Kick it long to Barry Hall

[taurus]

At least when playing in wet

[hammo]

The most sensible idea I've seen in a long time.

Unfortunately the Swans gameplan is to
1) muck around wide on the wings,
2) drops chest marks
3)drop handballs
4) stuff up short passes and kick to opposition
5) don't kick it to Barry Hall

[sharpie]

why have we suddnely resorted to "muck around wide on the wings"? One of the best things last year was that we stopped this awful habbit. Suddenly we were playing attractive and, more importantly, successful football. Why are we going backwards to this Eade-style tactic?

[ScottH]

Originally posted by sharpie
why have we suddnely resorted to "muck around wide on the wings"?

Probably coz the centre was filled with unmanned Tigers!! Where were there opponents??

[sharpie]

Originally posted by hemsleys
Probably coz the centre was filled with unmanned Tigers!! Where were there opponents??

on the wings

[Margie]

Kicking it long is good logic - play the percentages. Just look at when James Hird or Michael Voss get the ball out of the centre - usually straight on the boot and down towards the goal square. And in wet, slippery conditions, it makes so much more sense than mucking around with it. Kelly was a real "General" in the midfield, so was Cressa. We need someone to play that role - urgently!

[Newbie]

I believe oppositions have us figured out. We dont have a good key forward capable of splitting the pack. Hall is best suited to finding the ball on leads. By flooding back, we have no other avenue to goals and this creates confusion with our ranks and we start to panick. Davis is quite a decent marking for his side but he is NOT crash and bang type, same for O'Keefe. Stopping these three and we are in trouble.

On top of this, our midfield have not kicked that many goals as we would have liked. With the reduced output by Williams and Maxfield, we have no midfielder capable of scoring from outside 50's. May be it is time to move Kennelly further up field to open up the opposition's defence.

[hammo]

Originally posted by Newbie
May be it is time to move Kennelly further up field to open up the opposition's defence.

I think something needs to be done with Kenneally. He is really struggling at the moment.

[Go Swannies]

Not only Tiger, though he's about the worst. # touches vs Dons, how mant this week.

What happened to our renowned rebound?? Now it's pause till the opposition man up then kick it sideways to the only free man.

If we'd played a real team yesterday we would have been murdered. The ball just kep going around the boundary until I got dizzy. We kicked to the southern side, down to our forward 50 at the western end until we lost possession then they kicked up the northern side until we regained possession and, guess what, kicked to the southern side again. Repeat ad nauseum. No goals but the ball had a chance to travel and didn't get bored.

[dendol]

I have faith that Tiger is starting to refind some of the form we saw in 2003. He took some very good contested marks and had a few defensive rebounds yesterday. This is in stark contrast to others in the team, where I cant see any signs of improvement at all.

[DST]

Originally posted by sharpie
why have we suddnely resorted to "muck around wide on the wings"? One of the best things last year was that we stopped this awful habbit. Suddenly we were playing attractive and, more importantly, successful football. Why are we going backwards to this Eade-style tactic?

You have hit the nail on the head, without actually saying it.

Last year, almost the whole team had career best years and we played attractive football through the corridor as the physche of the team was to be bold, take risks, leave your man and run.

What has changed this year ?

It is not the game plan, drop off in intensity or that teams have worked us out !

We simply have to many players who are out of form. This has lead to the team as a whole to become intraverted. Self preservation has kicked in and where players were bold they now take the easy option wide or run wide to get a kick.

What you saw on the weekend was a team completely void of any flair, even Leo has started to think twice about leaving his man and run to become a target becuase they are scared of the ramifications.

We saw this during the last 1 and 1/2 of Eade. Could not question their intensity at the ball or the desire to win, but they just could not put aside their inner demons (kick it wide, it's a stat for me and so and so can deal with it) to play with some flair and break the game open.

DST

[boroboy]

Agree totally with DST. I've played a bit of team sport myself and its clear that the team is now more focused on not loosing rather than winning - there's a huge difference between the two.

When you focus on not loosing the emphasis is on your own individual performance as opposed to the good of the team - this in turn switches on your "safety valve" and any creativity is shut down - risks are kept to a minimum (Leo Barry is as stated, a prime example). Trouble is with this mindset is it spreads quickly throughout the team and it's an absolute nightmare to get out of and - you need one or two "Generals" to stand up and lead from the front...and that's what we are sadly lacking at present.

What can Roos do? Tell the players to back themselves 100% next week and make it clear nobody will be reprimanded for taking risks. If he also falls into the safety first mode its could be a very disappointing season.

[Newbie]

May be the expectation is getting onto them. It could be the good thing to lift that of their shouders by showing positive attitudes about them. Perhaps, Roos should come out and speak about the rebuilding phase. It might help. Our team have never played well with a conservative attitude.

[hammo]

Originally posted by boroboy
you need one or two "Generals" to stand up and lead from the front...and that's what we are sadly lacking at present.

Therefore it must be asked what Paul Williams - a 200 game veteran - is doing?

[Go Swannies]

I agree with the sentiment here. In previous weeks I've been saying that some players are so unlike their style last year (Goodes, Leo, Tiger et al) that they had to be playing with injuries. After yesterday I'm thinking it's just high expectations are mentally crippling them. Let's hope as expectations fade they step up.