The Swans left footers

[Auntie.Gerald]

have we got the most left footers in the comp ?

1. 1. Kirk
   2. ROK
   3. Jack
   4. Mattner
   5. Malceski
   6. Heath
   7. Hannebery
   8. Smithy

[eggbeater]

hawks would be up there wouldnt they?

[DeadlyAkkuret]

No suprise that three of our top midfield prospects in Jack, Hannebery and Smith are all left footers.

[Auntie.Gerald]

Generally there are a reasonable amount of right footers that play on the left side of the field ie their wrong side.....we have minimum 10 lefties and 8 will be genuinely pushing the 22 except Heath most likley and Sumner in 2010 anyway.

So given the FB, CHB, CHF and FF are not a disadvantage and the 4 possies down the left flank will naturally suit lefties I wonder if playing any of these guys on the right flank will be a disadvantage?

Potentially Jack and Hannebery could both be HF flanks but one may have to play the wrong side and if Smithy played in the Backs at all you would think that Mal and Mattner may have him covered !

1. Johnston?
2. Kirk
3. ROK
4. Jack
5. Mattner
6. Malceski
7. Heath
8. Hannebery
9. Smithy
10. Sumner

[swans song]

How many of them can kick on Both?

[reigning premier]

have we got the most left footers in the comp ?

1. 1. Kirk
   2. ROK
   3. Jack
   4. Mattner
   5. Malceski
   6. Heath
   7. Hannebery
   8. Smithy

You need to get a hobby.

[Nico]

Generally there are a reasonable amount of right footers that play on the left side of the field ie their wrong side.....we have minimum 10 lefties and 8 will be genuinely pushing the 22 except Heath most likley and Sumner in 2010 anyway.

So given the FB, CHB, CHF and FF are not a disadvantage and the 4 possies down the left flank will naturally suit lefties I wonder if playing any of these guys on the right flank will be a disadvantage?

Potentially Jack and Hannebery could both be HF flanks but one may have to play the wrong side and if Smithy played in the Backs at all you would think that Mal and Mattner may have him covered !

1. Johnston?
2. Kirk
3. ROK
4. Jack
5. Mattner
6. Malceski
7. Heath
8. Hannebery
9. Smithy
10. Sumner

Let me get this right or is that left. If you are looking at the telly and we are kicking to the right of the screen, then when we are attacking the right side is the right hand side of the ground when you are looking up the ground from the centre square.

So if a right footer plays on that side he is naturally going to the boundary line when he turns onto his right foot. So he is in effect on the wrong side because he is not turning to the centre corridor to deliver to his full forward. Then again he may have been on his correct side when Hall was leading because most of the time he led to the boundary.

Now if the right footer was on the other side, which is the left side, then when he gets a set shot for goal he is in a better position to kick for goal because it opens up the goal face. Take Buddy Franklin who is left footer, then he is far more advantaged by taking a set shot from the right side which suits his left foot because he swings to his left towards the centre corridor when kicking, hence he opens up the angle much more.

So the correct side for a forward to play is the opposite to what he kicks. The great Des Bethke had a very wide turning circle slightly greater than the Queen Mary, so being a leftie he always played on the right flank otherwise he would have been 10 rows back when he kicked it if he played on the left flank.

If you take the backline it is a different story. If say Nick Smith played on the left back flank then he turns on his left foot and goes to the boundary in a defensive play. So it is best to play on your wrong side. This theory however gets turned on it's head by Ted Richards who stuffs it up no matter which side he plays on.

Leo Barry threw all theories out the window because although a leftie he always went left on his first move, but preferred to then come back to his right where he was as useless as tits on a bull, and confuse the hell out of team mates and fall into the hands of the opposition. I firmly believe that he thought that if one of our blokes was 50 metres on his own on the left HFF it was clearly the wrong option. He may very well have been a rightie locked in a lefties body.

Now if you have too many lefties, who by the way are more likely to be horribly left than a rightie is horribly right who seem to be more adaptable to their left side, then the defensive side of the opposition is far easier to marshall as they know that a lot of the players only need to play on one side of their opponent, being the left side. You see if you play beside their left foot that restricts them going to their left side and frustrates the hell out of them. If you play on their right side they are free to run to their natural side.

