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Thanks MCS. How did you think Bird went? Did he do enough to secure a Round 1 spot?
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Great review. I'm now going to a funeral to cheer myself up
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sorry to be downbeat but that was how I saw it! Others that have seen more of the preseason probably have a far better Idea of how we are compared to last year.
As for Kennelly, was quite happy with his play today, did some useful things and gave us a bit of run. Didnt seem to show any side effects from the injuries and got through fine.
Bird I thought was a bit quiet- made a couple of silly errors at times but made up for it by being hard in and at the ball all day. Played a large chunk of the match so I would say he is well and truly in the sights of Roos to start Rd 1. I really do hope so, not so much on what I saw today but on the glimpses I got of what he has last year in Reserves (bad thing to judge in I know) where he often seemed a class above the rest.
Grundy took a couple of really good marks and was sound enough up front btu really didnt do much to impress apart from that. He was very stagnant when they were kicking to the end I was at when up forward. he certainly can mark well under pressure and seems a more then decent kick for goal, but didnt really do a great deal for me today when up forward.
Barlow had a decent game, didnt do anything special but again played plenty of time and had some nice touches and tried very hard to help give us some run through the middle. Got into trouble once or twice with his decision making, but he wasnt the only one to do so on that account."You get the feeling that like Monty Python's Black Knight, the Swans would regard amputation as merely a flesh wound."Comment
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Quote: "our disposal a lot of the time was very ordinary. Some very good as expected tackling as well. Worry was for every good patch there was a poor patch with bad decisions and poor options and far too often we keep trying to take on the opponents when the correct decision would be to kick."
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Darn it....you were scouting OUR team (apologies to Chares Shulz)"Davis...Davis has kicked 2...he snaps from 40...dont tell me, dont tell me, hes kicked a goal....unbelievable stuff from Nick Davis, can you believe this, he's kicked 3 final quarter goals and Swans are within 3 points..."Comment
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From what I saw today we have got absolutely no hope of wiinning the Premiership, we may even be doubtful to finish in the final eight
We lack in height in KP and our game style has not changed.
Does anyone honestly believe we can consistently win games playing our possession game?
I hope I'm wrongcheersComment
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Good balanced reporting mcs.
Sounds like a half hearted affair..and no one got hurt.
Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it's time to pause and reflect... MTComment
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yeh you pretty much summed up what it was erne in a couple of lines! Looked like Brown might have hurt his knee at one stage early on but came on and was fine so no damage done.
I disagree swans song to a point. Of course there is hope of winning the flag, you cant rule out any team before the season has started. I didnt see much either today to say we can win the flag, but I saw glimpses of what won us a flag in 2005. Whether the group can do it consistently to anywhere near a level throughout matches and then throughout a season to give us a shot is anyone guess at the moment.
We can consistently win games I believe if we can learn to use our possession better then what we do. But perhaps we can't do that- we certainly didnt last year. What is key to a possession game like ours it to have several forwards continously leading and making space for one another- which simply didnt happen for most of last season.
KP players really is a problem however. Up front we are fine but down back is another story. Leapin' Leo seems to be past playing on the No 1 fprward Im afraid. Surely Roos must realise that come Rd 1 and every round, Craig Bolton must take the opposition No 1 forward. Then maybe LRT on the 2nd best or perhaps Leo. As good as Leo has been, he is not what he once was. It is the area we will struggle most again this year.
Its not all lost yet swans song, but there are definite warning signs. Perhaps I am reading far too much into it, but the final hitout before the real thing gets under way isnt a time to be coasting and not worrying about possible problems."You get the feeling that like Monty Python's Black Knight, the Swans would regard amputation as merely a flesh wound."Comment
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Swans fall to Lions
Swans fall to Lions
Sydney has been defeated by 10 points by Brisbane in their final NAB Challenge match for 2008.Comment
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I also went to the game today and I agree with most of what you have said mcs. What I found most worrying, was that we played that stupid one kick forward two kicks back tripe that they dealt up to us game after game after game last year. I thought Bird was much quieter then he has been previously and didn't grab me at all. We were really ordinary in the ruck and are in serious doggy dodo if Spida isn't back reeeeeeeal quick. My boy Jesse didn't do much and if he is selected for round one it will be for his height, he was disappointingly quiet.
On the up side, I thought Moore was a standout and I think he should be the first one of the kids picked.Tiger went pretty good and again I thought LRT seems so much more co-ordinated this year. Jude Bolton is usually one of my personal whipping boys but maybe the threat of trading has lit a fire under him because he looks alot sharper and he seems to be kicking with a lot more accuracy. Liked the look of Mickey O, who played for much longer than I thought he would and finally if Goodesy can get his disposal a bit more on target, he's in for a killer season - he dominated the ground.
In conclusion, a trial game is to early to write us off but the writing is on the wall.....Comment
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Good to see Cheese in the bests again. Seems to have picked up since his pathetic performance against the Hawks.
Best news is no injuries!Official Driver Of The "Who Gives A @@@@ As The Player Will Get Delisted Anyway" Bandwagon.
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My take on the game...
Was a very warm day and intensity varied. Tackling was pretty fierce all day (from both sides) but neither side looked like they were going to bust a gut to get a victory. Rotations were frequent.
As already mentioned, the Big Bad One was absent, and Ablett was also missing from the listed line-up. Brabazon and O'Dwyer came into the team but I doubt they played even a half or touched the ball a half a dozen times between them.
