Folou better kick than Shaw

[Kirkari]

It wouldn't be wrong to say that 99.99% of people who post on RWO love the club, the jumper and the players. Most would wear their heart on their sleeve and do easily get frustrated with poor performance.

As a result of the poor performance, some posts criticise that performance articulately and other posts are not articulated that well. But in the end, it really doesn't matter. I wouldn't get too worried about the criticisms the players receive on this forum. I'm sure some of the criticism's the players would receive from the coaching staff would be more direct.

I think the players are thrilled to have fans who are engaged enough to post on a forum like this, positive or negative. I don't think they give a rats for our reviews of their performance, but love that we want to spend the time we're not watching the games on critiquing them.

IMO, Rhyce Shaw is outstanding overall, week after week. He's keeping my Supercoach team alive! I miss his running bounces from last year, but only for the nerve-wracking entertainment value.

[Jesse Richards]

Thanks Jewels, Primmy, Big Al and others who deplore the negativity towards our players.

I find myself wondering if I enjoyed my Swans watching more before I joined RWO - at first it was exhilarating to have so much more info and opinion, but when my favourite players are criticised ad infinitum and I am constantly reviewing my notes, matches and stats to check opinions about them or other issues, I wonder at the time it takes to do all this as conscientiously as I have been doing. I have fallen into the trap of doing hours of internet research into such topics as sports head injuries, when Hanners' contract ends, who said what, when, why - and often to refute (or sometimes confirm) a post that a RWOer has flung in without checking facts and stats. Plus religiously reading every post relevant to the Swans, often rereading some several times.

In my short time in RWO I have learnt to ignore some people's posts, especially the broken records about some players, both pro and con, and to check my understanding of what is going on - particularly when challenged re my opinions. Often I have changed my mind about who should be included in the team - usually based on pure footy analysis by the posters who leave personalities out of it.

But is all this time and effort worth it for me? Do I enjoy my footy more because of it? No, not really. What am I not doing when I am so obsessive about RWO? This last is the clincher. There are more important things in my life than, gulp, the Swans, and these have been neglected over the last few months. The negativity towards the players I can do without, quite happily, but no doubt I'll miss the rest of it, should I be able to break free from my obsessive compulsive RWOing and only check in occasionally.

[Big Al]

Thanks Jewels, Primmy, Big Al and others who deplore the negativity towards our players.

I find myself wondering if I enjoyed my Swans watching more before I joined RWO - at first it was exhilarating to have so much more info and opinion, but when my favourite players are criticised ad infinitum and I am constantly reviewing my notes, matches and stats to check opinions about them or other issues, I wonder at the time it takes to do all this as conscientiously as I have been doing. I have fallen into the trap of doing hours of internet research into such topics as sports head injuries, when Hanners' contract ends, who said what, when, why - and often to refute (or sometimes confirm) a post that a RWOer has flung in without checking facts and stats. Plus religiously reading every post relevant to the Swans, often rereading some several times.

In my short time in RWO I have learnt to ignore some people's posts, especially the broken records about some players, both pro and con, and to check my understanding of what is going on - particularly when challenged re my opinions. Often I have changed my mind about who should be included in the team - usually based on pure footy analysis by the posters who leave personalities out of it.

But is all this time and effort worth it for me? Do I enjoy my footy more because of it? No, not really. What am I not doing when I am so obsessive about RWO? This last is the clincher. There are more important things in my life than, gulp, the Swans, and these have been neglected over the last few months. The negativity towards the players I can do without, quite happily, but no doubt I'll miss the rest of it, should I be able to break free from my obsessive compulsive RWOing and only check in occasionally.

Jesse,
I look at this way. While I do deplore some of the overtly negative posting by some RWO members I will always defend their right to have those views. It's why a site like RWO needs people like yourself to be challenging those views otherwise all we have is a site like Big Footy which is just full of whingers and not a very happy place to visit.

Also with those posters who really piss you off with their views and will never see reason put them on your ignore list. It'll make your vists much more pleasant.

[Jesse Richards]

Jesse,
I look at this way. While I do deplore some of the overtly negative posting by some RWO members I will always defend their right to have those views. It's why a site like RWO needs people like yourself to be challenging those views otherwise all we have is a site like Big Footy which is just full of whingers and not a very happy place to visit.

