Match thread: Swans v Lions.

[lwjoyner]

have not improved one bit from ou Grand Final against them 2 yeards ago. Pathetic effort. Cox and selectors need some awakening. Bice must have given away at least 3 goals in this game with his kcicking in (great passes to oppostion) and a lot more so far this season. Not the same player as last year, need a long run in the 2's. Joel needs to sign hos $800k contract offer from the siwans cause it will be downgraded on his performance tonight and so far this year, also needs time in the 2's.We miss Justin so why drop harry K he can at least run up and down on the wing and can play defence. Harry C is also finished wven though Charlie Cameron did not do much he still let him loose a couple of time. I have been saying for ages H Mc is a better than both Pistol pete ( a great reserves player , but as somone said ealier not a lot of his knock out go directly to a swan) is the 2's. Rosas has only played 1 or 2 good games and by the way do ever we miss Paps (rosas a long way behind him) What genius selector suggested Cleary to oppose Harris, CC should never grace the senior side again and should be traded that is if anybody wants him )not sure he has gotton over his drugs eposode maybe not the taking of them but the whole eposide he was a decent academy player. I guess this game will make it easier for Dane to be recalled, all he has to do is get thru the 2's game this week if he plays.Hanily maybe replaces Rocas untilPaps is ready and perhaps Melican for Hamling who is now a list clogger.

[KSAS]

I heard today Amartey wants $800k a season. He is deadset dreaming.

That $800k figure was media speculation rather than anything factual. Have posted update in the List Management thread after Johnny Ralph threw in his 2 cents worth pre game on Fox Footy.

Armatey's performance last night didn't help his cause! (He had a few mates to be fair)

Hope last night was the reality check and a kick in the guts we needed, after struggling wins against mid tier teams.

Michael Voss post game said after narrow wins, Cox may've stressed to the team where we still needed to improve but they may've thought yeah we get and understand that but we still won!

[Nico]

That $800k figure was media speculation rather than anything factual. Have posted update in the List Management thread after Johnny Ralph threw in his 2 cents worth pre game on Fox Footy.

Armatey's performance last night didn't help his cause! (He had a few mates to be fair)

Hope last night was the reality check and a kick in the guts we needed, after struggling wins against mid tier teams.

Michael Voss post game said after narrow wins, Cox may've stressed to the team where we still needed to improve but they may've thought yeah we get and understand that but we still won!

Why would I listen to a 2 time failed coach who failed to get his message across to his players. He was a miserable failure. For him to surmise what Cox is thinking is laughable.

[Auntie.Gerald]

Wow Brisbane gave us some great intel last night to be more flexible in out game management and tactics

they executed perfectly a “Spot Boxer” approach to controlling the game last night

pressure where it hurts most and last night Brisbanes ascendency at the middle bounce was elite

Energy efficiency
Tempo control
Reduced exposure
High value strikes
Psychological pressure
Tactical simplicity

[Roadrunner]

Guys, last night’s game was a reality check- we have trouble handling persistent pressure, as our kicking and handball skills then move well below par. This maybe a combination of mental and physical weekness as well as what looked like a poor footy IQ.

We have I think 4 elite players and 5-6 very good/ excellent ones and a couple of youngsters showing promise. But the rest are just average and though they can play the odd good game, they are inconsistent and can’t handle the pressures that the top teams can apply- they make too many errors!

Yes, we can play finals but I honestly think we’re not good enough to win a flag just yet.

[UUaswan]

Cox made the point that he didnt think Ladhams impacted Grundys role but more they both got soundly beaten

[SwanSand]

All I could see the physical pushing and shoving they did before the ball even got to out players. Then when the ball came we were a spent force and they were shutting down space quickly.
One thing I have noticed is that we play poorly against teams that do one on one defence rather than zone defence against us. I think everyone knows we want to play the uncontested vanilla football. As soon as the contest comes our skills are gone out the window and we turnover quickly.
I don’t think we would be able to win the comp like this.
Richmond also had some issues when they became this dominant team but what they had was this elite chaos and surge mentality with elite users.
we have the elite users but we are not overwhelming the opposition with our defence. The only ones that I thought were doing it well were Rowbottom and Jordan.
The issues are not fixable with the current team.

but we cannot underestimate that since Papley has gone out Rosas gets the best small defender and is easily shut out of the game.
That since Mcinerney has gone out - Chad and Heeney have to do a lot in the middle.
we also cannot underestimate the impact of injuries on positions the players had to change to during the year. There is no continuity.
Sheldrick needs to be a lot better than he is if we want to fix our midfield.
Cleary drop
Bice - is Ned Bowman playing better in defence. Of can bd replaced with Rampe.
but knowing Cox he will get Rampe to replace Cunningham.

