Who can hold there head high

[BAM_BAM]

Disappointed in our forward line. We've got one of if not the best set up and it just didn't work. I think we really missed Ben Mathews. And he's not considered to be that important? Once he was injured the little piece of game we had hold of fell away and it all went to hell from there.

Agree Jude played well, Monty and Bevo too.

[Schneidergirl]

Yes and I think Willow was missed too.

BTW... what happened to Benny Mathews? How did he end up on crutches?

[robbieando]

Originally posted by BAM_BAM
Disappointed in our forward line. We've got one of if not the best set up and it just didn't work. I think we really missed Ben Mathews. And he's not considered to be that important? Once he was injured the little piece of game we had hold of fell away and it all went to hell from there.

Agree Jude played well, Monty and Bevo too.

The set up didn't work because it didn't get the ball delivered like they need it to. Too many of the forwards tried to play their normal game tonight, which they can't do in that weather.

Hall should of been sat in the goal square and we should of bombed it in long to him and have Buchanan and Schneider at his feet waiting for any ball that he didn't mark. O'Keefe and O'Loughlin could of then done a double act at CHF giving the Saints nightmares. However Roos was more than happy to keep thing the way they have been and I knew we were gone when Nicks lined up at Full Forward to start the last quarter.

Sad night, but we just didn't get use to the conditions and of course losing Willo and Mathews hurt and Bam_Bam I agree with you, tonight we saw just how important Mathews really is to the side.

[JF_Bay22_SCG]

Originally posted by NMWBloods
I'm more p*ssed off than upset. Same old Swans - make finals and get smashed!

Yep, and let fly at the Alex at a few of the players feeble attempts at tackling/marking up in the 2nd half. Much to the dissatisfaction of some in the pub it seems.

Bolton put in a great effort. But the conditions suit his game to a tea.

Monty aside I can't say there was any player I think deserves any sort of pat on the back at all.

Pathetic, insipid,outclassed.

Sadly it seems we don't really deserve to be in the finals at all.

JF

[Mike_B]

Originally posted by Schneidergirl
BTW... what happened to Benny Mathews? How did he end up on crutches?

Just before halftime he was tackled and it looked like his ankle was caught beneath him and twisted pretty awkwardly. Hopefully nothing that the off-season won't allow to heal naturally so he can start the pre-season fully fit. The last thing we want is having too many guys going in for surgery and not being able to have a full pre-season under their belts.

[BAM_BAM]

does anyone know if it was the same ankle that he did last year? I'd hate to think of what that could mean as it was already pinned IIRC.

[Wazza]

Jude Bolton was great hard at it but says a lot about the swans midfield hard at it good defensively but no creative flair - no game breakers.

Kirk was ok but StKilda were fantastic as Kirk ALWAYS goes to his left they nailed him every time.

Buchanan was good has a real go I would prefer seeing him rather that Schn as our small forward/ rotating midfielder.

Barry Hall had a schocker, sick of seeing Hall and Micky O appealing for free kicks whilst the opposition runs the ball away.

Schauble looked like he didnt want to be out there what a shocker! I know dumb statement of course he wanted to be out there just didnt want to tackle the G train.

I m going to stop now as it could get ugly.

Cheers

Waz

[NMWBloods]

Originally posted by Wazza
Barry Hall had a schocker, sick of seeing Hall and Micky O appealing for free kicks whilst the opposition runs the ball away.

This has become a nasty habit I noticed earlier in the season.

[Red@WhiteBaron]

Originally posted by Wazza

Barry Hall had a schocker, sick of seeing Hall and Micky O appealing for free kicks whilst the opposition runs the ball away.

Okay, let's look at some stats:

Bazza is ranked ninth in the AFL for frees against - a whopping 31 given the fact that he spends most of his time inside the forward 50. He doesn't even appear in the top 100 in terms of frees for - anyone like to take a guess as to how may frees have gone his way all year?

Look at other players who play in the forward line, and look at how many free kicks they get.

Bazza and Mick get molested week in, week out and I just don't have an idea what they have to do to ket a free kick. No wonder Bazza gets so frustrated - even Jeff Gieschen admitted that he gets the rough end of the stick, yet it hasn't achieved anything.

AFL stats - top 100 frees for

AFL stats - top 100 frees against

[Nico]

What worries me about the free kick bit to our forwards is that umpires are not supposed to have mind sets against certain players. But it seems a common thread amongst the umpiring fraternity towards Hall.

The old style umps like Beitzel and Crouch, characters of the game, from my memory had no such biases. You hear Harry Beitzel talk about his time in the game and he says repeatedly that it didn't matter who the player was, he paid them as he saw them.

Something is rotten in Denmark when LLoyd keeps taking a dive yet the umps fall for it repeatedly, but say they discount the divers. Yeh sure.

[Wazza]

I agree no doubt Barry Hall has a bad run with the umps and no question he is a great player who would be even better if instead of throwing his arms out saying what about that he concentrated on what the opposition were doing with the ball.

Cheers

waz

[Red@WhiteBaron]

Originally posted by Nico
Something is rotten in Denmark when LLoyd keeps taking a dive yet the umps fall for it repeatedly, but say they discount the divers. Yeh sure.

That's spot on Nico. Lloydy (in my eyes at least) should have been on the Aussie diving team in Athens. He would've brought home a ton of gold with his superb diving attempts.

Even Stevie Wonder would be able to pick out the frees against Bazza, yet umps just seem to be in a league of their own.

[NMWBloods]

Originally posted by Wazza
Jude Bolton was great hard at it but says a lot about the swans midfield hard at it good defensively but no creative flair - no game breakers.

Kirk was ok but StKilda were fantastic as Kirk ALWAYS goes to his left they nailed him every time.

To some degree this was more that St Kilda were all over us at all times, rather than Kirk overdoing going left.

I thought a lot of our players were just really slow tonight and made poor decisions, and tackled rather poorly. Ablett was one of the best examples of all of these things.

Although one of our best players, an example from J Bolton sums it up. A few minutes into the third qtr in St Kilda's defence, Bolton gives the ball to Kennelly who is standing just in front of Gehrig, hence is tackled and brought to the ground. Milne picks up the ball, shrugs off a pathetic half-hearted tackle attempt from Bolton, and kicks a goal.

[JF_Bay22_SCG]

Originally posted by NMWBloods
Tonight's game sums up why I think Bolton is a 'third midfielder.' Most people will say he had a good game (I didn't watch all the game, but that seems about right) yet he lacks the ability and explosiveness to be a matchwinner or even turn the tide. This is why I think we desperately need a couple of major top-flight midfielders, which will leave Bolton fitting in quite nicely as the blue-collar, third midfielder.

You got it there. He was our best and definitely bored into the packs all night.

But he lacks the ability of a guy like Willo to really set up our attacks by running to goal or anything. That is not a criticism of him though. He just lacks the pace to do that kind of thing.

JF

[JF_Bay22_SCG]

Originally posted by Wazza
I agree no doubt Barry Hall has a bad run with the umps and no question he is a great player who would be even better if instead of throwing his arms out saying what about that he concentrated on what the opposition were doing with the ball.

I agree. I see that at close range from him every week. It gets very annoying after a while.

It is something you tell Auskick players at an early age. "Play the whistle"

Sometime Baz is guilty of looking for frees.

I know the game is going badly when Baz is down taking marks as far back as the half back line. He gets frustrated not getting the pill. But by going that far back to get it, it makes our forays up forward that much more difficult.

JF