Some coaches theorise that if the leftie plays on the left side going forward that the opponent is always playing boundary side to restrict them, hence the corridor is opened up with less players flooding in there. So the leftie going forward on his left side tends to hook the ball to the corridor to the leading forward who has fewer players dropping in the hole. This thoery holds up for us given we have a modern history of few goals coming from midfielders who play on their right side of the ground enabling them to open up the angle. They tend to chip it to the hole except when Hall led to the pocket which was most of the time.

I must say the argumment of whether lefties play on the right or righties to the left is far easier to understand than the theories of smalls playing tall and talls playing small, given that if someone is tall they are tall not small, and if someone is small they are small not tall. I am yet to be convinced that Seaby will be able to play small in the forward pocket and crumb goals (I believe crumbers went out with Kevin Bartlett) and Nick Smith who is small can play tall on a tall forward. He could play tall on a small forward only if he was taller than that samll forward.

I rest my case, on the left half foward flank.

[Auntie.Gerald]

Nico that was completely from "leftfield"

and now for the Dala lama of Left footers..........what a great article

Brett Kirk is a true great | The Daily Telegraph

[Auntie.Gerald]

PS is Nick Smith Captain Kirks love child..........I think I am hoping too much but wouldnt it be lovely that young Nick turns out to be our next Captain Kirk

[Nico]

Generally there are a reasonable amount of right footers that play on the left side of the field ie their wrong side.....we have minimum 10 lefties and 8 will be genuinely pushing the 22 except Heath most likley and Sumner in 2010 anyway.

So given the FB, CHB, CHF and FF are not a disadvantage and the 4 possies down the left flank will naturally suit lefties I wonder if playing any of these guys on the right flank will be a disadvantage?

Potentially Jack and Hannebery could both be HF flanks but one may have to play the wrong side and if Smithy played in the Backs at all you would think that Mal and Mattner may have him covered !

1. Johnston?
2. Kirk
3. ROK
4. Jack
5. Mattner
6. Malceski
7. Heath
8. Hannebery
9. Smithy
10. Sumner

AG you are seriously delusional if you think Malceski was a better footballer in 2009 than Smith. Smith was one of the great finds of 2009 and Malceski was an abject failure. I don't give a rats toss bag if Malceski was suffering from a knee reconstruction hangover, he was as soft as Riccotta cheese.

[Auntie.Gerald]

just to clarify:......... the sentence was alluding to Smithy maybe playing in teh backs maybe not ie in the context that he is a very fair chance of playing wing rather than HB flank........but if Mal comes back baby well he is a very worthy director of the ball with the deft left kick driving from HB flank.

personally I would have Jack and McVeigh starting on the wings with either Smith or Jetta coming off the bench.

I want Mattner to become Leo Barry in defence if possible not asking much and plus he has a much better kick than Leo.

I like Smithy but I am not sold that Malceski is dead and buried. Too many mates have done their knee and it takes 18mths to be 100% when angling into the play........anyone can go back to straight lines but kicking and angled runs takes more than 12mths

we will know in 117days or a little more

[dimelb]

Nico that was completely from "leftfield"

and now for the Dala lama of Left footers..........what a great article

Brett Kirk is a true great | The Daily Telegraph

Very good article. I hadn't seen it before.

[Legs Akimbo]

Nico that was completely from "leftfield"

and now for the Dala lama of Left footers..........what a great article

Brett Kirk is a true great | The Daily Telegraph

OMG - take a look at the cartoon of Kirk. That thing on his back looks like a genetic experiment hybrid of swan and spider. yuck.

[royboy42]

Nico that was completely from "leftfield"

and now for the Dala lama of Left footers..........what a great article

Brett Kirk is a true great | The Daily Telegraph

Now we need to see the speech she refers to..

[Doctor J.]

Now we need to see the speech she refers to..

Was thinking the same thing myself.

Anyone?