The next six weeks - six tough games

[Vivien]

It's all going to depend on the sort of form we can muster in the next week or so. Confidence will be everything - we're more than capable of beating any side in this comp on our day.

I think it's a little difficult to predict how we will finish the year at this stage - we could continue to improve or crash and burn, who knows? Furthermore, the current top sides may not be that crash hot in a few weeks. Sides we do not see as being real threats may come on strong later in the season. Our own side might be cut down due to injury. Who knows? Best just to focus on one game at a time.

[Go Swannies]

Originally posted by footyhead
I agree, and am still dissapointed that so many people around here can get so excited by so little.

Until I am convinced we have a team who is not a pretender, I refuse to jump on any band - wagon created by those substances most people from RWO seem to be addicted to: hope and hysteria.

Five wins out of six games and West Coast are shoe-ins for premiers, by popular thinking. Swans win five out of six and this is the crap they get from their "supporters"!

Unless history really is bunk, we will play finals this year - and on current trends we should be looking at top four. That all "pretenders" should create such a wonderful illusion. . .

[NMWBloods]

Originally posted by Go Swannies
Five wins out of six games and West Coast are shoe-ins for premiers, by popular thinking. Swans win five out of six and this is the crap they get from their "supporters"!

Not really a great comparison - West Coast are actually 11 from 12 and on top with 139%. We are 7 from 12 with a % less than 100, and none of our wins have come against top teams. We're travelling better than we were but we'll see how things are when we hit a few decent sides.

Footyhead frequently talks in hyperbole, but no more so than many here.

Unless history really is bunk, we will play finals this year - and on current trends we should be looking at top four. That all "pretenders" should create such a wonderful illusion. . .

That's actually what pretenders often do.

[Go Swannies]

Originally posted by NMWBloods
[B]
Footyhead frequently talks in hyperbole, but no more so than many here.


That's actually what pretenders often do.

I always presumed the Hyperbole was somewhere in Texas.

Statistically, it would seem unlikely that we'd drop out of the eight. So now it's a matter of how high in the eight we finish? Are all the other likely finalists pretenders or just the Swans? (I'm presuming that all outside the eight are definitely pretenders.)

[NMWBloods]

Originally posted by Go Swannies
Statistically, it would seem unlikely that we'd drop out of the eight. So now it's a matter of how high in the eight we finish? Are all the other likely finalists pretenders or just the Swans? (I'm presuming that all outside the eight are definitely pretenders.)

This year nearly everyone looks like a pretender.

I think WC, Melbourne and StKilda (despite Thomas) have the most talent and are strongest challengers.

[Schneiderman]

Originally posted by footyhead
Until I am convinced we have a team who is not a pretender, I refuse to jump on any band - wagon created by those substances most people from RWO seem to be addicted to: hope and hysteria.

You admit to being a bandwagoner. Good to see. Its how I see you too.

Truth is, the season is wide open. I believe we will finish 4th-6th depending on percentage and a few upset results. That should mean a home final somewhere, which is a good chance for us to win a final. After that, who knows? We have more recent finals experience than WC, St Kilda or Melbourne, and then there is the whole lottery of injuries that could mess up anyone's plans.

[Thunder Shaker]

Originally posted by Go Swannies
Five wins out of six games and West Coast are shoe-ins for premiers, by popular thinking. Swans win five out of six and this is the crap they get from their "supporters"!

We've beaten Hawthorn, Brisbane, Essendon, Port Adelaide, Western Bulldogs, Carlton and Fremantle. None of these seven sides are in the top half of the ladder and next round we play Collingwood.

We have still not yet beaten any side in the top half of the ladder and this is why I created the thread. We've got a horror run coming up and I felt it was necessary to curb the unbridled optimism. If we win four or more of our next six, then we can start speculating on how far we will go in September.

[barry]

Originally posted by Thunder Shaker
We've beaten Hawthorn, Brisbane, Essendon, Port Adelaide, Western Bulldogs, Carlton and Fremantle. None of these seven sides are in the top half of the ladder and next round we play Collingwood.

