Match thread: Swans v North

[UUaswan]

Great post.

I’ve said I’ve been surprised by Lloyd’s year but shouldn’t have been. He’s used his IQ to find pockets of space and his goal kicking has been excellent.

And good spot re Roberts. 57% game time. Wonder if there was an injury in the end too.

Dylan Stephens didnt use his right boot in 4yrs at Sydney yet we all stayed on his right side

[Kafka's Ghost]

I didn't watch the game live - far too stressful for me - but just watched the mini-game on Kayo. The barracking for Norf by commentators was disgusting!

I had to turn the sound off, as they didn’t try to hide their bias the entire match. The commentary has been putrid this season.

[Hotpotato]

If you’ve followed the game forever, you dont
require commentary. I always have it OFF.

[lwjoyner]

particularly Jack R

[UUaswan]

G Lyon is bar far the worst in football media

[Sandridge]

I had to turn the sound off, as they didn’t try to hide their bias the entire match. The commentary has been putrid this season.

And now we have to put up with the "brave Roos" headlines which are now being joined by "gallant Bombers" stories.

So, so glad we won!

GO BLOODS!!

[KSAS]

My 3 takeaways from the last 2 games:
1. Tom McCartin is amongst our most important players. His absence has been telling.

2. Teams are squeezing our corridor access to limit our effectiveness and even up the contest.

3. Will Edwards has been impressive. On track to win our Most Improved. Cox was full of praise post match.

The commentary is what i'd expected, in that the underdog is always favoured, particularly if it's a Vic team. Have learnt to ignore, but can be frustrating!

Freo becoming the fairytale team to win their first flag.

Happy where we sit being 6 points clear in the top 2, along with Freo. However, we still need areas of improvement in our defensive play and contested ball, which Cox did acknowledge.

Telling comment from Lizard post match "no use being top now if we're not at end of the season".

[KSAS]

When they showed highlights of the 96 GF pre-game. it made me think how 30 years has gone so fast! Still remember like it was yesterday how surreal it felt going to my first Swans GF and the crushing disappointment afterwards.

So glad we spoilt their party yesterday.

96 was the turning point in our club's history and we haven't looked back since.

[The Big Cat]

Cox said after the match that the Swans are likely to get McCartin, Curnow and Serong back for the game against Collingwood next week.

I don't think he mentioned McCartin. Serong and Curnow, yes.

[Thunder Shaker]

When they showed highlights of the 96 GF pre-game. it made me think how 30 years has gone so fast! Still remember like it was yesterday how surreal it felt going to my first Swans GF and the crushing disappointment afterwards.

So glad we spoilt their party yesterday.

96 was the turning point in our club's history and we haven't looked back since.

1996 was a good year, but it didn't come out of nowhere. During 1994 and 1995 with Barassi as coach, the club culture improved, Sydney won some games that shaped the finals, the club landed some star recruits and drafted others.

The seeds were probably planted in 1994. It was the first full year with Barassi as coach, finished last but it was a competitive last with four wins: Richmond (ninth, the win kept them out of finals), Melbourne (seventh), Adelaide (11th) and Carlton (second, denied them top spot).

1995: 8 wins and finished 12th, including wins over Carlton (by 12 goals, they finished 1st and won the premiership), Essendon (4th), North Melbourne (6th), Fitzroy (last, Plugger kicked 16) and Collingwood (10th, the round 22 win denied Collingwood finals). Barassi stepped down as coach at the end of the year, his job done.

[Velour&Ruffles]

1996 was a good year, but it didn't come out of nowhere. During 1994 and 1995 with Barassi as coach, the club culture improved, Sydney won some games that shaped the finals, the club landed some star recruits and drafted others.

The seeds were probably planted in 1994. It was the first full year with Barassi as coach, finished last but it was a competitive last with four wins: Richmond (ninth, the win kept them out of finals), Melbourne (seventh), Adelaide (11th) and Carlton (second, denied them top spot).

1995: 8 wins and finished 12th, including wins over Carlton (by 12 goals, they finished 1st and won the premiership), Essendon (4th), North Melbourne (6th), Fitzroy (last, Plugger kicked 16) and Collingwood (10th, the round 22 win denied Collingwood finals). Barassi stepped down as coach at the end of the year, his job done.

I agree, and some great memories in there. That Carlton victory in 1995 was particularly sweet, and the moment I thought we might really be about to turn around as a club. The Blues were flying and undefeated and we absolutely slaughtered them on a Friday night. A skinny young indigenous kid called Michael something kicked four goals in what I think was his fourth game of senior footy, and you could see from the way he moved that he was destined to be a star.
I think I'm right in saying that our progression through that era was positively mathematical. In terms of wins we went from 2 (1993), to 4 (1994), to 8 (1995) to 16 (1996) so as Thunder Shaker says, 1996 didn't come out of nowhere.

