Match thread: Swans v Dockers.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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).

[Roadrunner]

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.

Agreed re Wilbur- he had some very good games last year but so far he hasn’t done much. I’d give him 1 more chance and if he doesn’t perform then to the ressies. We can’t have passengers! Yes, move Isaac to the forward line, with the occasional run on the ball once Mills is back, which I hope will be very soon!

[crackedactor 01]

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…

I think Cleary is a much better option then Hanily and Shedlrick.To get 37 disposals with 89% kicking efficiency is very impressive. Hanily is promising but needs more time and its getting tiresome to watch Shelrick kick the ball to the opposition.

[Hotpotato]

Geez, Long time until they are back for a home game, even then its Easter Sunday and a lot of us vanish somewhere else.

[Thunder Shaker]

The injury list is out, link. It looks better than it did at the start of the season, with 11 players listed instead of 14. The week off for everyone will help a lot.

[Sandridge]

It has to be remembered we are nowhere near full strength and maybe some are expecting too much from the team as it currently stands. As Deja and Foreign Legion said, the bye may be coming just at the right time and I think the fight we showed today will stand us in good stead for the rest of the season.

I'm forever the optimist, I don't suffer pessimists and I love Sandridges never ending positivity. Truly a Swan fan from my heart.

I reckon our Swan's backstories would be remarkably similar, stevo. I sense you're around the same age as me - late 60s - and, like me, you've followed South Melbourne/Sydney for many, many years. The positivity comes from experiencing loss after loss after loss in South Melbourne's years before the move to Sydney and simply loving what our club has now become on and off the field.

You're so right to point out that, with an injury list as long as your arm, our form this year has been ok. Sure, we're not currently performing as well as we'd like and we're nowhere near the scintillating form we showed in many games last year. I don't feel, however, that we pinched Sunday's game against Freo. There's plenty of room for improvement on that performance but we DID outscore the Dockers in 3 of the 4 quarters.

[Blood Fever]

I reckon our Swan's backstories would be remarkably similar, stevo. I sense you're around the same age as me - late 60s - and, like me, you've followed South Melbourne/Sydney for many, many years. The positivity comes from experiencing loss after loss after loss in South Melbourne's years before the move to Sydney and simply loving what our club has now become on and off the field.

You're so right to point out that, with an injury list as long as your arm, our form this year has been ok. Sure, we're not currently performing as well as we'd like and we're nowhere near the scintillating form we showed in many games last year. I don't feel, however, that we pinched Sunday's game against Freo. There's plenty of room for improvement on that performance but we DID outscore the Dockers in 3 of the 4 quarters.

As an old South fan like yourself ( a wee bit older), I still have mental scare tissue from all those losses. I still fear the worst and so get a huge kick out of each win we have. The 2 flags I have seen were like manna from heaven. Wouldn't mind seeing one more!