So who was the Swans' best?

[Snowy]

I think Bolton and MOL, mainly because their work was the most constructive. Many others got impressive stats but there was lotf of waxing and waning in the defensive area due to the Blues' flooding tactics. I thought skill level wasn't too bad considering it's hard to keep one's feet on this horrendous surface but some of the fumbling and decision-making wasn't too crash hot.

[caj23]

Originally posted by Thunder Shaker
That's not the impression I got from my watching LRT during the game. I sat behind the cheersquad last night and I had several opportunities to watch LRT in defence.

LRT did get a lot of possessions 40 metres from his nearest opponent, but that's usual for our defenders when they are chipping the ball around looking for an option closer to goal. His disposal was reasonable under these circumstances; often he would kick the ball straight to his teammate who hardly had to move at all to take the mark.

He turned the ball over sometimes, but so did many Swans players last night.

LRT played okay last night and he did not look out of place on the ground.

I just wish he'd kick the bloddy thing, everytime he handballs he puts to a bloke in a worse position, plus he's not a bad kick these days

[ScottH]

Re: So who was the Swans' best?

Originally posted by Pommie Swannie
Difficult one for me this week, but will no doubt cause derision ..!

Davo was great in short bursts. Bazza worked hard and allowed at least 3 goals by taking 2 with him. Magic kicked a few and lead hard up the ground.

Kirky put his body on the line, and Jude added scores to his usual blood 'n guts display.

However, IMO, LRT took the award tonight. Bar 2 rushes of blood, he was extremely composed, marked strongly, brought the ball out with authority and generally left me with a new respect!

(fully awaiting the onslaught of differing opinions, but willing to defend! )

Not sure about LRT, PS. While he was a loose man indefence, they seemed to get the ball past him too easily. IMHO there didn't seem to be a real standout, the ones that got a lot of the ball didn't seem to do much with it. JBolton and Buchanon were probably the best.

Chambers actually go the coveted MMM W.O.G. (worst on ground) award last night with a string of donuts beside his name.

[Nico]

Originally posted by ROK Lobster
LRT delivers 1 nice pass to a forward and he is BOG. He gets a lot of his possessions 40 metres from his man. His disposal is often poor, resulting in a turn over, and an uncontested possession to his man that he left 40m away. He cannot stay on his feet, and regularly brings other Swans players down. I think his skills are slowly improving but his brain is not. I thought Saddo looked better than LRT tonight (but unike others here, I have always thought highly of Saddo - comparitively ). As for the handball to Fev, Leo put LRT in enough space to run a pace or two and kick. Why he turned back is beyond me

FWIW I though Jude was best for us, and that the Eski did enough to be asked back next week.

Sorry ROK, a rare disagreement with you.

That was another of Leo's clangers. He put the ball almost at his feet and that is precisely what we are getting wrong at the moment. A pace or 2 is not enough in the close tackling game it is today. We did those "pace or 2" handpasses all night that got us into trouble.

Watched a bit of the doggies game today and they handpass to a player in the clear not in a pack. It looks like a strategy to give them plenty of time to run and steady to deliver or shoot for goal.

I thought LRT was good. Getting better every game.

Who are you paying on this site. You get away with your LRT tirades yet soon as I get into Leo the whole 29999 Swans members come down on me.

Leo had 2 clangers but his disposal seems to explode the numbers of clangers to his team mates.

Hope you enjoyed your rusty water this weekend.

[ROK Lobster]

Originally posted by Nico
Sorry ROK, a rare disagreement with you....

Hope you enjoyed your rusty water this weekend.

Will agree to disagree on LRT (getting better but so far behind will he ever catch up - if he did not fall over so much I would be more inclined to think that he might make it) and Leo (horribly out of form at the moment and doing the work of 3 - we still need a gorilla down back) but agree 100% on the handballing to bloke standing still. My sister was here on Sat night and has not played sport since she was about 10. She was saying that even when she played netball they were told to throw the ball out in front of someone on the move, preferably at a catchable height. We have been handballing to the feet of a bloke standing still like this for years - surely it is not an awareness thing, the player off-loading the ball must know it is better to hit a moving target; surely it is not a skill thing - sometimes it is poor execution but these guys are AFL footballers, surely they can handpass. My theory is that the problem is 3 pronged. Firstly we are a little negative in the midfield, and do not have guys that will run to space (this is a chicken and egg problem - why run to space if the handpass is going to be put 3 metres behind you?). Secondly, we have too many midfield rotations such that there is not the same understanding you get when you are with the same guys all the time, that instinctive knowledge of where player X is going to be. Thirdly, I think it is the blue-collar thing - Davis seems to have a sense of where it is going to be and can make a handball look good by moving through the right space at the right time, Willo does too but is slowing down, Goodes can but seems lost st the moment, Tadhg finds space often but on the other side of the coin his delivery by hand is not always great, some of the ressies do it but the pace there is so much slower, I think Dempster will when he feels more confident I think. It is the outside midfielder we have always wanted. Kirk gets it out often enough but not always well enough, but again, what comes first?