Who Agrees Swans Year is Finished

[Legs Akimbo]

Finals are a different story all together thats why.

That's hilarious. Why are we better than Geelong, or Hawthorn for that matter, in finals?

[doctor swan]

with the team that played last night it will be bang and we will be out of the finals in week 1. i dont see us with any hope of making a good run in the finals based on any of our form this yr. geelong are streets ahead of everyone and it ll be 2 in a row for them.
as for who should stay and go grundy for 1 has to go , followed by ablett who is is terrible form and spida is really offering nothing other than staying back for the odd defensive mark. lrt is not a gun defender at the best of times so what chance does he have playing on a all aus fwd in mooney. lrt at best is good for the 3rd or 4th fwd.
brennan although not a good kick is faster and a better mark than grundy i feel a far better option.
grundy had 1 good game a few yrs ago against the tigers since then i have seen nothing.
time for some good recruiting and bringing in of young players and bye bye to the dead wood we have

[satchmopugdog]

Sorry, but in my opinion you're approaching the issue from completely the wrong end.

The Swans of 2004-mid 2008 would have, in the most part, tried to shut the game down, minimise the damage, and at worst not lose by more than 5 goals. This side took on the best in the league, went toe to toe with them, and copped on the chin a 39 point loss because the best in the league is 39 points better than us. The difference between this loss and, say, the Adelaide game, clearly indicates to me that he coaching staff have already 'woken up to themselves' as you put it; and if you can't see that difference, then I don't know what game you were watching.

As regards the bolded part of your post: is it time for the Hawks and Bulldogs, if they fail to win the flag, to "re-evaluate everything"? Answer: no, because (it is widely presumed) they're on the way up rather than the way down. My point is that if Sydney win up finishing top 4 this year after finals (which essentially boils down to us beating Collingwood) then there is good reason to think that we're on the way up, and not the way down, as well. We're a side that introduced Bird, White, Smith, O'Dwyer, Brabazon and Veszpremi to league footy, put substantial additional game-time into Grundy and Jack, and had McVeigh, Bevan and Moore enjoy breakthrough years. Plus watchers of the 2nds tell us that there is real reason to expect that Currie and Columbo will be keepers.

I can't guarantee that we won't crash horribly and finish last next year; any more than you can guarantee we won't make the GF. But I can say the medium-term signs are now starting to look good, in that we're no longer playing like an ageing side hanging on to past glories.

Great post Simon...thank you.

[swantastic]

That's hilarious. Why are we better than Geelong, or Hawthorn for that matter, in finals?

I dont think so and i never said we were better than Geelong or Hawthorn.

On a day any team can win and you never know what will happen in finals.

[BloodsInMyVeins]

with the team that played last night it will be bang and we will be out of the finals in week 1. i dont see us with any hope of making a good run in the finals based on any of our form this yr. geelong are streets ahead of everyone and it ll be 2 in a row for them.
as for who should stay and go grundy for 1 has to go , followed by ablett who is is terrible form and spida is really offering nothing other than staying back for the odd defensive mark. lrt is not a gun defender at the best of times so what chance does he have playing on a all aus fwd in mooney. lrt at best is good for the 3rd or 4th fwd.
brennan although not a good kick is faster and a better mark than grundy i feel a far better option.
grundy had 1 good game a few yrs ago against the tigers since then i have seen nothing.
time for some good recruiting and bringing in of young players and bye bye to the dead wood we have

I agree good post.

You got it in a nut shell.

[barry]

Honestly, whats the Point of finishing fourth if you cant beat the three teams above us.

We are faced with a simple choice. Have a red hot go from now on, or tank. Now tanking will probably be the choice between pick 10 to pick 13, so I vote for "have a red hot go at 4th and beyond".

Apart from MOL we could easily have our best 22 avaliable for selection next week. So on paper we are building up nicely into finals, but the only trouble is that the best 22 havent had a chance to click together all season.

We've got 2 games to find the rhythm. 3 if we make 4th, as 1st final is not knockout.

[cruiser]

We are faced with a simple choice. Have a red hot go from now on, or tank.

Are you serious? I can't believe that you are even asking the question.

