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Swans to tie-up top four spot
1:13:13 PM Wed 20 August, 2003
Rodney Eade
afl.com.au
After Sydney?s good win last week in Brisbane, its clash with Collingwood looms as the most crucial game of the home-and-away series. The winner will sew up a top four position and maybe gain second spot. These are big stakes. In front of 60,000 people this will be the first final of the year. For the young Swans it will be a big occasion and it will be interesting to see how some of them handle it.
Expectations are high in Sydney at the moment, and the Swans are playing a team that they have a great record against. The Swans have only lost twice (by narrow margins) to the Pies in the last eight years. They seem to have their measure and are very confident they can win. They are playing very good football at the moment with most players contributing.
Barring the hiccup against the Lions, Collingwood has been playing well and will be looking forward to the challenge. The Magpies have finals experience, which should help on Saturday night. Both teams have exciting forwards and both are missing a key defender. There will need to be some good planning from both coaches if they are to stop Anthony Rocca, Chris Tarrant or Barry Hall and Michael O?Loughlin.
Game style/set up
The Swans like to move the ball quickly into the forward line. This generally begins in defence where they like to have extra numbers. They will create the loose man by using handballs or short kicks. When the loose man receives the ball he is encouraged to run and bounce the ball. All players are targets and they will use any free players. Their half-forwards will push up the ground to create space for Hall and O?Loughlin. This has become more noticeable with Jason Ball out injured.
These forwards push up to any stoppage so as to crowd the opposition and stop its ability to make a clean take away. Once they move the ball out of defence, all their players are on their bike and run hard in waves to create support and an option. If they are held up at a mark or free kick, they will wait until a teammate presents a lead, or one becomes free. This process denies the opposition the ball. They work the ball up slowly until they can get a shot on goal. If this happens, opposition teams must man up, work the mark aggressively and force players to kick to a contest.
Collingwood will set up fairly predictably. Its ruckman, Steve McKee, will contest the centre bounces and then play a kick behind play. He will play as a loose man in defence in order to help his short defence and block Hall and O?Loughlin?s space. The Magpies do not move the ball as quickly as the Swans, but like to transfer the ball by foot, hitting a team-mate who is spare or on the lead. The Swans will need to man-up these spare players so as to restrict Collingwood?s space.
The Swans will rotate their midfield on the ground as well as through the interchange. Brett Kirk is really the only constant. The Magpies, on the other hand, have a good midfield but are predictable in their on-ball changes.
Nathan Buckley is generally a constant, Scott Burns plays half-forward or on-ball, Shane O?Bree forward pocket or on-ball, Shane Woewodin wing or on-ball and Brodie Holland will tag the key opposition player.
Match-ups
The most obvious match-up will probably be Kirk on Buckley, He did a reasonable job in the teams? round six clash, and has had a great season. Having said that, don?t be surprised if Paul Roos changes that around and Paul Williams runs with Buckley. Williams has played on Andrew McLeod and Michael Voss in the past three weeks in order to break the tag on himself.
Collingwood would have either Paul Licuria or Holland set for Williams. If Kirk does not play on Buckley he would be assigned to Woewodin who does struggle with a tag. This would leave Burns and O?Bree opposed to Daryn Cresswell and Jude Bolton.
The Swans will throw Stuart Maxfield, Nick Davis, Nic Fosdike and Adam Schneider into the midfield mix at different times. This is more to give the key player a break and maybe to unsettle the opposition?s match-ups. These last four players, at times, can be unaccountable.
It will be interesting to see what Collingwood does in the ruck. They will be concerned about Adam Goodes. His ability to run the ground and set up play has caused most teams headaches. The Pies must attempt to be pro-active on James Meiklejohn and Lewis Roberts-Thompson when they relieve Goodes.
Coaches concerns/thoughts
Both coaches will be worried about the opposition?s forwards. Craig Bolton will take Tarrant and Andrew Schauble will play on Rocca. If Josh Fraser plays in the forward line then Heath James could be asked to play in defence. If either Craig Bolton or Schauble cannot hang onto their opponents there is not much back-up. But both are in good form.
Hall and O?Loughlin pose enormous problems for the Pies. Shane Wakelin might take Hall with James Clement taking O?Loughlin. Jason Cloke provided back-up for these two. Wakelin cannot afford to do what Lion Mal Michael did last week, in starting behind Hall. He is too fast on the lead. Ben Johnson will probably take Schneider, with Ryan Lonie being assigned to Davis. Davis must be prepared to be accountable for the hard running Magpie. At the other end, Jared Crouch will play on the quickest Magpie forward ? either Alan Didak or Leon Davis. If Jarrod Molloy plays, Leo Barry will pick him up.
Stoppages
Last week Sydney did well to crowd up Brisbane at the stoppages by having extra numbers there. The Magpies have not got a dominant ruckman so the Swans will set up for a win in this area. The Pies have a good process at stoppages, but it is nearly always the same. Buckley is very good in this area and is their main go-to man. The Swans must
work hard to stop his effectiveness in this area.
Burns, Woewodin and O?Bree are also solid ball-winners. Cresswell, Bolton and Williams for the Swans are their main take away players. Kirk is also good here, and this is where his tackling is very effective. If one team can gain an advantage at stoppages it will help greatly in their quest for victory.
Result
The Swans were fantastic last week and are playing very well. They will be confident in their form and in their ability to beat Collingwood. They match up well, and they believe they have too much pace and run for the Pies.
Collingwood is in good form and have some finals experience. The Pies will need to be at their best to win in Sydney. It will be a close contest with Sydney?s run, its dangerous forwards and home ground advantage being too much for the Pies. Sydney, by 15 points.