2025 Preseason.

[Mountain Man]

A good win against a side that should be getting better, and seemed to have fewer out than us. A few comments:

Rucks could be a problem without Grundie playing long minutes. Yesterday Ladhams and Green both recorded 9 hitouts (with Armarty 3) to Witts 39 and Read 8. Ladhams was only on ground for 40% and may not have played the last quarter - and any way looked awkward and without a tackle or mark for the day. Green at least stuck 4 tackles and 1 mark. McLean provided the chop out last year but with McCartin's move forward, he may not be playing AFL as our first choice.

Interestingly, even in the absence of Heeney and Warner, and the hit out differential of 47 to 21, 15 Swans recorded a clearance and total clearances were roughly equal. It will be interesting to track this metric after the return of the big guns; or whether this is a new coach approach to what has been somewhat a weakness.

Wicks certainly showed some dash. I note he had 1 tackle and 2 marks which seems low for someone mostly tasked a s "lockdown small defender". Cunningham may have had more of both playing the equivalent game.

[UUaswan]

Early signs show Wicks to be run with and work iver the opposition the other way
Harry is blanket get shut out with not as much run off

[dejavoodoo44]

The scans have revealed that Errol has a fracture in his ankle. He will have surgery tomorrow and his return to the game is indefinite. I suspect that our premiership odds just blew out a couple of points.

[Thunder Shaker]

Some have been quibbling about the quality of individual players, but the Suns had Elliott Himmelberg record these statistics: 31% time on ground, 0 kicks, 0 handballs, 0 marks, 0 tackles, 0 hitouts. The Donut King.

[imuninformedtwo]

A good win against a side that should be getting better, and seemed to have fewer out than us. A few comments:

Rucks could be a problem without Grundie playing long minutes. Yesterday Ladhams and Green both recorded 9 hitouts (with Armarty 3) to Witts 39 and Read 8. Ladhams was only on ground for 40% and may not have played the last quarter - and any way looked awkward and without a tackle or mark for the day. Green at least stuck 4 tackles and 1 mark. McLean provided the chop out last year but with McCartin's move forward, he may not be playing AFL as our first choice.

Interestingly, even in the absence of Heeney and Warner, and the hit out differential of 47 to 21, 15 Swans recorded a clearance and total clearances were roughly equal. It will be interesting to track this metric after the return of the big guns; or whether this is a new coach approach to what has been somewhat a weakness.

Wicks certainly showed some dash. I note he had 1 tackle and 2 marks which seems low for someone mostly tasked a s "lockdown small defender". Cunningham may have had more of both playing the equivalent game.

Apparently Ladhams had been crook for a chunk of the week, and they just got what they could from him.

He won’t play seniors immediately, but the other one I liked glimpses of was Riak Andrew. You could see he plays with real bounce and athleticism, went for his marks, and had a few good moments of composure. I think that last bit was what impressed me most.

As for Errol, yikes. He simply gets you a couple of goals a game with his ability to thread his way through with his kicking. That’s hard to replace. Lloyd and Jordan loom as most likely wing replacements. But I do worry about our preseason becoming a bit of a debacle with the amount of guys missing the training base you need to succeed.

[Roadrunner]

The scans have revealed that Errol has a fracture in his ankle. He will have surgery tomorrow and his return to the game is indefinite. I suspect that our premiership odds just blew out a couple of points.

This is the type of injury, and to one of our key players that we were hoping to avoid. Unfortunately it is part and parcel of our great game and so we wish Errol a successful operation and a full recovery. Will we see him play this year?

[Kafka's Ghost]

This is the type of injury, and to one of our key players that we were hoping to avoid. Unfortunately it is part and parcel of our great game and so we wish Errol a successful operation and a full recovery. Will we see him play this year?

It’ll likely be about 12 weeks out. Anything less would be a bonus.

[stellation]

I'm genuinely bummed about Errol's injury, team impact aside I get a lot of joy from watching him run around (as I'm sure many of us do).

[goods53]

yes Errol will be missed lets hope it is a speedy recovery for him , does anybody know what has happened to No 23 Ned Bowman seems to have vanished from the AFL/VFL team list against Gold Coast
i was really looking forward to seeing him perform !?

[dejavoodoo44]

Looks like our match against Hawthorn is now the season opener, since the Brisbane v Geelong has been postponed, due to Cyclone Alfred. Likewise for the Gold Coast v Essendon match.

[dejavoodoo44]

Quite a lengthy injury list for this time of the year, with eleven players on it.

https://www.sydneyswans.com.au/news/1725432

Oh well, at least Papley and Grundy are a test for the Hawthorn match.

[Roadrunner]

Quite a lengthy injury list for this time of the year, with eleven players on it.

https://www.sydneyswans.com.au/news/1725432

Oh well, at least Papley and Grundy are a test for the Hawthorn match.

Yes, it’s a bit unusual to have so many injuries before the season starts! I can’t remember previous years figures but this is very disappointing- let’s hope that both Paps and Grundy recover for our match against the Dawks, but let’s not rush them if not 100%. I’m sure Coxy won’t make that mistake even though it’s natural he would want to field our strongest team and win his first match.

Going on our opponent’s form towards the latter part of last year, this will be a tough match for sure. I’m nervous already!?

[dejavoodoo44]

Yes, it’s a bit unusual to have so many injuries before the season starts! I can’t remember previous years figures but this is very disappointing- let’s hope that both Paps and Grundy recover for our match against the Dawks, but let’s not rush them if not 100%. I’m sure Coxy won’t make that mistake even though it’s natural he would want to field our strongest team and win his first match.

Going on our opponent’s form towards the latter part of last year, this will be a tough match for sure. I’m nervous already!?

Yeah, I'm not very confident, even though our preseason from has been good. Although, that could be down to me being a big Errol fan, who doesn't really believe that we'll do well without him.

And on injury numbers: in the last five years or so, I don't think Brisbane have ever had as much as ten players on their injury list at any one time. About the worst they suffered, was early last year, when four players went down with season ending injuries, but besides them, I think there was only another couple of players out.

Then almost all of their team stayed healthy for the rest of the year. Hence the momentum that they had at finals time. It'd be nice if we got healthier as the season goes on.

[UUaswan]

My recollection was Brisbane having more injuries to high end talent than anyone. not only that, they were ACLs.

Kiddy Coleman is there Gulden, his kick is phenomenal.

I also recall them travelling 3 states in a finals series.

Moral of the story, don't make a story or a conversversation out of things we can't change, get on with it, Horse was notorious for talking about our lead in being this or that, our prep etc etc, we are pros, that sh8t is a given.

Everyone is hit with injuries atm

[UUaswan]

Yeah, I'm not very confident, even though our preseason from has been good. Although, that could be down to me being a big Errol fan, who doesn't really believe that we'll do well without him.

And on injury numbers: in the last five years or so, I don't think Brisbane have ever had as much as ten players on their injury list at any one time. About the worst they suffered, was early last year, when four players went down with season ending injuries, but besides them, I think there was only another couple of players out.

Then almost all of their team stayed healthy for the rest of the year. Hence the momentum that they had at finals time. It'd be nice if we got healthier as the season goes on.

wasn't a dig either but Mills aside, we couldn't have had a better overall run with injuries last year.

We had a couple out here and there but did very well the rest of the time