Lucky finals draw

[Bob Neil]

Swans have the Football Gods on our side... will say detractors if we get any further.

Probably right too. Avoided both Pies & Crows. Got NM at a weak time and now possibly the Doggies also - they're unsettled, might have a list shake-up and probably nervous.

Do we have the confidence to play like Q3 & Q4 from Sat night this Fri night?

Vic media will continue to poo poo Swans and say 'I told you so' when we lose.

[Plugger46]

Who gives a stuff what the media say/think.

All I know is, there are six teams left in the finals and we're one of them.

[chalbilto]

And after this weekend we will be one of four

[ShockOfHair]

Agree we've had the best possible draw. We just played the only top eight side who hadn't beaten us this year and this week it's the second most vulnerable side.

As far as media is concerned, a telling exchange between Caro Wilson and Craig Hutchison on Footy Classified last night.

Hutchison was saying teams have to bottom out, and for that reason Swans are on the way down (he calls it 'the graph' - I hadn't heard that one before).

Caro said well-run clubs like the Swans don't have to tank out to the bottom. She also said it was ridiculous to be saying Swans are on the way down when they're playing into second week of the finals.

She also said, BTW, that footy is a game of passion and drama, not just 16 teams on a timetable.

So definitely people like her and Rohan Connolly have a pretty good idea of where the Swans are at and what they've achieved, and a grown-up idea of footy.

There are hacks like Hutchison who are echo chambers for received wisdom in Melbourne.

[Jewels]

As far as media is concerned, a telling exchange between Caro Wilson and Craig Hutchison on Footy Classified last night.

Hutchison was saying teams have to bottom out, and for that reason Swans are on the way down (he calls it 'the graph' - I hadn't heard that one before).

Caro said well-run clubs like the Swans don't have to tank out to the bottom. She also said it was ridiculous to be saying Swans are on the way down when they're playing into second week of the finals.

She also said, BTW, that footy is a game of passion and drama, not just 16 teams on a timetable.

So definitely people like her and Rohan Connolly have a pretty good idea of where the Swans are at and what they've achieved, and a grown-up idea of footy.

There are hacks like Hutchison who are echo chambers for received wisdom in Melbourne.

I saw that last night, I thought I was going to kick the television in I was getting so angry at that idiot Hutchison. What an absolute tool that bloke is! Caro was terrific in her appraisal of us, both measured and logical - the total opposite of the other idiot.

[Bob Neil]

Caro said well-run clubs like the Swans don't have to tank out to the bottom. She also said it was ridiculous to be saying Swans are on the way down when they're playing into second week of the finals.

She also said, BTW, that footy is a game of passion and drama, not just 16 teams on a timetable.

Swans have done better in this years finals c.f. 2007..... so we're already on the way up!

Like the comment about passion & not a timetable.

[DeadlyAkkuret]

Hutchy is a deadset flog. There will always be some teams that drop down and collect a few high picks, but that doesn't mean it has to be that way. We may well miss the 8 next year or slip into the bottom 4, but it wont be because of some pathetic theory that media nuff nuffs love to use.

The Swans have been in the finals 10-11 times over the past 13 years and have rarely looked like being a cellar dwelling team. 13 years is a generation in terms of list changes, staff changes etc and yet we've survived and played finals football more often than almost any other team during that period.

Why do we suddenly have to go down now? IMO you don't have to go down before you come up.

[goswannie14]

I saw that last night, I thought I was going to kick the television in I was getting so angry at that idiot Hutchison. What an absolute tool that bloke is! Caro was terrific in her appraisal of us, both measured and logical - the total opposite of the other idiot.

Yep, I have to admit, being one of Caro's biggest detractors on here, when she actually talks about football, instead of footy politics, she makes a lot of sense.

Hutchy also poo pooed the idea of someone recruiting the young PNG 16 yo who was awesome in the International Cup final. He is an idiot, nothing more, nothing less.

[Lucky Knickers]

It's too early for the "lucky" debate to start again isn't it?

[TheHood]

Hutchy is more expert at sniffing out a private matter involving a footy player. It's his forte to chase blokes in car parks or airports or even in their home drive ways.

When it comes to a macro grasp of footy...the big picture...well for Hutchy...who cares? Big picture stuff doesnt sell papers and ads. Scandal...well, that's cool!

[NMWBloods]

Yep, I have to admit, being one of Caro's biggest detractors on here, when she actually talks about football, instead of footy politics, she makes a lot of sense.

That's hilarious!

[ROK Lobster]

Seems to me that popular consensus suggests that Caro only knows what she is talking about when she is talking up the Swans. Same can be said for any journalist.

[goswannie14]

That's hilarious!

The problem is that she seems to be too often looking for the behind the scenes stuff, which usually is nonsense, thjat's why she only lasted one season on ABC radio. If she stuck to commenting on football, she can (not always) make sense.

BTW there was more than one issue, apart from the Swans, which she made sense on the other night, and all of them were about football that game rather than football politics. That's really what I was meaning.

[swansrule100]

i dont mind old hutchy hes a bit of a tool, but he is getting paid to talk rubbish, where as we all do it for free on here.

As for the lucky draw, im not so sure about that given that if we do beat the dogs we play the cats.

From a personal point of view the three sides i dont mind winning the flag are on one side and the three i hate are on the other, so there will be one god awful team in the grand final.

[Thunder Shaker]

The Swans have been in the finals 10-11 times over the past 13 years and have rarely looked like being a cellar dwelling team. 13 years is a generation in terms of list changes, staff changes etc and yet we've survived and played finals football more often than almost any other team during that period.

No side has played in the finals more than the Swans since 1996. The Swans have played in the finals 11 times in 13 years. West Coast are the best of the other clubs with 10 finals appearances.

No other AFL side can match the current Swans run of 14 seasons in a row with a percentage over 100. In the three most recent seasons in which the Swans did not make the finals (1995, 2000, 2002), the Swans still outscored the opposition over 22 rounds. That period was during the tenure of three different coaches. Only Michael O'Loughlin was on our list for all 14 of those seasons (he was drafted in 1994 and made his debut in 1995).

The last year in which the Swans did not finish the season with a percentage over 100 was 1994, the year in which the Swans most recently finished on the bottom of the ladder.