Match thread - Rd 12 v Crows

[liz]

The only thing I will say is that Meek ( Hawks ) and the Freo captain got off recently because the club’s choose to challenge the tribunal decision. There was not much difference in the Mill’s contact other than in the Mill’s case there was no concussion. Why the Swans chose not to challenge the decision is strange. All were similar late contacts

I hadn’t realised that Meek got off. Looked like a carbon copy of the Mills incident.

The Pearce one was a bit different, but not dissimilar to the Peter Wright one from last year (or was it 2023?)

[rickmat]

Nothing new but the injuries have really impacted on our ability to play the way Cox wants the team to play. Our forward line is a real shambles and putting immense pressure on our backline. We have lots of raw young smalls trying their hearts out and not getting much support or leadership!!!! That includes Heard and McLean. Amartey is important as a competing target but Hambling is a lost cause and should not be in the team. I'm not sure why Bullet hasn't been given a run lately as he is a big target, good mark and kick and unless Cox tried him, Bullet will be delisted end of season. Grundy is trying his heart out but without any decent support. I hope Dattoli continues to show his talent in the VFL and then gets into seniors sooner than later. As I said, we have a group of young raw boys who are inexperienced and not being able to give their best as so under pressure. As someone has already said, there appears to be a lack of leadership and voice around the ground. Mills is not a vocal leader but Erol is and the sooner he is back , we will see a vast difference. We are unfortunately a shambles at the moment and my last comment is that Cox needs some more real experience in the Box other that Matthews and Mark McVeigh.

[rickmat]

I did mean Hayward and Bullet in my message.

[liz]

AFL world needs to 'harden up' on Sydney Swans 'rabble' saga

I've stopped consuming most football media nowadays - in part because we're playing badly, but even before that became apparent, I'd decided most of it wasn't worth the bandwidth. So while I was aware of the "rabble" comment from Milera (and posted about it yesterday), I hadn't realised how much media, clubland and AFL storm it had created.

I don't particularly enjoy agreeing with Riewoldt, but I'm with him on this. I don't have a particular problem with the description, notwithstanding that the Crows and AFL wish he hadn't said it. I hope Cox is glad Milera said it, and hopes that it stings the Swans players.

It is likely that my reaction is partly because it was Milera, who doesn't come across to me as one of the cocky young Crows. I might be more dismissive if, say, Rachele or Keays or even Rankine had made the comment. (Rankine is cocky, but kinda gets a pass mark for being cocky because he has the sublime skill to back it up.)

[Thunder Shaker]

Swans hold gruelling pre-dawn beach session just hours after SCG thumping

[Nico]

I hadn’t realised that Meek got off. Looked like a carbon copy of the Mills incident.

The Pearce one was a bit different, but not dissimilar to the Peter Wright one from last year (or was it 2023?)

Meek came from behind to spoil, Mills came front on.

[The Big Cat]

Team ordered to beach for pre dawn swim hours after the loss to crows!

https://www.afl.com.au/news/1335448/sydney-swans-players-put-through-paces-at-pre-dawn-beach-session-with-coach-dean-cox

[The Big Cat]

According to AFL site, team ordered to beach for pre dawn swim hours after the loss to crows! brrrr!

[imuninformedtwo]

I think there's a doom loop going on within the playing group right now.

Elite AFL is a game played in milliseconds and half metres. Players only need to be out by a fraction, and the ability to create from a contest, or find that short kick, or run to the right pocket of space at the right time, or anything else, collapses pretty quick. The injuries early in the season made it hard to embed the game plan and get any synchronicity. Every time a player came in or out of the side, that gets harder. Instead of operating on instinct, they start to second guess everything. When Chad bombed it a few times on the weekend, was it because the players forward of the ball didn't have the anticipation to run early enough to the right spot, or the release play to Chad was a fraction late, or he didn't have the confidence in what was happening around him to hare off, knowing teammates would block for him? Who knows . . . But that stuff compounds pretty quickly.

The fact is we won both contested ball and clearances on the weekend, so it's not completely about effort (despite my stated earlier concerns about dropping off tackles). It's the fact that our method from there is shot. It seems the same with some of our defensive breakdowns and coverage across the full ground, not having the nous to track and pick up dangerous players sweeping through the play.

Of course, some of this goes to the mental fragility of some players or the group right now. But I'm not psychoanalyst beyond observing the lack of leadership is a real issue.

I think we'll find out a lot about the group and some individual players in the second half of the season.

[liz]

I think there's a doom loop going on within the playing group right now.

Elite AFL is a game played in milliseconds and half metres. Players only need to be out by a fraction, and the ability to create from a contest, or find that short kick, or run to the right pocket of space at the right time, or anything else, collapses pretty quick. The injuries early in the season made it hard to embed the game plan and get any synchronicity. Every time a player came in or out of the side, that gets harder. Instead of operating on instinct, they start to second guess everything. When Chad bombed it a few times on the weekend, was it because the players forward of the ball didn't have the anticipation to run early enough to the right spot, or the release play to Chad was a fraction late, or he didn't have the confidence in what was happening around him to hare off, knowing teammates would block for him? Who knows . . . But that stuff compounds pretty quickly.

The fact is we won both contested ball and clearances on the weekend, so it's not completely about effort (despite my stated earlier concerns about dropping off tackles). It's the fact that our method from there is shot. It seems the same with some of our defensive breakdowns and coverage across the full ground, not having the nous to track and pick up dangerous players sweeping through the play.