[BloodsInMyVeins]

We are faced with a simple choice. Have a red hot go from now on, or tank. Now tanking will probably be the choice between pick 10 to pick 13, so I vote for "have a red hot go at 4th and beyond".

Apart from MOL we could easily have our best 22 avaliable for selection next week. So on paper we are building up nicely into finals, but the only trouble is that the best 22 havent had a chance to click together all season.

We've got 2 games to find the rhythm. 3 if we make 4th, as 1st final is not knockout.

Have a Red hot go you recon Ha!

Swannies had a chance to at least have a red hot go against Geelong.
That's what i said in my 1st post ,if the Swans lost by 2 or just a few points, i would have called that a red hot go.

Swannies normaly give these harder games a red hot go, but not as much in this season.{Particularly in the last half of the Season}

Oh & what you mean by Tanking {Gee that's a Famous word this Year isn't it,everyone uses it if their teams loses a few games in order to get better Draft Picks}

Which dosn't apply to the Swannies,they are not Tankers just not in the right mind set & arnt skill enough this year to effect better teams thats all.

Oh yeah & we might beat Collingwood or Brisbane in the last 2 games but to no avail if you cant beat any of the Top 3 sides

Thats why Im saying their year might be over.

I realy hope it's not, but they wanna make massive strides in the following weeks.
To make me eat Humble Pie.

[Nico]

Why would any side not want to play finals. It is what they train and play for. It is written in AFL coaching folklore that there is nothing more valuable for young players than playing finals. Plus from a supporters point of view the blood pressure and excitement goes to another level. A Richmond supporter right now would give a right arm to play a final.

When we drop out of the eight, and it will happen, just wait for the empty feeling and despair after being up there for so long.

[liz]

We are faced with a simple choice. Have a red hot go from now on, or tank. Now tanking will probably be the choice between pick 10 to pick 13, so I vote for "have a red hot go at 4th and beyond".

Even if you believe any team (as opposed to club) seriously tanks, there's no point if the difference is just a couple of spots in the draft. I reckon the Swans would have taken Vez last year with pick 8 or 9 if they had it, they seemed that keen on him. And similarly there's a decent chance he'd still have been around had they had pick 13 or 14.

[bigswan]

The year is far from finished. We might beat Collingwood or Brisbane and finish fifth. That gives us a knockout final in Sydney. Any finals experience is worth gold for the younger players. If we aren't good enough and are beaten that is not the end of the world. We have promising juniors and a future.

[annew]

With Hawthorn losing today and the Bulldogs losing the last few then every team has a chance to be in the Grand Final. I personally believe if we can win our next 2 games and finish 4th or 5th then we can take it up to the other teams if we get our act together and a couple of other players back. Anyway I would rather be where the Swans are than where West Coast are even if they will get better picks, at least we don't tank.

[Wazza]

with the team that played last night it will be bang and we will be out of the finals in week 1. i dont see us with any hope of making a good run in the finals based on any of our form this yr. geelong are streets ahead of everyone and it ll be 2 in a row for them.
as for who should stay and go grundy for 1 has to go , followed by ablett who is is terrible form and spida is really offering nothing other than staying back for the odd defensive mark. lrt is not a gun defender at the best of times so what chance does he have playing on a all aus fwd in mooney. lrt at best is good for the 3rd or 4th fwd.
brennan although not a good kick is faster and a better mark than grundy i feel a far better option.
grundy had 1 good game a few yrs ago against the tigers since then i have seen nothing.
time for some good recruiting and bringing in of young players and bye bye to the dead wood we have

I think your a tad off the mark with LRT last night - with the supply Mooney was getting and Geelongs rampart midfield finding space in our Def 50 at will, I think you should look further up the field than focus on LRT. Mooney probably had an ice pack on his chest after the game he was hit on the tit so many times.

I agree about Brennan and Grundy I donty understand what the coaching panel have seen from Grundy to jusify his position in the team...maybe to get a few games under his belt to make him more valuable to trade?

Cheers

Waz

[NMWBloods]

I don't really what changed so much from prior to this game to after it. Then again the fluctuations in expectations here are really quite extreme.

[swantastic]

Then again the fluctuations in expectations here are really quite extreme.

They change with ever passing week,but hey that's what footy supporters do.

I bet your expectations have fluctuated over the season.