The Swans played above themselves in 2003

[footyhead]

Many people here denied it, but I think that the accusation has been proved true, last year the Swans were so enamoured at being let off of the leash that that nasty Rodney Eade had been keeping them on that they used all of there energies and focus in order to show uncle Roos just how much they loved him.
The Party is now over IMHO and the boys need a little bit of good old fashiond carrot and stick to encourage them to try and win a premeirship within say ... oh.. some time in the next.... say 70 odd years.

[DST]

Re: The Swans played above themselves in 2003

Originally posted by footyhead
Many people here denied it, but I think that the accusation has been proved true, last year the Swans were so enamoured at being let off of the leash that that nasty Rodney Eade had been keeping them on that they used all of there energies and focus in order to show uncle Roos just how much they loved him.
The Party is now over IMHO and the boys need a little bit of good old fashiond carrot and stick to encourage them to try and win a premeirship within say ... oh.. some time in the next.... say 70 odd years.

This one has been done to death.

You can not play above yourself, all you can do is play to the best of your ability.

Unfortnately for want of form, injuries, game plan, other teams, weather etc we have not played consistently up to our ability as we did last year.

Nothing more, nothing less..................................

DST

[swansrule100]

We were good last year and played as well as we could...in all honesty a decent last quarter would have seen us in a grand final!

I think this year we have been as good at times....the problems are
a/injuries

but mainly B/ the other teams improved

of those above us melbourne stkilda and geelong all passed us in terms of abilty for starters and its pushed us further down

[barry]

In all fairness we have had a much harder draw this year.

We are about to make our 2nd trip to Perth, then face Brisbane AGAIN, and have just been to Skilled Stadium.
And of all the teams to play in Adeliade, we had to play Port.
Thats probably the hardest travel of any side.

Our draw alone accounts for 2 dropped games on where we were last year.

[Thunder Shaker]

Originally posted by swansrule100
We were good last year and played as well as we could...in all honesty a decent last quarter would have seen us in a grand final!

With the way Collingwood played last year's granny, we could have won the premiership.

But all that aside, we did play above ourselves a bit last year.

Last year, we kicked straighter than everyone else, and that alone gave us a game or two. This year our kicking has been closer to the AFL average and we've lost a couple of games because of it.

We had more injuries this year. At least we weren't as badly off as the Hawks, whom I am told had to name an injured player as an emergency once this year.

We have a tougher draw this year. Our tough draw could yet see us miss the finals this year. Fortunately, the major threat to our chances of making the Finals, the Kangas, have a draw that is almost as tough. We lost to Geelong in an honourable loss, but the Kangas lost to Carlton! If the Kangas keep dropping games like that we should make the finals by default.

Where we are equal with last year is the number of games lost to suspension. Zero both years. At least the umpires have done the right thing by us there (Sorry for paying all those frees in the opposition forward 50. Here's a Get Out of Jail Free card.)

[Plugger46]

Playing above yourself is myth, you can only play to your ability...

[Xie Shan]

Originally posted by Thunder Shaker
With the way Collingwood played last year's granny, we could have won the premiership.

That's the scary thing - could 2003 have actually been our best chance of winning one? It'll be a while before the team is so widely written off as they were last year, and we're going to have to improve heaps on current form to challenge for one in the next couple of years.

I always felt it was going to be really hard to match last year's achievement, as much as I hoped it could be met (and exceeded), the injuries have really upset the balance of the side this year. The committment is still there, but it feels like the team isn't skilful enough to reach the levels of 2003 again this year. True, we have had to work harder for wins this year, even harder probably than last year, when the team also had to work very hard for wins, but their incredible conversion rate and run from defence made goals easier to come by. Hard to deny that teams have been successful in restricting that run this year. Still think we'll improve in 2005 as the team adapts to this.

[CureTheSane]

Originally posted by Plugger46
Playing above yourself is myth, you can only play to your ability...

Agree with that 110%

[NMWBloods]

Is it a tougher draw?

