displayed in the face of a baying media pack some 21 months ago has rubbed off on his players with admirable success.

Like their coach, the Dockers' defence has been close to impregnable.

In clashes with Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane and North Melbourne, Fremantle has conceded only 43.5 points per game. The Bombers of 1989 are the only side since 1966 with such a points-against profile in a four-week block.

After a shaky start to Lyon's debut season, the Dockers' suffocation techniques are now sending shockwaves through the competition.

Thirteen rounds into the season, they are conceding 66.5 points a game - 10.1 fewer than any rival. They allow opponents to go inside 50m only 43.4 times a game - 2.8 fewer than any other side.

What former Melbourne coach Mark Neeld declared in his first press conference is a reality out west - Fremantle is the hardest team to play against.

Sides who win the ball behind centre in games against the Dockers face a monumental task just to advance up the ground.

From Rounds 9-13, the Dockers have allowed rival teams to execute a chain of possession from defensive 50m to forward 50m only 11.9 per cent of time, ranked No.1 in the competition.

From defensive midfield to inside 50m, it's a paltry 21.1 per cent - ranked No.1 - and from a centre clearance to inside 50m, it's 44.1 per cent, again ranked first. To put the latter stat into perspective, Geelong is the next best at 60 per cent.

It's a road trip to face the Cats - winners of 43 of their last 45 games at home - that presents the greatest challenge to Lyon's pressure pack. But after this weekend the Dockers face a dream run home; the second easiest according to Champion Data. A top-two berth is probable rather than possible and that means two home finals.

The fact All-Australian pair Matthew Pavlich and Aaron Sandilands are still to return only adds to the ominous look about the purple haze.

Among the loaded questions and accusations at that first press conference, Lyon remarked: "It's about possibility. You can be what you want to be."

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Final Demon pillar topples

• by: Jon Ralph
• From: Herald Sun
• June 24, 2013 11:30PM

MELBOURNE'S administrative overhaul has now claimed every position of power at the club, after list manager Tim Harrington was made redundant.

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