Telstra Stadium

[ugg]

We've lost our last 3 games (not counting pre-season games) there now, and our record now stands at a poor 4-4. And if you look at the four losses, we were in positions to win the game.

v Essendon (2002) - Mott misses THAT kick
v Collingwood (2003) - was a couple of kicks in it up to the end.
v Brisbane (2003 PF) - was there for the taking at 3 Quarter Time.
v Melbourne (tonight).

Now this got me thinking, in the close ones, the home ground advantage should be able to carry us home. I've been to Telstra Stadium for some of these games, and while it was rocking at times during the Pies game and the prelim final, it definitely lacks the atmosphere of the SCG which I think really lifts the team during close games. Also note that in those four losses each team was playing there for the first time. Which seems to suggest to me that we aren't much more familiar with the ground than they are.

Are we sacrificing too much by playing at Telstra Stadium? I think we could have won some of those games had it been at the SCG.

[Charlie]

I've come to the conclusion that to have 3 games there, they HAVE to be against Collingwood, Essendon and Brisbane. Brisbane's debatable, but I'd guesstimate we could get 45,000 against them there.

The other clubs, we simply haven't gotten enough to justify the games being there rather than at the SCG.

Richmond - 40,000 for the Kelly/Dunkley/Roos match. Sounds like a lot... but when you consider the circumstances, could have been many more.
Carlton - 30,000 and 34,000.
Melbourne - 33,000, and really, people who were expecting more must have extreme cases of the 'glass half-full' syndrome.

There's no point going there and playing in front of a heck of a lot of blue seats, if the crowd is not expected to exceed what the SCG can hold. 33,000 could have had the SCG rocking tonight. But barely a whimper at Stade de Silence.

As for the actual performances there... they've dropped off after what seemed to be a good start. But, looking at the teams we've beaten - Carlton twice, Richmond once and Essendon once, all were playing either crap or rather average football at the time.

Each time we've come up against quality opposition, we've failed.

Grr...

[timtayla]

I listened to the game on radio in WA tonight ( R.I.P the radio) lol
I flew into sydney last year when we played the final against the lions. At the stadium what a great place to play finals footy, But i think home and away you need all the edge you can get.

We lost the 2 games by 2 & 12 points don't read too much into it.
Go the swans regards tim

(p.s radio all better now still works)

Eagles lost today i don't have to rush for a paper on monday

[hardluck_harry]

The ground didn't look in great nick tonight either, there was a lot of big chunks coming out of it. Schieder could have rolled an ankle and McDonald of Melbourne looks to have done his knee.

[gossipcom]

Also the reason tonight's attendance was down was because the Waratahs vs Brumbies Super 12 match was on at the same time at Aussie Stadium - it beat the AFL crowd figure - they got 37,832.

It was a crap night for me - both my teams Brumbies and the Swans went down

[Nico]

Don't whether it my perception but we always look slow at this venue.

There is clearly no home ground advantage. Would have been better off at the MCG. Plus it is a shocking surface. Very shifty.

[Mike_B]

Walking across the ground during the kick to kick....the ground was very sandy underfoot and very patchy - not up to AFL standard IMHO and reminiscent of Docklands when it was at its worst. Something needs to improve before the Collingwood game.

[dawson]

The problem stems from the fact that the ground does not have the ideal shape for football.

We have a pronounced home ground advantage at the SCG and every time we play at SA, I get the feeling that the other side plays the ground as well as us if not better.

[The Boot]

Originally posted by hardluck_harry
The ground didn't look in great nick tonight either, there was a lot of big chunks coming out of it. Schieder could have rolled an ankle and McDonald of Melbourne looks to have done his knee.

The ump had to replace and stomp down a divot the size of Goldspink's arse at one point after it had been gouged up. A @@@@ing disgrace. How many times did we (and they) fall over? I thought it was the smoke of battle at first - some sort of Anzac special effect - but no ... it was a rooster tail of sand! Not that I'm blaming that on the loss. Seven unanswered goals put the early lid on a gettable win.

sheesh ...

[dawson]

24/32 goals kicked at one end?!??!?!

Has that always been the scoring end there?

[JF_Bay22_SCG]

Originally posted by dawson
The problem stems from the fact that the ground does not have the ideal shape for football.

We have a pronounced home ground advantage at the SCG and every time we play at SA, I get the feeling that the other side plays the ground as well as us if not better.

I seriously think that this is something that needs to be looked at. The SCG is the shortest and widest in the league, with SA being the longest and thinnest. As somebody said, I think we play it awful. Sure we have played mainly big opponents there, but it worries me that the players don't feel at home there.

Maybe some practise or intraclub matches should be played out there, so that we can familiarise ourselves with the ground.

The atmosphere in the Cheer Squad area was pretty good last night, even without a drum. We now have a hard-core chanting group of 6-8 of us who can belt out the chants and SONGS when required. But the rest of the crowd was very dead. With a small crowd the chanting does not envelope the stadium. People IN SWANS SUPPORTER GEAR were staring at us when we were getting the chants going. Like why do they even turn up to the footy at all?

JF

[JF_Bay22_SCG]

Originally posted by Charlie
[B]There's no point going there and playing in front of a heck of a lot of blue seats, if the crowd is not expected to exceed what the SCG can hold. 33,000 could have had the SCG rocking tonight. But barely a whimper at Stade de Silence.

B]

But we wouldn't have got 33000 to the SCG. Had they played the game last night, there would have been the rugby to contend with. Had we played it today, they'd have been the big St George-Roosters clash next door as well. Had it been played on the holiday Monday, people from Victoria would have been back at work.

We were lucky we still got 33000 to attend. At the SCG it would have been 25-26000 tops.

JF

[Triple B]

People IN SWANS SUPPORTER GEAR were staring at us when we were getting the chants going. Like why do they even turn up to the footy at all?

Maybe they turn up to the footy to watch the game.

I know I do.

I couldn't think of anything worse than sitting at ground level behind the goals, the absolute worse place to get any sort of perspective on WTF is going on. No wonder most of you have NFI.

One day when/if you grow up Julian, you may realise that it's not everybodies cup of tea to chant silly made up songs and bang drums incessantly.

The cheer squad adds colour and I'm all for it. But don't expect most people, me included, to join in.

You're the exhibitionist, we'll leave it to you.

[Bart]

Originally posted by JF_Bay22_SCG
But we wouldn't have got 33000 to the SCG. Had they played the game last night, there would have been the rugby to contend with. Had we played it today, they'd have been the big St George-Roosters clash next door as well. Had it been played on the holiday Monday, people from Victoria would have been back at work.

We were lucky we still got 33000 to attend. At the SCG it would have been 25-26000 tops.

JF

Agree. 7-8000 extra fans is a good thing.

[dawson]

Originally posted by Bart
Agree. 7-8000 extra fans is a good thing.

My number one priority is winning games and I dont care if we play infront of two men and a dog at the SCG as long as we win.

What is the point of playing big games at SA if we can't win any of them?

I would have to say that we play SA worse than we play any other venue in the league.