Team           H/A   2004  2003   2004  2003
Adelaide       H       x     x      W      L
Adelaide       A             x             L
Brisbane       H       x     x      -      W
Brisbane       A       x     x      L      W    
Carlton        H             x             W
Carlton        A       x     x      W      W
Collingwood    H       x     x      W      L
Collingwood    A             x             W
Essendon       H       x     x      -      W
Essendon       A       x            L      
Fremantle      H       x     x      W      W
Fremantle      A       x     x      -      L
Geelong        H       x     x      W      W
Geelong        A       x            L      
Hawthorn       H       x     x      W      L
Hawthorn       A             x             L
Kangaroos      H       x            -      
Kangaroos      A       x     x      W      L
Melbourne      H       x     x      L      W
Melbourne      A       x     x      -      W
Port Adelaide  A       x     x      L      L
Richmond       H       x            L      
Richmond       A       x     x      -      W
St Kilda       H       x     x      W      W
W Bulldogs     H       x     x      W      W
West Coast     H             x             W
West Coast     A       x            L

So, to summarise:

Easier
No Adelaide away
No Collingwood away
No Hawthorn away
Kangaroos at home
Richmond at home

Harder
No Carlton at home
Essendon away
Geelong away
West Coast away
No West Coast at home

So slightly harder due to West Coast and Geelong away.

[One other thing about the draw is timing too - we have stacked up a few tough trips in a row at the moment, whereas last year less so, plus we benefitted quite a bit from the Subi curse.]

However, we should also note we've lost games this year that we won last year - Melbourne, Brisbane, Richmond and our away game to Melbourne (this year Essendon instead of last year Collingwood).

We turned a couple around too - Hawthorn (just!), Adelaide, Collingwood, Kangaroos.

We've lost to WC and Geelong away this year, but last year we lost to Hawthorn and Adelaide away.

If we were to run to form relative to last year then we should win 5-1, and finish with the same result as last year - 14 wins and 8 losses.

Therefore, whatever the draw (which is only marginally harder) if we perform as per last year, we can finish with the same wins as last year.

(if that all makes sense...)

[NMWBloods]

Originally posted by Plugger46
Playing above yourself is myth, you can only play to your ability...

As I said previously, I disagree. You can play above yourself - everything runs just right, including the bounce, the drop of the ball, the flukey things, as well as lucky stuff such as injuries and the like.

I've played a few different sports and have seen days where no matter what you do, it's all just perfect. That doesn't say this reflects your true ability - sometimes you just get lucky.

[barry]

Originally posted by NMWBloods
Is it a tougher draw?
So, to summarise:

Easier
No Adelaide away
No Collingwood away
No Hawthorn away
Kangaroos at home
Richmond at home

Roos at home is the same as Roos away (Canberra) IMO.
And not getting the chance to play cellar dwellers Adel, HAw and Coll twice makes the draw even harder this year.

Harder
No Carlton at home
Essendon away
Geelong away
West Coast away
No West Coast at home
[/B][/QUOTE]

Geelong and WC are too very hard road trips, and we get them both this year, without the concellation of playing WC at home.

Based on this evidence, I'd say the draw is SIGNIFICANTLY harder this year.

[NMWBloods]

Here's another way of looking at it.

2004 v. 2003

West Coast away > Adelaide away

The West Coast away game is harder than the Adelaide away game, but then again Adelaide last year is a better team than West Coast this year.

Essendon away = Collingwood away

This game is probably a wash.

Geelong away > Hawthorn away

The Geelong away game is tougher than the Hawthorn away game, but Hawthorn were a more difficult proposition last year and we did lose to them twice.

Kangaroos at home > Carlton at home

The Kangaroos are a more difficult opponent than Carlton was last year.

Richmond at home < West Coast at home

Richmond should have been a much easier opponent than West Coast.

So it is a bit tougher, but I wouldn't say significantly. Certainly I don't think it is the major reason we are not doing as well, as we are struggling against most teams anyway.

[barry]

Its at least two games tougher than last year, and I'd call that significant.

If we had Adelaide in Adelaide this year, we'd qualify for the complete road trip nightmare.

Hopefully we will get a better draw next year.

[NMWBloods]

Originally posted by barry
Its at least two games tougher than last year, and I'd call that significant.

Fair enough - we'd best finish on 13 wins then to be on a par with last year.

[Thunder Shaker]

Originally posted by NMWBloods
So, to summarise:

Easier
No Adelaide away
No Collingwood away
No Hawthorn away
Kangaroos at home
Richmond at home

Harder
No Carlton at home
Essendon away
Geelong away
West Coast away
No West Coast at home

We don't have Adelaide, Collingwood and Hawthorn away this year, but all three sides have declined in form this season. Had we had all three of them away this year, the chances are good that we would have got one or two valuable away wins. Therefore the benefit of not playing these sides away is largely nullified by their decline in form.