Jude Bolton

[Bexl]

I think this is the best game Bolton has played for the club.
Watching on tv you could see the amount of times he got the ball out of the centre and his kicking was very good today.
He helped set up many goals with his attack on the footy and good passing. Also 29 possesions was the most of any swans player.
Well done Jude Bolton, keep it up.
Go swannies.

[Jimmy C]

Good to see him listed among the best players. Hope he keeps it up.

[Nico]

Good call Bexl. What about his smothers which resulted in great turnovers and I think 2 goals.

His centre bounce work is as good as any Swans player I have seen. Almost every time he was first to pounce on the footy, and cleared on numerous occasions. BOG for mine.

It really is encouraging to see that our achilles heel of poor centre bounce work may be behind us.

Kirk was also excellent at the centre bounces.

Craig Bolton is a real find. His spoiling and fast clearances and coolness under pessure were a revelation.

We could go on all night, so it is fair to say it was great team effort. And the good thing is that if one player is down it appears we have the depth for others to rise to the occasion.

[barry]

Bolton played very well. His kicking is still ordinary, but he was very tenacious.

I like to see him as a midfielder who plays mainly between centre and half back. I dont like him at all on the forward line as we seem to have enough long kickers up there in Schnieder and Davis.

[Cheer Cheer]

Yes he played a very good game, it was one of his best and many of us will be eating humble pie at the moment ( including myself ). Consistency is the key word here and if he reaches that then he will be more than a handy player for sydney in the future.

[Mike_B]

Its one of those things for me; I've thought about his worth as trade bait, but he is the closest thing we have to Paul Kelly now (whose skills were never outstanding). If he can keep up his performances to match that of tonight, he would be almost untradeable for me - you can always work on skills, you can't teach someone to be hard at the ball, they either are or aren't, and he is.

[jude_boltons_babe]

i went to the game and i think jude played well

i think jude had a good game and so did adam goodes

[penga]

i thought jude had a ripper, i have had the same sentiments as des in the fact that his game reminds me a bit of kels but he looked good tonight except for the OOF when he was kickin for goal. he and kirk did really well out of the centre square

[robbieando]

Look I was closely following his game and I have to say he really did impress me with his attack at the football and his overall skill level, not the BOG but close to it. His second efforts where very good and it looks like he is putting a greater effort in. If he keeps this form up he will be a very handy player for us.

[Craig]

Funny how everyone's opinion of him suddenly has changed. A couple of weeks ago I put him in my best team and was shot down in flames. Jude Bolton will be an excellent player and we can expect many more games like last nights.

Agree with comments re Craig Bolton. He is a real find and played very well. All in all, I think our backline stood up aganist a much bigger Carlton forward line. Hopefully they can contine that form.

[NMWBloods]

I will keep my view on JB on hold for a while.

Firstly, we were only playing Carlton. Last year his best game for the year was early in the season against Carlton, and the rest of his year was sub-par.

Secondly, it's just one game - still a long way to go.

Thirdly, in terms of "hard ball gets" I think it was clearly his best game for a long time, if not ever. He's finally worked out how to get in under and retrieve the ball and get it out to our players. This could be a big plus if he can maintain it against good sides.

Finally, I think his disposal is still suspect. He had about 25, however his better ones tended to be simple handballs and easy kicks. When under pressure he often still sprays the ball. Even not under pressure he is liable to do so. In the first (or third) qtr on the wing right in front of us, he had a free kick and proceeded to kick the ball about 5 feet off the ground nearly sideways. Another time he hesitated and then kicked the ball into a Carlton player. He still needs to improve these things.

Overall, I think he finally showed some positive signs, particularly in getting the ball out of packs. However, I will reserve my judgement until he can do it regularly, against good sides, and be more consistent with his disposal.

[redunderthebed]

and i am very happy to have to eat my humble pie as it was a vastly different Jude last night to the bumbling ,error ridden crap he dished up last season and even during the pre season. 29 quality possessions except for one poorly placed kick. A great game and let's hope it continues against better opposition and he can retain some consistency.
If I have one criticsm it would be that he holds up play too often,in his bravery to smother the ball ,as he lies all over the ball.(in fairness I only saw him do this 2 or 3 times last night) but a more experienced player like Cressa would try and DO something with the ball even though this might lead to a turnover.
well done Jude keep it up......BUT what about Sneider!!passion AND skill.A real star of the future.

[Bron]

Jude had a great game. He did his first smother just near us and we were blown away. I also noticed how much he travelled the field, he was down in defence and then back up with the play as we were pushing for goal. I felt that he set up two goals and made solid contributions to several others. He seemed to be getting the ball out more than previously too. I've always admired his determination ... I always felt he was in the Kel mould - always going for it. I hope that last night is a prelude to a fantastic season.

[Nico]

What seems to be lost by a lot of our RWO tribe on Jude's disposal is this:

Top sides all have players who pick 29 plus possessions as Jude did. Strewth if you look closely at Voss and Buckley you will see that they make disposal errors regularly but no-one ever knocks them.

Cressa has always been a high possession getter but you would'nt say that his disposal is that flash.

If Jude can get in the region of 25 possessions every week then we have a top mid fielder in our midst.

Regardless of the fact we played Carlton, when the ball is bounced in the centre he is up against the best onballer/midfielders each week. If keeps up that level of tenacity then our centre clearance rate will skyrocket, which is absolutely essential to being a top side. Get the agot inside 50 quickly to our fast running forwards and we will be hard to beat.

[TheMase]

I actually thought Jude had a fairly ordinary game.
Did some great things under the packs and his handballing was sensational, but I thought his kicking once again let him down.

Most of his kicks either went astray or to a pack situation. I think I only recall him finding someone on a lead or on their own once in the match.