Of course, some of this goes to the mental fragility of some players or the group right now. But I'm not psychoanalyst beyond observing the lack of leadership is a real issue.

I think we'll find out a lot about the group and some individual players in the second half of the season.

We were smashed at the contest against Melbourne, so fixing that against Adelaide - which we kinda did - would have been the big focus.

But it seems there isn’t enough bandwidth at the moment to fix one thing without other things disintegrating.

The tackling is, I suspect, a technique thing. We expend so much energy applying ineffective tackles that it’s probably not surprising that players stop even trying to lay tqckles. That’s why I think it would be a great thing to hone in on. They’ve all been able to tackle effectively in the past so it’s not learning something new. It’s an aspect of the game that every player can buy into. And it should produce immediate (though maybe be not result changing on its own) results.

[imuninformedtwo]

We were smashed at the contest against Melbourne, so fixing that against Adelaide - which we kinda did - would have been the big focus.

But it seems there isn’t enough bandwidth at the moment to fix one thing without other things disintegrating.

The tackling is, I suspect, a technique thing. We expend so much energy applying ineffective tackles that it’s probably not surprising that players stop even trying to lay tqckles. That’s why I think it would be a great thing to hone in on. They’ve all been able to tackle effectively in the past so it’s not learning something new. It’s an aspect of the game that every player can buy into. And it should produce immediate (though maybe be not result changing on its own) results.

Do we know who is in the leadership group?

Obviously Mills, Heeney and Rowie. I learned in the Tele today that Melican is in it. Also, that the club chooses not to name its members. I think Paps is in though, and given Errol captained a pre-season game, he is too. I'd say we're missing the most vocal on field members right now.

[The Big Cat]

Dying of a broken heart ? About 4 minutes in.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nZYSNsWBpEc&pp=ygUNQnVja2xleSBzd2Fucw%3D%3D

[ISIBIDBI]

I was at the game and was extremely disappointed with what we dished up as everyone else was. I actually don't think our defensive profile is the problem, we have been reasonable defensively most of the season, with Melican, Wicks, McCartin, Fox, Cunningham all not there at various times. Aside from the Melbourne game where we were torn to shreds, even against Adelaide they kicked extremely straight and are one of the highest scoring teams in the comp. What I am questioning is what on earth has happened to our ball movement and transition. Last season we would cut teams to shreds with precise kicking down the field and then hit up a target inside 50, this year we seem to either go backwards/sideways or long down the line. We have no shortage of good ball users especially coming out of the back half - Rampe, Blakey, Bice, Wicks, Roberts, Campbell, Heeney - I know anyone of them can have a bad turnover every now and then, Roberts and Blakey especially come to mind, but what was so great about the way we played last year was we were willing to take on those riskier kicks, play fast and accept a few bad turnovers because most of the time we got the ball inside 50. Have the players completely lost confidence in their ability to hit targets? Is it a change of game plan with the new coach? I hope the former because if not we are in a lot of trouble. Our strategy since basically the 2014 GF when Hawthorn cut us to pieces with their precision kicking has been to target good ball users in the draft, if we aren't going to utilise that as a strength then we basically have to rebuild with a completely new gameplan with a different profile of player

[BRS328]

Meek came from behind to spoil, Mills came front on.

Agree Meek came from behind, however he was late and caused a concussion.
The reason I raised the challenge issue is I was talking to a current senior AFL umpire and he told me he was surprised that the Swans did not challenge the McInerny suspension from the recent Carlton game given there was no concussion.

[BRS328]

I was at the game and was extremely disappointed with what we dished up as everyone else was. I actually don't think our defensive profile is the problem, we have been reasonable defensively most of the season, with Melican, Wicks, McCartin, Fox, Cunningham all not there at various times. Aside from the Melbourne game where we were torn to shreds, even against Adelaide they kicked extremely straight and are one of the highest scoring teams in the comp. What I am questioning is what on earth has happened to our ball movement and transition. Last season we would cut teams to shreds with precise kicking down the field and then hit up a target inside 50, this year we seem to either go backwards/sideways or long down the line. We have no shortage of good ball users especially coming out of the back half - Rampe, Blakey, Bice, Wicks, Roberts, Campbell, Heeney - I know anyone of them can have a bad turnover every now and then, Roberts and Blakey especially come to mind, but what was so great about the way we played last year was we were willing to take on those riskier kicks, play fast and accept a few bad turnovers because most of the time we got the ball inside 50. Have the players completely lost confidence in their ability to hit targets? Is it a change of game plan with the new coach? I hope the former because if not we are in a lot of trouble. Our strategy since basically the 2014 GF when Hawthorn cut us to pieces with their precision kicking has been to target good ball users in the draft, if we aren't going to utilise that as a strength then we basically have to rebuild with a completely new gameplan with a different profile of player

I think you are correct about our defensive profile from a backline perspective, but I cannot say the same about the forward line. When you look at last week’s team, Hayward is the only genuine forward and you cannot expect him to do it on his own. There was virtually no defensive pressure on the forward line at all resulting in the ball rebounding every time we went forward putting our usually reliable defence under constant pressure. We are badly missing Papley, McDonald and Armartey, and even Francis, who can contest and bring the ball to the ground.
It is no wonder confidence has fallen.
The other thing that I would like to see is return Blakey to the half backline where at least when he gets the ball and run with it he will deliver quickly and deep into the forward line before the opposition have time to get back.