Talls

[sharp9]

Very dissappointing to see all our talls (bar Hall) absolutely beaten for nearly the whole game.

Hale, Petrie (for God's sake...can't get a kick against anyone else) McIntosh (first year player), Thompson, Rawlings (are we @@@@ing joking??) gave our blokes an absolute lesson.

Barry, LRT (his first real belting this year, I reckon) Richards (kept getting moved to try and find an opponent who didn't pants him) Barry, Kennelly (beaten by Green!!!!) Jolly and Chambers all were just terrible.

They looked outclassed, which was bizarre. Sure delivery was good etc, etc, but beaten one on one or two on two over and over. I couldn't believe it.

I wonder what the stats are for contested marks by Jolly and Chambers over 10 games. 90% sure Torture has not taken even one. Would be a league bottom. Jolly hardly any at either end of the ground. Add to this that they are easily the two worst ruckmen in the comp below their knees and frankly, I 'm getting sick of it. Jolly is actually worse than Benny at failing to pick up a bouncing ball. Compare to the skillful talls, Cox, Fraser etc it is shameful.

IMO Jolly has been reading too much stuff about himself and needs to actually look at his output. He is the 20th ranked Ruckman in the comp....Chambers is 43rd and dead last.

[giant]

I agree entirely (tho I think you've been too kind to LRT who was touched up by Croad the week before IMO).

Inevitably, what it means is that every other team is going to go the Laidley Solution and pile their forwards with talls in an attempt to exploit us (if it's wet this weekend, the Saints may be an exception but we should be very thankful they are w/o Hamill & Kosi). Of course teams have tried that in the past & Leo & B2 have played above themselves (literally at times) but I think we are looking more vulnerable down back than we did last year.

I think we really need a Plan B down there for Richards & LRT and that may involve a comination of Dempster, Vogels & maybe even Goodes.

[NMWBloods]

This has always been a major vulnerability of ours.

Generally we've managed to get away with it by playing a tough, high pressure game in the midfield, thus reducing the effectiveness of delivery into the opposition F50, plus a tight team defence. We manage to get players back and the guys have been pretty good at supporting each other when the ball comes in.

In some ways we've also been lucky that teams have not been able to exploit our defensive weakness by spreading the defence and getting the ball in quickly.

It does happen, and we look poor when it does, but not that often, partly because of our strategies (as noted above) and partly because the other teams really just don't seem to work as hard to exploit it. Perhaps because it looks weak it looks like you don't need to be to clever. Perhaps because it is too hard to exploit too many defensive players for too long.

Whatever the case, it does remain a vulnerability.

[liz]

Most teams' defence looks fragile when their midfield is being beaten and the ball is coming in with purpose and precision.

Skilful midfielders are able to pass the ball to their advantage of their forwards, who usually have an advantage in reading the play due to them knowing what their team mate is likely to do.

LRT was badly beaten on Sunday but it was pretty much the only time this year. I disagree that he was touched up by Croad. I thought he did reasonably well in that contest and at least held him own (while acknowledging that Croad's wrist was causing him problems).

[stellation]

Re: Talls

Originally posted by sharp9
Rawlings (are we @@@@ing joking??)

Jade has always been a strong mark, no giant shame for him in particular to take a few.

[RogueSwan]

Re: Re: Talls

Originally posted by stellation
Jade has always been a strong mark ...

... but an ordinary shot on goal IIRC. For some reason 6 - 7 rings a bell.

[NMWBloods]

Yes and yes re Rawlings.

He kicked 1 goal and had 3 misses.

Took 11 marks, 1 contested.

[stellation]

I think some of those misses came from the "impossible to score at" end, but he is a terrible kick for goal (although he did kick one good one whilst he was still with the Hawks, bastid!). His kicking around the ground was actually pretty decent on the weekend.

[giant]

Originally posted by liz
Most teams' defence looks fragile when their midfield is being beaten and the ball is coming in with purpose and precision.

Skilful midfielders are able to pass the ball to their advantage of their forwards, who usually have an advantage in reading the play due to them knowing what their team mate is likely to do.

Sure Liz you can live with the situation where the midfielder on the fast break hits the fast leading forward lace out - that will happen. That wasn't the case on sunday tho when on a number of occasions our defence were beaten one on one or in a pack situation or too slow on the lead from a stationary mark. They are the occasions that concern me & where LRT & Richards in particular seem to be most vulnerable (tho admittedly LRT perhaps only the last 1 or 2 weeks).

[hammo]

It's disappointing that Chambers and Richards have walked straight into the side and appear to be automatic selections every week without contributing much.

[Rizzo]

Originally posted by hammo
It's disappointing that Chambers and Richards have walked straight into the side and appear to be automatic selections every week without contributing much.

Beggars can"t be choosers...and it's a beggars market in the talls department at the Swans.

Jolly was very good last season. I'm pretty sure he is still carrying an injury this season which has so far, included a record number of hit outs in a game. Played a lot better is the last quarter in Canberra. Needs to contribute like that for all 4.

[TMSS]

Originally posted by hammo
It's disappointing that Chambers and Richards have walked straight into the side and appear to be automatic selections every week without contributing much.

Couldn't agree more,,, my only problem with the swans so far this year.

[Young Blood]

Originally posted by hammo
It's disappointing that Chambers and Richards have walked straight into the side and appear to be automatic selections every week without contributing much.

Are you saying its disappointing that they've been picked ahead of others, or that our list is such that they are the best available?

IMHO they are clearly the best available for their respective roles in the side. Richards has contributed most weeks. But he's a 40-game player who, like most inexperienced players, struggles when asked to play in a KP. And after a slow start, Chambers (another 40-game player) has competed well in the ruck. Yes, he is totally unco around the ground, but we ain't got no other ruckman ready to play senior footy.

[hammo]

Disappointing they are the best available.

If we had depth in talls as we do in the midfield then it would be less of a concern for me.

Its simply frustrating that 'better' players are stuck in the reserves at the moment: Dempster, Willoughby, Moore, Schmidt.

[TheHood]

Our ruck stocks are low IMO. Jolls and Chambers are average and don't exactly have the footy brain AROUND THE GROUND required for AFL.

It's a tough one because they can tap well most of the time but when they are up against better spring or taller blokes they don't get much hand on the ball.

So against a good ruck combo, they don't ruck well and if they aren't creative around the ground (read: if they are fumbling, slow, non-marking amateurs), then we're in strife.

This issue is chronic and priority number one at the end of the season.