Match thread. Round 12, Swans v Richmond.

[UUaswan]

But Big H clunks more than most and is a pretty good kick

McLean's only chance is playing in front of Ladhams if we go 2 Rucks.

He isnt jumping Charlie, Logan or Amartey.

Like others have said, we arent dropping a guy with 26goals under his belt

[dejavoodoo44]

In the latest edition of Inside Sydney, McInerney gives a quick pre-game speech paying tribute to McLean in his 100th game. In it, he mentions McLean's debut, where he was given the task of rucking against Aaron Sandilands. Since I only vaguely remembered the game, I looked it up in AFL Tables.

It was back in 2019, when the only recognised ruckman that played in the firsts, was Callum Sinclair, with a fair bit of backup being done by Sam Reid. It seems that both were injured for the round 18 clash with Fremantle, so McLean was given the task, with a bit of assistance from Aliir. The went up against Sandilands, Darcy and Lobb. While we lost the hitouts 53-18, I think many people were impressed by McLean's willingness to go about the task. The stats show that he got 16 hitouts, 13 possessions, and perhaps most importantly, 8 tackles. Which suggests that he did get after the Fremantle mids.

I also remember my first impressions when he started playing for us in the NEAFL. I'm pretty sure that he debuted after quite a limited preseason. So I was quite pleased with how could clunk a mark and kick straight, when the ball got into his area, but also being a bit concerned that his area seemed so small. But of course, he managed to improve his tank throughout the year and earned his debut in round 18.

[111431]

100% Amartey is the first option, im just wondering if they give him a fortnight off due to injury history

But Big H clunks more than most and is a pretty good kick

[UUaswan]

Armartey has kicked 26 goals this season and we are not past the halfway mark. He is also a better tackler than McLean. Cox even mentioned this in his post match interview. There is no way they will be dropping him unless he is injured

100% Amartey is the first option, im just wondering if they give him a fortnight off due to injury history

[BRS328]

Next week we play the Saints who have two good rucks. I think Ladhams and McLean should stay and Amartey should be 'managed'. Perfect time to see how the two ruckman approach works.....but I suppose that still means another player has to go with Grundy returning.
I wouldn't be dropping McDonald, he's hitting his straps now and McLean deserves to stay after he delivered yet again. Selection will indeed be interesting this week.

Armartey has kicked 26 goals this season and we are not past the halfway mark. He is also a better tackler than McLean. Cox even mentioned this in his post match interview. There is no way they will be dropping him unless he is injured

[UUaswan]

I think we have a midfield mix its just a matter of putting them in there. There was a clear change of coaching for Warner to stay in the middle as much as he did and the same with Rowy.

If Ladhams goes tandem with Grundy, there are 2 more midfield bulls for clearance, less is more with both of them.

Warner's best is breaking lines and bombing long, looks better when there are 3 talls who can't be outmarked

[SwanSand]

Heeney is the most complete player in the comp right now. Marking, Goals, and Clearances - Unusual combination when it comes to midfielders. I hope he remains fit.
Warner needs to emulate him and stop the dinky stuff and go for his strengths.
I watched the 2012 Grand final in bits and pieces again, we lack the bulls that 2012 team had for the contested possessions and somehow, we need to go back to that where unless we stop the opposition marking the ball and then getting to the ground ball quickly enough, we would find ourselves similar to the 2022/24 team.
We have many more elite runners now but pressure handling, forward talls separation, marking on the boundary and ground ball gets will decide if we win it this year or not. I am glad to see Bice ready to attack the ball and the carrier more and would love to see Roberts do the same when he gets back. If we are full strength and firing we would be hard to beat. But as we all know we would miss a couple and then the next in line need to step up and many of them are not ready. Cleary, Hanily, Kyle, Dattoli, Corey Warner, Jevan Phillipou, Ned Bowman all need to do ton of work to be lurking around.

[imuninformedtwo]

A perfect 10 for Isaac in the coaches votes.

Heens 10
Charlie 8
Chad 6
McCartin 4
Ladhams 1
Liazard 1

https://www.afl.com.au/news/1532646/coaches-votes-r12-sydney-swans-star-isaac-heeney-one-of-five-perfect-10s-nick-daicos-stays-top

[Ludwig]

I hope we can find a spot for Kyle for at least a few more games this year. I'm hoping that he might become our Mrphey Reid next year if he can get enough AFL experience. I am also feeling less confident about Cleary's future with each game. He really needs to work on his disposal, because he's not going to get enough inside play to cover up this weakness. I'm also somewhat disappointed that Datoli hasn't progressed this year, although I am still hopeful that he will become a good AFL player in due course.

That only leaves Snell and Kyle as players to feel confident can make it at top level. So we need to push their development when opportunities present themselves.

I doubt the 5 KPF+Rucks experiment will last too much longer, although it might be worth seeing how it goes for the next 2 games, depending on who returns from injury. It might be hard keeping both Kyle and the 5 KPFRs in the same side. I think it is more likely that we drop Ladhams than McLean if Grundy returns this week. 6 KPFRs is very much over the top and simply unrealistic, even for experimentation. It it more likely that we will have to drop back to 4 after the bye with the return of Gulden and Papley, which will mean that one more midfield gun will have to play forward for large parts of the game, so hard to see fitting in all those key talls. The magic number is probably 4, so a couple will just have to enure in the VFL, despite their good form.

[UUaswan]

Next week we play the Saints who have two good rucks. I think Ladhams and McLean should stay and Amartey should be 'managed'. Perfect time to see how the two ruckman approach works.....but I suppose that still means another player has to go with Grundy returning.
I wouldn't be dropping McDonald, he's hitting his straps now and McLean deserves to stay after he delivered yet again. Selection will indeed be interesting this week.

Without question, it has to be 3 tall fwds, Freo just destroyed Brissy and Harris Andrews with 3 talls.

I also think Amartey may be managed, got to leave Logan in, he is building to the player we all hoped he would be

[imuninformedtwo]

Think long term the club would love him to move into the midfield

Isaac joked in his post game interview he’ll he pushed out of the midfield for Kyle next year.

[Velour&Ruffles]

This was the first time that Hanily looked like a player to me. I thought he was really good and showed he has a good footy brain. Ladhams was also very good, despite the deficiencies some have attributed to his brain. He is extremely athletic for a guy his size and has some shimmy. We definitely need to keep him.
I see no problem with bringing back Grundy and exiting either Hanily (despite his good game) or Cleary (who was OK too) this week. We have plenty of running power anyway. And both Ladhams and Grundy are very mobile as opposed to the dinosaurs of decades past.

[rb4x]

Commentators on Fox said that Hanily and Cleary both had PB's for possessions

[stevoswan]

Whilst yesterday was a good win, it was case of men playing boys. My concern is, early in the game they went goal for goal with us. I think we’re not defensively strong and will be found out in finals, or against good teams, yet again. How do we strengthen our defensive game so we can compete strongly when it matters?

By having a full strength team.....so hopefully that happens. Among our current 'best 23' outs are Rampe, Mills and Roberts.

[stevoswan]

ition.

As for Kyle, can’t believe some of the early crap on here. He was playing as a defender and didn’t get beaten once, then as his confidence lifted, got some ball. And that one two off half back when he then took off through the middle and delivered to Heeney was footy porn. If that’s what he’s doing when he’s raw as it comes, look out.

I agree....he looks a real prospect.