Match thread: Swans v Dockers.

[dejavoodoo44]

Coaches votes for the game:

9 Josh Treacy (FRE) (5 & 4).
6 James Jordon (SYD) (5 & 1 or 4 & 2).
6 Chad Warner (SYD) (5 & 1 or 4 & 2).
5 Jaeger O'Meara (FRE) (3 & 2).
3 Tom Papley (SYD) (3 & 0).
1 James Rowbottom (SYD) (1 & 0).

[dejavoodoo44]

Spot on. With the AFL, who the hell knows. Caught with the ball/ incorrect disposal is another complete lottery.

Yes, but we'll probably only have to put up with it for the next week or two. Until they decide it's time to crack down on inconsequential encroachments into the protected area, or they realise that everybody's forgotten about the umpire dissent rule.

[Kafka's Ghost]

Yes . . . But for various reasons, I watched a fair bit of footy this weekend. I have no way of validating this, and have no idea whether it's an instruction from the AFL or just umpiring instincts, but it seemed to be that a kick going forward just over 15 was getting ok'd (nothing less), but ones going backwards - they were the ones being targeted heavily. It shouldn't be that arbitrary and it should be consistent, but with the AFL, who the hell knows.

Spot on. With the AFL, who the hell knows. Caught with the ball/ incorrect disposal is another complete lottery.

[imuninformedtwo]

Chad got it right, but the umpire was also right that it wasn’t 15m; it was about 20m.

Yes . . . But for various reasons, I watched a fair bit of footy this weekend. I have no way of validating this, and have no idea whether it's an instruction from the AFL or just umpiring instincts, but it seemed to be that a kick going forward just over 15 was getting ok'd (nothing less), but ones going backwards - they were the ones being targeted heavily. It shouldn't be that arbitrary and it should be consistent, but with the AFL, who the hell knows.

[SwanSand]

That was much better contested footy. We need to do this a lot to be consistently good. If we can scratch like this and win games, we know that our best with the ball movement can then break open games easily coz we have elite skill in that regards.
I must say in addition to the Heeney, Chad, Blakey, Gulden, Campbell elite kicks we may have another one that’s going to be great if he keeps at it - Riley Bice. His 3-4 kicks in the last quarter were phenomenal.

[Nolie]

Joel Hambling did OK. was that his first game ? If so it was worth the experiment. Perhaps they could give Buller another go if he is fit. Replace Hayward. Buller is a strong leading forward. Treacy yesterday showing how it should be done.

[Nico]

That was a tough win. Yes, finally we win the clearances and indeed we shared the centre clearances 10/10.

Chad Warner's last quarter was special but so was that of Peter Ladhams. His centre clearance ruckwork was very good. He got his hands on the footy and won taps to advantage. While Grundy is very one dimensional at centre bounces PL has far more tricks and is much more unpredictable to opposing rucks. We just looked so much better with PL in there and all of a sudden our mids got first hands on the footy.

The inclusion of Hayden McLean added some much needed grunt. He is a must in our best 23.
Someone mentioned Hanily not having much of game. He is 19yo and that was his 3rd game. What I like about him is he finds space on his own and he has a red hot go. He looks to be a smart thinker and reads the game well.
On Matt Roberts: He racks up the possessions but he panicked a couple of times. You would think he would learn from last week when he did that short pass shocker. I think his best value is kicking it long.
Can someone tell me the role of W.Hayward? Do we really need him in the side. Yesterday he had 6 kicks, 3 effective. He refuses to chase (doesn't have a tank) and doesn't get close enough to the footy to get any bruises. Has anyone talked to him about 2nd efforts. "But he kicked 40 goals last season". Mostly against the weaker sides and he misses deadset sitters inside 50 directly in front. And we signed him for another 5 years. Lazy footballer.

In the 2nd half of the season we will have Mills, McDonald and Gulden back. Heeney doesn't need to play onball and adds another headache to other sides up forward. Heeney and Hayward, very similar height, so why do we need Hayward in the side? Will Cox have the intestinal fortitude to drop him if he keeps up this abysmal form? He has played 167 games and hasn't had a breakout game yet. I don't give a continental if he is a good bloke and great clubman. What does he give us regards team structure. Nothing.

[MattW]

Except Chad didn't get it right, because that kick was called 'play on' and because if the siren buzzer person had been a second slower in pressing the buzzer, Amiss would have been lining up for a shot after the siren. Horrible minute or so, and we almost "deserved" to lose the game based purely on how awful that was.

That aside, it is a relief to get the win. We didn't play great (= lots of room for improvement) but nor did Freo. The most valuable thing, I reckon, to come out of the game is how they stuck to the task after going a goal and a half down in the final term, and had the belief to wrestle back the lead.

It seemed a tad harsh to call Chad's kick less than 15m. Nevertheless, with the amount of time left, I thought a huge belt forward was the way to go. I assume the Swans have a '30 seconds left' board to raise to inform such decisions.

I wonder whether there is a siren buzzer person. I'd have assumed it was automated, triggered by the countdown of the clock. Also, I think the Amiss 'mark' was related to some surrounding Swans starting to celebrate when the siren sounded with the ball in the air.

[imuninformedtwo]

One of the criticisms of our team last year was that we were heavily reliant on Chad. Heens & Gulden all having big games in notching up wins. Need the next tier to step up when tbe chips are down.

