Who were the pathetic, lazy Swans....

[sharp9]

Who let the Port players run in Acres of space for the ENTIRE game? All you could see on the tele were several players in teal at almost every loose ball and 3 in a row up the wing without opponents when they did have it. Where the @@@@ were the Swans????? Were they standing around in the middle thinking "well that's my opponent over there running to receive or running with the ball but I'll just hang over here and wait till something happens."

Unless they all had food poisoning I am absolutely disgusted with that effort. It's only running. Aren't we supposed to be good at that? I'm not even on to execution or anything else. If there is ONE thing you have 100% control of in a game it is running......ie MAN the @@@@ UP WHEN THE OPPOSITION HAVE THE BALL. It's a pretty simple concept, but maybe our players are a little stupider than I thought.

.....and when we had the ball I swear we were JOGGING, both the player with the ball and the ones off it. Hence anywhere it was kicked or handballed there was a Port player (usually 2 or 3) right on the hammer of the receiver. Occasionally a good ball came out from the back to the centre or centre wing to a player in lots of space. On almost every occasion he STOPPED.

I'm guessing that there were no options ahead (just players jogging around the half forward line).

How the hell does this happen? Have they just FORGOTTEN how to play?

I honestly feel that a little voice in the head was talking to the players, the one that says "you know, I really don't think I can be bothered. I'll run this hard and if that's not enough, I'll just not give a s***."

400 grand a year, some of them. Honestly.

[NMWBloods]

This is exactly what I was most p!ssed about!

[hammo]

Maybe they are believing their own press and taking it too literally. The theme under Roos has been that the Swans don't have any superstars and need to all put in to win. That message is faithfully reinforced by each and every player when interviewed. Maybe by having so many key players out injured or going down injured they simply thought it wasn't worth even giving 100% as the odds couldn't be overcome.
A very disappointing attitude if that was the case.

[Captain]

Yep, we seem to have a team that are stars one moment and passengers the next.

I thought the young blokes would have given it their all, trying to stay in the team.

[Damien]

If I could bring myself to rewatch losses I would, but on one look only, I really thought they were simply and brilliantly outclassed by a team that has consistently been the best Home and Away team over the past few years.

Not saying there weren't some ordinary players, but sometimes good teams just get you, and get you good.

[sharpie]

I agree that the players' mental approach to the game seemed well below par, but I will say one thing.

I think the apparent jogging around the midfield when we had the ball can be explained by our forward setup. With only Hall as a key forward, and he was well held, they had nothing to kick to. Davis was supposedly playing fullforward, but was useless due to his injury. With only 1 true key forward, the Port 2nd & 3rd key defenders were allowed to roam up forward (Cornes) or double team Hall.

We were so limited with our own KPP that the rest of them ahd to remain in the defensive half looking after Port players. We simply had nothing to kick to.

[dendol]

Agree with Sharpie. Bazza sometimes had 2 or 3 opponents to be because they knew we wouldnt kick it to anyone else. He would get spoiled, and they would mop up and rebound. Our midfielders who had so desperately tried to make space when attacking, ultimately left their direct opponents miles in the clear when the ball was turned over.

You see this week after week when a team fails to hit targets going I50. Unfortunately our defense couldnt do a thing to stop the powerful marking forwards (Lade, Treadrea, Cornes) because the delivery was so precise.

Thats why O'Loughlin is so important to us.

[Boodnutz]

Don't mean to be rude here, but how many of you have played the game at a decent level? If you have, you will know that teams can hold their shape until a certain point and then it's like a rubber band that snaps. Everything spirals out of control, and no matter how you try, you can't put it back together. It means you expend energy in circumstances you normally wouldn't. You chase to back up and support in situations where you normally look to create. Everyone ends up out of position, and everyone ends up looking stupid. Swans passed that "snap" point before they arrived at the ground - too many players out. The loss of players during the game just made it worse.
Look at Port a few weeks ago against the Roos. They looked pathetic. They weren't trying? More likely they just didn't have the personnel and "snap" it all unravels. I would completely disregard the Port performance. Sure Roosy was upset, but he's the coach. What's he going to say? I think they had a go. I think they had a real hard go.

[sharp9]

Originally posted by Boodnutz
Don't mean to be rude here, but how many of you have played the game at a decent level?

Absolutely sick of this bloody question. As if that is in the least bit important. Get over it. When you see and hear some of the drivel that comes from ex AFL players you soon understand that just because you've done it does not mean you can talk about it.

Exactly the same goes for music/arts and any other performance area. Some of the best practitioners have no bloody idea and some of the best commentators have never been on stage/in the studio/on the MCG. Please understand there is a difference between playing football and analysing it.

If players are not picking up their man they are not picking up their man. You seem to argue that their laziness was a result of slow thinking rather than slow running. Either way it is not good enough.

[Trents Girl]

Well to start off with there were hardly any supporters for the swans. From what I could see there were about 12 swans supporters and the rest were port.

Having been there and having to sit in the port members stand, when your a swans supporter is very very painful, but you can't cheer if your afraid that the guy two rows back from you will jump and start beating you up.

There was really no one there for the swans on the weekend, and all though port played fairly well, the umpiring wasn't exactly the best.

[Tooth Fairy]

Put one down for "No I'm just an armchair couch potato"

[Bleed Red Blood]

Originally posted by Trents Girl
you can't cheer if your afraid that the guy two rows back from you will jump and start beating you up.

Port supporters....

[Diego]

Re: Who were the pathetic, lazy Swans....

Originally posted by sharp9
Who let the Port players run in Acres of space for the ENTIRE game? All you could see on the tele were several players in teal at almost every loose ball and 3 in a row up the wing without opponents when they did have it. Where the @@@@ were the Swans????? Were they standing around in the middle thinking "well that's my opponent over there running to receive or running with the ball but I'll just hang over here and wait till something happens."

Unless they all had food poisoning I am absolutely disgusted with that effort. It's only running. Aren't we supposed to be good at that? I'm not even on to execution or anything else. If there is ONE thing you have 100% control of in a game it is running......ie MAN the @@@@ UP WHEN THE OPPOSITION HAVE THE BALL. It's a pretty simple concept, but maybe our players are a little stupider than I thought.

.....and when we had the ball I swear we were JOGGING, both the player with the ball and the ones off it. Hence anywhere it was kicked or handballed there was a Port player (usually 2 or 3) right on the hammer of the receiver. Occasionally a good ball came out from the back to the centre or centre wing to a player in lots of space. On almost every occasion he STOPPED.

I'm guessing that there were no options ahead (just players jogging around the half forward line).

How the hell does this happen? Have they just FORGOTTEN how to play?

I honestly feel that a little voice in the head was talking to the players, the one that says "you know, I really don't think I can be bothered. I'll run this hard and if that's not enough, I'll just not give a s***."

400 grand a year, some of them. Honestly.

We went into the game with a defeatist attitude, no hunger and zero desperation.

The thing that annoyed me from memory, the amount of times the port midfielders were clean with their hand disposals after a ball up, where's when the swans had a rare touch that would just fumble it. Even when the Port players were under pressure they still managed to win the ball cleanly.

We just didn't want to play on Sunday, I think if we could have forfeited that game and there was an option for a sporting forfeit we would have taken it.

Even Kirky wasn't in the mood for it.

[robbieando]

Originally posted by Trents Girl
Well to start off with there were hardly any supporters for the swans. From what I could see there were about 12 swans supporters and the rest were port.

You should of looked alot closer, there was at least 200 Swans fans at the game, of which I was one.

[SWANSBEST]

Iwas there with my brother and I think about 200 supporters is a fair call.