Official Game Day thread - 2nd Elimination final Vs Kangaroos

[Matt79]

Just got home from watching the game from an Aussie Pub in London. My wife and I were there in our Swans gear cheering loudly, had a few Poms follwoing our lead as well.

It was the first final I have missed live since the Swans came to Sydney so it was difficult not being there.

Very proud of the boys and in particular the second half!!

Still smiling....and the atmosphere sounded great despite the low crowd number.

[hammo]

So just remind us Hammo - who did you tip to win tonight?

As I said, happy to be proved wrong. It was one of the great finals wins.

Wasn't hammo the guy that said 6 goals would win tonight?

(Maybe you should go and delete that thread!! )

Admittedly, when the thread was posted it was pissing down rain and a howling gale blowing in from the south. By the second half it had all cleared and virtually back to dry weather football.

Some things stood out tonight that were pretty easy to predict, although not popular with the expert opinions on RWO:

Vespa did very little and as a typically inconsistent first year player was rightly dropped.
Bevan was embarassed by Grant in one-on-one contests. A danger to our finals aspirations.
Leo held the backline together as usual.
Tadhg is a liability to us in 2008.

Vesz set up at least 2 of our first half goals and kicked on in the third. He was very lively up forward all night so saying he was 'rightly dropped' is a very big stretch.

Leo was one level above a shocker. Unfortunately I think he is shot as an AFL player.

Disagree on Tadhg.

[Bear]

Don't worry, I expected most to disagree. You wont be the last.

[connolly]

Great win and i lost my voice at the game, especially after the terrible goal umpiring decision in the first Q...

Some things stood out tonight that were pretty easy to predict, although not popular with the expert opinions on RWO:

Vespa did very little and as a typically inconsistent first year player was rightly dropped.
Bevan was embarassed by Grant in one-on-one contests. A danger to our finals aspirations.
Leo held the backline together as usual.
Tadhg is a liability to us in 2008.
Our captains stood up.
We're too old, too slow and too good for NM.

Don't know if you were at the ground but your comments re. Bevo are wrong. Grant snagged two just before half time, one a slipper off the ground. Apart from that Bevo had his measure. As for the usual knocker criticizing him for punching the ball FFS it WAS WET, DRIPPING, BLOODY SLIPPERY. Standard defensive rulebook to punch in those circumstances. Great win. Great celebration. Just got home. Bring on the yappers.

[smasher]

Was rapt with theboys effort.
To all our supporters who sat there in ponchos and plastic covering in the first half,you were rewarded by a dry,brilliant second half.Thankyou all so much.It was so heartening to see the mass of red and white and how proud you must have felt.You certainly made it better to watch and you could tell something good happened by your floggers waving etc.Thanks so much.
No way will I miss next week,I.I have already requested the weekend off.We all need to try our best to get to the G on Friday night to support our the Swannies.

[ROK Lobster]

Don't know if you were at the ground but your comments re. Bevo are wrong. Grant snagged two just before half time, one a slipper off the ground. Apart from that Bevo had his measure. As for the usual knocker criticizing him for punching the ball FFS it WAS WET, DRIPPING, BLOODY SLIPPERY. Standard defensive rulebook to punch in those circumstances. Great win. Great celebration. Just got home. Bring on the yappers.

Since the Freo game I was under the impression that Bevo was widely regarded as the best mark in the comp?

Surely connolly you can recognise that Bevan was ordinary last night.

[jag]

How good was Teddy last night?? Great game, great crowd...5 rows from oundary - didn't get wet, wasn't cold, no queues for anything... onward to victory!

[ugg]

How good was Teddy last night?? Great game, great crowd...5 rows from oundary - didn't get wet, wasn't cold, no queues for anything... onward to victory!

What about his goal! A good 60m out. 2nd week in a row he's kicked one from the right.

[2005]

What a great win. That second half is premiership form... I honestly think its a performance that would go close to beating Geelong. Can we reproduce it for 12 more quarters_

Just a small note on McVeigh... he is looked every inch like a top 3 draft pick tonight. We have a gun of a player there.

Hammo , back in the front seat of the wagon mate !

[hammo]

Hall owned Firrito - breathtaking.

Firrito didn't play on Hall all night. Hall's opponent was the hapless Josh Gibson, totally outgunned by Barry all night. Not sure what Laidley was thinking there.

[Nico]

Did you really rate his game that highly? I am going to have to watch this game again I think - he frustrated me so many times tonight (particularly his staging for free kicks when the ball was still there to be won).

I did because he hasn't been running hard to contests for a long time and when he has got it has stuffed around and tried to play the field. Last night he got to contests, made only one glaring silly pass that was cut off and when he got to contets in most cases moved the ball on. He had a real zip that has been missing badly in the midfield ans 27 stats are as good as he has ever had I would think.

His was a genuine 4 quarter performance and was really prepared to put his body on the line at every contest.

[Nico]

Did you really rate his game that highly? I am going to have to watch this game again I think - he frustrated me so many times tonight (particularly his staging for free kicks when the ball was still there to be won).

Another thing Matty is that we know he is far from pefect with his disposal but last night he clearly thought more about his disposal, particularly his handball as did the rest of the team.

[Matty10]

I take your point.

His stats were good (even with an effectiveness of 63%, which was not bad considering the conditions and was higher than Kirk), but when I watched the game his efforts on a number of occasions were sub par. Stats are not everything and at times can be deceptive.

Although as I said in my first post - I need to watch the game again, as I may have marked him too hard (and many on here thought that he was v. good).

[swansrule100]

thats the most effort goodsey has given in months and its no surprise we won, kirk showed the way and players like goodes j bolton, okeefe, mcveigh richards and hall followed.

Its amazing how great hall can be when the ball is moved to him quickly in a one on one contest, who would of thought that works better than waiting for three or four defenders to catch him.

Also luke ablett played his best game all season.

Very happy with that win, but its deceptive for next week, the dogs will be hard to beat

[swansrule100]

Great win and i lost my voice at the game, especially after the terrible goal umpiring decision in the first Q...

Some things stood out tonight that were pretty easy to predict, although not popular with the expert opinions on RWO:

Vespa did very little and as a typically inconsistent first year player was rightly dropped.
Bevan was embarassed by Grant in one-on-one contests. A danger to our finals aspirations.
Leo held the backline together as usual.
Tadhg is a liability to us in 2008.
Our captains stood up.
We're too old, too slow and too good for NM.

i think tadgh had an off night, but he does set up play with the kick ins which shouldnt be under valued, he is much more reliable than mattner there. I think he frees mattner and malceski up as well.

I would think leos arse was covered by bolton and richards a bit, he should still finish up at the end of this year.

I agree on bevan though his decision making under pressure is a concern.