That"s why i was so pleased with JJ"s game yesterday, with Heeney a bit down & Gulden out injured. Hoping Florent & McInerney (when he returns from suspension) can do the same. This will makes us harder to contain.

Rowey is also slightly down from last season, but is perhaps reflective of the team as we are working into the season rather than off to a flyer.

I'm also pleased we're experimenting with positions which we didn't do last year, to provide flexibility in emergencies. Wicks has reinvented himself down back, while the jury is still out on McCartin up forward but at least it provides an option. Wouldn't be surprised if Logan is tried down back when he returns.

Injuries has provided opportunities to blood some players like Hanily, Bice & Hamling (finally). which improves our depth and provides healthy competition for spots.

All good points.

The other one was clearances. I watched the first two weeks and thought we were in for another season of consistently being beaten at the ball. But yesterday - and Freo usually excel at it, and had a ruckman well on top in the first half - we got them. I know there were a couple of times they swept the ball away a bit too cleanly for our liking, but that can happen. And the fact is, so did we. Jordon can take a lot of credit, and once Rowie got himself going it helped, but generally we worked the clearance game well.

I'd guess it's one area Cox knows we need to improve to be sustainable, so well done.

[Kafka's Ghost]

Except Chad didn't get it right, because that kick was called 'play on' and because if the siren buzzer person had been a second slower in pressing the buzzer, Amiss would have been lining up for a shot after the siren. Horrible minute or so, and we almost "deserved" to lose the game based purely on how awful that was.

That aside, it is a relief to get the win. We didn't play great (= lots of room for improvement) but nor did Freo. The most valuable thing, I reckon, to come out of the game is how they stuck to the task after going a goal and a half down in the final term, and had the belief to wrestle back the lead.

Chad got it right, but the umpire was also right that it wasn’t 15m; it was about 20m.

[KSAS]

One of the criticisms of our team last year was that we were heavily reliant on Chad. Heens & Gulden all having big games in notching up wins. Need the next tier to step up when tbe chips are down.

That"s why i was so pleased with JJ"s game yesterday, with Heeney a bit down & Gulden out injured. Hoping Florent & McInerney (when he returns from suspension) can do the same. This will makes us harder to contain.

Rowey is also slightly down from last season, but is perhaps reflective of the team as we are working into the season rather than off to a flyer.

I'm also pleased we're experimenting with positions which we didn't do last year, to provide flexibility in emergencies. Wicks has reinvented himself down back, while the jury is still out on McCartin up forward but at least it provides an option. Wouldn't be surprised if Logan is tried down back when he returns.

Injuries has provided opportunities to blood some players like Hanily, Bice & Hamling (finally). which improves our depth and provides healthy competition for spots.

[liz]

They almost stuffed up the wind-down with 30 seconds to go by kicking to a contest instead of chipping it around (Chad got it right with the kick back to a defender), but a win's a win!

Except Chad didn't get it right, because that kick was called 'play on' and because if the siren buzzer person had been a second slower in pressing the buzzer, Amiss would have been lining up for a shot after the siren. Horrible minute or so, and we almost "deserved" to lose the game based purely on how awful that was.

That aside, it is a relief to get the win. We didn't play great (= lots of room for improvement) but nor did Freo. The most valuable thing, I reckon, to come out of the game is how they stuck to the task after going a goal and a half down in the final term, and had the belief to wrestle back the lead.

[Roadrunner]

Ladhams has to play to help out in the ruck. Isaac had an off day- maybe needs to go forward when Mills comes back to regain some confidence as he fumbled quite a bit which is unusual for him. I expect Logan to have a run in the ressies before coming back and then use him as a swing man. Do we bring Cleary in against Norf? I think so, as his game against the Pies would suggest.

Proud of the lads as they kept fighting even though Freo outplayed us for big parts of the game. Chad was immense- loved his game! Corey tried hard and keeps improving and Paps is finding some form. Overall a very gutsy win, with solid contributions from all…

[KSAS]

There are going to be some interesting selection calls to be made when Melican and McDonald are fit again. Hamling has done nothing wrong at all defensively, and I don't think we can afford to play another tall up forward, or we will risk the same issues arising we had last year.

Good problem to have.

Logan will need to play couple games at least in the VFL to gain match fitness, before he is considered. Same with Mills, who struggled upon his return last year with no VFL prep. No need to rush him back, despite being the Captain.

Melican should come straight back in but is a few weeks away, which should give Hamling more time to impress.

Clearly will also press for selection after his blinding VFL performance, but wouldn't be surprised if there are no changes against North after the bye.

Opportunity to perhaps begin resting/managing some of our players to keep them fresh, which we didn't do last season, as more players return from injury.

[mcs]

Not sure we got 'killed' at the clearances as suggested by some. 37-25 for clearances overall in favour of the Swans, and 10-10 for centre clearances. The key continuing concern is how easily opposition teams are able to clear it when they manage to win the hard ball - our follow up work at the contest when we don't win the ball needs to improve a lot.

Suppose that ends the 2 Ruck debate. Ladhams has to play.

With Amartey and Mclean fwd, might be worth playing Logan as a high half fwd as the bail out kick role he tried Tom Mc in.

Good to see Paps up around the ball too

There are going to be some interesting selection calls to be made when Melican and McDonald are fit again. Hamling has done nothing wrong at all defensively, and I don't think we can afford to play another tall up forward, or we will risk the same issues arising we had last year.