Hall,J.Bolton,Kirk

[liz]

Originally posted by penga
i agree with you as far as the individual is concerned, however, brisbane spread their quality. lappin plays in the back half, aker on the hff, while black runs all day in the middle and voss hobbles i would like to know, if at all, when brisbane have their fab-four all running in the midfield (i'm including the wing). due to this spread quality, there are opportunities in the middle and it lifts the overall standard of the team.

They all take their turns in the midfield. In particular, Lappin and Akermanis are in no way limited to the HBF and HFF respectively. Sure, they may not all play there at the same time but football nowadays is all about rotating multiple players through the midfield so that the team can keep up with the pace of the game.

The Swans are no different in this respect to any other team, Lions included.

The only Swan who probably spends substantially all of a game in and around the midfield is Kirk, but even that will depend on where his designated opponent plays.

[Schneiderman]

Originally posted by Nico
How could anyone in their right mind have Bolton ahead of Williams as a MVP.

THANK YOU!!

Most important three players at the club 2003/2004 (and lets just wait and see what 2005 brings shall we?) are clearly: Hall, Ball, Williams.

Whilst I'd love to say that the younger players will take over, these are big shoes to fill... thankfully Bazza's are fine for the next 3-4 years at least.

Every match I have seen so far, has had all three playing well to good (and at times just playing) to ensure we had a win, and just one missing due to injury or poor form on the day to ensure a really scrappy win or more likely a loss.

Must admit though that Goodes and Micky are both wildcards, that can turn any match quickly, with Schneider, Tadgh and Davis (maybe Monty?) the up-and-comers in this regard.

[NMWBloods]

Agree with Hall, Ball and Williams for 2003, less so for 2004 (although still very important). I doubt (and hope) the latter two will not be as important this year.

[TheHood]

Originally posted by NMWBloods
Agree with Hall, Ball and Williams for 2003, less so for 2004 (although still very important). I doubt (and hope) the latter two will not be as important this year.

MVPs for 2003 in retrospect were:

Darryn Cresswell
Adam Goodes
Jason Ball

Heaps of guys who were important and brilliant that year but these guys were the top 3 IMO.

If Kirky hadn't have killed off some brilliant opponents that year, we may have lost some of those closer ones.

As for Walls' column, Kirk should be there ahead of Bolton - we take him for granted a bit.

[Ajn]

Hate to disagree with such an "expert" like Robert Walls, but I think the core to our success is that we have many utilities who can play in numerous positions and can cover any absence, the only gap has been the ruck and FB, with replacements not filling the gap well enough.

Hopefully LRT/Dempster can help the backline gap and Jolly/Doyle the ruck.

examples:
Goodes/RO'K for Hall (CHF),
Monty/McVeigh/Ablett for Bolton (C),
N.Davis/Ball for Micky(FF)

VERSITILITY IS OUR STAR PLAYER!
Most others can be stopped by stopping one key player.

[liz]

Originally posted by Ajn

examples:
Monty/McVeigh/Ablett for Bolton (C),

Would be interesting to see any of those three take on Richardson or Jon Brown.

[Ajn]

....J. Bolton
(C) = Centre sorry for the confusion

Monty on J.Brown, that would be funny

[Sanecow]

While Hall is an important player for the Swans, his "improved" stats from 2003 to 2004 show a couple of signs that he has not adjusted perfectly to the move away from the goal square.

Despite gathering 50 more possessions in 2004, his ratio of kicks:handballs went down from 2.99 to 2.42 for the season. This is a massive waste considering he was hovering just outside the 50 a lot of the time; quick delivery to the forwards is essential! This waste is backed up by his increased tackles in 2004 which suggests he did a lot more chasing as the ball rebounded from the Swans attacking 50.

[Ruck'n'Roll]

Our 3 Radicals

Robert Walls has nominated the 3 most important players in each team . . .

http://www.realfooty.theage.com.au/realfooty/articles/2005/03/15/1110649197998.html?from=storyrhs

SYDNEY
By a country mile, Barry Hall is his team's No. 1. Without Hall's ruckwork, presence, mobility and goalkicking prowess, the Swans could forget finals. Next comes Leo Barry as a consist-ent key defender who provides dash and rebound. In-close midfielder Jude Bolton, with his toughness and ball-winning capacity at stoppages, has become an integral part of Paul Roos' plans.


It's interesting that he (like many non-swans-fans) rates Jude Bolton, above Brett Kirk.
He also didn't include Andrew Schauble, parhaps he too believes our defence is becoming less dependant on the big guy.

[swansrule100]

i think its good jude bolton is getting some acknowledgement.
I think its hard to go past Hall as our best heading in to 2005, but apart from that there about 10 players to choose from for 2nd and 3rd best.

[penga]

Originally posted by Sanecow
Despite gathering 50 more possessions in 2004, his ratio of kicks:handballs went down from 2.99 to 2.42 for the season. This is a massive waste considering he was hovering just outside the 50 a lot of the time; quick delivery to the forwards is essential!

hows the saying go? something about stats and damn lies...

the way in which hall handballs is he will lead outside 50, take the mark and handball off to a runner going past. which actually leads to a quicker delivery unlike your ratio stat suggests.

[penga]

Originally posted by Ajn
Hate to disagree with such an "expert" like Robert Walls

you're kidding right??? walls casts as much insight into the game as christie malthouse does. he has two personas; captain bloody obvious when he is commentating (special comments? PUULEASE!) and "i hope my opinion sounds well informed".... the latter is clearly not the case in about everything he comments on.

[Sanecow]

Walls reckons:

Without Hall's ruckwork...

Hall's ruckwork in 2003 (87 HO) was a symptom of Donkey's injury and lack of ruck depth, not a dependence on Hall's ruck genius (34 HO last year, I expect similar this year).

[dimelb]

Originally posted by Ajn


VERSITILITY IS OUR STAR PLAYER!

Shouldn't that be spelled 'versutility'?

[sharp9]

Fortunately it is difficult for us to fully test who our M.V.P three are.

Of the potentials only Micky, Goodesy, Schaubs, KFC, Schneiderman and Leapin' have spent much time on the sideline...OK Willo as well.

But what I am saying is that ,toch wood, I know, but we have not had to play without Captain, Bazza, Maxi, Benny and Jude, so it's difficult to know which are the most detrimnetal to lose.

In my opinion they are probably (in order) Baz, Scauble and Kirky.

Losing Schauble last year really pantsed us for the first 15 rounds or so. Not to say we did too badly in covering for him but it really hurt. I can still see that fresh airey swing at Optus playing in slow motion......there is a caption in my mind movie...."There goes 2004....there goes 2004.....there goes 2004."

P.S. Please note new signature. Onya Roosey!