Round 6: North Melbourne v Sydney game thread:

[Melbournehammer]

anyone who says barlow had a good last quarter simply was not watching. A shot fropm 50+ when o'loughlin was in his direct line on a lead in space, a shot from 30 which didn't make the distance, and one other nothing possession

barlow may yet become a great player, but at the moment he is a work in progress and needs to work on his disposal

[barry]

We really won this game. Kirk's goal went through. We had 5 more scoring shots, and won every stat bar free kicks.

We were the better side, so in the scheme of things I'm not to worried about only getting 2 points. Actually kind of relieved we didnt come away with a 1 point loss.

Prepare thy self for some ugly football until Hall comes back. Its obvious we are in damage control mode, with a plan to be in touch, and make a run in the 2nd half of the year.

[swansrule100]

We really won this game. Kirk's goal went through. We had 5 more scoring shots, and won every stat bar free kicks.

We were the better side, so in the scheme of things I'm not to worried about only getting 2 points. Actually kind of relieved we didnt come away with a 1 point loss.

Prepare thy self for some ugly football until Hall comes back. Its obvious we are in damage control mode, with a plan to be in touch, and make a run in the 2nd half of the year.

if we play like that we wont be in touch when hall gets back

[NMWBloods]

Just watching it again, a few more observations:
- Moore and Bird are pretty good in close - getting much better at reading the pace of the game and finding space to deliver out of a crowded situation
- I saw that there was nothing in J Bolton's charge into Hale - his disposal was still poor though
- Umpiring in the first few minutes of the last qtr was rubbish
- Commentators note Davis is such a clever footballer (both Ch 7 and MMM said this) = Roos really needs to exploit that. I saw only one weak effort allowing the opposition to run off him (and he was dragged for that).
- Barlow made some poor decisions and disposal errors in the last qtr
- Buchanan's disposal was absolute rubbish
- Our game was incredibly stagnant for much of the match (and it was very obvious at the ground)
- Half way through the last qtr we'd had just 33 I50s - no wonder we score so few goals and our forwards have such minimal influence
- Kennelly was a joy to watch in the last qtr (after a forgettable three qtrs)
- After a poor first half, Barry fought his way back well in the second half (he does get away with an awful lot though)
- Bevan's disposal was effective - didn't think about it, just did it
- After 73 min of boredom, the last 7 min were pretty entertaining.
- That last shot by Kirk was definitely a goal

[JF_Bay22_SCG]

If anyone saw the verbal fracas involving that wanker North Melbourne fan in the tier above us, you'll start understanding some of the hatred some of us (mainly the expat Sydneysiders who were there doing the "Boo a Roo" years) for that club.

As much as I'm in two minds in relation to the 'attractive football=better for footy in NSW' vs 'Swans can win how they like' camps, seeing threads like this on Big Footy is somewhat enfuriating.
Sydney a blight on the game! - BigFooty



JF

[Young Blood]

Pathetic performance for 2.5 quarters, yet we should have won. Forward system was non-existent. Skills well down - including many kicks down the line that are usually our bread and butter.

It's a long time since we played a decent game at Telstra Dome.

On the positive side:
* an excellent effort by the defense.
* better structure with White in the ruck. He's also a good mark and decent kick for a big man - but when the ball hit's the ground he's not in the contest, which will limit his ability to play forward (unless he stays in the goalsquare).
* Kennelly's last quarter - if only he'd got going earlier...
* Goodes - I think he'll have to play midfield-forward if we're going to kick enough goals while Hall is out.
* as usual, they never stopped trying
* we got 2 points

[JF_Bay22_SCG]

are they kidding them supporters...they are 1st in the AFL for frees for and have won every free kick count this year.
stop whining and actually go and support your club, you bunch of north melbourne w@#kers

I just got banned from Bigfooty for a week because I got onto their "Sydney are a blight on the gamel" & said 'Fraggles are cool' as a joke.

They are rather emotionally fragile, those North supporters I swear. How lame, calling Swans supporters "Fraggles!"

JF

[ipsyd]

Anyone got video of last quarter?

I have been sending Swans games (as computer files) to my daughter, a huge fan, Sydney-born & bred, but currently studying in the US, where she is spreading the Swans/AFL gospel.

But this week I blew it! I recorded the first 3 quarters perfectly, then ran out of disk space and missed the crucial last quarter! AAACKK!

Has anyone got video of the last quarter, to sustain a distant Swans addict (and get me out of the doghouse)?

Format? any will do - VHS, DVD, VCD, avi, mpeg, QuickTime, .... all offers gratefully considered, will meet your costs. Please!

