Match thread: Round 6 Swans v Port.

[stevoswan]

Hard to belive we where in a grand final last year -

Err, 8 of our best out. It does make a difference.

Anyway, again we showed Bloods 'never say die' spirit and came up a bit short. Yes it is frustrating and in the end, we probably should have won that game, with all those missed chances at the end.

However. with our currently severely weakened team, which more on here than just Dow seem to forget or at least don't adequately take into account, we ARE going to struggle against better teams but we'll still beat weaker teams IMO and hopefully stay in touch of the eight when some of our injured players come back. At full strength, we are going to be top eight material, I have no doubt.

I actually take heart out of this performance as bad as it seemed at times today. We lost by less than 2 goals to a team that beat the much vaunted 'Hollywood Hawks' last week. Of course, I am an eternal optimist.....I know that truly irks some on this site.....but bottom line is, keep the faith Swans fans, the season is not lost.....yet.

See you all next week.

[UUaswan]

small fwds Cleary Warner and Hannily don't lay a tackle

[mcs]

small fwds Cleary Warner and Hannily don't lay a tackle

Warner isn't playing as a small forward - he is a low possession winger at best. And Clearly and Hanily both seem to be getting mixed into the midfield group at times as well. Play them as proper small forward and get some structure down there.

[UUaswan]

Warner isn't playing as a small forward - he is a low possession winger at best. And Clearly and Hanily both seem to be getting mixed into the midfield group at times as well. Play them as proper small forward and get some structure down there.

42 Tackles is piss poor when Rowy gets 8 of them

[Sandridge]

I actually take heart out of this performance as bad as it seemed at times today. We lost by less than 2 goals to a team that beat the much vaunted 'Hollywood Hawks' last week. Of course, I am an eternal optimist.....I know that truly irks some on this site.....but bottom line is, keep the faith Swans fans.

I share your optimism, stevo! Keep the faith!

[imuninformedtwo]

Warner isn't playing as a small forward - he is a low possession winger at best. And Clearly and Hanily both seem to be getting mixed into the midfield group at times as well. Play them as proper small forward and get some structure down there.

Yep. Sides are bouncing out on us. I do worry about Corey Warner. Hardly to blame for today, but he looks a little James Bell for me - nearly there, but not quite.

His brother could do with a lift too. Looked likely to explode a few times, but a bit off it right now. The other one is Grundy. I know he had a lot of ball and worked hard but that whiff on a spoil in the last quarter when Willie Rioli goaled in the last quarter, then a dropped mark a few minutes later on the wing were poor. But he also has a bad habit right now of handballing to a teammates ankle. It usually results in a turnover.

We do look a bit caught in the switch of game plan at times. Cox is rightly trying to get a bit more defence and contest into our game, but we’re getting sucked into contests and losing spread.

Some ticks for today go to Rowie, Heeney’s last quarter, Blakey, and lord, who’d have thought it, Francis. As for my man Hayden, was excellent but he just had to clunk that last mark. Plus I was always one of the biggest supporters of Wicks on here, but even I didn’t know he’d be doing what he’s doing down back.

[mcs]

Yep. Sides are bouncing out on us. I do worry about Corey Warner. Hardly to blame for today, but he looks a little James Bell for me - nearly there, but not quite.

His brother could do with a lift too. Looked likely to explode a few times, but a bit off it right now. The other one is Grundy. I know he had a lot of ball and worked hard but that whiff on a spoil in the last quarter when Willie Rioli goaled in the last quarter, then a dropped mark a few minutes later on the wing were poor. But he also has a bad habit right now of handballing to a teammates ankle. It usually results in a turnover.

We do look a bit caught in the switch of game plan at times. Cox is rightly trying to get a bit more defence and contest into our game, but we’re getting sucked into contests and losing spread.

Some ticks for today go to Rowie, Heeney’s last quarter, Blakey, and lord, who’d have thought it, Francis. As for my man Hayden, was excellent but he just had to clunk that last mark. Plus I was always one of the biggest supporters of Wicks on here, but even I didn’t know he’d be doing what he’s doing down back.

I actually think Grundy tried really hard - he got 14 contested possessions after all. He has never been a good player for his disposal/use of the footy, but he is doing the hard yards. It is the midfield group that needs to stand up.

Starting with Chad - his form is indifferent at best, arguably quite poor.

And look - Mclean did a lot right. But I can't call someone's performance excellent that is a key forward that kicks 2 goals 4. All very gettable shots that he missed too. He was far from alone in that regard - and I'd prefer to see us play him purely as a key forward, and not be using him in the ruck. But he has to kick those chances - they were coach killers tonight and really hurt us. We need better - even though he did a lot right as he does most weeks.

[Blood Fever]

Disappointing skill and finishing errors but effort not too bad considering absentees. Not judging anything seriously until later in the year when something like our best team is on the park.

[imuninformedtwo]

I actually think Grundy tried really hard - he got 14 contested possessions after all. He has never been a good player for his disposal/use of the footy, but he is doing the hard yards. It is the midfield group that needs to stand up.

Starting with Chad - his form is indifferent at best, arguably quite poor.

And look - Mclean did a lot right. But I can't call someone's performance excellent that is a key forward that kicks 2 goals 4. All very gettable shots that he missed too. He was far from alone in that regard - and I'd prefer to see us play him purely as a key forward, and not be using him in the ruck. But he has to kick those chances - they were coach killers tonight and really hurt us. We need better - even though he did a lot right as he does most weeks.

