Did I watch a different game ?

[Bart]

Missed my first game this year due to daughter's Bday party so ended watching it on the box, but fair dinkum I'm amazed at some of the doomsayers' postings.

Sure we've got a way to go, but I thought we showed terrific commitment and character yesterday. A number of players played their best games in a month including Kennelly, Barry, Kirk, Saddo, Ball, Buchanan. Nicks and O'Loughlin have both improved on last weeks effort, and I saw a better performances from Maxfield and Bolton. Hall, Mathews, Bevan, Crouch, O'Keefe were solid as ever. Though Fosdike and Williams were quiet.

I thought Goodes was class and kept Danny Jacobs and John Barker quiet. He clearly was struggling in both the first quarter as he got used to his knee (interestingly he handballed 6 times in Q1 and only twice for the rest of the game) and the last quarter as Croad beat him twice in a minute.

I also thought our skills were better, and except for wayward kicking in Q2, the game would have been over by HT.

We all talk of the turning point from last year, been the last Q against Dees in round 5. Hoping that this is it for 2004.

This is also a team that has had the wood on us recently beating us twice last year.

I saw a lot that I was happy with yesterday, and we even had a bit of luck go our way for a change.

[Schneidergirl]

Here here.

[EMJ]

Well said - it is like we watched a different game according to the comments.
I was interested in Roos comments at the post match interview - he doesn't expect to come out and belt teams after we have lost four games. Just hopes they get their confidence back and go on from the win.

[Old Royboy]

Interesting what shoddy goalshooting can do for our perceptions of a game. If our boys had shown normal accuracy we would have been six or seven goals up at 3/4 time and game over.

Compare with the Richmond game when we never looked like getting back once they got to the front. This time after we were headed we got the lead back and gutsed it out. That more than anything will help the confidence.

[boroboy]

Re: Did I watch a different game ?

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Bart
[B]Missed my first game this year due to daughter's Bday party so ended watching it on the box, but fair dinkum I'm amazed at some of the doomsayers' postings.(/B)
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Absolutely. I spent last night reading the posts and deciding if I should take the half empty/half full approach towards the game. Today I'm convinced there were a lot of positives to build on.

The thing I found most pleasing - Roos moving to a "Plan B". After no shortage of criticism on this list for not having one over the last month, he certainly did yesterday. Goodes at CHB, Saddo in the ruck, flooding the Hawks forward line and restricting their options, Nicks (who was superb) in the back line, Hall marking Spider at clearances, Crouchy up front albeit tagging Crawford - all done to great effect. He tried to do things differently - and at the end of the day it worked and we won.

Bart's right - the players he mentioned above did improve considerably yesterday - and in sustained periods we saw the Swans of 2003 - we now just need to do it for four full quarters which we're fully capable of doing. The players backed themselves yesterday and it was great to watch....

Full credit to the boys and Roosy - I for one walked out of the SCG with a huge smile on my face - and isn't it great looking forward to reading the sport sections in the Mondays' papers again![B]

[taurus]

Hear, hear!

What boroboy said.

[swan_song]

Bart, I've watched this game thru twice now -- once when we got back from the match yesterday and again today (obviously too much time on my hands)... And I'm coming round to the belief that actually we weren't half as bad as I thought we were....There are quite a few mitigating circumstances that contributed to this narrow win.
Historically, we have trouble matching it with the hawks...some teams have a natural affinity and no matter where they are on the ladder seem to have close games. Sydney also often play "down" to the level of what many see as inferior teams and create problems for themselves. We often play better against the better sides. We're missing a fair few good players who when fit will restore team balance...lets praise the work ethic of Barry Hall -- he's been quite inspirational, and let's be delighted that we have unovered another future star in Paul Bevan...and with the promised recruitment of experienced players (rather than kids) to fill gaps for next year, the future looks good... We have a youngish team that will be up and down a fair bit in consistency -- we know this, but its not as though the situation can't be turned round. This win may prove the turning point...and lead to greater things...

[dread and might]

i thought we played really well in the first quarter, and if it hadn't been for some wastage in the second we could have been up by quite a bit at half time. o loughlin had three opportunities in the second which should have all been goals, and as it was we got one behind. having said that,just to see him taking that many marks and moving more freely certainly made me feel much better about the future.

goodes at CHB played really well, especially in the first half. leo Barry was fantastic and what about Jason Ball? my main concern before the game was everitt, and i thought ball did an absolutely bang up brilliant job on him. good to see nicks and bolton finding some form again......just good to get a win. tense moments at the end there. bring on next week!

[Bron]

A few of those behinds turning into goals and the angst of last night would have been a lot less. And this was not pointed out at all last night.

[NMWBloods]

Kicking accurately is an aspect of the game. Bad kicking is bad football. No different to saying if only we had taken those marks or not kicked to the opponents or gathered the ball better or whatever.

Otherwise on this basis the Bulldogs should have 2 more wins and travelling quite well, Adelaide 1.5 more wins and not in such bad shape, Melbourne would have lost only 1 game, etc.

[dendol]

Originally posted by NMWBloods
Kicking accurately is an aspect of the game. Bad kicking is bad football. No different to saying if only we had taken those marks or not kicked to the opponents or gathered the ball better or whatever.

Otherwise on this basis the Bulldogs should have 2 more wins and travelling quite well, Adelaide 1.5 more wins and not in such bad shape, Melbourne would have lost only 1 game, etc.

You have to take your chances. When you cant kick straight, you only have to blame yourself. Just like when your defenders cant spoil. We all had goes at Saddo, James and Rogers (against Richo and then WCE) for not being able to spoil marks when they should have. When our forwards cant kick straight, they are as much villians as our defenders.

There was an article on the Bulldogs after their much publicised goal-kicking yips about how they are starting to lose the sympathies of supporters. Lets hope they get a recurrence this Sat night!

[liz]

Originally posted by NMWBloods
Kicking accurately is an aspect of the game. Bad kicking is bad football. No different to saying if only we had taken those marks or not kicked to the opponents or gathered the ball better or whatever.

It's easy to focus on as a separate facet of the game because "total goal scoring opportunities created" is a relatively objective measure of the control or influence that each team had over the game. Of course you have to take into account the types of misses - ie were there lots of rushed behinds or were there long shots from impossible angles? - but yesterday the Swans missed many very gettable shots.

That final disposal - ie the shot at goal - is also one that cannot be influenced by the actions of a team mate, in the way that a bad kick can by a brilliant mark, or a good kick by a lazy response. I guess this leads to a perception that you can "fix" this aspect of the game quite independently of other aspects, which are all interrelated.

If a team is simply not creating enough scoring shots it is much more complex to determine exactly what is going wrong and simple possession stats can be very misleading.