Pathetic.

[NMWBloods]

Kennelly's kicking continues to delight.

Goodes, on the other hand, needs to slow down and remember he does know how to do the basics. He worked exceptionally hard and got a lot of the ball but made some very costly errors, ones that he's too good a player to be satisfied with.

I thought Kennelly's game was fairly ordinary today. Well beaten by Jones and didn't really provide a lot of run.

This is what frustrated me about Goodes last year, although he is still playing way above his depths of early last year.

[Cheer Cheer]

Well as is always the case it comes down to a battle of the midfields and we were probably at our worst today. Oh how we miss cresswell. Fosdike probably had one of his worst games for the club, Bolton had a good 1st qtr then did a houdini for the rest of the game, willo always gets super close attention when cressa isnt around and finds it hard to break loose like today...

We were beaten in all areas of football today and didnt make things easier for ourselves when in possession by committing many many errors.

Yet to still have a sniff in the last qtr has be some sort of positive after we were playing so badly all day.

[Newbie]

Everyone deserves to have a down game in a while. The disappointing is that our second tier players did not stand up. We seem to have too many "flat track bullies" (in our second tier players).

[SWANSBEST]

We were very ordinary and IMO were out coached by Laidley . The Roos totally negated our running game except in the last quarter . Harvey cut us to shreds and Williams was put on him early and Laidley then put Harvey in a forward pocket which left Williams away from our depleted mid field.

Kirk was playing well up to half time - 10 possessions but played the 2nd half in the backline and faded out of the game. We were flogged at the stoppages which again highlights the value of Cressa.

One positive was Stevens' form at CHB late in the game . Some of us have been asking for that move for some time and it should now happen hopefully. We are far too small in our backline at present and must try LRT or Stevens at CHB.

OVERALL WE SEEMED VERY FLAT AND LIFELESS and made too many skill errors.

[Bron]

Positives -
1. It didn't rain and the sun came out for most of the game! (If we'd played in sydney we would have been drenched before we got into our seats!)
2. We didn't have a ball land on our head (we were directly behind the goals at the Roos cheer squad end)
3. I managed to will a Roos kick from directly in front into a behind rather than a goal
4. I bumped into heaps of people I knew arriving at the game and on the trip down and met some nice swans supporters at teh ground so it was quite a social friendly day

My only explanation is that their hands must have been iceblocks and that's why they couldn't pass or mark. I can't explain why they would be kicking to the blue blokes instead of the red ones ... not even colour blindness explains that.

Could someone tell me what's wrong with kicking up the guts????? It's surely better that OOF and passing to the opposition around the boundary. How many times did they do that. (Luffy can you please ask the coaches to explain this at the next AM, this drives me to distraction!!!!!!! Sure sometimes to change the play, but not all the time and not when you keep on screwing it up!)

Ah well, I had some nice pasta in the cafe outside the ground afterwards (after missing out by one spot in the queue for the last of the meat pies in the ground).

[Jimmy C]

Way ordinary today. Too ordinary. If people were paying money to watch the Swans give a clinic on clangers and general poor disposal, then today was the day to get your money's worth.

Not at all indicative of our form over the last four weeks (although I don't expect us to win every game). I don't rate the Roots highly at all this year, and even though I knew this would be a danger game for us, I didn't think it would come as a result of sloppy play.

I'm not laying the blame at any specific players-everybody sucked at some point.

[Rizzo]

Despite Warfe's brain explosions that seem to be suffered by a lot of the team (Ball, Goodes, Barry, Tiger, Williams! etc etc) I thought his defensive game was pretty good.

Clangers, fumbles, skills out the window with the brain, no intensity......the scoreboard should have been worse.

[swan_song]

quote:
"While not using it as an excuse, we did have 3 of our best players out, and we should know that we don't have the depth to cover that. Cresswell was a big loss - after all we haven't lost a game this season with him playing. Nor have we won one without him. His toughness in the midfield would have made a huge difference."

Lizz, I can't believe it...u putting a good word in for Cressa... ...is this the same person who last year said of Cressa, when commenting that he had won the game 4 us aginst the Kangas, words to the effect that it was a pity we didn't see him for the other 119 minutes of a game"

[Craig]

Kenelly is no backman, he got smashed. They should put him in on a wing or a half forward flank. Don't tell me he can't run off a wing.

I think Warfe is a dud and we will never go anywhere with him in our side. However credit should be given when it's due and I don't think he played that bad. He got a bit of the ball and tried hard - I don't think there were too many that we could say that for yesterday.

Williams had a shocker but we can't expect him to play well every week.

[CureTheSane]

Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.

We beat Brisbane, but don't for a second think we are up there along side them.

Any team can beat any other team on any given day.

We won 4 in a row, lost one, now let's hope we get back on the wins next weeks

[Donners]

I'm quite confused - last week our problem was simply a lack of strength, with defenders being thrown around everywhere. With Rocca, Archer and Petrie up forward for the Kangaroos, it would be fairly safe to assume that would happen again, right?

Nope. Instead, we have a complete collapse in skills and intelligence. Just one example of so many - Ball cut across a better-placed teammate to go for a mark three times in the first half alone. Twice it worked (one very luckily), once it didn't. The umpiring was very poor at times, but there were also plenty of stupid frees given away. And the less said about the kicking, the better...

At least Powell has looked very good in his few chances, with some impressive marks and strong tackles. The problem is that his teammates are treating him as a key position player, just bombing the ball up for him in a 1-on-1, and he doesn't have the body strength to win those contests just yet.

[Newbie]

Originally posted by Craig
Kenelly is no backman, he got smashed. They should put him in on a wing or a half forward flank. Don't tell me he can't run off a wing.

I think Warfe is a dud and we will never go anywhere with him in our side. However credit should be given when it's due and I don't think he played that bad. He got a bit of the ball and tried hard - I don't think there were too many that we could say that for yesterday.

Williams had a shocker but we can't expect him to play well every week.

They played Kennelly as a backman for his own sake. To improve the defensive part of his game. We might be paying for this right now but I am quite sure, this move is worth it. He will be moved back to the midfield when it really matters I think.

[Cheer Cheer]

Yep newbie, the swans are in rebuilding and even though kennelly isnt a draft pick from last year, him playing in defense is an example of another part to the rebuilding process - not just chucking in draftees, but playing players out of natural positions to see who is versatile and also to teach players other aspects to their game.

[Craig]

I agree that players should be versatile, but it is obvious that he hasn't performed well in the backline and is far suited to a wing/midfield role. You can definately learn to be defensive playing in the midfield. Stick him on a good onballer and he will have to be defensive as well as learning the midfield role.

[liz]

Originally posted by swan_song
quote:
Lizz, I can't believe it...u putting a good word in for Cressa... ...is this the same person who last year said of Cressa, when commenting that he had won the game 4 us aginst the Kangas, words to the effect that it was a pity we didn't see him for the other 119 minutes of a game"

LOL

Don't remember making such a comment, but its entirely possible that I did. If so, however, I would have been commenting on his performance in a specific game. There's a difference between that and making sweeping judgements about his whole career and capability as a player. If you want to know my overall view of Cressa and his value to the team, I suggest you check out his profile on the main page. Cliff and I co-authored these.