The end of optimism

[Dave]

I don't think Warfe has been right ever since that S&Don match at the SCG a few years ago when he was ridden into the ground and did his shoulder(?).

All I can remember is that it was raining, cold, Warfe was gone for the season, and we were flogged.

A @@@@ night!

[swansrule100]

yeh that was awful my baby brother was born on a worse loss in 1998 to the saints by 102 points i think it was...that was awful

[Dave]

101 points actually!

[swansrule100]

101 ? knew it was bad... well they were 1 point better than i thought... we got revenge in the finals... bad sadly lost to the crows if i remember right?? my g.f is a one eyed crow... sniff sniff

[Dave]

My next door neighbors brother is a Saints fan and actually has 101 on the back of his guernsey.

When he told me, I said that for that to be the case he must hold beating the Swans as their greatest achievement, and that it was nice for him to show such respect!

[swansrule100]

i live with carlton supporters (brother and dad) and if the swans beat them all you hear is 16 premierships!!!

what is the greatest swans win you ever saw?

[Dave]

It would have to be Plugger kicking That Point to get us in the Grand Final.

[swansrule100]

i agree...before that for me it was the 1993 win against melbourne cos i could enjoy monday at school for once... or the 1996 win against carlton

[Dave]

I'm sure the Carlton win would have gone down well in your house!

[Mike_B]

Originally posted by Dave
I don't think Warfe has been right ever since that S&Don match at the SCG a few years ago when he was ridden into the ground and did his shoulder(?).

All I can remember is that it was raining, cold, Warfe was gone for the season, and we were flogged.

IMHO he was actually one of our best up until that point that year. Since then, has done less than nothing. Who knows what might have been?

[Charlie]

Ok.... before I say what I'm going to say, should probably point out that I haven't read a single post in this thread, and I'm going entirely on what the title is.

The title tells me that we have a few 'we can't win' posts in this thread, and the reason I haven't read it is because I really can't stomach this attitude.

Of course, there's every chance we won't win. In fact, it's more likely than not. But who cares? We CAN win. So I'm going to say 'stuff it' and look forward to the game with the assumption that because we can win, that's the only result that I can regard as satisfying. Again, I can't stomach the thought of 'honourable losses', so I've avoided reading this thread on the assumption that we have some of those posts here. You can have all the honour in the world in a loss; but you can't have satisfaction.

Now, HOW can we win? Simple. By playing our game. We will not win by trying to stop St Kilda. If we stop Gehrig, there's still Riewoldt, Hamill and Koschitze in their forward line. I won't bother going into the midfield. We CAN win, but it's not by doing to them what they did to us in 2002. Instead of us worrying about Dal Santo or Goddard or Hayes or Harvey, let them worry about some of our guys. The Swans can play too, remember?

So let's go in with the assumption that not only are we good enough to win the game, we are good enough to go into the game as equals. Remember? That's the way we went into the game against Port Adelaide.

What's the worst that can happen? We lose? That's happened before. Personally, though, I'd rather us lose by a big margin in a game where we tried to play on our terms, than lose by a small margin after messing about with flooding or whatever.

Stuff St Kilda. Let them think about US.

Just my 2cents, adjusted for inflation.

[liz]

Originally posted by Charlie
Personally, though, I'd rather us lose by a big margin in a game where we tried to play on our terms, than lose by a small margin after messing about with flooding or whatever.

I'm with you on that point Charlie (and most of the rest of your post - but particularly this part). To become a premiership contender - not necessarily this year, but sometime in the forseeable future - the team has to go develop it's own style and dare others to find a way to beat it. They have to believe in their ability to execute and they have to be ready to take some calculated risks.

The Swans can't stop the Saints on Sunday but if absolutely everything goes right they can outplay them if they back themselves.

[Damien]

Personally, I just want the swans to throw everything they have at them! simple as that. If not good enough, well we join a big club!.

[swansrule100]

i agree i tipped us by 54 points.. but was laughed at :P... all i know is u can talk match ups all day but it wont matter whos in defence if our midfield dominate the game!!!! make them stop us! GO SWANS

[Thunder Shaker]

Originally posted by Dave
My next door neighbors brother is a Saints fan and actually has 101 on the back of his guernsey.

When he told me, I said that for that to be the case he must hold beating the Swans as their greatest achievement, and that it was nice for him to show such respect!

And it's obvious that the reason you don't wear "171" on the back of your guernsey is because you accord the Saints no respect.