[Auntie.Gerald]

The opposition antidote to fast handball attack is certainly closing space fast which then allowed more time for Brisbanes backline defence to set and or engage the one on ones

our tall forwards besides Curnow certainly got man handled because of Brisbanes forwards rushing and pressuring our handball exits

doesn’t mean that we can’t adapt and counter but last night we didn’t have it in us to match the intensity and velocity of Brisbane

[neilfws]

Reality check is right. After two awful GF outings, I imagined that at least some of the decisions around trading, selection and game plan would be focused on resilience and mental hardness. And I think I've seen evidence of that this season. But it all seemed to crumble last night, aside from the top tier players. The Lions know it, you can see them getting into the Swans' faces, even on TV.

I wonder how much of it is down to team changes. It's been a fairly settled side for a few weeks but now McInerney out (who has been very important), McCartin off an enforced rest, Gulden in (not saying that's a bad thing obviously!), three outs from the last game.

I'm struggling for positives other than Warner's goal of the year contender - just astounding. And I'm increasingly optimistic about the future of the defence, watching Edwards.

Someone pointed out that we're 1-1 vs the Lions with similar margins this season. Maybe next Friday will tell us more about where things stand.

[cubby]

We had more passengers last night than I can remember for a long time....
Amartey, Cleary, Cunningham, Ladhams, Rosas, McDonald.
Serong played his worst game in Red and White, ditto Bice, Grundy soundly beaten

Given the above, I'm willing to give the boys a mulligan, but clearly some changes are needed...

Out : Amartey, Cleary, Ladhams

In : Warner, I'd like to see him given a tagging role

Roberts, one our better ball uses, should come straight back in.

McLean is a proven AFL player, as opposed to Ladhams, a proven VFL player.

[Ludwig]

Our reality check came many weeks ago. It's not a secret to anyone. Just listen to the press conferences ober the past month or so from Cox and players. We know that we need to change the game plan, because, as many pundits predicted, we would be found out and our corridor game would be stopped.

The only solution is the one that Brisbane came up with to stop their slump. It's the only plan that works and can succeed in finals. That's pressure. We used to be a team that blew out other teams in the 1st quarter with our intense pressure. Now we are ones being blown out. Now one has to be told this. Everyone knows it. We just can't execute it.

If we don't regain our high pressure game, our season is as good as over. It doesn't matter where we stand on the ladder now, we can't beat the better teams.

Agree that Bice, Rosas, Cleary, Amartey and Ladhams have to go. Perhaps replaced by Rampe, Papley, Roberts, Mclean, plus Kyle or Datoli.

To a great extent, it's more about how we play than who we play. We just have to wait and see if we can do it. Surprise me, Swans. .

[Dow]

Our reality check came many weeks ago. It's not a secret to anyone. Just listen to the press conferences ober the past month or so from Cox and players. We know that we need to change the game plan, because, as many pundits predicted, we would be found out and our corridor game would be stopped.

The only solution is the one that Brisbane came up with to stop their slump. It's the only plan that works and can succeed in finals. That's pressure. We used to be a team that blew out other teams in the 1st quarter with our intense pressure. Now we are ones being blown out. Now one has to be told this. Everyone knows it. We just can't execute it.

If we don't regain our high pressure game, our season is as good as over. It doesn't matter where we stand on the ladder now, we can't beat the better teams.

Agree that Bice, Rosas, Cleary, Amartey and Ladhams have to go. Perhaps replaced by Rampe, Papley, Roberts, Mclean, plus Kyle or Datoli.

To a great extent, it's more about how we play than who we play. We just have to wait and see if we can do it. Surprise me, Swans. .

Our 2nd tier is a real concern our top 5 players are elites but after that we drop away quite badly

[UUaswan]

I'd like to see Kyle back for Bice, more than upto it.

And id look at Phillipou or Dattoli over Cleary or Hannily. Corey Warner isnt no star but he has been dropped for less than what Cleary and Hannily have given.

Corey can play fwd, Cleary can't, he is a mid and I suspect a VFL mid only.

So many passengers but to my memory only Roberts and Melican have been held publicy accountable all season

[Nico]

Sheldrick had only 59% TOG yet had 28 possessions. Maybe he should have had a lot more TOG.