Performances in the first 6 weeks

[Mike_B]

Originally posted by originalswan
Time off ground for Davis might have a bit to do with him having more responsibilities up the ground rather than closer to goal, therefore the extra conditioning and fitness required for all the extra running.

Could well be - my only question is why you wouldn't have him resting in the forward line at least some of the time (obviously still need him to chase, tackle, etc as well up forward) seeing as he is a known goalkicker and can pull something out of nowhere.

[NMWBloods]

Yep - run him in the midfield for half a quarter and rest him in the forward line for half a quarter.

[Mike_B]

Originally posted by NMWBloods
Yep - run him in the midfield for half a quarter and rest him in the forward line for half a quarter.

Maybe do that for 2 of 4 quarters and the other 2 give him a rest on the bench. That's what I meant to convey above, but obviously didn't do it too well. We need him not just to kick goals but also work hard defensively in the forward 50 as well, so if he can't do that effectively all the time in the forward line when taking a rest, then rotate him through the bench.

[stellation]

I hope it is just a fitness thing with Nick, still not too sure about him starting on the bench (unless Roos is using logic of saving him from the first 10-15 minutes of the games for fitness reasons?!?!?). Does anyone have the figures on how many minutes he played last night? We are off topic now aren't we!

[stellation]

Originally posted by ROK Lobster
I was only listening to the game last night but the commentators seemed to think that Davis was a) doing a good job but b) spending a lot of time of the bench. For those that saw it, is that a fair analysis?

That's pretty much spot on. When he was on the ground he looked very dangerous, he is covering a lot more of the paddock this year than he has in previous years though (with little pre-season to build up the endurance)... although I don't understand Roos' bench rotations anyway.
For me one of the best examples of the difference between ND and most of the team was in one of his (maybe his last?) possessions- it didn't result in a goal but tucked up against the boundary line in the pocket he snapped to a contest in the square instead of trying for a goal. Most of the team would have either
1. run it over the boundary line thinking a throw-in was good enough
2. allowed themselves to be tackled thinking a ball-up was good enough (and then, if they're lucky, they could run it over for a throw-in after the ball-up!)
3. handballed back into the pack
4. had a shot at goals (a behind is good enough!)
ND has a totally different mindset to a large percentage of the rest of the team.

[NMWBloods]

Problem I have is that currently we are nowhere.

So many keep lamenting the great midfields of other sides and their draft picks, etc. However, what clubs have a stack of high draft picks in their midfield? We have 3 top 10 midfielders in our squad too after all.

[liz]

Originally posted by NMWBloods
Problem I have is that currently we are nowhere.

So many keep lamenting the great midfields of other sides and their draft picks, etc. However, what clubs have a stack of high draft picks in their midfield? We have 3 top 10 midfielders in our squad too after all.

4 actually

[NMWBloods]

Ha - I was just coming on to edit that to change it to 4!

So we have 4 top 10 draft midfielders and the worst midfield in the competition...

[Bleed Red Blood]

Only one of those four have good disposal, one couldn't get a game when we were full strength and one is a tagger.

Says alot about our drafting wouldn't you say.

[Nico]

Originally posted by liz
Right now it's far less about individual performances and more about getting them to play as a team and believe they can string two performances together. What we witnessed tonight was one team chock-a-bloc with confidence and another completely bereft.

Every time the ball popped out of a contest "at random" there was an Eagle to meet it because they had the confidence to run off their man. And while the Swans may not be the most skilled team going around, they are nowhere near as bad as we've seen for the last 3 weeks.

It doesn't matter that Kirk and Jude did OK tonight, that O'Keefe continues to find a bit of form, and Goodes too. Even most of the rest of the players tried pretty hard but were just running round in circles, chasing their own tails. The whole is far far less than the sum of the parts at the moment and there is no easy way out.

Comments about the game plan are a bit irrelevant at the

moment, IMO. Any game plan would look ugly at the moment.

The problem was that the Eagles knew where to stand, our blokes didn't.

