Robert Walls

[CureTheSane]

The percentage of time spent talking about Collingwood's "terrific, young players" was really aggravating. Let's face it, Walls is never going to muster any genuine enthusiasm for anything the Swans do. Time for some Sydney-centric commentators - as we say every year

He has an opinion - big deal.

I agreed with his comments about the game plan.
At times I felt as if he had been reading my posts here.

However, the Colliwobble comments got to me too.
How many Dale Thomas orgasms occurred in the commentary box?

[barry]

I have a lot of time for Walls. He calls it as he see's it, and he is spot on the money again this time. A lot of things change in football over time, but at the time of his remarks he is a good judge as to what is going on without being in the inner-sanctum.

Maybe the swans can turn it around but it will need a different game plan than what we have now. Same as 2005 (Our style of play did change that year)

[giant]

perhaps they mean he enjoys watching afl and its been a good season

Pay that....

[Hazcam]

I thought the most annoying comments on the tv was the idiot saying "you can never write off the Swans" even when we only had 3 goals to three quarter time!

its been done before but
regardless of the fact they had 3 goals, it's all about margin. we were 39 pts down and teams have come back from that at the last change.

north did it to us on glen archers 250th

[ernie koala]

speaking of commentators, i was watching the replay the other night and i can't remember exactly what was said or who said it but it was said that...

wait for it...


...


"mcveigh is enjoying a good season"




after i got over my initial shock, it was the funniest thing ever, could not stop laughing

I can tell you something funnier............
In last weeks 'Inside football' feature naming possible State of Origin teams...
Here comes the punchline......
J McVeigh named on the interchange bench for the Allies ..

[swantastic]

Robert Walls...

= @@@@wit.

[ernie koala]

I have a lot of time for Walls. He calls it as he see's it, and he is spot on the money again this time. A lot of things change in football over time, but at the time of his remarks he is a good judge as to what is going on without being in the inner-sanctum.

Maybe the swans can turn it around but it will need a different game plan than what we have now. Same as 2005 (Our style of play did change that year)

It isn't hard to be "spot on the money" when criticising a team playing crap football. The fact is he's been criticising the swans "game plan" for the last 3years.......and got it horribly wrong.
Like all teams in the AFL, when our team works hard all over the field, with and without the ball, they get their confidence up and start to look good...and they win. All this crap about it being the game plan is exactly that....crap. Hard work, accountability to a given task, and confidence, wins games more often than not.

[goswannie14]

its been done before but
regardless of the fact they had 3 goals, it's all about margin. we were 39 pts down and teams have come back from that at the last change.

north did it to us on glen archers 250th

We had only kicked 3 goals to 3/4 time in the 2005 SF too......

FWIW A family friend used to work with Walls when he was a primary school teacher, he was an opinionated jerk then and still is today.

He always bangs on about the Swans gameplan, when we can't pull it off through lack of work he is right. But we have seen that we can play fast flowing football when it suits us. My biggest criticism is that it usually takes Roos too long to change his gameplan in a game. Often by the time he reacts the game is lost.

[AnnieH]

snip .... My biggest criticism is that it usually takes Roos too long to change his gameplan in a game. Often by the time he reacts the game is lost.

gs14, i think you've hit the nail on the head.

[barry]

It isn't hard to be "spot on the money" when criticising a team playing crap football. The fact is he's been criticising the swans "game plan" for the last 3years.......and got it horribly wrong.

He wasnt wrong in the early part of 2005. In fact the first half of 2005's style is very much like our current style. Both crap.

We changed our style in the latter half of 2005, and for most of 2006. Unfortunetly, we've gone back to the early 05 style again.

Like all teams in the AFL, when our team works hard all over the field, with and without the ball, they get their confidence up and start to look good...and they win. All this crap about it being the game plan is exactly that....crap. Hard work, accountability to a given task, and confidence, wins games more often than not.

[NMWBloods]

its been done before but
regardless of the fact they had 3 goals, it's all about margin. we were 39 pts down and teams have come back from that at the last change.

north did it to us on glen archers 250th

We were never going to. Our biggest score in a quarter this year is 6.4 (twice).

[NMWBloods]

He always bangs on about the Swans gameplan, when we can't pull it off through lack of work he is right. But we have seen that we can play fast flowing football when it suits us. My biggest criticism is that it usually takes Roos too long to change his gameplan in a game. Often by the time he reacts the game is lost.

Yes, it certainly seems that way. I'd love to know what happens when we are struggling and then suddenly we put together a string of goals. It's a phenomenon we the Swans do frequently - possibly more than any other side. Is there a change in plan? Is there a change in mindset? Does the opposition get tired?

[ernie koala]

He wasnt wrong in the early part of 2005. In fact the first half of 2005's style is very much like our current style. Both crap.

We changed our style in the latter half of 2005, and for most of 2006. Unfortunetly, we've gone back to the early 05 style again.

Completely disagree....The game plan, or style, or whatever you want to call it, hasn't been changing from one half of the season to the next...The execution drops off, the hard work drops off and the so called "game plan" doesn't change it simply doesn't work and looks crap.

[liz]

Robert Wall's opinion pieces have two problems in my eyes.

Firstly (both in print and while commentating) he has a tendancy to state the bloody obvious as if it is keen insight. Many of us are guilty of that too, but we're not ex-coaches highly paid to be media commentators.

Secondly (and this is something that Healy often pulls him up on, on On the Couch and not just in relation to the Swans) he seems incapable of distinguishing between a sound game plan poorly executed and problems with the game plan itself.

I think back in 2005/6 it was mostly an execution problem. This year I think execution is part of the issue but a lack of evolution is hurting too because - as others have pointed out - several teams have clearly worked out a way to counter the Swans preferred style. Bad as the skills were against the Pies and Bombers, a lot of this was down to them implementing a plan to perfection.

Ironically, the better, more experienced teams might not bother to do this so much. (And I'm not trying to diss the likes of Collingwood by not including them in this group - they're playing well but are clearly a largely inexperienced group playing in a way that belies their total games). So we may have more of a chance if the team can get back to implementing its plan in a disciplined and cohesive fashion.

[Industrial Fan]

Yes, it certainly seems that way. I'd love to know what happens when we are struggling and then suddenly we put together a string of goals. It's a phenomenon we the Swans do frequently - possibly more than any other side. Is there a change in plan? Is there a change in mindset? Does the opposition get tired?

The lions used to do the same. Application and adrenaline. They cant possibly play to the top level for the full game, that is the point of slowing the game down and keeping possession.