Round 5: Swans vs Suns

[imuninformedtwo]

Yes, I thought both played strong roles, in making sure that we were the ones doing the overpowering on the narrow ground. Roberts set the tone early, with an excellent chase down tackle. While both of them doing their jobs, probably allows McInerney to spend a bit more time in a central role; where he's very dangerous joining possession chains at pace.

Roberts has been a bit of surprise to me this year. I don't think I really saw him as best 23 at the start of the year, but he looks to have added some pace, and possibly stamina, and now he's playing some quality football. While I'm increasingly confident that the Serong trade, will be seen as a similar level of value, as the Craig Bolton and Ted Richards trades.

I was a bit dubious on his prospects but apparently from as soon as they got back to training it was clear to the club he'd done a mountain of work to lift his running power and he went on to have a huge preseason. I also think him playing on a wing suits his kicking skills, that had degraded a bit under the pressure of playing down back. I guess it's easy to forget that coming into his draft year, a lot of recruiters had him inside their top 10. He faded for various reasons that season, and has some limits, but hopefully he and the coaching staff have cracked a bit of the code to getting the best out of him. It's early days, but fingers crossed.

[SwanSand]

I am mighty impressed with our defensive efforts and shutting space for opposition. We always had good attack and now we can do both Defense and offense makes it harder and in offence we are doing it both ways - handballs and kicking (which we were always good at).
Also I think we have become good at taking contested marks.
one of our Achilles heel is still against the centre bounce dominant teams - and the next 2 weeks should give us an indication how well we are doing in that category. Ruck would be the other one that we may have to think about hard as we are heavily reliant on Grundy who is doing a great job and is pretty much the extra midfielder for us.

[imuninformedtwo]

Coaches votes were:

Heeney 10
McInerney 7
Grundy 6
Mills 3
McCartin 3
Paps 1

No real surprises there.

[dejavoodoo44]

Coaches votes were:

Heeney 10
McInerney 7
Grundy 6
Mills 3
McCartin 3
Paps 1

No real surprises there.

While I talked up McInerney earlier in the thread, my second choice in the voting would have been McCartin. I thought his intercept marking was excellent and perhaps he was the person most responsible for the Suns taking no contested marks. He also seems to be moving the ball a bit more effectively. Of course, absolutely no surprise in Heeney getting maximum votes.

[Jimitron5000]

Super win. Really impressed by the pressure we applied for the whole game.
Set-shot misses could have been costly. Aside from his kicking I thought Curnow's competitiveness was good.

Really enjoyed seeing a game from a suburban oval. Took me back a few years!

[Nico]

I was a bit dubious on his prospects but apparently from as soon as they got back to training it was clear to the club he'd done a mountain of work to lift his running power and he went on to have a huge preseason. I also think him playing on a wing suits his kicking skills, that had degraded a bit under the pressure of playing down back. I guess it's easy to forget that coming into his draft year, a lot of recruiters had him inside their top 10. He faded for various reasons that season, and has some limits, but hopefully he and the coaching staff have cracked a bit of the code to getting the best out of him. It's early days, but fingers crossed.

I think where else has improved is he is now more decisive when he has the ball. Previously he was reluctant to move the ball on. Mark, stop, prop, look sideways then usually kick a short pass backwards. almost like he was scared of making a mistake. Now he is getting in and under and getting the shorts dirty and he is much quicker with his hands. I reckon his instructions are when he gets the ball on the wing he kicks long because we always have players running forward.

[grarmy]

Charlie Curnow has been in the game for nine years. Paid well. He should be kicking more goals, particularly when standing in front of the sticks. Saturday's outcome was sub-standard. The past month has been underwhelming given his talent. Time for the coaches to sit down and have a little chat. Something is not right. And excuses like the blustery conditions are acceptable for a couple of shots, not all of them. I was at the ground. Gold Coast kicked straighter.

To me, Amartey has had more chances than a pole dancer at a bucks do. His marking has improved but it is his kicking that is letting the team down. Is it a head thing/confidence/preparation for the kick? Whatever, he has to get better, fast. Should we get the forwards kicking straighter, a top four finish is there for the taking...like the pole dancer.