Swans face incredible bulk

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  • SWANSBEST
    On the Rookie List
    • Jan 2003
    • 868

    Swans face incredible bulk

    Swans face incredible bulk
    By Nikki Tugwell
    June 1, 2004

    PAUL ROOS estimates the Swans are one big-bodied defender short on the magnetic board match-ups against St Kilda on Sunday.

    The Saints forward line of Brent Guerra, Fraser Gehrig, Stephen Milne, Justin Koschitzke, Aaron Hamill and Nick Riewoldt plus Stephen Powell and possibly Nick dal Santo has troubled all backlines this season.

    So how will the Swans contain the incredible bulk of a forward line that has proved insurmountable so far?

    Adam Goodes is likely to stand Aaron Hamill while Fraser Gehrig (nine goals against Carlton) and Nick Riewoldt are likely to be minded by Leo Barry and Craig Bolton.

    Leo Barry has been in outstanding form and his ability to spoil when out of position and run off full forward Fraser Gehrig lends itself to starting him at full back. However for team balance having Barry on Nick Riewoldt and Bolton on Gehrig is perhaps the option Sydney will take. While Tadhg Kennelly is an option on Koschitzke, he gives away 7cm in height and Barry on Riewoldt takes him away from an ideal match-up on Gehrig.

    The relatively small Swans defence often has an advantage with their speed and skill at ground level but Saints Guerra, Riewoldt and Milne equal them in that department.

    "With Goodesy down back that sort of consolidates [our defensive end]," Roos said. "We're probably one bigger body short and we've been able to manufacture match-ups and that's probably what we'll have to do this week."

    The Swans would have watched with interest Carlton's move to improvise against St Kilda last weekend with interest. The decision to start leading goalkicker Brendan Fevola in defence on St Kilda's Fraser Gehrig came out of left field. But after Gehrig had kicked five goals in one quarter on Fevola the experiment was over.




    WMP
  • Dpw
    On the Rookie List
    • Jan 2003
    • 829

    #2
    Maybe Mickey on Gehrig

    Comment

    • Mike_B
      Peyow Peyow
      • Jan 2003
      • 6267

      #3
      Why not Monty???

      I'm on the Chandwagon!!!

      If you cannot compete for the premiership, it's better to be young and exciting than middle-aged and dowdy.

      Comment

      • Sid
        On the Rookie List
        • Jun 2003
        • 385

        #4
        Goodes on Hamill
        Bolton on Riewoldt
        Barry on Gehrig
        Crouch on Milne

        This sounds good to me.
        Using hypothesis testing via confidence intervals:
        Nick Davis mark inside 50 = goal

        Comment

        • dendol
          fat-arsed midfielder
          • Oct 2003
          • 1483

          #5
          Originally posted by Sid
          Goodes on Hamill
          Bolton on Riewoldt
          Barry on Gehrig
          Crouch on Milne

          This sounds good to me.
          I prefer Bevan on Milne first. Crouch in the midfield. If Milne gets on top, then swap Crouch and Bevan around.

          Comment

          • monopoly19
            Senior Player
            • Aug 2003
            • 1098

            #6
            Originally posted by Sid
            Goodes on Hamill
            Bolton on Riewoldt
            Barry on Gehrig
            Crouch on Milne

            This sounds good to me.
            What about Kosi?

            Comment

            • motorace_182
              On the Rookie List
              • Jan 2003
              • 961

              #7
              Kosi will be 2nd hardest man to mark up on other than Gehrig. Does anyone else think that their ford line would be overcrowded on the small SCG - i mean, try and fit Hammil, Gehrig, Milne, Riewoldt, Gurra etc in the small 45m at the SCG!
              - Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in a world they've been given, than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact, it's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration, it's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing!

              Comment

              • swansrule100
                The quarterback
                • May 2004
                • 4538

                #8
                barry for hamill
                matthews for milne and bugger knows :P
                Theres not much left to say

                Comment

                • NMWBloods
                  Taking Refuge!!
                  • Jan 2003
                  • 15819

                  #9
                  I think Crouch should start on Milne. The key is to keep him quiet early and dent his confidence. If he starts well then he's trouble.
                  Captain Logic is not steering this tugboat.

                  "[T]here are things that matter more and he's reading and thinking about them: heaven, reincarnation. Life and death are the only things that are truly a matter of life and death. Not football."

