Reserves Score - Round 8

[ItsAllGoodes]

From sportingpulse.com.au

Sydney 20. 24. 144 vs Weston Creek 2. 4. 16

Goals
Saddington 5
Grundy 3
Schmidt, Schneider, Shaw 2
Bevan, Clarke, Davis, Garruba, Moore, Willoughby 1

Best: Potter, Moore, Willoughby, Shaw, James, Davis


Ladder

1 SYDNEY SWANS 8 8 0 1230 394 312.18 32
2 AINSLIE KANGAROOS 8 6 2 915 629 145.47 24
3 QUEANBEYAN TIGERS 8 5 3 968 729 132.78 20
4 BELCONNEN MAGPIES 8 5 3 873 658 132.67 20
5 EASTLAKE DEMONS 8 5 3 675 739 91.34 20
6 TUGGERANONG HAWKS 8 2 6 637 876 72.72 8
7 WAGGA TIGERS 8 1 7 539 1087 49.59 4
8 WESTON CREEK LIONS 8 0 8 380 1105 34.39 0

[Foreign Legion]

Another nailbiter....I hope Andrew Ireland is happy with the 200K saved.

The joke continues.

[Charlie]

I think I know where the dodgy game plan comes from. The ressies are so bored that they pass it to and fro to see if all 18 can touch it on the one attack... and Roosy sees the scores each week and thinks it works.

[midaro]

Crisis!

Forget the seniors, this is the single biggest issue facing the Swans.
It has the potential to destroy our development in perpetuity.

I want to know what the club plans to do about this NOW.

[Legs Akimbo]

Originally posted by midaro
Crisis!

Forget the seniors, this is the single biggest issue facing the Swans.
It has the potential to destroy our development in perpetuity.

I want to know what the club plans to do about this NOW.

Wow, that's an incredible font. But I agree with you. this is the BIG ISSUE.

[ROK Lobster]

Glad I didn't go. (That said, I might head down to Weston Creek and try and get a game. Surely they are struggling for numbers?)

[blinddog]

Just wondering what does the Lions do for reserves football? Do they have a decent 2nds comp?

[gilze]

How could teh competition have changed so much in one year? Surely we can't be that much better than last year? Not sure about the Lions

[adnar]

Originally posted by blinddog
Just wondering what does the Lions do for reserves football? Do they have a decent 2nds comp?

I think the players have their own teams in the QFL. like WA and SA players.

[liz]

Originally posted by gilze
How could teh competition have changed so much in one year? Surely we can't be that much better than last year? Not sure about the Lions

Ignore results such as this one. Last year's Swans team would have thrashed Weston Creek. The concern is that they are now easily beating the likes of Queanbeyan ans Belconnen, and the margins against teams like Ainslee and Wagga.

I think the answer is that we are a lot better than last year. The decision to take three extra rookies has made the Swans list longer and our injury list has probably been a bit shorter than for much of last year. That means that there have usually been just three or four top-up players playing in the reserves each week, rather than the eight or nine that there sometimes were last year.

Then look at the make-up of the newcomers. Players like Campbell, Grundy and Vogels have all played senior football at lower leagues and have the bodies to prove it. Moore might be a youngster but he is built like a brickhouse, as is Clarke. Even Shaw is well-built for an 18yo.

Add to that the physical development of players like Willoughby, Davis and even Erikson and we don't have some many players likely to be physically intimidated by the more experienced AFL league players. That means that the young Swans' better skill level becomes more evident and we get the results we are seeing.

I still reckon that playing the whole squad together in Canberra is a better option than flying a dozen of them to make up numbers each week in a VFL team. But something has to be done. As I've suggested before, maybe playing with a player or two less might be the answer.

However, this could be problematical in that next year the cycle might change again and we might have half a dozen skinny, inexperienced 18yos join the list and start getting soundly beaten by the better ACTAFL clubs.

[BonBon]

Is that possible for a reserves side to score as low as 16?

[Charlie]

Originally posted by liz


I still reckon that playing the whole squad together in Canberra is a better option than flying a dozen of them to make up numbers each week in a VFL team. But something has to be done. As I've suggested before, maybe playing with a player or two less might be the answer.

The answer is to have the whole squad together in the VFL.

[Destructive]

Is there any deecent competition in the reserves ranks? I don't think so.

Is that the lowest score for an opponent this year?

[liz]

Originally posted by Charlie
The answer is to have the whole squad together in the VFL.

Even the Melbourne clubs who started off with a stand-alone VFL club have mostly merged with an existing team now. The cost, even for them, was too prohibitive. It just isn't going to happen for Sydney.

And most of the Melbourne based teams suffer from a limit to the number of their listed players who get to play in the senior VFL team. I have read comments from Collingwood fans wringing their hands because the likes of Morrison, Shaw, Egan have been relegated to playing VFL reserves.

[Charlie]

Easy. 'Merge' with the NSW AFL. Surely it's in the best interests of the game in NSW to have the best half a dozen kids playing in the second best competition in Australia regularly. I don't care how they do it, but one way or another, there simply must be a recognition by the various interested parties that Sydney needs this to happen.

I think we have to accept that cost can't be prohibitive. The cost of not having a viable reserves program far outweighs any monetary cost, if that cost is a chance at a premiership.