Richmond Practice Match Thread

[annew]

Swans V Richmond Score

For those interested in the score of a practice match heard on the radio Swans V Richmond score was Swans 85 Richmond 66.

[gloveski]

was that fulltime annew?

[annew]

Swans Practice game result on Channel 10 sports

Will be on Channel 10 sports in a few minutes.

[ScottH]

Best:

Syd: A Goodes N Fosdike S Phillips A Buchanan R O'Keefe M O'Loughlin P Everitt.

Interesting. Did Simmonds play? Who was he rucking against?

[ROK Lobster]

Originally posted by ScottH
Best:

Syd: A Goodes N Fosdike S Phillips A Buchanan R O'Keefe M O'Loughlin P Everitt.

Interesting. Did Simmonds play? Who was he rucking against?

Simmonds is injured. Won't be back until mid season.

[elroy67]

Originally posted by ScottH
Best:

Syd: A Goodes N Fosdike S Phillips A Buchanan R O'Keefe M O'Loughlin P Everitt.

Interesting. Did Simmonds play? Who was he rucking against?

The Tiges only other ruck option is Knobel, not sure if he played though.

[Sanecow]

Originally posted by elroy67
The Tiges only other ruck option is Knobel, not sure if he played though.

Wallsy reckons Knobel is worth a flag.

[elroy67]

Originally posted by Sanecow
Wallsy reckons Knobel is worth a flag.

What? a white one?

[ugg]

Originally posted by ScottH
Best:

Syd: A Goodes N Fosdike S Phillips A Buchanan R O'Keefe M O'Loughlin P Everitt.

Interesting. Did Simmonds play? Who was he rucking against?

Adam Pattison and Angus Graham.

[ScottH]

Originally posted by ugg
Adam Pattison and Angus Graham.

OooKaaayyy. That helps!

[elroy67]

A report of the game as posted by the Herald Sun here.

Fossie reported for striking and Tadhg with a bruised shoulder seem to be the main concerns.

[nat]

Ah, no good on Tadhg.

Hopefully we'll get more news on this soon.

[liz]

Just got home from Canberra. Not sure that driving down and back in a day is such a great idea. My knees and ankles are sore as.

But a few comments.

White was switched to the other end of the ground and did a reasonable job, notwithstanding the fact he was playing on newbies. Looks much more comfortable down there than Vogels and I suspect he may have booked himself a spot for round 1, given LRT's absence. When was the last time a new draftee debuted in round 1 for the Swans?

And playing in defence didn't stop him charging down the ground in the final term to dob a running goal from just outside 50.

Highlight of the day was undoubtedly Phillips. He looks to have bulked up enough that he may be able to cope a bit better with senior football. He laid a couple of tackles that really stuck - which was encouraging, and they were on biggish bodies. And he seems to have lost none of his speed or smarts in the process.

He kicked 3 goals, and narrowly missed 2 others. One of the goals came from a pretty special mark. Caught behind his opponent - and it is stating the obvious to say his "taller opponent" - he lept early - too early it seemed - but just seemed to hang in the air for an age, and brought the mark down. Finished it off with a nice kick from about 40m out.

Another of his goals came from a gather and snap, about 30m out, and he looked like he had all the time in the world. Late in the final quarter he took a good mark running backwards into space. For his height he seems very assured overhead.

Other comments:

Most of the senior players were pretty quiet. Kirk was much quieter than last week, and Jude didn't seem to do a huge amount either. But the rotations on and off the bench were almost continuous so I have no idea of how much time they spent on the ground. It was a pretty warm day and most of them looked spent when they came off.

Monty was pretty good - kicked a fabulous curving snap in the final quarter - and Fossie was lively too, with two excellent goals (one a bit like Flipper's gather and snap, the other a long bomb). Saw him get reported but didn't really see the incident. It was behind play, as Richmond were clearing the ball and moving it up towards their attack.

Everitt got into the game as the match wore on. His tap work all around the ground was decisive, though I suspect the opposition didn't amount to much. He's going to have to get used to the little wormburning kicks aimed at his knees - it is a long way down for him - but he gathered a couple of them later in the game, and looked far more comfortable as a linkman in play than Jolly ever does.

Goodes and O'Keefe both had so-so days, I thought. O'Keefe wasn't quite holding those pressure marks that he normally does and it looked like it was frustrating him a bit. Goodes was prominant early but then made a couple of turnovers and seemed to spend a lot of time waving his arms around hoping someone might kick the ball to him.

O'Loughlin took one super body-on-body mark at the start of the second quarter and kicked a goal from it. And there was another passage where he had wandered up the ground into the midfield and executed a smother followed by two tackles all in the same bit of play. Other than that he struggled to get into the game a bit, and has some work to do on that "HITB" rule.

Other players:

Schmidt - OK without being great. Didn't start in the middle as much as he did last week. Still probably has his nose in front to keep Ablett's spot warm early in the season.

Rowe - took a couple of super contested marks. Moves surprising well, but didn't get much time in the ruck, and he's a long way from becoming an imposing forward option.

Jack - lively, scored a good goal after taking a mark and confidently playing on and running into goal. Laid at least one tackle that won him a free for HTB, and spent some time in the centre square. Looks a fair bit stronger than last year and senior footy isn't beyond him.