                  Comment

                  • dimelb
                    pr. dim-melb; m not f
                    • Jun 2003
                    • 6889

                    #10
                    It's rumoured James will be back - couldn't he take Hamill?
                    He reminds him of the guys, close-set, slow, and never rattled, who were play-makers on the team. (John Updike, seeing Josh Kennedy in a crystal ball)

                    Comment

                    • sharp9
                      Senior Player
                      • Jan 2003
                      • 2508

                      #11
                      James - Hamill
                      Goodes - Riewoldt
                      Barry - Gehrig (Chase Frase, chase!)
                      Bevan - Milne (Keep off his back, Bevansy!)
                      Kennelly - Guerra (Height advantage for Tiger, but can match Guerra for speed. Also helps to keep Guerra accountable)
                      C. Bolton - Koschitzke (Kosi in the air, of course, but have fun stopping the rebound!)

                      This leaves our 3 best midfield defenders to play in the midfield on their three best midfield attackers

                      Kirk - Hayes (Tag)
                      Crouch - L. Ball
                      Mathews - Harvey
                      Maxfield - Dal Santo (Yuck!!!) Maybe Ablett or McVeigh would be a better match-up
                      Williams - Baker (Tag) Willo must stay in the middle...at least having Baker in there is a negative for them. The last thing we want is giving Baker the luxury of minding Willo at Half - back where Baker's lack of speed/skill will not matter so much to St. Kilda. Force him into the engine room, I say. He's crap compared to their other players.

                      J. Ball - Knobel

                      J. Bolton - Powell (These two will be in the midfield, really)
                      Buchanan - Jones (That'll give Aussie something to think about for once!)
                      O'Keefe - Schwarze
                      Hall - Maguire
                      O'Loughlin - Penny
                      Davis/Fosdike - Hudgton

                      Benches:

                      Fosdike/Powell Ablett, Doyle, McVeigh (in James out Saddington)

                      Goddard, Blake, Thompson, Black (in Black out X. Clarke)
                      "I'll acknowledge there are more talented teams in the competition but I won't acknowledge that there is a better team in the competition" Paul Roos March 2005

                      Comment

                      • Alec
                        On the Rookie List
                        • May 2004
                        • 51

                        #12
                        hmm. Interesting checking out these poss. lineups....

                        I think Thommo mentioned there could be an issue playing 4 power forwards at the SCG. Certainly with the smaller pockets too many big men can start to get in each others way.

                        The topic of this thread is "bulk" and one of my biggest worries is the tackling performance the Saints put in last week. I think at half time they'd kicked 120pts, but were still leading the tackle count by about a 10% margin!

                        We're traditionally a great tackling side, so it might be interesting to see whether we can throw off their precision game with a bit of muscle work across the lines.

                        Comment

                        • swansrule100
                          The quarterback
                          • May 2004
                          • 4538

                          #13
                          i think the key to the swans chances of victory is in the ruck Jason Ball needs an awesome game. Stkildas weakest area is the ruck imo, so therefore we need to ensure we take advantage of that weaker area. If ball (with assitance from doyle) dominates and gives our midfield the ball it wont matter how fraser the former eagle plays because he wont have the ball.
                          Theres not much left to say

                          Comment

                          • Go Swannies
                            Veterans List
                            • Sep 2003
                            • 5697

                            #14
                            I don't think this is a game that we will be able to have a slow start and come back into the game. But if we start fast and hard and tackle as well as we can then I think we could easily rattle them. The Aints haven't been rattled yet - they had a close game against the Lions but they went onto the field expecting that. If the Swans did as they have done in the past and just went for broke from the start and got a few goals up, it'd be interesting to see how the Aints reacted to that. They will be thinking this is going to be another game against easybeats - we lost to the Tigers, for goodness sake.

                            Play to our strengths - unrelenting tackle and shut out as well as fast rebound and short accurate kicks and who know what could happen?

                            Comment

                            • NMWBloods
                              Taking Refuge!!
                              • Jan 2003
                              • 15819

                              #15
                              Everyone says St Kilda's weakness is their ruck, but Koz and Noble do okay. Add to that their midfield, and I don't think the ruck is a major factor.

                              A high pressure, intense tackling game, with rapid rebound into the forward line is what will win it for us. Of course, without Hall I don't think we can kick enough goals.
                              Captain Logic is not steering this tugboat.

                              "[T]here are things that matter more and he's reading and thinking about them: heaven, reincarnation. Life and death are the only things that are truly a matter of life and death. Not football."

                              Comment

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