Game Thread: Sydney v Port

[NMWBloods]

Bolton was very good - he is finally starting to gather the ball better, keep his feet, look for options and try to be creative. If we can add a couple of really attacking midfielders or one attacking and one who is great at clearances (a la Mitchell, Coughlan) then they will complement Bolton and Kirk and some of the others really well.

Buchanan is very good at getting in and getting the ball out, as is Spriggs, but their disposal is very disappointing. McVeigh looked like he would be good at it early, but his last couple of games have been terrible.

Ablett may end up becoming our attacking outside midfielder and I still think Kennelly could be another.

Moore has nice skills and presence and could become the inside midfielder with also good outside skills.

Looking forward to seeing Malceski (who could become an attacking midfielder) and Willoughby to see what else we can produce.

It's all still very much an unknown though.

[BonBon]

Tell me if I am wrong but I heard 2 things about the captaincy..

Paul Roos isn't going to let Barry Hall have his turn captaining us when we play the Saints, but I thought "If he does become the captain, he will eventually captain against the Saints anyway," but I don't think he will get it. And then before the game I heard that Barry hall will captain next for 2 weeks which works out to be the Saints game. Then I was told that Leo Barry is next for 2 weeks, and then Jude.

[Chiasmus]

Did anyone see Moore and Willoughby on the "Serioulsy AFL" show on sautrday? I haven't laughed that much for soooo long.. they have such a sense of humour!

[Mike_B]

Originally posted by cruiser
Matthews: urgh

I know he is held in high regard at the club, but boy his awareness and decision making are terrible. He isn't an instinctive player so every time he takes a mark he has to go back and wait for 30 seconds for the ump to call play on. Then the fact his kicking isn;t overly penetrating does us no good at all.

As for awareness, there was a bouncing ball (high) today where he attempted to take possession with 2 port players around him, rather than trying to just tap the ball on to a teammate as Kirk did today. These little things make such a huge difference.

[Mike_B]

Originally posted by Nico
Close to Leo Barry's best ever game.

He was fantastic, but IMHO his game against St Kilda last year was his best. Same defensive job today, but that game last year he gave us a bit more in the attacking sense.

[Grant]

Originally posted by BonBon
Tell me if I am wrong but I heard 2 things about the captaincy..

Paul Roos isn't going to let Barry Hall have his turn captaining us when we play the Saints, but I thought "If he does become the captain, he will eventually captain against the Saints anyway,". Then I was told that Leo Barry is next for 2 weeks, and then Jude.

The Barry Hall bit is correct,the coaching staff have said it would be a bit much for Bazza to captain against his old side.And after the game they confirmed that Jude Bolton will be captain for the next 2 weeks.
You would hardly think that they are considering Hall for permanent captaincy if they are worrying about little things like that.

[cruiser]

Originally posted by Mike_B
I know he is held in high regard at the club, but boy his awareness and decision making are terrible...

He's not a smart quick thinker, that's for sure. Again kicked straight to a Port player today on a number of ocassions, even after taking forever to decide where to kick. Please dont let him be captain.

[Mike_B]

Originally posted by cruiser
He's not a smart quick thinker, that's for sure. Again kicked straight to a Port player today on a number of ocassions, even after taking forever to decide where to kick. Please dont let him be captain.

That's the bit that baffles me - how they can consider him captaincy material when his ability as a football is average at best. While on-field stuff isn't everything, he is definitely no better than Maxfield as a player, and right now we need a player who can lead by example on-field as well as off.

[NMWBloods]

Originally posted by Mike_B
I know he is held in high regard at the club, but boy his awareness and decision making are terrible. He isn't an instinctive player so every time he takes a mark he has to go back and wait for 30 seconds for the ump to call play on. Then the fact his kicking isn;t overly penetrating does us no good at all.

I think he was on Francou and did a great defensive job. However, we have too many players who can do a defensive role and need to give more back in offence.

[NMWBloods]

Originally posted by Mike_B
He was fantastic, but IMHO his game against St Kilda last year was his best. Same defensive job today, but that game last year he gave us a bit more in the attacking sense.

I agree, plus also I think the delivery to Gehrig in the StKilda game was a bit better, thus making it even more difficult for him.

[dann]

Yeah a good effort by the Swans today. I think a bit of the gloss of the win has been removed by the lack of confidence of Port. Although this was the true- the pressure from the Swans today over the entire ground throughout the entire match was easily the best for the season. Essendon might have been playing better last week - but it was because we were much much looser on them.

I thought today was one of the Irishman's best games. He did instinctive stuff that I thought was lacking in his game - more accurately, it shows that he is learning some of the finer points of the code.

Jude had another great game - his touch has improved around the packs and the quick kick accuracy is far better than it has been. I say give him the captaincy - but thats just me...

I was at the ground and thought it was was an entertaining game - good pressure footy. I think the term ugly is more apt to games like Roos vs Swans etc. Sure there were mistakes and poor umpiring (ugh...) - but the tackling was pretty fierce and the majority of the game was spent in one on one contests which is good to see. There was also some fairly awesome ball movement and demonstration of skill. The SCG under a brisk SE'ster wind isn't the easiest ground to play. I can remember some pretty poor games at the SCG in sunny, 'fine' conditions with the dreaded SE wind (which comes in over the old scoreboard.

[NMWBloods]

Note one difference between Kirk and Bolton - Kirk is getting tagged most weeks - by Kane Cornes today, one of the leading taggers in the comp, while Bolton is rarely tagged.

[JF_Bay22_SCG]

Originally posted by Matt79
Just got back from the game...

* The umpiring was absolutely abismal...Goldspink...need we say more. A third of Port's goals (2) came from shocking umpiring decisions, so therefore the umpires were Port's only multiple goal kicker for the game!

What about that out on the full on the Brewongle win that was not paid/ How could the boundary umpire miss that?

And Buchanan having his head ripped off and Giftwrap Goldspink calling it play on.Unbelievable the free kicks he does not pay!

JF

[KillerQueen]

I was at the game...

i thought Buchanan played pretty well.

Leo was awesome i thought Crouch wasnt to bad either

[Tooth Fairy]

Originally posted by ROK Lobster
Should win from here. Swans just want it more today. Was disappointed to see Roos down near the bench seconds before 3/4 time telling the runner to get everyone back.

He was not. He was asking a water boy to go get him a pie.