Also with those posters who really piss you off with their views and will never see reason put them on your ignore list. It'll make your vists much more pleasant.

Thanks for the reply. Big Al. I guess what I was trying to do was signal an anticipated reduced presence and giving some reasons, the main one being the amount of time taken from other things.

Unfortunately, or fortunately, the list of people I don't want to read is very short - even when some people harp on about how wonderful x is and how bad y is, I find that they make quite good sense at other times.

[Reggi]

Given the financial disparity between the codes - I am not positive but pretty sure that AFL rules allow you to have non pre registered AFL players i.e. someone from Rugby outside of the salary cap

IS it something we should consider? Pyke is going OK is it worth another try or likely to just be a wasted investment?

Personally I think few players could make the change

[Bas]

Jesse,
I look at this way. While I do deplore some of the overtly negative posting by some RWO members I will always defend their right to have those views. It's why a site like RWO needs people like yourself to be challenging those views otherwise all we have is a site like Big Footy which is just full of whingers and not a very happy place to visit.

Also with those posters who really piss you off with their views and will never see reason put them on your ignore list. It'll make your vists much more pleasant.

Has someone been complaining ?????

No matter how bad they are, they are still better than 99% of players not playing AFL.

[KirkysSocks]

There are a large number of people on here, like me, who have been supporters for a long time and lived and supported the Swans through the dark ages of the early 90s (and early 80s for some) and we kept the faith and stayed positive. What we're getting now has been a bloody good ride for nearly 15 years and it's a ride that is likely to continue a fair bit longer.

This has now become our woodstock. The amount of people that were there during those dark times sitting in the rain watching us get pumped by 100+ each weekend - makes you wonder how wrong the swans got their membership and attendence figures during these years. I guess they didn't count people dressed as seats at the games.

[KirkysSocks]

Given the financial disparity between the codes - I am not positive but pretty sure that AFL rules allow you to have non pre registered AFL players i.e. someone from Rugby outside of the salary cap

IS it something we should consider? Pyke is going OK is it worth another try or likely to just be a wasted investment?

Personally I think few players could make the change

The AFL will prob block it and tell the swans we need to fit under the cap. Allowing any kind of code jumper to join the swans will be seen as a negative to GWS..havent you noticed, the AFL have completely ignored the swans, even the media. You would have thought that there would be more coverage of players like Pyke...but nada..just one article and even that was ignored.

Any publicity for the swans is bad for GWS atm, which makes me very cynical about the AFL and their agenda atm...i really think secretly Andy D is content we are travelling not so good..i bet he was panicking when were 1st for 2 weeks.

[Jesse Richards]

Any publicity for the swans is bad for GWS atm, which makes me very cynical about the AFL and their agenda atm...i really think secretly Andy D is content we are travelling not so good..i bet he was panicking when were 1st for 2 weeks.

I agree. I'm happy to have code jumpers jump into GWS - saw something yesterday on TV about the 2 new jumpers likely to be playing against each other in Round 1 NAB Cup 2011 - ho ho ho, I think. Andy D and co.'s arrogant coup will fail, Swans will pay and play AFL experienced players to great advantage and Andy D will have to come up with yet another way to screw the Swans. My guess it will be scandal related - drugs, sex, betting, and failing that, Buddhist pre-game rituals (can look odd to the uninitiated). 2005/2006 was not that long ago.

[Wardy]

Well Folau took a few decent contested grabs last night - even Rabs Warren excitedly said "My god how high can that boy jump??" if he can learn to kick, and the rules of the game - he has 2 years to do it - perhaps a position as an old fashioned full forward might be an option............siller things have happened!!!

[Dalai Lama]

............siller things have happened!!!

yes - like Simon Minton-Connell?

[Wardy]

yes - like Simon Minton-Connell?

Valid Point - but at least Folau can actually catch a ball!

[Dalai Lama]

Valid Point - but at least Folau can actually catch a ball!

Minty did catch one one day as I recall fondly - went on to spray it on the full - but it was a catch none-the-less?

[Wardy]

Minty did catch one one day as I recall fondly - went on to spray it on the full - but it was a catch none-the-less?

those were the days!!!

[AnnieH]

You KNOW I love throwing spanners .....

Shaw didn't lose the Hawthorn game.

Goodesy did. (Can you believe I just said that??)

Had he kicked 2.4 instead of 1.5, we would have won.