Pies match thread

[Robbo]

Who was it that said Barlow was quick?

Except I think Laidlaw is on the injury list with a hammy. Problem not solved.

IN: Simpkin

[Swans500]

McGuire on MMM after the game was sickening. He had the premiership sewn up....Rocca unjustly dealt with and Amon out for 2 years!!!!
The gloating was horrific.

[WASwansFanatic]

He is a tosser.
What is really annoying me....is the fact that Collingwood who winge about everything and anything.....has the AFL in it's pockets....FFS how many games do they play at the MCG..........
hmmm.......I am really starting to HATE Demetriou and his regime.

[Nico]

Just home from the game and I cant believe anyone has mentioned our centre bounce work and clearances. As a critic of this aspect of our game I took special notice of what happened.

Our players let the opposition players get in front of them at almost every bounce except for Jude Bolton. All he did in the first half at every, I repeat every centre bounce was to try to block Swan and O"Bree. Not once did he make a beeline for the ball. Now he might be under instruction to do this but even when the ball came his way both of these beat him to the contest. He was moved to HF in the second half and only contested 1 centre bounce in the last Q, which he won but kicked around his body straight to a Pies player.

On the night he only passed accurately by foot once, and that was late in the game. He may have some stats but by gee he was very poor.

In the second Q when Collingwood got a 4 goal run on they won the centre bounces 4 times in a row for 4 goals and it was O'Bree every time. People rubbished Brennan but no back could have stopped a couple of those passes that hit on the chest on the lead because of nil midfield pressure.

I think this game proved the club must draw a line in the sand right now and say enough is enough with some players.

Everitt - yep might have got a pinched nerve in the back but his dinky 20 metre passes under no pressure to Pies players was a highlight. He is now an old man in footy terms and it is a waste of time him continuing.
J Bolton - see above. No good as a midfielder so why persist with him anywhere else.
Mathews - was 20 metres off Lockyer all night. Cant agree that he held him.
Mcveigh - proved he is just a footballer. Was poor all night and was repeatedly caught and failed to handball. His kicking on the few times he got it was just woeful.
Ablett - on Buckley in the first Q but oh how he has dropped away. Maybe he has always been so so, remember his back kick to Cousins in 2005 GF. His kicking is simply shoddy and just doesn't get it enough. Genuine passenger.
Buchanan - the great waster of the team. Apart from his stupid act, he is a very selfish footballer. Twice he turned it over for goals when he clearly had a chance to move the ball on. Continually tries to breakthorugh packs instead of creating and one of clangers was a stop and hand ball back without looking. Just horrible stuff. His kicking under no pressure was quite forgettable.

People have said Hall was one of our better players but he still drops many marks, and that one where there was a well weighted kick to him at the start of the last Q that he spilled 15 metres out was soul destroying for us at the game. The game was in the balance.
Bevan I thought played OK and was way better than a lot of the team.
Davis was on and off the ground and only once went to the midfield for a clearance. Should have been in there when it was obvious we were getting flogged.
Fozzie was well down on his usual MCG standard.

I thought Jolly (excellent game) Malceski, Richards, Kirk, C Bolton, O"Keefe (second half) and at times Schneider worked hard.

People are tough on Barlow. His only sin was playing reserves type footy by trying to break tackles instead of getting the ball off. He needs to learn the awareness to handball. If he had broken a couple of those tackles he would have been a hero. What I like about him is that he gets where the footy is at a lot.

Brennan can play and showed enough to say he is here to stay.

[Nico]

I felt sorry for Barlow. The speed of AFL (cf Canberra) really seemed to catch up with him tonight. However, I still think he looks like he'll be a pretty good player.

He was spent half way throught he third Q. He did a lot of running to contests, something others didn't do. He could have gone back in the second Q and kicked for goal, when he ran on mistakedly thinking he should get it on quickly to someone at the goal front. Problem was they were all up field flooding.

Did I forget Goodes in my previous post, dreadful mistake. His game was simply outstanding and when he almost ran the field in the last Q it was his highlight for mine. Surely must be the sole captain next season.

[Nico]

What a joke that Crouch played. I reckon it was only to get up his 200 games. His effort was laughable and was the BIGGEST passenger. To think he got a game before Dempster and LRT. What were they thinking. Talk about massive carry over brownie points.

