Swans vs Dogs: In-game hobnob (aka the game day thread)

[Legs Akimbo]

Finally got to watch a game on TV. Not sure that was a good or bad thing.

We lost this game on Thursday when they picked Henry Playfair ahead of 3-4 other guys who should have been selected.

There is no way we can win with Playfair, Richards, LRT, Pyke and Bevan all in thes same team. Of those five, I have time for LRT and Pyke and Richards gave us a few good years, but five basically unco footy players with dodgy disposal up against the against the Bulldogs machine ...

A few other observations

1. Roos needs to show some discipline and let White play in a position. Although he did not kick a lot of goals, he was good in the first 5 rounds and he worked well with Bradshaw and Goodes. He has never played well in the ruck and he has only played well in the forward line and best at FF. Pretty bloody obvious really. Bevan at full forward was simply ludicrous.

2. Jetta looks lost. Confidence? Rohan may be talented but he has probably realised in the last 2 weeks that he has a long road in front of him. They should persist.

3. Bevan and Playfair should have their cards stamped with the same one we hope has been used on Barlow. List cloggers.

4. On the other hand, I really like the look of Pyke - the pace of his development has been incredible. His tapwork is really good and I think he could be an effective fullback too.

Not much else to say really. Expected to lose and we lost. The fact that Henry is a top bloke is not enough. They should have played Curry.

[ugg]

Harsh on Bevan thought he had a solid game, more so in the first half. Not sure that bombing it long to him against guys like Brian Lake and Tom Williams was a smart game plan.

[Q...]

Not quite sure why directed at me lol I agreed with the Pyke descion, I didn't make any other claims on the overall umpiring lol

That's probably why. You'll note that I said "maybe Damien".

[Swans500]

FFS...on SEN they are saying that Bradshaws' injury is more severe than being admitted?!

[Q...]

Harsh on Bevan thought he had a solid game, more so in the first half. Not sure that bombing it long to him against guys like Brian Lake and Tom Williams was a smart game plan.

I thought Bevan was a highlight...

[annew]

Like i mentioned earlier, it is very rare that you lose your best backman, best forward, 2 best ruckman and a goal sneak. Our injuries have come at a horrible time, taking on Geelong then the Dogs with our injury toll is just plain unlucky.

Oh well we get a chance to redeem at the end of the season if that is the case.

[Q...]

sure we missed all these players, but the selectors got it wrong. When it was obvious to most that Braddy wasnt going to play and a loss was inevitable they should have tried some of the youngsters Currie Ves etc instead of playfair bevan etc. The kids need game time playfair isnt going to ever give us anything.

Playfair's on the list. Obviously the powers that be made the decision that he may be able to provide something at some stage. The kids have time to show their wares, Playfair is obviously running out of time. If you start with your premises (which I happen to think are correct) then your conclusion should be that it was correct to put playfair in now.

[Damien]

FFS...on SEN they are saying that Bradshaws' injury is more severe than being admitted?!

Inside word at the time of his pre season surgery was that his knee would require care all year, so it wouldn't surpise me. Fingers crossed though.

[Q...]

The Swans seem to forget what play on is when they come up against opposition they think are good? too many missed kicks and lack of pressure on the ball handler...the 5 games we won in you'll notice that we actually played on and hit our targets, the past two weeks we have held up play at every chance and have turned the ball over each time.....what I'd give to see the play on swans each week...

Agreed. As much is possible though. It's easier to do with some teams. We did have the best disposal efficiency in the comp while we were going through that period...

[annew]

We are missing our entire forward line...

Bradshaw...not there
White...Playing in ruck
Mycglyn....injured
Moore..Injured
Goodes there but also in midfield

We beat them in inside 50's just couldn't put it on the score board.


Had we had our proper structure of Bradshaw, White, Mcglynn, Moore, Goodes + a resting midfielder today would have been a different store.

If you took Cloke, Medhurst, Jolly & Maxwell out of Collingwood or Mooney, Johnson, Ottens & Scarlett out of Geeling these teams would also be more vulnerable - look at St Kilda they are not as threatening and they only lost Riedwoldt. It is not just the players it is the whole structure.

[mcs]

Just back from the game and what a disappointing performance... imo worse than last week as the Dogs didn't have the class to really put us away late (And frankly had no need to). So many passengers today. The big worry was that for the 2nd week we were awful around the clearances, so incredibly slow and the dogs like Geelong had so much time to easily clear. They outworked, out tackled and out run us, as per the usual. Although we did improve in terms of getting it forward today, I still think we were easily outplayed and even with the amount of players out, I thought we were fairly comprehensively beaten.

There were some positives from today though. I thought Hanners did well again (He is going to be an absolute gun imo), Rohan again showed glimpses of what he can do, Pyke did some good tap work and we did keep up the effort all day.

So many negatives. Playfair needs to have his card stamped like Barlow.

As decent as Pyke could be around the ruck, if he can't learn to contribute around the ground, than he isn't worth the effort perservering with. The age of the Dinosaur Ruckman in the AFL is long long gone, and he just doesn't to me have the instinct needed to succeed at the moment.

Jesse did alright today, but he desperately needs to work harder on the second effort, as this is where he really is let down often.

Ryan O'Keefe imo is clearly carrying injury (I'd say at a guess somewhere in the Groin injury) had no legs to chase and was struggling to hang on to a mark and kick- lets hope we aren't playing him when we shouldn't be.

There was so much poor disposal and poor decision making today which was a real disappointment, especially after what had looked a real improvement early in the season. Might be due to the lack of personnel, but so many times we just did dumb things.

As for the Yellow Maggotts, nothing new. Just as we were building some momentum in the 2nd quarter they came up with that 12-pointer against Goodes. Absolutely killed our bit of a push and that was that. Not that they were anywhere near the deciding factor today, but there is so little consistency and its so frustrating to watch.

[Reggi]

SEN was right, our big guys Playfair, Pyke, Richards and White were useless and we were better off playing some ruck rover types.

Clearly we don't have the depth or fitness at the moment. We probably will get into the bottom part of the eight, but are a way off, hopefully we get Lewis Jetta, Lewis Johnston, Veszpremi & Meredith up before then end of the year

We really need to get Mumford & Seaby back. Playfair is just a list clogger

[Nico]

i noticed the bulldogs have had double the free kicks...warranted or have we been hard done by again.
Commentators on radio reckon we have had the rough end of the stick..

next week is crucial for us to remain in that top 4-6 hunt.....

missing those key players certainly cost us. you can cover 2-3, btu you cant cover 6-7 players..
i doubt most teams could. no excuses, but currie needs to have a crack ahead of pyke,

It's who you replace the injured players with. To bring in the likes of Richards (slow in all aspects of his game) Playfair (whew, slow, knocked off ball easily, wont move it on) Bevan (slow) really tells a story. 3 players who did not get to the fall of the ball. Pyke, for all that he tries, is just not up to it.

[mcs]

Agreed. As much is possible though. It's easier to do with some teams. We did have the best disposal efficiency in the comp while we were going through that period...

Certainly noticed this to. We weren't helped at least twice if not 3 times early on when we got free kicks and the umps stopped us from playing on or bought the play back.

I think in reality the biggest problem we have now is that when we have a fit and ready to go top 22, they are probably able to match it with most sides in the league. but when we have a few key players out, than there is absolutely no depth in those positions and we struggle.

[Nico]

Prior opportunity is still required, no free. I concede that you shouldn't argue with the umpire or you'll get a fifty.

The McVeigh decision where he was muscled backwards over the line with the player pinning him front on, with no prior opportunity, smacks of an umpire who has NFI.