Barlow - much much better game than last week. Involved in quite a lot of the play and was generally good with the ball. Had an attack of the fumbles for most of second quarter - probably his biggest obstacle - but for the rest of the game was OK.

Moore - few nice things but doesn't look particularly fit. Probably slightly behind Schmidt and Flipper for a first round spot at the moment.

Simpkin - took an opportunistic goal well. Did some nice stuff around the middle of the ground.

Kennelly - barely sighted, especially in the second half. Suspect they were using him sparingly.

Thornton, Brabazon, Smith - none did very much. Nor did Bevan.

Faulks - very raw, huge amount to learn but he showed signs today of having a good footy brain and he moves well enough.

Dempster - played down back and was quite good. Made a couple of confident punches and provided some run and carry down the ground.

All in all it was a reasonable hit out for so early in the season. They probably should have won by more, particularly given the experience level of the opposition, but probably took their collective feet off the pedal at times. Can't blame them, given the temperature. The whole squad looks very well drilled, whether its the experienced players or the kiddies, and I echo the comment from someone after last week's game that the reserves won't lose a game this season.

Can't think of much more now. Sure others will add comments as they trickle home.

[NMWBloods]

Thanks for the detailed comments Liz.

[Old Royboy]

Here's my take, not much different to Liz.

Nice day in the sun at Canberra. Scorching 34 degrees. Richmond fielded mainly kids, our senior players who were there seemed mostly to interchange with each other so that very few of them would have played more than half a game.
Player Impressions:
Goodes: Dominated the1st half, oozed class, then faded.
Leo: Only gave away one or two ITB?s, rusty and not much game time.
Tadhg: Not sighted after half way through second quarter, later heard he has a shoulder problem.
Monty: Getting into the groove, good game, intelligent passing, great goal.
Spida: Against inexperienced opposition dominated taps, but as Swans site said, our small guys did not read him well.
Dr Jolly: So So.
Fossie: Played more as outside midfielder, damaging in spurts.
Dempster: Couple of dashes, otherwise quiet.
Kirk: Not dominant this week, just cruised around.
Magic: Finding new ITB rule difficult, pinged two or three times.
Pebbles: Very rusty, uncharacteristic dropped marks.
Bevan: Improved kicking skills!!
Vogels: Competent but not a standout ? against today?s opposition should have dominated.
Schmidt: Built like brick outhouse now. Did some good things.
Moore: Fairly quiet.

The kids:
Flea Phillips: Super game, kicked 3-2. Reads play well, can find the ball and a terrific mark for his size. On today?s effort ink him in for round 1.
Mocca White: Played back this week, did a few good things, beaten on the lead a couple of times. This kid can kick the footy a bloody mile!
Thornton: Impressed with his ?in and under? ability, otherwise didn?t notice much.
Barlow: Found a bit of the ball this week.
Simpkin: Has good footy instinct (see goal description below)
Rowe: Took one screamer, then hit the behind post OTF. Otherwise not much.
Shaw: Did nothing
Columbo: Didn?t notice him apart from one great play. Surprisingly big kid.
Jack: Getting there, good disposal, nice running goal.

I know I missed some (apologies to those on the Laidlaw bandwagon) but there are too many blondes that I don?t know well enough. Unless they turn their back so very hard to tell them apart at a distance.



The Goals:

Move initiated by Goodes resulted in mark on the lead and goal for the Breadman.
Goodes roaming unchecked on the Sydney half forward line strolls in and goals from 45 out.
Flea Phillips roves ball off the back of a boundary throw in and snapped truly.
Twice in succession Thornton showed good skill in traffic, both times feeding Fossie for two goals.
2nd Quarter
Magic takes great diving mark and goals.
ITB against Richmond defender gifts goal to the Duke.
Flea Philips takes a HANGER and goals from 40 out.
3rd Quarter.
Disputed ball in Swans goalsquare ? Simpkin goals off the ground.
One I wanted to see ? boundary throw in, perfect tap from Spida to Kirk who finds a free man in the middle, on to the Gambler who goals on the run.
Another nice goal: Columbo shows good anticipation and great dash from backline, good pass to Simpkin in space. He dummies the opposition, handballs to Monty and another good pass to the Flea for his third goal.
Final:
Super snap under pressure from Monty, 45 out on his wrong side.
Breadman intercepts poor Tiger pass and marks. Handballs on to Mocca White who bombs from 60 out and clears the fence.

Summary: Should have blown the tiger cubs away by much more, but I suspect many of our senior players were not giving 100% - can?t blame them in that heat and will have rockets up their rear ends this week. The coaches must have decided that they had seen enough because they did not play any time on in the last quarter. I missed Fossie?s indiscretion completely, probably distracted (see below). Best of the kids Phillips, Simpkin, Thornton and White. The maggots confused the spectators, the players and I suspect themselves with the new ITB rule. So bloody inconsistent.

The Other Highlight

There was a bikie wedding on at the church directly across Canberra Ave from the ground. Bride and Groom emerged from the church during the last quarter, jumped in their shining white limo. Driver then did mega donuts, right there and then. Those of us in the back row of the stand were royally entertained. Annie was so excited I thought she was going to wet herself.