NAB Challenge in Sydney (vs Port)

[alison.z]

Bird's on the senior list

not according to the swans website


Players - Official AFL Website of the Sydney Swans

match report - thornton's season over

Swans beat Port Adelaide by 69 points - Real Footy - Breaking News

[Bindo]

Just got back, enjoyed watching all the young guys running around, together with Goodes and Hall showing some form. Thought Matt O'Dwyer had a great game - one to watch in the future.

[AnnieH]

Do you know who kicked it to him and hit him on the chest?

Yes Stella. The kick was heading straight for the pack ... Blind Barry saw where it was actually going and backed away from the pack to take it.
Had he stayed where he was, it would have gone over all their heads.

[TheGrimReaper]

not according to the swans website


Players - Official AFL Website of the Sydney Swans

match report - thornton's season over

Swans beat Port Adelaide by 69 points - Real Footy - Breaking News

Well the Swans website is wrong as usual.

[Bas]

Well, well.
It's good to see live footy again, although at $7.40 a scotch ....

A good red in a thermos flask. Priceless!!!!!!

[stellation]

Yes Stella. The kick was heading straight for the pack ... Blind Barry saw where it was actually going and backed away from the pack to take it.
Had he stayed where he was, it would have gone over all their heads.

Right. It was all Barry.

[ugg]

And how did Mattner go? A suitable replacement for the Eski?

[AnnieH]

Right. It was all Barry.

Yes it was all Barry. He read where the ball was going. Had he not backed AWAY from the pack, the whole bloody lot of them would have missed it, i.e. it would have gone over all their heads.

I must admit ... it is good to see Tricky Nicky start the season skinny. (There. Does that make you feel better?)

[AnnieH]

A good red in a thermos flask. Priceless!!!!!!

I'm an idiot. I normally fix a "bottle of coke" before I leave home. Today I was out and about before the game and unable to.

[AnnieH]

And how did Mattner go? A suitable replacement for the Eski?

OK. But not nearly good enough to replace Eski. Eski's in a breed of his own.

[liz]

Damn shame about Thornton. He was probably the pick of the younger blokes in the first half too. The mark he took that has cost him his season was super, and his disposal was pretty sound all around.

Most of them looked like they were playing with a bar of soap - Port as well. And although it was only a practice match, Port deserve an absolute bake from their coaching staff for the lack of effort they put in. Lethargic is understating it.

Most of the Swans looked very rusty, except Hall who looked impressive for someone who's only been doing limited training. Goodes manages to look classy even when rusty.

Bolton was pretty good in the first half, Ablett did some excellent work too, including creating a goal when he literally ripped the ball away from his opponent.

Bird not as prominant as last week but still did some stuff that put him a class above most of the rest of the youngsters. I have no idea how he pulled down that mark in the forward line because the ball looked like it had gone over his head.

Moore was also quite impressive, especially his work rate. With some spots available for round one, he is certainly putting his name forward.

Young Bruce did some eye-catching stuff too.

[stellation]

1 - Barry Hall: I thought he looked very good out there. Marked well, kicked straight. He looks like he is moving rather smoothly- was back to taking some of his slightly wider roaming leads when the ball was up the other end in more of a traditional CHF pattern (although much deeper). Looked to have some explosive pace back over the first 5 metres of a dash. Came off after about 10 minutes in the first for a short rest, then didn't come back on after half time, he was jovial on the sidelines in the second half and I think he (and the coaching staff) was pretty satisfied with his performance.

2 - Nick Davis: I thought he was fine. He won a few clearances in the first quarter, then was rather good in the second- put it straight down Hall's throat twice in the middle of a crowd in the space of about 5 minutes for straight forward shots on goals, then marked and goaled on a 3rd effort in a passage of play. We had him at a baker's dozen touches at half time, he finished the game part way through the 3rd quarter and I think had added 1 or 2 more to that tally but by then we'd lost interest in him and were focusing on Mattner (who then annoyingly also came off part way through the 3rd quarter and didn't go back on- methinks he has locked up a round 1 gig). One thing of note is (at least I'm pretty sure this is the case) Davis didn't go to the bench at all until coming off part way through the third, I assume that was part of a fitness test for him? He was running abnormal leading patterns (longer reaching) also, which I noticed a few of the senior guys were doing and I assume that was a bit of match day fitness testing too.

3 - Jarrad McVeigh: I thought he was okay, didn't particuarly dazzle me but didn't do anything awful either. One thing I really liked about his game was that he looks like he is making slightly smarter decisions and looked to be reading the game rather well- he ran nicely into space when he needed to and got out of the way to create space for others to lead to- in the past he has been a little guilty of not getting the ball the hell out of the way.

4 - Ben Matthews: In I think the fourth quarter there was a passage where one of the young guys was battling for a ball near the boundary around our F50 with one guy from Port; Benny came in to create a 2 on 1, took possession of the pill and cunningly ran it over for a stoppage. Goooooooo Benny!

6 - Craig Bolton: I thought he looked a tad slow keeping up with his man on the lead. He took the toss and won it.

7 - Luke Brennan: I thought he did not look a tad slow keeping up with his man on the lead. This guy gives his absolute all going for the ball, really exciting stuff. He kicked the ball out deep from defence at one stage and it was actually a fully fledged drop punt. Seriously.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh I can't be bothered typing anymore but I will add

29 - Martin Mattner: Smart guy, great skills. Hits targets. Thump. Chest. Thump. I like him a lot... what I like the most? Mattner was taking a kick-in and nobody created an option for him, when he realized nobody was going to give him anything he played on and calmly hit a Swan outside 50 (who I think didn't take the mark, but got a free kick in the contest because the ball was well placed by Mattner).... I don't know how many times I've seen Swans players completely Screw up in that situation.

[stellation]

Yes it was all Barry. He read where the ball was going. Had he not backed AWAY from the pack, the whole bloody lot of them would have missed it, i.e. it would have gone over all their heads.

I must admit ... it is good to see Tricky Nicky start the season skinny. (There. Does that make you feel better?)

So for other people it is a clever well weighted kick to the forward's advantage, but for Davis it is just sheer luck? Go kick a football to a pack of players and see where the best spot to place it is.

[Big Al]

Well, well.
It's good to see live footy again, although at $7.40 a scotch ....

Goodsey ... will get the brownlow again.
Ablett ... still kicking it to me.
Jude Bolton ... dyed his hair brown, but still can't kick to save himself.
Blind Barry ... took a great mark - four on one. Bazza could be back to his old self.
McVeigh ... surprised me.
Tricky Nicky ... did he play?
Micky O ... expect big things.

The youngin's did really good.

Agree with all of this. Even though I think you're baiting someone with the Tricky Nicky reference.

Goodsey was really in another stratosphere tonight and yes Annie, he did look hot

In all, a solid effort against some insipid opposition.

[JohnnyBravo]

Yes it was all Barry. He read where the ball was going. Had he not backed AWAY from the pack, the whole bloody lot of them would have missed it, i.e. it would have gone over all their heads.

I must admit ... it is good to see Tricky Nicky start the season skinny. (There. Does that make you feel better?)

Expect BIG THINGS from Bazza this year......Let's hope...