How we?re travelling at the moment...

[mcs]

At the start of the season if you had of said 6-4 after 10 rounds I would of snapped your hands off. I think that should be a minimum from where we are now. I expect we will lose at Geelong (We never win down there- but we did beat Adelaide in Adelaide this year, so who knows?), and the Dogs will be hard (Though I think we will match up far better this year against them then we have over the previous couple of years), but I do think the other three games we should be very hopeful of victories.

We should beat Freo with it at the SCG and all (even with their good start to the season), and I think we can beat the Hawks (at what will be my 1st footy game at the G!!!). I'd be happy with 6-4, but I feel we have a definite chance to be at least 7-3 after 10 rounds. Whatever we are, I'd hope from here the worst we will be coming into the bye round would be 7-5 (Should beat the Bombers at Home, who knows with Hot and Cold Port at AAMI in round twelve). I'd like to think we could be 8-4 or 9-3, but we will just have to wait and see.

Its so hard to judge where we are truly at due to who we have played so far, but unlike the last 2 seasons where there has been clear indications that we are a long way off the pace of the best teams, this year those indications are not there so far imo. There are far more positive signs from our play, and the big negatives (Terrible disposal, poor choice of man to HB to, poor kicking,general decision making etc) are vastly improved this season. Still plenty of work to do, but the signs are good.

I'm not saying that we are anywhere near the best teams potentially come the end of the year, but I feel we have made a lot of progress so far, and with it proving a very even competition so far, there is no reason if we can do well over the next 6 weeks or so that we can be sitting very nicely halfway through the season and with a real chance of finishing somewhere between say 4-7.

[Thunder Shaker]

We should still be in the 8 at the end of May. Still being in the top four would be a real bonus.

We definitely need to see some wins against quality sides before we can assess how well we are going. It's good being at the top of the ladder right now, but the sides we have beaten so far have three wins between them. If we are 6-2 or better after eight rounds, then one can start talking to our supervisors about the need to take time off in September.

[andyn]

I love this cautious optimism we all have! Can't wait till Saturday night (even though I usually become a nervous wreck)

[Big Al]

It's not the fall that kills you. It's the rapid negative acceleration when you reach the ground that does it.

Guns don't kill people......


husbands who come home early do.

[BigD]

I think the next four weeks will truly tell the story as to how the Swans are travelling.

[Nico]

A keen observation may suggest that we can not get any higher on the ladder than we are after round five.

Unless of course they are smoking some of that Tibetan Weed.

[cruiser]

Can't wait till Saturday night (even though I usually become a nervous wreck)

Me too, am really looking forward to it but will be very nervous come the first bounce.

[Nico]

I agree with BSA5 that no-one's unbeatable this year.

The Swans are looking pretty good. We may have beaten lowly sides but we really put 'em away. Two years ago we would have won those games by three or four goals. The addition of pace and the sharper kicking skills have made a huge difference. We've now got all the ingredients of a top side - mongrel defence, inside and midfielders, power forwards, small forwards, rucks, on-field leadership, team ethos, coaching smarts. We just need to get consistency.

I had Swans finishing at 6-10 at the start of the year but I'm upgrading my forecast to 4-7.

Lion steak coming up.

Keen observation there Shocker. Every side has lost a game already so I guess that means no side is unbeatable.

[hammo]

I think the next four weeks will truly tell the story as to how the Swans are travelling.

Absolutely.

It's been more than 12 months since we've beaten a top 8 side - Carlton in round 4 last year.

So a real test of where we are at coming up.

[Go Swannies]

Absolutely.

It's been more than 12 months since we've beaten a top 8 side - Carlton in round 4 last year.

So a real test of where we are at coming up.

It seems to be a very even comp this year so I'd be unhappy if we didn't win at least half of the Brion, Cats, Dogs, Freo, Pies games. The Dees beat the Lions but we can't on the SCG = a problem.

[Matty10]

It's been more than 12 months since we've beaten a top 8 side.

I hate stats like that - you can't argue with them - hopefully it is no longer accurate come Sunday.

[msb]

I think we can beat the Lions, maybe not the Cats (but who knows - we might) Hawks I'm pretty confident we can beat, only Freo and the Dogs are a question mark.

Nah, we'll roll freo at the SCG, Subiaco though a different story

[Cheer Squad]

I thought we would beat Brisbane reasonably comfortably, and so it proved, but only after a cracker of a game, especially that third quarter - how good was that?

What is of concern is the mounting injury toll:

Craig Bolton - 8 weeks with an ankle injury
Mark Seaby - ankle injury, out for how long???
Ted Richards - ankle injury, out for how long???
Jarrad Moore - ankle injury, out for how long???
Ben McGlynn - quad injury, couple of weeks away
Craig Bird (remember him?) - couple of weeks away with an ankle injury
Ryan O'Keefe - concussion! considering how strongly he's built, he must have copped a real whack
Jude Bolton - concussion - he'll probably be right
Daniel Hannebery - shoulder - I hope that's not going to be an ongoing problem

We can't sustain too much more damage like this.

But I still think we've got our best chance in many years next week of knocking off Geelong at home.

[CureTheSane]

WTF is it with all the ankles?
Ground condition?
New boots?

[mcs]

I thought we would beat Brisbane reasonably comfortably, and so it proved, but only after a cracker of a game, especially that third quarter - how good was that?

What is of concern is the mounting injury toll:

Craig Bolton - 8 weeks with an ankle injury
Mark Seaby - ankle injury, out for how long???
Ted Richards - ankle injury, out for how long???
Jarrad Moore - ankle injury, out for how long???
Ben McGlynn - quad injury, couple of weeks away
Craig Bird (remember him?) - couple of weeks away with an ankle injury
Ryan O'Keefe - concussion! considering how strongly he's built, he must have copped a real whack
Jude Bolton - concussion - he'll probably be right
Daniel Hannebery - shoulder - I hope that's not going to be an ongoing problem

We can't sustain too much more damage like this.

But I still think we've got our best chance in many years next week of knocking off Geelong at home.

Bird said last night at the forward pocket function he hopes to be playing reserves next week or the week after. O'keefe did hit his head very hard indeed- hopefully he and Bolton will be ok for next week. Hanners didn't seem to affected when he came back in the 2nd half, so hopefully it was a clean dislocation and he will not miss much or any footy.

Fingers crossed most aren't too long term, as it would be such a shame if injuries ripped apart our season after the fantastic start we have had to the year.