[Nico]

Crouch for Schmidt, what a blunder.

[shaun..]

Is it me or are people overreacting to Buchanan's bump on Clarke? The commentators went mental over it and the same can be said for some BF posters. It definitely deserves a couple of weeks but it surely isn't worse than the Johnson hit.

[robbieando]

Is it me or are people overreacting to Buchanan's bump on Clarke? The commentators went mental over it and the same can be said for some BF posters. It definitely deserves a couple of weeks but it surely isn't worse than the Johnson hit.

It certainly is a over-reaction of sorts, because he will be hit with a Level 4 or 5 Grading for the bump, but for them to be claiming 4 weeks is a certain starting point for Amon's suspension is a joke to me (those who claim 5+ are beyond help aready and someone on the Swans Board suggested he'll get 8 weeks because it was a week after the Johnson bump. Excuse me while I throw up in my mouth a little....

Basically it will come down to whether the MRP view the "Conduct" as either Intentional or Reckless. We can all agree its "High" Impact and "High/Groin" Contact. Doesn't really matter if its Charging or Rough Conduct (because they carry the same Demerit points) that he is charged with.

Intentional and he'll get a Level 5 Grading (8 Activation Points) with 550 Demerit Points with the 25% off for a clean record and another 25% off for a Guilty plea and that would give him a final total of 309.25 and a 3 week suspension.

Reckless and he'll get a Level 4 Grading (7 Activation Points) with 425 Demerit Points with the 25% off for a clean record and another 25% off for a Guilty plea and that would give him a final total of 239.0625 and a 2 week suspension.

So what basically is a 4-5 week suspension "on paper" from the MRP will turn out to be a 2-3 week one basically because Buchanan has a clean history and the Swans will no doubt plea guilty early rather than risking extra time on the sidelines for Amon, just in case we can go past Week 1/2 of the finals (unlikely I know) or have him unavailable for the opening few Rounds of the 2008 season.

Silly action by Buchanan, but not the 4+ week suspension that everyone is suggesting.

[Captain]

Agree that Barlow looks slow, no excuses. I like the guy but he needs to work on his speed/fitness.

[Melbournehammer]

to those defending amon and his tremendous forward work have a watch of the game again where he chose to overlook ted twice on the left half back flank and go over his head to barry - both instances leading directly to goals and he his refusal to release the ball when we were actually just starting to look good in the second quarter.

his overall game last night was poor - he failed to complete tackles (altho not alone in this regard), and caused three collingwoods goals from his turnovers.

generally speaking we do not have the players who can repeatedly win the ball and deliver it successfully. we miss williams, maxfield, kenelly, barry. Their replacements are just not to the same standard and we will really struggle when leo retires (even tho he repeatedly gives away frees inside 50 he is vital for us going forwards)

[swansrule100]

crap game, crap umpiring, crap coverage. Why do we need a replay of that idiot joffa, bad enough they show him 50 times, then a replay of the coat going on.

We could of won this game, how many times do we just bomb it forward, hall isnt 100% yet the team think he is superman, if you kick it somewhere near punt road he will mark it. When was the last time someone hit hall on the chest on a nice lead?

How many times in defence would two or more players fly for the ball and collingwood get the crumbs, thats just basic football, how about some talk? maybe one player watch the defenders, not just all try to punch the ball.

The sad part is how close we get in these types of games, despite playing poor football, it shows perhaps if we adhere to some basics we could be winning a lot more!!

Better win next week and be prepared to start playing 4 decent quarters.

As for amons hit, probably reckless, but good to see some aggression in a way.

Crouch in for barry? great swap, such similar players!!!!!!

Time to recruit a tall backman and a midfielder who can at least hit a target.

Also while i am just typing rubbish, stop playing nick davis out of position.

[Robbo]

Barlow had 6 posessions for 6 clangers.

[Mike_B]

Clangers also include frees against, so not every possession of his ended in a clanger.

[cruiser]

The free kick paid against Schneider in the last quarter for running too far, as he was heading towards goal weaving through centre and at a time when the Swans had a run on, was the worst umpiring decision EVER! Schneider clearly bounced the ball TWICE! I'm not being silly enough to say that it cost us the game, but its timing and the fact that it was an act of gross stupidity by the ump, almost caused me to burst a blood vessel.