Do agree Hayden is best placed as a forward. We need his marking prowess. Also agree it’s the second week of almost from him - the missed couple of late marks last week, the goal kicking this week.

i think my beef with Grundy is he’s making a lot of costly, basic errors. He’s more sturdy at the contest than opening weeks but he’s a ruckman - don’t go for the underground handball, or miss an easy fist. He does need support in there, but he regularly makes it harder for them with crap handballs to their feet or just missing a target. It’s a weird habit to get into and easily fixed, but he keeps doing it.

[crackedactor 01]

Gold Coast next week, GWS the week after.

Sorry Gold Coast next week and GWS the following week will smack us. Our skill level is getting worse ever week.

[Roadrunner]

That was pure frustration. Statistics sometimes lie. We supposedly had 156/110 contested possessions!!!!! I find that hard to believe. We led the clearances 46/33 and centre clearances 13/8!!! Our problem with centre clearances is that we get short scrapping kicks or handballs. In the last quarter Grundy got a hitout, Butters read it off his hands. He scooted to the footy, cleared and a goal resulted. Why can't we read the tap. Our forward defensive skills have gone from bad to horrible. Opposing sides just waltz it out of our forward line. The long TV view when the ball goes quickly into our forward line shows us one out against 2 but no one running to the fall of the ball. When the ball goes to the top of our goal square the opposition have a player at the front of the pack, but where is our small forward? Last week the Pies had Hill at the fall of the ball. This is basic stuff that is taught at junior footy.

One more thing, centre bounces. That goal they got at the start of a quarter when the ball went sideways and they goaled, should have been recalled. Just throw the bloody thing up so no team is disadvantaged. It happens every week in every game. Clearly this is a skill that umpires have lost. Get rid of the bounce.

I nearly stopped watching after that abysmal first half. Surely we can’t be this bad? It was obvious to me that Ladhams should have been our second ruck and Tom back in defense, with Hamling being left out. We need to get our selections right, though if we play like this we’re not winning many games. We have too many good players out and don’t look like getting them back for quite sometime- we just need to hang in there for now!

[SwanSand]

I nearly stopped watching after that abysmal first half. Surely we can’t be this bad? It was obvious to me that Ladhams should have been our second ruck and Tom back in defense, with Hamling being left out. We need to get our selections right, though if we play like this we’re not winning many games. We have too many good players out and don’t look like getting them back for quite sometime- we just need to hang in there for now!

It seemed like the coach doesn’t know the players well enough. After the disastrous start for Tom McCartin in first round as a forward, it was pretty obvious he should never go there except maybe in the final quarter to win a game, that too if at all. He is not a forward !
The effort by the team to rally when down and not drop shoulders is commendable but geez the skills on home ground were abysmal. And on the flip side the positioning on defence was also terrible to give them so much space to get the ball from one end to another easily.

our bottom five players are playing terribly and we cannot win the game when a quarter of the team is so bad. Cleary, Hanily, Hamling, Corey, Braeden have been poor. The fact that Aaron Francis plays 42 min and gets 14 touches while Campbell gets 16 for the entire game that too kicks the ball only 5 times is terrible.

and on top of that, James Jordon and Chad Warner have been pretty average.
I think lack of Gulden is hurting Chad enormously. He is not in the forward half role and the opposition just know that they can shut him down.

the only shining light this year has been the find Riley Bice. And the regeneration of Sam Wicks as a defender.

[neilfws]

For a few minutes I thought Francis was going to single-handedly save the day. And I think he did too, which shows believe at least.

I was never convinced by the McCartin forward experiment, even less so after getting a close look this week. I get the logic of covering for a missing tall and Melican covering for him, but he's clearly our best tall defender. Like others I'd have had Ladhams to back up ruck, leaving McLean forward. The switch after half-time with Hamling forward had a whiff of "these two aren't going well in their positions, let's just swap them" obviousness about it.

Port were good, their midfield is very strong as was their defence yesterday. The frustrating thing is that they looked to be tiring near the end and with a couple of straighter kicks, Swans could have stolen a win.

I think the Swans are just struggling to cover the missing players at the moment. Blakey does all the running in Errol's absence and looks gassed, but somehow does it again. Rowbottom doing a lot of the inside mid without Mills, no obvious small forward replacement for Papley. A few players look panicky or unaware under pressure. Heeney was good yesterday but can't carry the entire team, especially when Warner Sr. has the inevitable occasional quiet day.

Could be a stronger second half of the season this year when they get a few players back, fingers crossed.

[lwjoyner]

McCartin is not a fwd and because of Cox has lost it at the moment even as that marking backman that we had and need. Why also drop Ladhams when we know that Brodie struggles during the game. Port had 1 ruck and we could have overrun him with both Pete and Brodie and leave Hayden as the marking fwd, hopefully kicking better. Rampes is struggling so too is Olloie. I thought at least Corey W had a go where as his big bro i think is thinking more about his future and the big $ he might get from the west, but if he doesnt pick up that too could disappear. Maybe we should take a leaf out of the Hawks and drop him as they have done with Ginavin.

[Hotpotato]

Port were quicker over the ground, more explosive, superior in the air.
Swans didnt man up (thats just as per normal). Idyllic conditions, good crowd, home ground (36 days since last SCG game) so the bean counters would be v displeased with that outcome. No one buying merch afterwards. The crowd dispersing with no highs. Swans need to win at home to turn a profit.