Melbourne mafia write off Swans

[NMWBloods]

Originally posted by robbieando
True, plus I think the only real "trashing" was the West Coast game in Round 6 when we had Willo, Ball and Jolly out of the side and LRT and Goodes in the ruck.

I thought our worst loss was the pathetic capitulation to Adelaide at home, followed by the weak effort against St Kilda at TD.

Yes they may be of value but as we saw against Richmond if you let a them get too far ahead of you it can nearly kill. We were 3 seconds away from losing against Geelong, and a free kick call going against us in Brisbane. All in all, having the ability in reserve is a good thing, but we should try and not get ourselves in the position to rely on that ability late in matches

I agree. I think it's better to simply win most of the quarters than try a barnstorming finish. Not really sure if it is a deliberate tactic though.

[cruiser]

Wanna comparison, look at the NRL tonight. St George are premiership favourites, last years premiers Wests Tigers are given the same kind of chance that Sheehan has given Sydney. Tonight's score: West Tigers 20, St George 15.

[goswannie14]

I thought Sheehans article was fair, although he seemed to give more positives than negatives, but still tried to play us down.

[Doctor J.]

Originally posted by cruiser
Wanna comparison, look at the NRL tonight. St George are premiership favourites, last years premiers Wests Tigers are given the same kind of chance that Sheehan has given Sydney. Tonight's score: West Tigers 20, St George 15.

Wasn't it 24-15

Today's Age liftout not one of the 6 "experts has us in the top 4.

Tim "supercoach" Watson and Stephen Reilly have us to finish 7th.

Throbbie Balls offered an emphatic "no" re Sydney going back to back.

Lets go Swannies.

Bring it oooorrrrrnnnn!

[Mike_B]

I thought it was a pretty reasonable article as well. And overall, it seems that when the experts predict finishes, they look at a team on paper, and assess the individuals. Now we all know we don't have the same number of superstars in our team as some of the other fancied picks (of course reputations do come into that assessment and there are definitely some players classed as superstars who are overrated based on where they were picked in the draft etc), and it seems that this is the sole basis of assessment. Nothing seems to be taken into account of how the individuals function as a team, how willing they are to sacrifice their own game for the good of the team, follow the game plan etc etc. And that is where we have a huge advantage over most of the other teams in the comp, yet this doesn't seem to be accounted for, and hence the experts continually end up with egg on their faces because they haven't factored this in.

[anne]

I am still annoyed that no-one rates us. What do we have to do? Isn't winning the flag enough? I hope the players are as angry as I am and that this spurs them on. It is almost as if last year didn't happen. It is not just the so-called experts. It is the fans of the other teams as well.

[goswannie14]

Originally posted by anne
It is not just the so-called experts. It is the fans of the other teams as well.

What do you expect...if they had a brain they would support us.

[Charlie]

Neither 'expert' had a look ato our draw, I'm guessing. They may not have realised that the seven teams we play twice finished 13th, 6th, 16th, 8th, 5th, 11th and 12th. The three teams that we only play away from home finished finished 15th, 7th and 2nd. It's as good a draw as you can hope for.

Connolly's argument for why we won't reach the top four is particularly spurious - "the Swans are fit, more flexible structurally than nearly all their rivals and brilliantly coached by Paul Roos. It's to what extent the Swans can maintain last year's insatiable hunger that will determine their finish". When you can't find a concrete reason why you're dismissing something, turn to the abstract, subjective and speculative rubbish, hey Rohan?

However, the annual dismissal of our chances doesn't upset me - on the contrary, I think it's great for the Swans, who don't have to deal with the suffocating expectation that is placed on West Coast and St Kilda in particular, and to a lesser extent Geelong and Adelaide. It does bemuse me, though - these people are paid a lot of money to write their articles, but they've got about as much credibility as astrologers. They pull their opinions out of their backsides without any attempt to fall back on empirical evidence. Oh, they don't fail to cite the evidence - they just completely ignore it when they make their conclusions!

[Wazza]

Originally posted by anne
I am still annoyed that no-one rates us.

Interesting - I would have thought that anyone that said we will finish in the top 6 is "rating" us.

As we all know it doesnt really count until your in the final 8 then anything could happen.


Cheers

Waz

[Charlie]

Originally posted by Wazza
Interesting - I would have thought that anyone that said we will finish in the top 6 is "rating" us.

As we all know it doesnt really count until your in the final 8 then anything could happen.


Cheers

Waz

They're not rating us unless they see us as a genuine chance of a premiership. Nothing that I've seen from any of them has suggested to me that they think we're a premiership threat.

This isn't a bad thing, since the only effect that expectation has upon a team's performance is if it contributes to the pressure felt by the team. So it can't actually hurt us... but it is stupid nevertheless.

[Destructive]

Re: Melbourne mafia write off Swans

Originally posted by hammo
Mike Sheahan's season preview once again has us middle of the road. Too predictable. No doubt he'll be tipping St Kilda to win the flag just like everyone else in the Melbourne mafia.

Source

He's Mike Sheehan, what else is he going to say?

[Big Al]

Well I've read all the reasons given as to why the Swans will not defend their title but a pinhead on Big Footy has come up with the most ludicrous yet.



http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/showthread.php?t=228327

[NMWBloods]

Had to laugh though - Schneiderman citing the semi final against Geelong as an example of our ability to play in the wet...

Sydney does have one of the worst wet weather records in the comp. Relative to its dry weather record I suspect it is possibly the worst.

But to use that and the BoM forecast to suggest we won't make the eight is stretching it just a bit...

[ScottH]

Sheahan = Moron.

I think we had this discussion some time last year.

[Schneiderman]

Originally posted by NMWBloods
Had to laugh though - Schneiderman citing the semi final against Geelong as an example of our ability to play in the wet...

Did we win? Funny how a 'record' of our performance in the wet does not actually include the end result...