I watched them very carefully as it became purely academic after Q time, and when the ball went to a pack, at times we had 5 players either on the ground or standing right at the base of the pack, whereas the Eagles were a few metres off their men. They allowed 1-2 to grovel for the footy. Now common sense says that if a pack forms and with the rules the way they are, players are knocking it on rather than forming a pack. So what do we do, hang on to the pack and try to force a stoppage.

Another point that is so obvious is that the same culprits go to ground almost at every contest they get to. Namely Buchanan (1 kick 9 handpassess), Schneider was running to a contest in front of his man and instead of trying to take possession went to his knees and slide 5 metres into the path of the ball and lost the contest (weak hearted stuff) Bevan pinged again for sitting on it and could not keep his feet, Bolton J for all his hard work still has trouble keeping his feet, Nicks for whatever reason has got the disease.

This a basic skill taught at Auskick, what is wrong with these guys?

Compare this to Wiiliams and Davis. They rarely go to ground.

The answer is get rid of the duds. You can't keep going with same people doing the same things or lack of, week in week out. The season is gone, start rebuilding NOW.

[Nico]

Originally posted by Bleed Red Blood
Only one of those four have good disposal, one couldn't get a game when we were full strength and one is a tagger.

Says alot about our drafting wouldn't you say.

Great post.

[liz]

Originally posted by Nico
Bevan pinged again for sitting on it and could not keep his feet

Don't disagree with much of what you said.

I know Bevan has been a serial offender with sitting on the ball this year, but ironically this was probably the one example where what he did was probably the best move (though I wouldn't go so far as to credit him with that thought process!)

There was no Swan in sight and the Eagles would have been away had he cleared it. A free at least gave the defence some opportunity to give some semblance of reorganising themselves.

[robbieando]

Originally posted by Bleed Red Blood
Only one of those four have good disposal, one couldn't get a game when we were full strength and one is a tagger.

Says alot about our drafting wouldn't you say.

Yep that we don't draft the right kind of player.

The first factor - We have too many midfielders under 182cm. Bolton, Buchanan, Crouch, Fixter, Fosdike, Mathews, Maxfield, Moore, Schmidt, Schneider, Spriggs, Williams and Willoughby are all 182cm or less. That's the bulk of our midfield and to make matters worse of those who have played senior football, I'd say all are pretty poor kicks except for the Maxfield and Williams.

Look at the Brisbane midfield of Voss, Black, Akermanis, Lappin, Power, Hadley and Notting and only Aker and Power are under 182cm and clean in their position at the same time.

Height in the midfield is important, we are lacking it.

Factor 2 - We draft athletic players, not footballers. Seems to me that having good skills isn't important to the Swans, as long as you can run all day (case in point, Fosdike and Spriggs)

Thats just the midfield, don't get me started on the Key Position Players.

[NMWBloods]

Originally posted by Nico
I watched them very carefully as it became purely academic after Q time, and when the ball went to a pack, at times we had 5 players either on the ground or standing right at the base of the pack, whereas the Eagles were a few metres off their men. They allowed 1-2 to grovel for the footy. Now common sense says that if a pack forms and with the rules the way they are, players are knocking it on rather than forming a pack. So what do we do, hang on to the pack and try to force a stoppage.

Ou guys are just completely clueless when it comes to this, most simple, aspect of the game.

When the opposition has the ball, all of our guys in vicinity either launch themselves at the opponent or at the ball.

This means either

(a) the player draws 2 or 3 Swans players and handballs it to a now unmarked player

(b) we attack so recklessly we give away a free kick

(c) we force a ball up, yet again

(d) all of our players are in on the pack so when the ball gets forced out, the opposition is standing around the pack ready for the takeaway.

[NMWBloods]

Originally posted by robbieando
Factor 2 - We draft athletic players, not footballers. Seems to me that having good skills isn't important to the Swans, as long as you can run all day (case in point, Fosdike and Spriggs)

Which just defies logic given that we also run one of the biggest rotation policies in the competition so that no one runs for extensive periods of time so they don't need that aerobic fitness.

Players with skills and nous will always beat players with pure athleticism.