[ISIBIDBI]

Although the stats sheet looks good for Lloyd, 9 turnovers from 22 disposals is awful, most turnovers of any player from either team and that is with most of his possessions being uncontested i.e. not under pressure. He was the 6th worst rated player on the ground and I think with players coming back this week and Corey having a massive game in the VFL, he has to be under pressure for his spot.

On Chad, yes he only had 18 touches, but was the 5th highest rated player on the ground because he is so high impact. 8 of his 18 touches were score involvements as well as having the most post clearance contested possessions and ground ball gets of any player. That is why he is being played a lot forward, because he wins his own ball, pressures the opposition inside 50 and just about every second disposal leads to a score, being able to rotate him and Heeney to have one of them inside 50 at all times is a massive point of difference for us.

It is good to be chalking up wins but the last few weeks have exposed a few worries for us, we have gone from clear #1 in scores from turnover to #3 behind Brisbane and Geelong over the last 5 weeks and #1 in defending scores from turnover to #5, not all of that defensive drop off is down to Tommy being out. I think as we get into the weekly grind of mid season our pressure has dropped off a bit, we look cooked late in quarters and games and teams are really focusing in on how to punish us from the high number of turnovers we do give up playing the way we do.

I think we are going to have to start resting the players that are absolutely critical to the way we play, the guys that explode off HB, Blakey first and foremost but also Wicks, Mills and Bice because there are no alternatives to those guys in the VFL. Looking at the midfield too we have to be careful with the likes of Juzzy and Chad, they are our most explosive mids and often look the most cooked late in games. I think each of these guys should be given one if not two rests outside of our bye, particularly given we look set to be given a fair few Thursday/Friday night games in the back half of the season, which will mean a few 5/6 days breaks. We should have that luxury now given how well we have started the season

[UUaswan]

Although the stats sheet looks good for Lloyd, 9 turnovers from 22 disposals is awful, most turnovers of any player from either team and that is with most of his possessions being uncontested i.e. not under pressure. He was the 6th worst rated player on the ground and I think with players coming back this week and Corey having a massive game in the VFL, he has to be under pressure for his spot.

On Chad, yes he only had 18 touches, but was the 5th highest rated player on the ground because he is so high impact. 8 of his 18 touches were score involvements as well as having the most post clearance contested possessions and ground ball gets of any player. That is why he is being played a lot forward, because he wins his own ball, pressures the opposition inside 50 and just about every second disposal leads to a score, being able to rotate him and Heeney to have one of them inside 50 at all times is a massive point of difference for us.

It is good to be chalking up wins but the last few weeks have exposed a few worries for us, we have gone from clear #1 in scores from turnover to #3 behind Brisbane and Geelong over the last 5 weeks and #1 in defending scores from turnover to #5, not all of that defensive drop off is down to Tommy being out. I think as we get into the weekly grind of mid season our pressure has dropped off a bit, we look cooked late in quarters and games and teams are really focusing in on how to punish us from the high number of turnovers we do give up playing the way we do.

I think we are going to have to start resting the players that are absolutely critical to the way we play, the guys that explode off HB, Blakey first and foremost but also Wicks, Mills and Bice because there are no alternatives to those guys in the VFL. Looking at the midfield too we have to be careful with the likes of Juzzy and Chad, they are our most explosive mids and often look the most cooked late in games. I think each of these guys should be given one if not two rests outside of our bye, particularly given we look set to be given a fair few Thursday/Friday night games in the back half of the season, which will mean a few 5/6 days breaks. We should have that luxury now given how well we have started the season

Well said

I think if we were prepared to hold Melican accountable for apparent under performance that should extend to the rest of the squad.

Melican plays one of the hardest roles on field and always plays undersized. His omisson has unearthed Edwards.

In general we should be moving to accountability and consequences for under performance and put pressure on spots.

I for one are sick of watching us play GFs that are over before qtr time.

[dejavoodoo44]

Coaches votes for the game.

10 Luke Davies-Uniacke (NMFC)
5 Harry Sheezel (NMFC)
4 Luke Parker (NMFC)
4 Isaac Heeney (SYD)
3 Colby McKercher (NMFC)
2 Nick Blakey (SYD)
1 Finn O'Sullivan (NMFC)
1 Callum Mills (SYD)

Which I guess represents the general perception of the two sides. In that, most people think that we're a superior side to North. So it seems that Clarkson was quite pleased that North got so close, whereas Cox was a bit irked that they got so close.

[Sandridge]

Anyone got any insight or thoughts on the relationship between Swans players and Luke Parker?

Our guys seem quite keen to "give it to him" when something positive happens for us. Is it just the usual by-play between players or is there something more to it?

(I fully understand that there'd be a number of our players who would have no problem mouthing off to Parker. I was at the SCG and sitting close to the fence when Dan Hannebery played his first game against us for St.Kilda. Paps was giving Hanners a helluva time verbally!)