The Sydney Morning Herald

[TheHood]

I am pretty disappointed to go 2 days in a row without a single Swans article!

I mean here we are leading up to an exciting Saturday night clash, hoping to consolidate on last week's crowd and not one feature article at all.

Has Jessica O'Halloran gone on holidays?

* Could be interviewing Barry on leaving Saints (again) hehe
* Give Lenny Hayes a call and ask him if he would be preferred to be coached by a champion at the Swans or the fraud who looks after him now? (along those lines hehe)
* An interview with the Tag team, Kirky and Crouchy combined

[Bart]

Re: The Sydney Morning Herald

Originally posted by TheHood
I am pretty disappointed to go 2 days in a row without a single Swans article!

I mean here we are leading up to an exciting Saturday night clash, hoping to consolidate on last week's crowd and not one feature article at all.

Has Jessica O'Halloran gone on holidays?

* Could be interviewing Barry on leaving Saints (again) hehe
* Give Lenny Hayes a call and ask him if he would be preferred to be coached by a champion at the Swans or the fraud who looks after him now? (along those lines hehe)
* An interview with the Tag team, Kirky and Crouchy combined

Thought exactly the same thing myself. Nothing yesterday or today

[dawson]

I think the print media coverage of AFL in Sydney is still quite disapointing.

The Australian is the best in terms of all round coverage as it is based in Melbourne, so it does not have that constant Sydney angle.

The Telegraph has lifted it's game as it is part of the official stable of AFL papers but I find it too tabloidy in nature.

The Sydney Morning Herald also is a bit there and thereabouts. It takes alot of stuff from AAP and the Age. There was one time it was even running the columns from Robert Walls and Dermott.

It doesn't have anyone who can do tactical analysis of the game or write columns from a Sydney point of view.

That person would have been in a good position to comment about last year's Eade/Wallace/Roos saga and now would be in a great vantage point to write about the Swans financial situation vis a vis the AFL vis a vis the front office problems.

The Swans great if not incredibly unanticipated on-field success is allowing all the off field problems to be overshadowed.

But with the Swans, a great chance to go 10-5 and really cement their spot, for the Herald to go Missing in Action regarding its coverage is atrocious and a great error of judgement.

They seem to have problems putting their finger on the pulse ie way too much Rugby League.

The too ugly ducklings of Sydney sports; Swans and Kings have been given a raw deal for way too long. Kings had their success this year, maybe it will be ours in 2003 as well

[Jon]

It's hardly worth looking in the SMH midweek. You get a good wrap on Fri, at least half a page on Sat, a full page on Mon (but the pictures reduce the content)...but other than that, forget it.

You might get something on a thurs, but usually on Tues-thurs you only get one of those 3 line copy boxes (if that).

[footyhead]

well ring em up and complain

[omnipotent]

This was on Sunday in a Melbourne paper

Swans follow Magpie path
By James MacSmith
Sydney
July 06 2003




Nick Davis says he has settled into the Swans' style of play.


Sydney forward Nick Davis knows what it's like to play in a grand final, and believes there are comparisons between the Swans this season and his old club Collingwood last year.

Davis did not suggest the Swans could emulate the Magpies' effort of going within a few kicks of a premiership, but the 23-year-old believes Sydney has the ability and belief to surprise many sides over the remaining nine rounds and finals, just as Collingwood did last year.

"The two seasons are very much mirroring each other," Davis said. "The ladder positions are the same, and the feeling about Collingwood last year from fans and the media was that we shouldn't have been in that position, and it's the same this year. It's a very similar feeling for me.

"Everyone keeps writing you off, but you believe in what the team can do."

Before round 14 last year, Collingwood sat third on the AFL ladder with nine wins and four losses. The Swans are fifth on percentages with an 8-5 record. Davis said that as with the Magpies last year, Sydney was motivated by the desire to prove the doubters wrong.


"Since the start of the year, people have been saying we're not competitive," he said. "People are still waiting for us to fail, and that was the case with Collingwood last year. They said we'd go to Adelaide and get beaten by Port and that would be the end of the year, but it wasn't the case.

"With Sydney now, there are a lot of young players and a lot of confidence and belief, and that goes a long way, especially in the big games at the end of the year. Like last year, we've been talking about not losing to teams we should beat and not losing two games in a row.

"We've been winning the tight games and that makes the difference. We've been behind at half-time or three-quarter-time, but we've had the belief and the will to win."

Davis said he was confident when he joined the Swans at the end of last year that he was going to a club that could play finals football in 2003.

"When I first moved up here, people were saying what a bad thing it would be for my career, but I knew that wouldn't be the case," he said.

"Sydney were a club with a similar list to Collingwood; (coach Paul) Roos said we would be a competitive side, and be a chance of finals football."

Sydney captain Stuart Maxfield said the Swans had not taken their focus off a long-term rebuilding plan.

But they were determined to show today, against second-placed West Coast, that they could mix it with the AFL's top sides, despite last week's disappointing effort against Port in Adelaide.

"We certainly need to beat sides in the top eight," Maxfield said. "And this week provides another challenge for us and we don't want to put in another unacceptable performance.

"We know people on the outside are just waiting to write us off again. We haven't changed our focus from a premiership in three years, but we want to have some success in that time."

After some early teething problems, Davis, who was Sydney's prize off-season recruit, said he began to settle into the Swans' style of play at the end of May and was now comfortable with what the side required of him.

"I felt that things really began to turn around in the last month and a half or so," he said. "Coming from Collingwood it took me a time to get it right, but now I'm making tackles and chasing the ball down and putting some pressure on the opposition and converting that into goals.

"I've really noticed a change in the last two months and I can now adapt to the style we play."


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