Aftermatch Thoughts: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

**hammo** · 1 May 2004, 05:17 PM

5 Essendon goals from free kicks tells a big story, however let's not get sidetracked with the umpires (who were useless).

Swans inability to win midfield ball is becoming very concerning. Other midfields are simply outgunning us.

Goodes had a bad game. When he actually got the ball his disposal was awful. Too often when the ball was only 5 or 10 metres away he seemed to be lumbering. I don't expect him to be in Brownlow form evrey game but his off games shouldn't be this bad.

Too many of our players did well in patches only.

Is Maxfield 100% fit??

**swans_premiers** · 1 May 2004, 05:20 PM

Originally posted by hammo
5 Essendon goals from free kicks tells a big story, however let's not get sidetracked with the umpires (who were useless).

Swans inability to win midfield ball is becoming very concerning. Other midfields are simply outgunning us.

Goodes had a bad game. When he actually got the ball his disposal was awful. Too often when the ball was only 5 or 10 metres away he seemed to be lumbering. I don't expect him to be in Brownlow form evrey game but his off games shouldn't be this bad.

Too many of our players did well in patches only.

Is Maxfield 100% fit??

Maxfield was great in the last quarter.

**hammo** · 1 May 2004, 05:21 PM

Originally posted by swans_premiers
Maxfield was great in the last quarter.

I agree. But why did he spend so much time off the field in the first and second quarters when the game had to be won??

**dendol** · 1 May 2004, 05:23 PM

Agree with Goodes' performances of late. Lets hope its just a phase and related to our inability to win any ball.

Dont agree with your opinion on Saddo's game. He played on the wing a fair bit today and looked alot more comfortable. Definately would prefer to see him there, where he can float forward to take a mark, or go back to help the defense like he did to cut off leading forwards today.

McVeigh was quiet again. Didnt get much game time though, but its clear that Bevan is out performing him so far.

**stellation** · 1 May 2004, 05:23 PM

purely emotional responses but...

Good.

Hall- fantastic.
Davis- was good when he had a run on the footy. Going to be a couple of games yet before he gets match fitness.
ROK- was great in the first half.
Bevan- was absolutley fantastic.

Bad.

Clearances- we are struggling.
Maxfield- obviously was not match fit and should not have played. He ended up with a few disposals but that number was bolstered by taking kickouts.
C.Bolton on Hird was not working. It took too long to figure this out.

Ugly.

We have no regular midfield at the moment. Some players do well when thrown in the midfield for a quick run but then are pulled back out.
Umpiring- J.Hird's comments on TFS are obviously ringing in the ears of umpires. They are scared, not angry.

And...

Why did we play Rogers and James together?
Whilst he didn't have a blinder, I don't understand fingering Saddo as having had a shocker.

**dendol** · 1 May 2004, 05:24 PM

Originally posted by hammo
I agree. But why did he spend so much time off the field in the first and second quarters when the game had to be won??

Commentators were saying that it was just our high rate of midfield rotation..

**Go Swannies** · 1 May 2004, 05:36 PM

Jeez, don't start singling Saddo out. If you put the players into Good, Bad and OKay then Saddo was towards the top of the list for Okay.

Stewie's and Adam's kicking accuracy continues to be shocking. I never realised how dependent we are on Adam getting the ball and the players miraculously parting in front of him - we haven't seen that for the past fortnight. On the other hand, Bazza can get up from a partial tackle and just bulldoze over the opposition - great to watch!

Anyone else as nervous as me when the Captain kicked for goal from 50 - and got it!

***NMWBloods*** · 1 May 2004, 06:40 PM

Good:

- Hall - fantastic
- Bevan - really good, very useful find
- C Bolton - a reasonably okay job on Hird (had a lot of possessions but didn't dominate)
- L Barry - great effort on Lloyd
- Schneider in first and last quarters - lots of drive from the midfield
- O'Keefe (although some disappointing misses at goal) - good option in the forward line

Bad & Ugly:

- umpiring
- clearances
- midfield - some good cameos, but generally went missing
- poor execution, messing about with ball & fumbling
- what to do with Saddo - still not playing well and not doing a great deal - beaten by Lucas
- Goodes' form this year - really seemed very lazy today
- J Bolton's form this year, mainly the last two games - not getting a lot of the ball
- Schneider's miss from 40m out, directly in front, on his own after running through the square - this was a major turning point. Essendon were struggling at this stage, but then went on to kick the next 7 goals.
- our constant ability to go missing for critical parts of a game

Other:

- Rogers looks solid and reasonably mobile. Will be interesting to see if he can develop.
- James had little involvement in the game
- Maxfield still doesn't seem fully fit, but did a great job inthe last quarter to get us going

**SWANSBEST** · 1 May 2004, 06:55 PM

NMWBloods

A good summary of our players , although I think that you are too hard on Saddo. IMO he went OK and took some nice relieving marks and linked well with other players. . A reasonable performance by Saddo. I am not the only one who thinks so. Please see below.

