Same old style of play?

[CureTheSane]

Hard to say yet, but there were times where I found myself deja-vuing.

But there were some bright spots.

Leo was again off the chain.
Kennelly look a lot like Judd and play a bit like him too. we are so going to miss him.
LRT was good, and I can see him becoming a commanding player.
Davis was OK.
Kirk was MIA
Hall was OK
Mickey was doing what he does.
Goodes was either lost or well held
Jack was great
Bird had an OK debut

Hard game to watch.
The kind of game you either come out of elated or deflated.
Unfortunately as a Swans supporter it's usually the latter, as it was last nigh.

Next week, home ground, we really need to shine.
For me, round 2 will define our season.

[Nico]

Shades of 2005 I thought, only difference was we lost. We must get back that ability to win the close ones.

[ScottH]

I thought LRT made an immediate impact when he came on the ground. Look forward to some match fitness under his belt.

Leo was freed up, by the saints having no Gehrig, just needs to run in a straight line.
Kennelly started slowly, but was instumental in the end. Missed his running partner badly.

Davis was OK. Yep, he worked hard most of the night.
Kirk was not MIA, but hardly sighted.
Hall was crap, too many angry pills, and bouncing a mark of your chest. geesh.
Mickey missing for most of the first half.
Goodes was well held, had a dog of a night.
Jack was great, agreed.

I thought Mattner did OK.

[CureTheSane]

Hall was crap, too many angry pills, and bouncing a mark of your chest. geesh.

I've been a regular critic over the last FEW years of Halls lack of marking ability as a forward, but I tended to agree with the commentators with that bounce off the chest when he was running at the ball full tilt.

Doubles the speed of the ball if you're running at it as fast as it's coming at you.

Not saying that he shouldn't have marked it, but it's the kind of thing you don't expect a 100% return on.

.Next time I expect him to grab it

Having said all that, given that he does most of his play for the ball that way, you'd think it would be a main focus of his training......

[Swansinger]

Same old headlines , too , which I predicted at QT - you know , Swans gallant , brave fightback etc.etc.

Still , I had a bloody good laugh at some of the things we did last night.
Doubt I'd be laughing at a Round 22 performance like that.

We need to recover quickly - the early draw is not great and we could be languishing near last by rd 8 if we aren't careful.

[Robbo]

Mattner should not be in the backline.

[daggersworth]

Honestly, it's a terrible start to the season and the whole "the game plan is fine, we just don't have the players" is starting to wear thin.

Change the game plan to a style that suits the players you have then! I appreciate that it won a flag in 05 but that was three years ago now. We have to start moving with the times, otherwise we will be stuck living in the past instead of developing for the future.

[Robbo]

McVeigh got a lot of the ball but he just makes too many mistakes IMO.

Jude still seems to be off the boil aswell.

[liz]

IKennelly ... Missed his running partner badly.

Too right. We hadn't even got to quarter time before I started to curse his absence.

I was disappointed by Mattner's first outing. I'm not going to pass judgement after just the one round but in terms of run and carry from the backline, I thought he delivered nothing. I realise that with no 'Eski we probably need him there, but I'd rather see him start further up the ground, on a wing. I think we might get more value from him there. I'd even be inclined to move Jack back a line and get him running off half-back because he has the pace to break lines and I'm not entirely convinced Mattner does.

[goswannie14]

Too right. We hadn't even got to quarter time before I started to curse his absence.

I was disappointed by Mattner's first outing. I'm not going to pass judgement after just the one round but in terms of run and carry from the backline, I thought he delivered nothing. I realise that with no 'Eski we probably need him there, but I'd rather see him start further up the ground, on a wing. I think we might get more value from him there. I'd even be inclined to move Jack back a line and get him running off half-back because he has the pace to break lines and I'm not entirely convinced Mattner does.

So when Mattner grabbed the ball on the back of the square ran through the middle without an opponent able to get near him, and had a shot at goal, which unfortunately missed, was not indicative of his pace?

[ugg]

The thing that worried me about Mattner is that he seemed to put his head down and try and run at full pace without really knowing what was in front of him. I think he will be a handy player but he's no where close to the class of the Eski.

[liz]

So when Mattner grabbed the ball on the back of the square ran through the middle without an opponent able to get near him, and had a shot at goal, which unfortunately missed, was not indicative of his pace?

Different kind of pace. Or maybe pace isn't even the right word.

What Kennelly (and, I believe, Jack) have is the ability to suddenly lift their pace in a step or two. Coming through congestion on the half-back line, that can be critical. It means Kennelly, especially, is often able to get a metre or so clear by running through traffic. It helps that he's pretty slight (relatively speaking, for a 6 ft 2 footballer) and nimble, too.

Mattner may have it, but having watched him in about 4 games now, I haven't seen it. And I don't remember enough about his Crows days to know whether he has it or not. Further up the ground there's often a bit more space and a player has an extra couple of steps to accelerate. That's why I reckon he might give us more value on a wing. Even starting at HB might help. He seemed to be drawn quite deep for much of yesterday's game.

[Melbournehammer]

Having watched a lot of games and viewed a lot of posts i have a lot of respect for Liz's views. However I think Mattner is being unfairly maligned here. Mattner was playing very deep, deeper than Malceski plays and was on Milne for large parts of the second half.

He appears to me to be a better defender - stronger at the spoil and tackle, a worse kicker - but still trusted to kick-in regularly - and he is defintely quick. There were a couple of times where he ran off Milne and closed down the space quickly - I recall watching Crouch who was very quick get repeatedly led to the ball by Milne in the past.

I think Mattner is going to go OK. He won't have Malceski's ability to hit a leading forward but he can move the ball quickly.

[liz]

Yeah, maybe I've been a little harsh on Mattner.

I'm not quite sure why I am bothering (maybe to get a closer look at some of Jack's stuff) but I am half way through watching a replay of the game and to half-time Mattner's been more valuable than I gave him credit for watching the game live.

I think my comments came from a frustration at how poorly the team rebounded from 50 last night, and laid it at Mattner's feet, just because he's not Malceski. I was very happy that the Swans traded for Mattner and I think he will be good for us once he's had a chance to settle into the team.

[goswannie14]

Yeah, maybe I've been a little harsh on Mattner.

I'm not quite sure why I am bothering (maybe to get a closer look at some of Jack's stuff) but I am half way through watching a replay of the game and to half-time Mattner's been more valuable than I gave him credit for watching the game live.

I think my comments came from a frustration at how poorly the team rebounded from 50 last night, and laid it at Mattner's feet, just because he's not Malceski. I was very happy that the Swans traded for Mattner and I think he will be good for us once he's had a chance to settle into the team.

I'm glad you've come around Liz. I was pretty impressed with what I saw last night from Mattner. Mind you, I was expecting him to be a good player from day 1 and was more than happy when we managed to trade for him.

I think sometimes where you sit at a ground can have an impact on how you view certain players performance on the night. We were in the pocket at the Coventry end, city side, between the goals and the scoreboard on level 3. from there I tended to see a bit of the number 29 running away from me at a brisk pace, more often than not with the ball, or involved in the play.