It was a close contest all day, with the Swans just taking honours in the first and third quarters, the Lions doing some damage in the second and an even final term except when the Swans went to sleep halfway through and allowed the Lions to kick three goals in barely three minutes.
I hope that the umpires were from the local league, not the big league, because they didn't have a clue. I lost count of the 50m penalties - pretty sure the Lions kicked at least 3 goals and the Swans 2 from 50ms. And most of them were bulldust. Bevan was penalised at one end for making moderate contact after a Lion had marked but it was all within the play and Bevo was in the contest. And then moments later Reg took a very nice mark on a hotly contested lead, received some contact after he marked as his opponent followed through, and again received a 50. Neither of them was the tiniest bit warranted.
As for the play, there were moments of sublime passing, vision and skill mixed with moments of comedy and some very lax disposal.
Goodes wasn't perfect but was pretty much the standout class-wise.
ROK was pretty good all afternoon. I wrote down 3 goals for him, but one could have been either him or Jack (it was blonde and had a 5 on its back) and the guy sitting next to me thought another of his might have been Davis. But I reckon 3 was his go.
Micky was very lively too, though his kicking for goal was ordinary. He kicked two but neither was from a set shot and both came fairly late in the game (one after some magic from Goodes).
Jude was good early but quiet later. Kirk was reasonable all afternoon.
Davis struggled to touch the ball in the first half while up forward. He kicked one fantastic goal -picked the ball up off the ground about 55m out and just boofed it through the middle of the sticks. No-one else on the team would even have tried such a shot. He spent a fair bit of the second half in the midfield and had a reasonable impact there, including one of his trademark gathers and fend-offs. He's got to be one of the best players in the league at legally fending off an advancing opponent with an arm and then using the leverage to find space.
B2 had a good duel with Brown all afternoon and they can probably split the honours. Brown got a bit of it but generally a way out from goal. Bolton made some important spoils and was good enough to have Brown give away a couple of blatant frees because he knew he couldn't get past Bolts.
The rest had their moments - good and bad. Kennelly looked very comfortable out there physically but didn't really exert himself too much (probably under instruction). McVeigh was quite lively and creative early, but faded as the game went on. Monty popped up every now and again. Mathews was pretty much non-descript.
Of the fringe players, I thought Moore was the absolute stand-out. Indeed, he'd have been one of the best handful of Swans out there. He mostly played in the forward line. He ended up with 3 pretty good goals, and a couple of other attempts that were close (ie just rushed on the line). He also created a bit around the ground, and was one of the most creative and accurate disposers of the ball. If there is any justice in the world, his name is already on the team list for the Saints game.
Bird probably hasn't done his chances any harm at all. He wasn't as prominent as in the first two pre-season games and made a couple of errors, but he looks so comfortable out there it is hard to believe he's yet to debut. One thing I really like about him is that when he makes a mistake, he doesn't panic or drop the head, but gets right back to it, stays calm and usually makes good his mistake straight away. He spent his share of time rotating through the middle, again unusual for a first year player.
Barlow is another who I'd be more surprised if he doesn't play than if he does. He was involved in a lot of play all afternoon and was generally OK without being brilliant. He was the recipient of a few complete hospital passes from team mates and needs to learn what to do when that happens. Once he successfully barged through the immediate tackle but I think he turned the ball over straight after.
Jack also caught the eye on more than one occasion. They were using his speed a lot to bring the ball out of defence, with mixed results. Some of his disposal was very good, some ordinary, and a couple of times he got caught with less space than he thought he had. But he also showed a couple of his "fast-becoming-a-trademark" sidestep and swerves. I'd say he's certainly in with a chance of some early season senior footy.
Brennan also had a reasonable game. He took one sensational mark and ran hard out of defence. He's probably still marginal for round 1, though on today's showing I'd pick him over Bevan (to whom I will return).
Less positively, White probably didn't do his chances much good. He spent time up forward, down back and some time in the ruck. He didn't do anything bad but struggled really to have much of an impact wherever he was.
Reg was reasonable and had a few shots on goal, but doesn't look like he's about to become a menacing presence up forward. He's still got a lot to learn about pressure once the ball hits the deck. He needs to watch a tape of O'Loughlin's chasing and tackling and compare it to the way he tends to stand and watch someone else try to make the play off the ground.
There are two things I think should be a bit of a concern on the eve of the season.
Firstly, Jolly in the ruck was ordinary to say the least. Against Port a couple of weeks ago I thought he looked very rusty and clueless on how to time his jump but put it down to first game itis. But he was no better today (and reportedly got thumped in the ruck last week too). I can't recall one clear tap to advantage all afternoon, while on several occasions he allowed Charman to jump up and thump the ball forward. He did kick two goals, one from a very strong contested mark in the goal square when an O'Loughlin (I think) kick fell short, and the other when he gathered a spill from a fantastic O'Loughlin tackle (this time I know it was O'Loughlin) just outside the 50m and sprinted 20m with the ball to snare the goal. But as a ruckman he looked amateurish and that's got to be a concern with Spida probably a couple of weeks away too.
The other main blight was some of the disposal by the defence. Brisbane spent large portions of the game with an uber-flood, meaning there was lots of uncontested kick-to-kicking going on between the backliners, as they tried to find a way through. A few of them were culprits but I lost count of the number of times an unpressured disposal from Bevan, whether by foot or hand, fell metres short of its target. As a group the defence got themselves into trouble far more times than they needed to just through sheer shoddiness and Brisbane were usually quick to pounce. As I said, Bevan wasn't the only offender but he was certainly the most frequent. Barry also had some, well, Barry Crockers.Comment
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