Essendon: 5.6, 7.8, 12.10, 16.12 (108)
Sydney: 4.3, 4.6, 8.7, 15.8 (98)

GOALS: Essendon: Solomon, Lloyd 3, Peverill 2, Hird, J.Johnson, Lucas, Murphy, Stanton, Dyson, Lovett-Murray, Rioli 1
Sydney: Hall 4, Williams, O?Keefe, Schneider 2, Davis, C.Bolton, Maxfield, J.Bolton, Kirk 1
BEST: Essendon: Solomon, Hird, J.Johnson, Bolton, Hille, Murphy, McPhee
Sydney: Hall, Kirk, J.Bolton, O'Keefe, Fosdike, Saddington, Williams
INJURIES: Essendon: None
Sydney: Schneider (hamstring)
CHANGES: Essendon: Bullen (calf) replaced by Misiti
Sydney: Ablett (ill) replaced by McVeigh
REPORTS: None
UMPIRES: Meredith, Ellis, Goldspink
CROWD: 38,946 at the MCG

**Plugger46** · 1 May 2004, 07:01 PM

I'm with you NMWBloods, I thought Saddo was very average once again. There was one occasion, where I can't believe he didn't get a fist to the ball and it went through for a goal.

**barry** · 1 May 2004, 07:30 PM

I would say that Goodes has a dicky groin. The way he is kicking and his form point to something wrong in that department.

***NMWBloods*** · 1 May 2004, 07:45 PM

Originally posted by SWANSBEST
NMWBloods

A good summary of our players , although I think that you are too hard on Saddo. IMO he went OK and took some nice relieving marks and linked well with other players. . A reasonable performance by Saddo. I am not the only one who thinks so. Please see below.

I saw that - I really couldn't fathom it.

I don't think Saddo was terrible and certainly not among our worst. However, what concerns me is that he is having little influence on the game wherever he plays. I watched him closely a few times today and he still has reasonable skills, but doesn't really seem to do much and he looked all at sea against Lucas most of the time. He did take a couple of good marks in defence, but didn't do much overall.

Originally posted by barry
I would say that Goodes has a dicky groin. The way he is kicking and his form point to something wrong in that department.

I think that is a possibility. His kicking was poor again and he really seemed to struggle to run or change direction.

Despite disparaging comment, it looks like my view that our injuries would be higher this year unfortunately seems to be happening.

**Nico** · 1 May 2004, 08:16 PM

Originally posted by dendol
Agree with Goodes' performances of late. Lets hope its just a phase and related to our inability to win any ball.

Dont agree with your opinion on Saddo's game. He played on the wing a fair bit today and looked alot more comfortable. Definately would prefer to see him there, where he can float forward to take a mark, or go back to help the defense like he did to cut off leading forwards today.

McVeigh was quiet again. Didnt get much game time though, but its clear that Bevan is out performing him so far.

Gee I must watch the replay, because I was at the game today and if Saddo went past the centre square line much I would be very surprised.

**Nico** · 1 May 2004, 08:20 PM

Originally posted by Go Swannies
Jeez, don't start singling Saddo out. If you put the players into Good, Bad and OKay then Saddo was towards the top of the list for Okay.

Stewie's and Adam's kicking accuracy continues to be shocking. I never realised how dependent we are on Adam getting the ball and the players miraculously parting in front of him - we haven't seen that for the past fortnight. On the other hand, Bazza can get up from a partial tackle and just bulldoze over the opposition - great to watch!

Anyone else as nervous as me when the Captain kicked for goal from 50 - and got it!

I assume you mean Maxfield. What about his disgraceful shot from 20 metres or less in the 3rdQ. Had some momentum then and he stuffed it good and proper.