Swans v Tigers Match Thread

[Big Al]

My impression at the ground was our desire seemed to have returned. Our attack on the ball and in the tackle were terrific. If we can improve our decision making and polish up the skills under pressure we may have turned the corner.

Grundy was terrific tonight. What a debut.
LRT and Leo were rock solid in defence.
MOL and ROK played handy cameos up forward.

Kirky (kick in the head aside) had another frustrating night. I hope he turns around his form soon.

I thought Doyle played fairly well in the reserves and he is needed to give Jolly a hand in the ruck. Can't win another comp with Jolly as the only recognised ruckman. Heres a prediction for you. Doyle could be our X factor in the push for back to back. Then again he could do hammy getting out of the shower. Who knows.

Overall a pleasing result and something to build on.

[liz]

A win is always pretty satisfying when it's hard to pick who the best players were. No passengers out there tonight at all.

Grundy's debut - already highlighted. On the basis of tonight's performance I was wrong about my doubts of whether he could transfer his style from reserves to senior level and I am very happy about that! His chasing and ground level work were nearly as impressive as his marking.

LRT - great game. Richo may not be at his best and the delivery to the Tiger forward line may have been terrible but Lewis beat Richo point blank in pretty much every one-on-one contest. Sometimes it looked as if he surprised himself but he still did it.

Jude Bolton played his best game for about two months. I know that's not much competition but it was good to see one of the two senior midfielders up and about again. His ball usage was much improved on recent weeks.

Kennelly was pretty good early. Two 50m penalties against him blotted his copybook a bit but I love the way he turns back into traffic, rather than being forced to run toward the wing, because he knows he has the pace to get away with it. Footspeed is one thing, but knowing how and when to use it is just as important.

Malceski's kicking is a joy to watch. Let's hope he stays in one piece for the rest of the year because he really does add something to the side. Could be the 'X' factor that's been missing.

I know Phillips is quick and fit, but I wish they'd leave him up in the forward line more. That's where he is capable of doing damage, not darting around the packs in the middle of the ground, where he doesn't have the body strength yet to win contests.

[Snowy]

Just on Grundy, having seen a bit of him at under 18's level I thought he might struggle because he looked a bit cumbersome and struggled at ground level. I suspect that's why he didn't go in the main draft after being touted as an early pick. And just to reiterate what I said earlier, I believe that Richmond's defence without Bowden and Newman was really stretched which probably helped him. Will be interested to see how he goes on a bigger ground.

[NMWBloods]

Originally posted by DST
Amazing, that young bloke Phiilips who has replaced Davis in the side ran hard, got himself to contests and generally harrased the Richmond defenders while the ball was in the forward 50.

You don't need to be Einstein to see the difference.

Showed just what the side has been lacking recently.

Surely you're kidding. You think we've suddenly turned the corner and replacing Davis with Phillips has been the reason!?!

[NMWBloods]

I wonder if Kirk has a lifetime supply of premiership credits...

I also wonder how Ablett managed to get any premiership credits...

[cruiser]

Originally posted by sydneyswans1989
I'm very concerned about Jolly, he isn't doing enough, his given away about 5 free kicks tonight.

Yep, I also think that he can be lazy at times and doesnt make enough effort. I think he might only ever be our second ruckman,

[Zlatorog]

Originally posted by cruiser
Yep, I also think that he can be lazy at times and doesnt make enough effort. I think he might only ever be our second ruckman,

Maybe he's still honeymooning...

[TheHood]

Originally posted by cruiser
Yep, I also think that he can be lazy at times and doesnt make enough effort. I think he might only ever be our second ruckman,

Unfit, uncertain and unconfident.

Oh we talking about Jols...yes him too, describing myself there for a second!

Jols has issues and so do we. The ruck is our achilles heel if you will.

Richards in the ruck was unthinkable a month ago...ridiculous really.

Chambers won't play in the firsts again short of a further injury disaster...that really was a recruiting error but those things do happen.

Hawthorn lead the AFL in hitouts to advantage (thanks Fox Footy) so maybe Spida has still got what we need.

[ScottH]

Jolly needs to start taking some of the important marks up Fwd and down back. He gets to the contest, but continually spills the beans.

[DST]

Originally posted by NMWBloods
Surely you're kidding. You think we've suddenly turned the corner and replacing Davis with Phillips has been the reason!?!

A little poetic lincense, but our forward line pressure which had been largely non exsistent for a month has been much better over the last 2 weeks.

Sometimes you have to be harsh on one, to send a message to the rest of the team and unfortunately for Nick Davis he did himself no favours in his preparation nor his forward line pressure before he was dropped.

DST

[NMWBloods]

Originally posted by DST
A little poetic lincense, but our forward line pressure which had been largely non exsistent for a month has been much better over the last 2 weeks.

Sometimes you have to be harsh on one, to send a message to the rest of the team and unfortunately for Nick Davis he did himself no favours in his preparation nor his forward line pressure before he was dropped.

Yes, he was a bit lazy at times, but I think the whole forward line was. MOL and Hall certainly did little chasing.

There has been some improvement in intensity and perhaps dropping Davis had some impact on the rest of the team psyche. However, I still think it was unfair to single him out.

We'll see over the next month whether that intensity continues to grow as it's still a long way short of last year.

[Nico]

The one thing that got to me last night. Pussy little kicks from around 50 metres either backwards or short of a leading something about 10 metres away. When we went long to the top of the square the Tigers cacked themselves.

Barry Hall does his dopey little kicks from HF every week and almost never hits a target. Now with Grundy and MOL as targets and with the smalls finally finding the fall of the ball, why not pop it to the hot spot.

And what was that "disposal" of Buchanans in the last Q to no mans land on the HFF, so easily swept away by the Tigers defence.

If we had done as above it would have been more like a 12 goal victory.

[ScottH]

Originally posted by Nico
. When we went long to the top of the square the Tigers cacked themselves.

I've been saying that for a while. It causes the defensive team to go into panic mode. We just weren't putting them under nay great pressure.

As for Buchanan's kick, Just one of those ones that shoulda been something more. Actually I saw that a number of times on the w/e from other teams. obviously caught in half a mind which player to kick to, and missed all.

[JF_Bay22_SCG]

From the enemy camp

I read with interest what the Tiger fans were saying on ThePuntRoadEnd about the match.

http://www.puntroadend.com/yabbse/index.php?topic=23075.165

Alot of it was surprisingly intelligent, which for the average Rixhmond fan is saying something. Their comments on us winning the flag last year were actually really interesting reading. Their criticisms of the archaic SCG were notable as well.

Even SwanniesErin and her "Save Davis" crew got a mention (you "filled out your t-shirts" well LOL)!


JF
ps:-SE, imagine what would have happened had the Tiger fans gotten to pat your furry red muff like I had the (mis)fortune of doing at 3/4 time!

[swannieserin]

Re: From the enemy camp

Originally posted by JF_Bay22_SCG

ps:-SE, imagine what would have happened had the Tiger fans gotten to pat your furry red muff like I had the (mis)fortune of doing at 3/4 time!

The lucky ones did! Tell you what though, most fun I've ever had at the footy. Tigers supporters are good! The Adelaide/Port/St Kilda supporters could learn a lot from them ...