The positives from today

[dendol]

Is it again a case of lifting for the better teams, and dropping down a notch or three when we play the crapper teams? If thats the case, then I guess as long as we keep winning, we'll be right for the finals when all opposition will be tough!

[Swansinger]

Originally posted by dendol
Is it again a case of lifting for the better teams, and dropping down a notch or three when we play the crapper teams? If thats the case, then I guess as long as we keep winning, we'll be right for the finals when all opposition will be tough!

It's a myth that we play well against the "good" teams and drop a notch when we play the poorer sides.
Yes , we've beaten Saints and lost to Tigers but that's not a consistent reflection of our season to date.

For all the grit , there's not enough class for us to be serious contenders this year.

[stellation]

Originally posted by NMWBloods
Allowing a middle-of-the-road team that is currently understrength to come back into the game and nearly win it like that is pretty disappointing. Sure, we have a few players out, but it's not really a good excuse and we still have a lot of improving to do. We might be winning, which is good, but they're hardly convincing results.

I think the other team needs to lose their midfield stars for us to really notice it.

[bigswan]

Swansinger might rate Carlton as lowly but they played their hearts out and were set for a big upset. Never underestimate the opposition. They would have beaten Collingwood last week. Positives for me were Ablett, Fixter, Bevan and seeing No 13 out on the ground.

[bigswan]

Sorry Swansinger. Dendol underestimated Carlton. My mistake-still excited from yesterday.

[barry]

Originally posted by monopoly19
Schneider had a shocker! But he seemed in high-spirits at the end of the game, so I think we can all just forget about it

Yep, Schneider needs to go back to the 2's to get some fitness. Whenever he was on, we were basically playing with 17 men.

[Rob-bloods]

Originally posted by barry
Yep, Schneider needs to go back to the 2's to get some fitness. Whenever he was on, we were basically playing with 17 men.

Make that 19

LRT Ball Schneider, it's a wonder Davis did not limp on again!

[Go Swannies]

I can't see the need to be dispirited over the game. That's two weeks in a row that we have played teams who had great desperation for a win. In both cases the games were played with finals-like intensity and again the Swans gritted out a win. I think the signs are really positive. No it wasn't pretty footy - I suspect Pagan studied our Cats game tape long and hard. We did make a lot of errors but we were given no space at all - and the common opinion is that if the Swans can't find space they'll stall. Yes were were playing teams well down the ladder but, as I've been saying for a while, the season is close to even across the teams - just ask Brisbane if they had a sense of relief to win against the Tigers - and that was without Richo. We've now won five out of the last six. We just need to keep winning as it's going to be a scramble for ladder positions in the end.

I've tipped the Doggies to beat Freo and right now it looks like Port will beat the Aints. Too bad Brisbane didn't lose last night to help even things up.

And no-one should think the Crows are going to be a walkover. New coach and without the destabilisation of Carey. But we need the win as it's our last SCG game for three weeks.

[dendol]

Originally posted by Richard Davis
Sorry Swansinger. Dendol underestimated Carlton. My mistake-still excited from yesterday.

No, I didnt underestimate them. I expected a win - as you should when you play a team below you on the ladder with both their key forwards out - but did not ever think a belting was on the cards.

How does saying that Carlton is a crapper team than Brisbane, Port or Saints mean that I am underestimating them? Can anyone on this board say that they weren't expecting a win yesterday?

[sharpie]

I think a big positive from today is the self belief the team has at the moment. It was shown last week in the last quarter against the Pies and again this week. Both times coming from behind against a team that was desperate for a win.

I think we all overlooked the fact that it would be tough for the guys to come back after last week's struggle and back it up against a fresher team who had a week off. Once the injury train got rolling again (after a blessed week last week) it was always going to be tough for our guys. What were we thinking getting excited about getting players back, how dare we feel positive about our injury list .

I just hope that it wont have taken too much toll for the game next week. I fear that at some stage these tight games are going to catch up with us.

[Bear]

I'm feeling pretty positive about the win, skill errors aside.

We beat a team competing for a spot with us in the 8 on their home ground, with a week less to prepare and at a time when their confidence is high.

Another positive: Adam Goodes will learn A LOT from this game.
Another positive: The Swans 'home' crowd at Optus Oval (at least at one end)
Another positive: AFL heavies were there and got a very good dose of our Melbournian's support for games in Melbourne

A negative: After declaring his allegiance to the Swans before the 1996 GF, our PM has abandoned ship and worn a Carlton scarf!!

Could it be a case of 'supporter overboard'?

[SXP]

Originally posted by Bear


Could it be a case of 'supporter overboard'?

Or buying election votes? PM hates the Swans, because they are threat to his beloved ARU and NRL. PM is a rugby devotee.

[undy]

Originally posted by SXP
Or buying election votes? PM hates the Swans, because they are threat to his beloved ARU and NRL. PM is a rugby devotee.

Credit to Carlton for coming up with a game-plan for the Swans and then executing it for most of the match. I thought the man-on-man blanket would crack after maybe a quarter and a half, but they stuck with it. This is pretty unusual, even at AFL level. Great discipline. The Swans scored so fast when the plan cracked open a smidgeon. Good win.

Top work all of you who got to the game - you looked great on TV, unlike the game coverage and call. We had most of the blondes called by the wrong name abd the exciting newcomers O'Barry and Loughlin !

[Bear]

Originally posted by SXP
Or buying election votes? PM hates the Swans, because they are threat to his beloved ARU and NRL. PM is a rugby devotee.

True. It's just as pathetic as Keating getting involved with Filthwood.

[liz]

Originally posted by undy
unlike the game coverage

C10 Southern didn't seem to know which game they were showing. I watched the game "live" at the Alex but then went home and watched part of a tape of the game. They opening comments were from Huddo and SOS about the Hawks Pies game and it was a few minutes before they remembered they were meant to be showing the Swans game.

Then midway through the final quarter they did it again. After Magic kicked the first of the comeback goals, they came back after the ads with 30 seconds or so of the other game, only to revert back to the Swans just as Bazza took a mark. Glad I wasn't watching the game at home or I might have got extremely stressed out at that point.