Round 8: Swans v Giants.

[Blood Fever]

Melican has become a pivotal player for us. Hope he only misses 2 weeks.

[Mountain Man]

A feature of Wick's play is his speed over 3-5 metres. He rarely gets exposed in a contest because he is always able to impact (or chase).

Warner also has that initial speed.

It can be trained into players - at least Im[roved - and (soft cap willing) maybe we would benefit from employing an athletics sprint coach.

[liz]

I’m very happy to see Wicks get some recognition in the Coaches’ Votes for his game yesterday, albeit just from one of the two. I thought our defensive unit, as a whole, had a pretty good day, especially during the second quarter when our midfield went to sleep and the defence was under siege. But, from that pretty cohesive unit, I thought Wicks was a standout. Admittedly his opponent was inexperienced (debutant) so he maybe had a bit more freedom to attack. But he chose his moments well and set up some really important thrusts forward for us while also taking care of his defensive responsibilities.

[dejavoodoo44]

Coaches votes for the game.

10 Chad Warner SYD
6 Finn Callaghan GWS
5 Tom Green GWS
3 Dane Rampe SYD
3 Isaac Heeney SYD
2 Justin McInerney SYD
1 Sam Wicks SYD

Seems fair enough.

[UUaswan]

No bigger previous critic of Wicks than me but what he is doing is remarkable. Loving his run and depth in kicking, getting more and more confident in his work in traffic.

A great example of positional changes working where TMac was an example where it didn't.

Liked the way we mixed up the middle a bit as well, Cleary is raw but good to see him run in there, JMAC could have pushed BOG if he sorted his kicking, Corey took it on abit more as well.

Hoping they keep letting these guys play with a bit more freedom

[Nico]

Which half will it be this week lol. I feel we are a genuine chance for some reason.

I will have a go and say Warner, Hayward and Grundy will have a big impact on this game - hopefully a good one.

2 out of 3 'aint bad.

[stevoswan]

Totally agree and add to that he can kick goals, knows how to get open.

AFL website, "things we learned" only mentions Sydney as the team GWS played, not a thing about how we played

Yeah I saw that and thought 'we win but it's still all about the Giants'......and it seems no-one except us Swans fans have noticed the free kick count.....but of course, Collingwood was robbed! FFS, talk about Vic-centric dullards.

[Roadrunner]

No bigger previous critic of Wicks than me but what he is doing is remarkable. Loving his run and depth in kicking, getting more and more confident in his work in traffic.

A great example of positional changes working where TMac was an example where it didn't.

Liked the way we mixed up the middle a bit as well, Cleary is raw but good to see him run in there, JMAC could have pushed BOG if he sorted his kicking, Corey took it on abit more as well.

Hoping they keep letting these guys play with a bit more freedom

Cox is learning fast- our youngsters certainly seemed to be playing more to their natural game and it made a difference. I don’t want to be too critical of Matty Roberts but he should be looking a bit closer passing the ball out of defence rather than just booting it- that extra split second can make a huge difference in turning defence into attack rather than a rebound. Of course, being young, it is understandable that he doesn’t want to get caught inside 50!

[liz]

Cox is learning fast- our youngsters certainly seemed to be playing more to their natural game and it made a difference. I don’t want to be too critical of Matty Roberts but he should be looking a bit closer passing the ball out of defence rather than just booting it- that extra split second can make a huge difference in turning defence into attack rather than a rebound. Of course, being young, it is understandable that he doesn’t want to get caught inside 50!

In his "slight" defence, as a team we're still a bit stodgy in the off-the-ball running compared to the superb footy we played last year (for the first two thirds of the season). It's hard to find a shorter option when all the players up the ground have their feet rooted to the turf. That may be fitness related (we can only guess) but it's more likely to be about confidence. Maybe they're not quite certain of the small changes Cox has made to the game plan. Or maybe the poor results so far this season have created doubt. Or maybe it's just we underestimate just how important someone like Errol is to our running patterns and ball movement. But just as a lot was made a year ago of the contributions of Isaac, Chad and Errol. we also had Florent and McInerney and Lloyd in much better form than they've been in so far this year (notwithstanding the value that JMac provided yesterday as a clearance player).

[Blood Fever]

Yeah I saw that and thought 'we win but it's still all about the Giants'......and it seems no-one except us Swans fans have noticed the free kick count.....but of course, Collingwood was robbed! FFS, talk about Vic-centric dullards.

You're forgetting that it's the VAFL!

[UUaswan]

Cox is learning fast- our youngsters certainly seemed to be playing more to their natural game and it made a difference. I don’t want to be too critical of Matty Roberts but he should be looking a bit closer passing the ball out of defence rather than just booting it- that extra split second can make a huge difference in turning defence into attack rather than a rebound. Of course, being young, it is understandable that he doesn’t want to get caught inside 50!

At least when we went long down the line this week out of defence we went alot wider.

Drives me nuts when they go long out of D50 and it lands edge if the square, turns over and comes straight back because it's too skinny

[imuninformedtwo]

In his "slight" defence, as a team we're still a bit stodgy in the off-the-ball running compared to the superb footy we played last year (for the first two thirds of the season). It's hard to find a shorter option when all the players up the ground have their feet rooted to the turf. That may be fitness related (we can only guess) but it's more likely to be about confidence. Maybe they're not quite certain of the small changes Cox has made to the game plan. Or maybe the poor results so far this season have created doubt. Or maybe it's just we underestimate just how important someone like Errol is to our running patterns and ball movement. But just as a lot was made a year ago of the contributions of Isaac, Chad and Errol. we also had Florent and McInerney and Lloyd in much better form than they've been in so far this year (notwithstanding the value that JMac provided yesterday as a clearance player).

All likely true. Also, I wonder about the synchronicity of a team with so many youngsters or bit part players. Does Cleary yet know how to read the cues or create them for teammates? When we have had about 1000 players rotate through our talls up forward, do they knew which one needs to make the lead precisely when to the wing to be the release target? A function of such a thin list right now and team made up of sticky tape. Leads and running patterns only need to be out by a second and everything gets thrown.

[imuninformedtwo]

Melican gets three weeks. To be honest, it’s reasonable based on precedent this year

[Thunder Shaker]

Melican gets three weeks. To be honest, it’s reasonable based on precedent this year

Three weeks was roughly my guess. Bedford was injured in the incident so Melican was lucky to be spared a trip to the Tribunal.

At least the melee only caused four players to receive fines. The Hawthorn vs Richmond game resulted in 17 fines for 16 players (Watson was charged twice).

[MattW]

Coaches votes for the game.

10 Chad Warner SYD
6 Finn Callaghan GWS
5 Tom Green GWS
3 Dane Rampe SYD
3 Isaac Heeney SYD
2 Justin McInerney SYD
1 Sam Wicks SYD

Seems fair enough.

Yes, Chad clear best on ground.

I thought Jordon might have garnered some votes.

As above, also pleased to see Wicks rewarded. His speed and ability to stick a tackle have been valuable in defence. He also seems a lot more disciplined.

McInerney got a lot of it and ran hard. It seemed like he'd set himself for a big game. Pretty sure that he started at the first centre bounce and got the clearance from it. Obviously didn't kick well at times (although finished with 79% disposal efficiency) and seemed frustrated by that. But overall, an encouraging performance. Love to see him back it up next week.

Unrelated to the votes, but I thought Cleary was important with his pressure off the ball again. Seven tackles and 26 pressure acts. I'm confident the possessions will come, but right now his defensive pressure is important to the team.