Late Change for tonight's game - Davis OUT (Official Game Thread)

[jodi]

Crap, crap, crap! The swans need a rocket up the proverbial at the moment. Something drastic needs to be done....and NOW!!!

[Nico]

The key to our forward line is Davis not Hall or MOL. When he is out we struggle. On that tonight we are relying on 2 ageing forwards who longer have to win us games.

It appears unless Kirk puts in aherculian effort the midfield gets a towelling. Blokes like J Bolton, McVeigh, Ablett, Buchanan and Schneider are not capable of rising to the occasion when needed. That is everything must go their way, they are now front runners.

Schneider only put in late and Ablett was abysmal. His missing of targets was a lowlight of our game. Tonight was just too hard for McVeigh and J Bolton showed how far he has slipped.

I thought the one thing we could take from the game was Schmidt's last Q. At least he made space and kicks well to a target. He covers a lot of ground and is prepared to push back, then run forward to make a loose target.

Our defence continues to keep teams to losing scores but our midfield and kicking to forwards lets us down continually. Our midfield clearance work was pathetic. Is there a chance one of our blokes might think quick enough to make it first to the ball.

Beaten by a better team on the night and simply saved from embarassment by our backs.

We are officially rebuilding. Surely Roos could see our time is up, the 3rd window is officially shut.

[tawfiq]

what saved us the embarrassment, really was collingwood's inaccurate kicking, game shouldve been over well before it had begun

[tawfiq]

i saw that commercial there had during the game, with the sydney vs freo preliminary final from last yr, that night, hall and o'loughlin kicked 12 together or something and i thought to myself that was the last time, where they both had a great game together, since then both have struggled, or one has struggled and the other has been at least decent. what did for us in that game, was our quick delivery, so maybe we should go to that strategy, the game has changed and our style isnt good anymore, how frustrating is it, when its used against us aswell
MAN I FEEL LIKE BELTING THE CRAP OUT OF SOMETHING!!!

[Nico]

No question the only way we can come back from this is take some risks and make sides think about us once again.

Just think tonight how many times our backs got the footy, ran free only to have no one leading up or making space anywhere across centre until very late eg. Schmidt.

[Legs Akimbo]

No question the only way we can come back from this is take some risks and make sides think about us once again.

Just think tonight how many times our backs got the footy, ran free only to have no one leading up or making space anywhere across centre until very late eg. Schmidt.

It's a bit hard to get a sense of that on the TV because they don't seem to use the whole ground shot like Channel 9 used to do. However, one assumes from how long it took to move the ball forward that the players upfield were not working hard enough.

[ScottH]

It's a bit hard to get a sense of that on the TV because they don't seem to use the whole ground shot like Channel 9 used to do. However, one assumes from how long it took to move the ball forward that the players upfield were not working hard enough.

I thought maybe there was no one upfield to kick to.

[Legs Akimbo]

I thought maybe there was no one upfield to kick to.

...or that

[Lucky Knickers]

Just got home!
I'm going to make a HUGE call tonight.
Davis - more important than Tadhg. Our forward line is not operational in any shape or form. Run off the back line is important but goals are what wins games.

[Nico]

Luke Ablett clearly has not recovered from the back related hamstring. He was out against Hawthorn and I would think it is a fair assumption that he hasn't trained at full pace for some weeks. Has our art of playing injured finally caught up with us.

Our only hope is to win enough to scrape into the 8 then front up with our fittest and best 22. (doesn't include Bevan no matter how many are unfit).

[ernie koala]

bolton very poor
schneider very poor
buchanan very poor
ablett very poor
matthews very poor
adam goodes thinks he is better than he is

McVeigh, a typically pathetic performance
Matthews, a typically pathetic performance

[Melbournehammer]

Matthews is a very good stopper. But when we are chasing the game - as we have been for much of this season he is absolutely useless - we miss crouch in these situations because at least he runs and carries even if he can't kick accurately

[ernie koala]

Grundy, not up to it.
Bevan, not up to it.

[Nico]

Matthews is a very good stopper. But when we are chasing the game - as we have been for much of this season he is absolutely useless - we miss crouch in these situations because at least he runs and carries even if he can't kick accurately

Burns belted him tonight.

[Gary]

Are there still some apologists out there for this mob...how did we beat Hawthorn? Slow of body, hand, foot & brain. We can't win this year or next, & better start blooding some young blokes now. Bolton is a tragedy unfolding IMO. Barry is...I dunno!