[swansrule100]

Just watching it again, a few more observations:
- Moore and Bird are pretty good in close - getting much better at reading the pace of the game and finding space to deliver out of a crowded situation
- I saw that there was nothing in J Bolton's charge into Hale - his disposal was still poor though
- Umpiring in the first few minutes of the last qtr was rubbish
- Commentators note Davis is such a clever footballer (both Ch 7 and MMM said this) = Roos really needs to exploit that. I saw only one weak effort allowing the opposition to run off him (and he was dragged for that).
- Barlow made some poor decisions and disposal errors in the last qtr
- Buchanan's disposal was absolute rubbish
- Our game was incredibly stagnant for much of the match (and it was very obvious at the ground)
- Half way through the last qtr we'd had just 33 I50s - no wonder we score so few goals and our forwards have such minimal influence
- Kennelly was a joy to watch in the last qtr (after a forgettable three qtrs)
- After a poor first half, Barry fought his way back well in the second half (he does get away with an awful lot though)
- Bevan's disposal was effective - didn't think about it, just did it
- After 73 min of boredom, the last 7 min were pretty entertaining.
- That last shot by Kirk was definitely a goal

* i feel a lot more confident when bird or moore have the ball than jude bolton for instance. Plus you would rather see a young kid out there making mistakes as theres time for improvement, where as bolton should be at his peak.

* i remember watson saying how clever davis was and his tap on showed that yet he is out of position and dragged to the bench often. More than any other player who makes mistakes. If he had of kicked the easy shots he missed could of finished with 3 goals so was two straight kicks off a very valuable contribution so should be left in the side. But ideally davis should crumb around a marking option, not be the marking option

*the game was dull. I know its as long as u win, but it wasnt working, if your hold it up and contain the game but are getting the lead etc then so be it, but they were catching up and getting back in the game so why play that way?

full credit to you sitting through that game twice

[NMWBloods]

I just got banned from Bigfooty for a week because I got onto their "Sydney are a blight on the gamel"

That's what the papers are virtually saying too - "snoozefest" according to The Age and "Too Negative" according to the H/Sun.

Our game was horrible - 196 kicks and just 52 of them long kicks. 79 more possessions than the opposition to achieve nothing! 185 stoppages!

[2005]

Just a quick thing on yesterday game and the paper is right yesterdays crowd were as quite as Ive ever been at the footy.
North keep saying how they have 32000 members , well not many of them go to the footy.
Sure they had more support than us, but not by that much.
At least our 9000 odd members that are are based here, pretty much most attend.
North really have alot of hard work still to do.

[JF_Bay22_SCG]

I have been sending Swans games (as computer files) to my daughter, a huge fan, Sydney-born & bred, but currently studying in the US, where she is spreading the Swans/AFL gospel.

But this week I blew it! I recorded the first 3 quarters perfectly, then ran out of disk space and missed the crucial last quarter! AAACKK!

Has anyone got video of the last quarter, to sustain a distant Swans addict (and get me out of the doghouse)?

Format? any will do - VHS, DVD, VCD, avi, mpeg, QuickTime, .... all offers gratefully considered, will meet your costs. Please!

She could possibly download the game at www.aussietorrents.com mate

JF

[sharp9]

The reason why we have so few long kicks in NOT that we are a negative side, it is that we are not very good!!!!

I only watched the first 3 quarters, but there would have been at least 20 long kicks that were marked by North or came straight back with interest, several times for goals. In fact I would go so far as to say it was 50%. Not being at the ground it is difficult to tell how much the forwards are to blame for not getting clear on the lead, but it was incredible how often our long kicks favoured the other side.

Worse, when it was fifty/fifty we almost never gained possession.

[DST]

* i remember watson saying how clever davis was and his tap on showed that yet he is out of position and dragged to the bench often. More than any other player who makes mistakes. If he had of kicked the easy shots he missed could of finished with 3 goals so was two straight kicks off a very valuable contribution so should be left in the side. But ideally davis should crumb around a marking option, not be the marking option

Davis strength is his marking one on one, so I am not sure you want to take that part of his game away.

As for crumbing his problem is that he doesn't get to enough contests which makes him almost useless as a crumbing forward.

DST

[swansrule100]

Davis strength is his marking one on one, so I am not sure you want to take that part of his game away.

As for crumbing his problem is that he doesn't get to enough contests which makes him almost useless as a crumbing forward.

DST

davis can mark one on one, but with hall out he is being used in some sort of full forward role which doesnt suit him.


I think he reads the play well and crumbs the contest, but at the moment he is in the contest anyway.

we also very really kick to a contest we wait for a forward to lead wide and take a difficult shot on goal, after they umm and ahh about having a shot for 40-50 seconds