Based on tonight's "efforts"....

[vonn__69]

I wonder if we are a chance

It doesnt look good im not going into the game looking hopeful.

[JF_Bay22_SCG]

are we any chance of beating Carlton? I still don't rate them highly, but that 11 in a row isn't giving me the same confidence as it did after we beat the Hawks last weekend.

How wet was it? I know we're traditionally hopeless in the slippery conditions, so maybe if it's a dry night (or indoors) we can get back to a more attractive style and make sure Carlton are still our bitches?

If we get a warm day & dry track I'm still weirdly confident of beating the @@@@ Blues. They have an even worse record than us than Brisbane (that helped alot last night didn't it ) & are a running attack side who are hot & cold and CAN be shut down.

We can go as wide as we like to get around them on the wings out of defence at the SCG & will not be pressured as much defensively as we persist in our handball happy running game after kick outs.

It still won't be easy as Carlton are still a team on the up after last night. But if we get a dry track, I'm quite confident we can beat them.

I'm getting the feeling that this year may be a bit like 1995. One great effort them utter rot the next week.

JF

[JF_Bay22_SCG]

They beat us at our own game because they won the stoppages repeatedly, and played better wet weather football. Jude Bolton is one of the best ballgetters and one of the worst ball disposers; Kirk worked hard but didn't have a lot of influence; McVeigh had an ordinary game; we couldn't cope with the Brisbane pressure. We lost in the midfield. And although the better team won, the umps also had an ordinary game.
Also for most of the match we played with a 3 man bench, and then a 2 man bench after Hall went off.

But unlike us they looked to open space with their leads. And they were poised enough to not attempt crazy handballs in defence which result in clangers. They kept a lot of spare free in front of Brown & Bradshaw so they could use their height advantage over Bolton & pace advantage over Lewis Roberts-Dinosaur & thus could give them better chances to mark in the forward 50. Our efforts forward were often spurious hoofs forward. With too many of our key players way way down (McVeigh Goodes etc) & were often forced wide in their forays forward.

I think the Lions under Voos are a tad different to what they were under Matthews. And the Swans under Roos are the same Swans under Roos, with the same old one-dimensional game plan.

The pluses to me were the continual improvement of Jesse White & the wonderful long kicking of Nick Meredith. But to be honest there wasn't much else to enthuse on a depressing wet night in Pumpkin Scone Land.

JF

[10Totti10]

At least Channel 10 will show the game live for once. Is thorton fast or slow. I know he has good ball skills. The Swans desperately need MOL back as he provides another option besides Hall. Any news on when he'll be back.

[liz]

Is thorton fast or slow.

Mid-paced.

His problem might be that he's a bit vanilla. We'll have to wait and see how he looks at senior level. He's fit, runs hard, has solid, fairly reliable disposal. But he doesn't have any obvious tricks or stand-out attributes. I suspect his most likely spot is in a Selwood-type role. (Unfortunately, Troy or Adam, not Joel. But they are both pretty handy players.)

[Damien]

At least Channel 10 will show the game live for once.

Thanks to it being a Fox Match. They seem to persist with showing it delayed when they are the national broadcaster of our matches.

[Xie Shan]

Thanks to it being a Fox Match. They seem to persist with showing it delayed when they are the national broadcaster of our matches.

Saturday's game was on half an hour delay into Sydney on Ten despite it being a Fox match, annoying as they've never showed away games on delay into Sydney before (that I can remember) on Ten as they were still showing Simpsons repeats until 7:30 on Saturday...

[Primmy]

Mid-paced.

His problem might be that he's a bit vanilla. We'll have to wait and see how he looks at senior level. He's fit, runs hard, has solid, fairly reliable disposal. But he doesn't have any obvious tricks or stand-out attributes. I suspect his most likely spot is in a Selwood-type role. (Unfortunately, Troy or Adam, not Joel. But they are both pretty handy players.)

Ouch but accurate. I would add he does pop up unexpectedly so that's a plus. And he always looks like he is having fun. Not as much fun as Nick Smith, but creditable. An early Bolts perhaps when he used to get so excited he would even hug Plugger.

[No 14]

The blues are riding a confidence wave after a number of years in the doldrums.They will be taking a lot of positives out of the Essendon loss - which they really should have won. Confidence, need to step up after a loss, big supporter base - they are going to be hard to beat. If both teams bring their "A" game it will be a great tussle. Who is more likely to bring their "B"game???

[desredandwhite]

For once I was able to have a good look at the game at the Gabba (normally we are in the cheer squad, but this year opted for stand seats) and it was pretty clear why we lost.

We allowed Brisbane way too much space, and didn't create enough space of our own. That's pretty much it.

How did we win last week? Running, and lots of it. When we've got the ball, why aren't blokes sprinting their arses off to give their man an option? We've got a spare man or two in defence. Why are they NEVER filling the hole in front of Brown or Bradshaw? So many times the Lions fumbled the ball but were able to recover because the closest swan was jogging 30 metres away.

Roosy needs to set an example and drop a couple of senior players. Top of the list can be Money-bags O'Keefe, it was very clear that he just didn't give a damn any more. It is as if the players are thinking "ah, I don't need to run, someone else will put on the shepherd or create a lead or whatever". Fine, but if more than one or two players do that, it looks AWFUL - this is pretty much what happened for much of the Lions game, and all the way through the middle part of the St Kilda game.

Disappointing.

[Playsmart]

Acres of frontal space

[QUOTE=desredandwhite;433081
We allowed Brisbane way too much space, and didn't create enough space of our own. That's pretty much it.

How did we win last week? Running, and lots of it. When we've got the ball, why aren't blokes sprinting their arses off to give their man an option? We've got a spare man or two in defence. Why are they NEVER filling the hole in front of Brown or Bradshaw? So many times the Lions fumbled the ball but were able to recover because the closest swan was jogging 30 metres away.

Disappointing.[/QUOTE]

Some of my observation
1) The space in front of our opponents forward seemed to appear the whole nite. Their forwards kept on kicking goals. I would expect something would done to deny the space after 3 goals or so from this very clear strategy adopted by Voss. Cant our more experienced coaches (more than Voss) neutralise to this simple yet effective killer strategy?

2) Our defender, such as LRT and Bolton, always appeared to be one or two steps behind their forwards, when running to space for the grab.
Our defender can't adapt to the wet, run at off peak pace?
Can't our defender change positioning when it is clear that they are 1-2 steps behind their oppnents, running to space?

3) Our players cant play wet? Inadequate wet training?

[reigning premier]

Up until Essendon beating them i would of said no. But allowing for us not being great in the wet, and teh fact that they can't even beat the Bummers, I'd say we're beater than even chance of beating them.

[JF_Bay22_SCG]

Up until Essendon beating them i would of said no. But allowing for us not being great in the wet, and teh fact that they can't even beat the Bummers, I'd say we're beater than even chance of beating them.

The forecast is apparently for more rain on Saturday unfortunately. Am not horribly pleased about this obviously. Because against a soft running-style team like the Blues we will get bogged down without our handballing game to get the ball around the defensive net as we come out of defence.

JF