A certain irony

[ROK Lobster]

Gold

[big bear]

As long as he isn't the one to instruct on basics, such as hitting a target. He should however win the Sybil Fawlty Award for stating the bleeding obvious.

[Nico]

The bit I liked was "exclusive interview".

As if any others would be falling over themselves to interview him.

Also the reference to "doing the hard things" tickled my fancy.

You cant tell me he knows anything about hardness.

[goswannie14]

I like this comment...

"We haven't been hitting our targets well enough and missing tackles, and it's all sort of contributing to us being off the ball a bit."

When has Ben Mathews ever hit a target?

[Nico]

Originally posted by goswannie14
I like this comment...

When has Ben Mathews ever hit a target?

And isn't it "off the boil a bit".

Leo Barry and Ben Mathews waxing, "I'd like to see that".

[originalswan]

I have been one to question Mathews' ability and skill in the past but I must stand up for him when anyone questions his "hardness". I have no doubt that he is a very gutsy player that never shirks an issue - Unfortunately his skills are lacking at times.

So let's get off his back about "hardness". If he didn't have that certain hardness in his game he certainly would not be in the team.

[Nico]

Originally posted by originalswan
I have been one to question Mathews' ability and skill in the past but I must stand up for him when anyone questions his "hardness". I have no doubt that he is a very gutsy player that never shirks an issue - Unfortunately his skills are lacking at times.

So let's get off his back about "hardness". If he didn't have that certain hardness in his game he certainly would not be in the team.

Guess we will have to disagree.

I dont see him suffering any impact injuries.

[originalswan]

Do you remember the dropped mark from Jolly? (against Port Adelaide), I have seen Mathews in similar positions only to be crunched due to his straight ahead attitude.

He's not at the same level as Kelly in terms of hardness but he's definitely not one known to shirk an issue. perhaps though his skill level has led some to believe that he may be a little indirect?

[Go Swannies]

Originally posted by Nico
Guess we will have to disagree.

I dont see him suffering any impact injuries.

You could say the same about Brett Kirk - when did Kirk last miss a game through injury? Must be soft.

I sat through the whole of last weekend's game last night. Watching it objectively and making notes, I was impressed by how instrumentaly Ben was in the game. Even with that last intercepted pass his overall role was more beneficial than many of the others on the team.

I think he has been cast into a mold and we often don't look to see what he does. In fact he's more of a playmaker than many here will ever accept. Similarly, Crouch was our runner out of defence, not Tiger. And Jude gets a surprising number of long kicks away.

If you are after true villains on the team right now - cast a spotlight on Jolly and Pebbles.

[goswannie14]

Originally posted by Go Swannies
You could say the same about Brett Kirk - when did Kirk last miss a game through injury? Must be soft.

Hmmm, I thought he was tough enough to keep going. I think the gash to the head in the PF was probably an impact injury, or did he do that to himself?

On that theory Crouch is also soft as was Cresswell.:shakes head in disbelief:

[Go Swannies]

Thanks namesake - that was the point I was trying to make. Until this year I wouldn't have accused any Swan player of shirking a contest. This year I've seen a few.

In fact last year I saw Nicky D and Baz stand off a contest right in front of me and being incredibly frustrated - it was obvious that Roos had told them not to risk injury before the finals. And they hated it. Good.

Ben, like the Captain and Crouch, can be accused of many things but not of being soft.

Interesting that no-one is questioning my readjustment of popular orthodoxy by suggesting that Crouch and Mathews are two of the team doing more than most to move the Swans forward . . .

[goswannie14]

Originally posted by Go Swannies

Interesting that no-one is questioning my readjustment of popular orthodoxy by suggesting that Crouch and Mathews are two of the team doing more than most to move the Swans forward . . .

LOL

Yeah...seeing Jolly and Schnieder (I think) ducking their heads when going for marks is not pretty to watch.

[NMWBloods]

Originally posted by Go Swannies
In fact he's more of a playmaker than many here will ever accept. Similarly, Crouch was our runner out of defence, not Tiger. And Jude gets a surprising number of long kicks away.

I've always suggested that Mathews had the potential to be a good playmaker in the (lesser) mold of Greg Williams, by virtue of his ability to be a link man by placing himself in the right position and delivering out a good handball. The problem is that his disposal is poor.

Crouch is one of our best runners through the middle, but his disposal also leaves a lot to be desired.

J Bolton does get a lot of long kicks away, and although he's not as bad as Ablett, he doesn't often find targets with the long kicks.

If you are after true villains on the team right now - cast a spotlight on Jolly and Pebbles.

Definitely two of the weaker links, but hardly in chain of strong links.

[Go Swannies]

If Jolly gave away less free kicks - or managed to take a mark over Davey (!) - or if ROK managed to get at least a point from his numerous sprays towards the goal we would be looking better than1:3 right now. Swans fans should just be grateful that the scoreboard doesn't show OOBOTF.

[SimonH]

Not so much irony as talkin' up his specialty. As he'll never be able to do the spectacular or extraordinary things, "doing the basic things well" (or, rather, adequately) is what Benny's in the side for.

Classic blue-collar player: accountable, skills tolerable but not high-level, kicks very few goals even for a defensive midfielder (Tadhg Kennelly's goals:games proportion is better), has managed double-figure disposals every game this year without putting a stamp on any of them, would rather avoid making a mistake and do the mediocre thing rather than run the risk of screwing up attempting the inspirational thing. And because he's a classic blue-collar player, the bad news for Mathews-haters is that he could keep going forever (subject to remaining in-favour at the club).

What I find kind of bizarre is the second half of the article. He seems to genuinely believe that he was a chance of getting the captaincy gig permanently; and I'm always suspicious of people who say "the leadership has my 100% support". Yeah, like Howard has Costello's 100% support and Hawke had Keating's 100% support. Why would you say it unless people believed it wasn't true?