Swans V Port Practice (Including Score Updates)

[JF_Bay22_SCG]

OB Royboys summed up things in a better way than myself. It was a strange evening, with the longest last quarter I have ever seen. The Swans were losing by 5 points yet were chipping it around which was frustrating as a spectator but probably understandable in hindsight.

Overall a very sloppy effort from the boys, the 3rd quarter aside. Lots of terrible overuse of the ball out of defence at times (Leo Barry ) which the Port forwards duly made us pay for. We were second to the ball for much of the evening, with Port killing us in the clearances. Barry Hall lost his cool a couple of time & gave away a couple of unnecessary 50s where he kept mouthing off at the umps, whilst players like Leo Barry & Davis did great things like take either a one-handed grab or kick from over 50 or in the case of Barry a Grand Finalesque speccie only to screw things up with a weak error moments later.

Nobody got injured and Phillips and maybe Rowe looked the players who would be best qualified to stake a claim for a spot against the Illegals out of the Ressies players. Port's best was Brett Ebert for mine. Played as a forward and made the different in the 40 minute odd last quarter-thingie.

Still a lot of work to do for Round 1 I feel. Tonight may well be a wake-up call for a couple of our players.

JF

[ScottH]

NAB Challenge: Swans fall just short

Two late goals bring Paul Roos' side to within five points of Port Adelaide

More...

[AnnieH]

The last quarter went for about 40 minutes.
Sirengate would have looked like a tea party had it been a normal H&A game.

Toy Boy Roy ... I checked the BoM website to make sure ... the relative humidity was at around 49% during the game (although, it DID feel like 95%). It's 97% in Penrith now ... I hope you're still drinking them beers.

[Triple B]

Sitting on the fence near the Port bench

We were sitting behind the Port bench, but about a dozen rows back.

They were taking it serious, but it was all fun.

[JF_Bay22_SCG]

Big Footy thread

http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/showthread.php?p=6960502#post6960502

The powerfromPort.com thread

http://thepowerfromport.com.au/viewthread.php?tid=15962&page=11#pid168499

JF

[JF_Bay22_SCG]

Fun night out. Sitting on the fence near the Port bench, there were quite a few Port Adelaide meatheads sitting near us. They were treating the win like a grand final!

I used to work with one of that lot.

They only get to see their team at best twice a year, so they were pretty excited about everything.

They were at the Brewery after the match. They were ok, even if this drink bloke kept on insisting on telling us jokes when we were wanting to leave. They came up for a chat & had their heads screwed on that it was only a practice game and that the flag wasn't won in March.

Was an interesting night. Even PeterH, a noted practise match hater, was getting into it in the 3rd quarter.

Hopefully the boys will realise they have to lift an extra 50% on tonight's effort to come anywhere near beating West Coast in 2 weeks.

JF

[ROK Lobster]

Toy Boy Roy ... I checked the BoM website to make sure ... the relative humidity was at around 49% during the game (although, it DID feel like 95%). It's 97% in Penrith now ... I hope you're still drinking them beers.

You still don't really get the 'relativity' bit of the "relative humidity" do you Annie, though you seem to mention it a lot.

[Triple B]

You still don't really get the 'relativity' bit of the "relative humidity" do you Annie, though you seem to mention it a lot.

Careful there ROK or a few relatives might turn up on your doorstep.

[Tuco]

Did anyone else notice how shocking Luke Vogels was tonight?

Ah and then he missed that goal in the last quarter!

That was funny. He went the daicos...bit embarrassing. But nothing as embarrasing as MOL missing a snap from the goal square moments earlier having sides tepped his man and under no pressure.

I think there's no point even thinking about negatives froma game like that, though. There were some pleasing things, I might just focus on them.

ps: where I was sitting I could literally hear crickets chirping!

[NMWBloods]

But all throughout the game the delivery into the forward line was abysmal, and there were lots of bad options taken clearing the ball from defence, giving absolute hospital passes to team mates and resulting in simple turnovers for Port.

I don't care about winning or losing practice matches, but I find these aspects frustrating. There is no need for us to do stupid things just because the game doesn't count. You'd think it would be the perfect opportunity to practice these aspects.

[Doctor]

Howdy all. I agree with the summaries of the other folks who were there. First half was pretty poor and we should probably have been further behind. 3rd quarter definitely our best. Dunno what happened with the 4th quarter but we were joking that they'd been told not to sound the siren until Sydney took the lead back.

Fosdike was our best, particularly early on when others were going badly. I agree on Vogels too, he didn't have a good night at all. Phillips best of the kids by far.

Finally a word on the umpiring. I don't feel that it was biased against one side or the other, just bewildering all round. If this is a taste of what's to come we are in for a frustrating year (and I mean all footy fans, not just Swans supporters). Half the time my group and those around me had no idea what the free kicks were for, and clearly the players didn't know sometimes either. The HITB rule is just silly. I don't even know if it's the fault of the umpires or the instructions they are being given but it was a bit of a mess at times.

[ROK Lobster]

The HITB rule is just silly. I don't even know if it's the fault of the umpires or the instructions they are being given but it was a bit of a mess at times.

I think, as you suggest, that it is the fault of the rule. Seems to me like there will be very few marking contests that do not result in a free kick (either by way of a mark or an infringement). Have we seen the death of the crumber? Is it a conspiracy to put an end to the 'ugly' ground level game, in favour of a complicated version of 'forcings-back'?

[Nico]

Read in the Sun News Pictorial that Jolly and Everett alternated between ruck and up forward. I suggest that was only for the ground time rather than a set play. Roos almost always rotates his rucks off the bench so I doubt he will change a winning formula now that Spider is playing for us.

[DeadlyAkkuret]

Well great news, the Eagles aren't playing much better against the Bulldogs. Just thought i'd mention that since practice matches suddenly mean so much

[stellation]

Read in the Sun News Pictorial that Jolly and Everett alternated between ruck and up forward. I suggest that was only for the ground time rather than a set play. Roos almost always rotates his rucks off the bench so I doubt he will change a winning formula now that Spider is playing for us.

We'd have to rotate Peter through the forward line on at least a part time basis. Unless Darren has swallowed big Cox (sorry!) and absorbed his lungs he just doesn't have the fitness so sit his arse on the bench whilst Peter rucks... but Peter should have at least one spell per match up forward.