Leo Barry's knockers

[Nico]

Agree with all of the above on Mathews. He was very ordinary and unaccountable under Eade, but has turned it around under Roos.

His disposal was the best I have seen from him, and he has certainly grown a heart muscle. He now wants to be in the contests and hard stuff. For mine he was in our best 6 last night.

[Diego]

Yes Benny was good. Two good games after a couple of shockers.

As for Leo..this guy would be awesome to watch on the dance floor..shakn it and movn it..breakdancing and stuff. The way he does the soft shoe shuffle when he has 4 players surrounding him is awesome. He fools them all!

Forget Leaping Leo..it's Dancing Leo from now on!

[redunderthebed]

I don't agree with you Diego about Mathews playing a 'couple of shockers' this year.But I also don't want to be one of the only one to defend him either as he will never win too many brownlow points .
Interesting , stats for the this year for ALL players, put Bennie in equal 59th position for total possies (with Williams!).Only three swans have more with Goodes and Maxie equal at 40 and,SURPRISE, jude at 54.....and I guess (no disrespect to any player)that reflects the reality/relative meaningless of stats .

[Dpw]

Originally posted by redunderthebed
I don't agree with you Diego about Mathews playing a 'couple of shockers' this year.But I also don't want to be one of the only one to defend him either as he will never win too many brownlow points .
Interesting , stats for the this year for ALL players, put Bennie in equal 59th position for total possies (with Williams!).Only three swans have more with Goodes and Maxie equal at 40 and,SURPRISE, jude at 54.....and I guess (no disrespect to any player)that reflects the reality/relative meaningless of stats .

Iam a knocker and yes he has played two good games but red its what you do with the footy not how many times you get it and normaly he could not hit a barn with a beach ball he normaly chokes under pressure. One positive he his a very tight defender tagger and that is what keeps him in the side personaly I don't care if he plays or is swapped for someone else but he is playing good footy so goodluck to him.

[Bear]

HEY... This thread is about Leo!

btw, beside all of the great work Leo did (yes, with a couple of mistakes), how did his opponent go?

[Cheer Cheer]

Originally posted by Nico
Agree with all of the above on Mathews. He was very ordinary and unaccountable under Eade, but has turned it around under Roos.

Actually Matthews had his best season under Eade where he finished third in the best and fairest and he was rated as one of the better running half backs in the league ala nicks in his peak.

[penga]

im a relative knocker off both players, however both had a ripper last night and are doing well this season, definitely justifying their spot in the side

[Newbie]

One critism of Barry is that he is a kind of hot-and-cold player. Would love to see him back up this with another quality performance against the Lions.

[skilts stilts]

Leo looked dynamic charging out of defence.However if you still need convincing about his poor decision making, have a look at the second quarter again if you have Fox and count the number of times his kicks went to 50/50 contests or handpasses to startled teammates.His abilility to run the lines is evident.I suppose I can't be too crtical ,he at least gets it closer to our goals.

[chammond]

I have ,however, been an admirer of Mathews and accept the continuous vitriol on him from many on this site (it is there right after all).....BUT he has been great this season and had more kicks than any player last night (16) together with ,mainly, quality handballs and important tackles.Much unappreciated in this forum but much understood by his team mates and the club.

Hey redunderthebed, don't make the mistake of thinking that the vocal minority necessarily reflect the general opinions of this forum.

There are more than 200 members on this board, but only a small group who feel they have a divine right to slag of the players and then try to justify their opinions with specious 'facts'.

The forum exists for the opinions of all members, but I guess many don't feel it's worth gettting involved in a debate with such biased critics.

I suspect that most Swans' fans are aware that players like Mathews and Barry are skilful but not perfect, but nevertheless enjoy watching them play and respect their determination and commitment to the team.

[Alison]

It is great to see that everyone is giving credit to Mathews and Leo for their game on Saturday (except maybe a few people on this board who I don't think any player could please).

Leo played fantastically. I thought the decision of him running too far was even a bit stiff. He just creates so much run and takes on the opposition which is great. He is not scared to have a go. Yeah he may makes mistakes, all players do, but gees he creates a lot of play as well. I think he shocks the opposition at times! He is better playing up the ground and not in the goal square because of his running ability.

Overall, it was a great effort by the whole team and we should not be picking on player's mistakes but congratulating them on a win that I did not think was possible. Be happy with the win.

[Bear]

My final comment here is that Leo simply does not have poor decision making skills as claimed by some.

If you put ANY player in his shoes - where he goes into the hot spot and gets the ball with opposition players around him, then runs it out - they would have to perform the kind of soft shoe shuffle that Leo does, and look around for options that may not always be there.

Ask Maxfield, Cresswell, Matthews, Kelly, etc, etc to do the same thing and you would get the same result - the player looks like they are going to get hammered and has to twist and turn to get away (have you ever played British Bulldog?).

The thing is that many "ball-getters" such as Leo is, look for a quick disposal by hand or foot when in a tight situation. For example Jude is more of a typical ball-getter.

"Ball-receivers" are usually in the open, and hence have more time and space to make decisions and therefore look relatively good at decision making. For example, Tadgh is more of a ball-receiver at this point.

The ball-getters rarely try to take on those around them as much as Leo does, that is why Leo is a revelation in that he does the job of both and this has taken getting used to by some.

His decision making and quick thinking is very good - to be able to go in and get the ball then produce miracles at times and get himself out of the situation is proof that he has great decision making skills.

Bottom line - Roos knows that ANYONE who plays this type of footy is going to get caught out at times, but Leo has been able to succeed due to his evasiveness, athleticism and quick thinking. If he had poor decision-making skills he would be G-A-W-N most of the times he gets the ball.

[Bron]

I agree with you Bear, you play the risks, you're gunna get caught sometimes. I think he has a gutsy style, when it comes off it's great. Roos seems to be more than happy to play the risks. Didn't I say before, if you're not making mistakes, you're not trying hard enough. I don't believe we should crucify players over mistakes. If they don't do anything right, that's a different matter, but if they're getting results, keep on keeping on.

[floppinab]

When Malthouse said after the game that the 'Pies lacked the adventurous spirit to win (or words to that effect) methinks it was Leo he was thinking about.

Under Roos hopefully he will improve and we will see fewer brain explosions but I would prefer to see guys like him take on the opposition with agressive positive play rather than sit back and play negative. We are good enough defensively to cover most of the @@@@-ups. It's a wild ride but at least it's not dour and boring.

Ditto Matthews, I can't remember him taking a sideways kick on Saturday, that's gotta be a record.

Schaubs is struggling, no doubt about it, really looks as if something outside the game is effecting his play. He is a former B&F, let's back him in a bit further.