Last 5 premiers in that lot, plus the wizard cup holders, with 2nd best team during 02/03 coming up.

West coast have had a pretty easy run too, and are yet to beat anyone above them.

[NMWBloods]

Originally posted by barry
Last 5 premiers in that lot, plus the wizard cup holders, with 2nd best team during 02/03 coming up.

That they've been recent premiers is not really that important in terms of how they are performing this season. Not one of them has a 50% record this year.

West coast have had a pretty easy run too

One of the differences are that some of their wins have been big.

There aren't too many direct comparisons between us and them.

We both beat Brisbane in Gabba, but there's was decisive.
We both beat Port Adelaide at home, but there's was decisive.

We lost to Adelaide at home and they won away.

We both beat Essendon at home, although they were slightly more convincing.

They comfortably beat StKilda, although it was at home. Still, it's a 14 goal differential relative to our score line.

[liz]

This makes me feel a little happier. I know that "talk is cheap" and you have to disbelieve most of the fluff you read but at least this indicates that the team doesn't think it's cruising along comfortably.

I still reckon that to be 7-5 having not played any really good football could be seen as a good sign, so long as they can find the improvement required to challenge the top teams.

http://sydneyswans.com.au/default.asp?pg=news&spg=display&articleid=209046

[barry]

Originally posted by NMWBloods

One of the differences are that some of their wins have been big.

There aren't too many direct comparisons between us and them.

We both beat Brisbane in Gabba, but there's was decisive.
We both beat Port Adelaide at home, but there's was decisive.

We lost to Adelaide at home and they won away.

We both beat Essendon at home, although they were slightly more convincing.

[ Saint kilda omitted as it has no comparison value ]

Both teams closer than I thought.

The key thing is, is our recent good form ?
1) as good as we can play - therefore a mid-range side at best.
2) just back to average for a team like us, and we can kick on to even better - an therefore be a threat.

[NMWBloods]

I definitely think we can play better, I'm just not sure if we can play better for extended periods, particularly in high pressure games.

I liked that Hall said "We are winning games but there is a still a hell of a lot of improvement still to go in us as far as kicking and too much handballing. That was pretty evident on Sunday."
I'm pleased he didn't say 'winning form is good form' as that is a sure sign a team will struggle soon.

[Thunder Shaker]

We can improve if we do two things:

(1) Kick straight. We're still 16th for goal accuracy this year and 15th for total score.

(2) Improve our handball. Against Freo our handballing was quite wayward at times. There were handballs that didn't reach the target player on the full, handballs to players surrounded by opposition players, and even a few handballs to the opposition.

I won't criticise the game plan because in recent times there's been more direct football. It pleases me to see that we can and do get it quickly from one end of the ground to the other and end with a mark inside F50. It is also pleasing to see that more of those possessions in the chain are kicks and not handpasses because a kick gives the recipient a mark and thus time to find a good target if they need it.

One minor thing that is worth addressing is the interchange. MOL, Willo and Goodes are permitted to take themselves off the ground anytime they see fit. The only problem here is that sometimes the players that replace them don't know on whom they are meant to be playing.

[Ruck'n'Roll]

Originally posted by barry
West coast have had a pretty easy run too, and are yet to beat anyone above them.

Classic

[TheHood]

Originally posted by Schneiderman
You admit to being a bandwagoner. Good to see. Its how I see you too.

Truth is, the season is wide open. I believe we will finish 4th-6th depending on percentage and a few upset results. That should mean a home final somewhere, which is a good chance for us to win a final. After that, who knows? We have more recent finals experience than WC, St Kilda or Melbourne, and then there is the whole lottery of injuries that could mess up anyone's plans.

Hope this doesn't sound too negative, but we had more recent finals experience than the Saints last year too and we got smashed.

This year they will have even more!

Hope that lottery of injuries doesn't fall our way.