Matchday: Swans vs. Dons (battle for first dibs on the turkey leg at McVeigh xmas)

[Blood]

Paper Airplane fans on bigfooty.com have gone absolutely feral.

Love it!!

[SwansFan1972]

First time for awhile I think that maybe we got the better of the 50/50 and considering who the umpires were I thought that was an absolute miracle.

Yep - McBurney AND McLaren in the same game! Sheesh - saw that at the start and figured we'd be playing 22 on 25 again this week!

Makes the 'assistance' received from the umpies today all the more remarkable.

Although it looked early in the last quarter they were going to make us pay for being so weel in front in the Frees for column. McBurney tried to blow us away with two crucial frees early in the final quarter when scores were deadlocked - luckily bombouts only turned the opportunities into points. They certainly swung the other way late in the quarter tho.

We were well overdue for a good run from the umps, and also to get over the line in a tight one. Nice to tick both boxes in one game!

Floated out of the ground today sopping but happy. Fuel light coming on in the carpark chokefest not the only nervous moments for the day - but ended well also!

[msb]

Paper Airplane fans on bigfooty.com have gone absolutely feral.

Love it!!

OMG, I just checked it out, they are going ape@@@@ over there on bigfooty! Sure there were some dodgy decisions, but for BOTH teams IMO and I dont believe they can say it totally cost them the game. Onya swannies, great gutsy victory!

[hot potato]

That was a sensational slog by both teams. The lead changed so many times. LRT had massive composure under intense pressure, well played mate. Few of of our players seem to be recovering from restrictive injuries. How often do these guys keep playing regardless.

A real BLOODS effort to grind it out and a fine team performance. One to file in the 1% bank of tapes to watch.

hp

[liz]

I just finished watching a replay of the game and after comments on here about Bummers fans reactions I expected to see a litany of soft frees, obvious frees to them missed, or umpires getting sucked in. Up to 3/4 time, it was hard to pick one obvious umpire error. In the final term, it did look like they missed it when Mattner took the ball out, but given the Bombers took the ball into their forward line very soon afterwards, hard to argue that was game changing. Maybe Jetta (theirs) could have got one 60m out, maybe the Rohan free on the boundary line for HTB was harsh on the Bomber, but that was pretty much it. Umpires let a lot of very soft, marginal things go in the conditions. Isn't that what most fans scream for?

[Big Al]

Matchday: Swans vs. Dons (battle for first dibs on the turkey leg at McVeigh xmas)

I just finished watching a replay of the game and after comments on here about Bummers fans reactions I expected to see a litany of soft frees, obvious frees to them missed, or umpires getting sucked in. Up to 3/4 time, it was hard to pick one obvious umpire error. In the final term, it did look like they missed it when Mattner took the ball out, but given the Bombers took the ball into their forward line very soon afterwards, hard to argue that was game changing. Maybe Jetta (theirs) could have got one 60m out, maybe the Rohan free on the boundary line for HTB was harsh on the Bomber, but that was pretty much it. Umpires let a lot of very soft, marginal things go in the conditions. Isn't that what most fans scream for?

Liz, you seem to be trying to find a logical explanation for the reaction of feral Bombers fans. Let me save you some time, they're just feral and don't need a logical reason to be so.

[ScottH]

I just finished watching a replay of the game and after comments on here about Bummers fans reactions I expected to see a litany of soft frees, obvious frees to them missed, or umpires getting sucked in. Up to 3/4 time, it was hard to pick one obvious umpire error. In the final term, it did look like they missed it when Mattner took the ball out, but given the Bombers took the ball into their forward line very soon afterwards, hard to argue that was game changing. Maybe Jetta (theirs) could have got one 60m out, maybe the Rohan free on the boundary line for HTB was harsh on the Bomber, but that was pretty much it. Umpires let a lot of very soft, marginal things go in the conditions. Isn't that what most fans scream for?

Given the bombers had an OOB, a little earlier, I thought Mattners ws just to eaven it up a little.

[Primmy]

I also just about packed up and went home when I saw who the umps were. We were going to play 25. However maybe their collective guilt from previous shockers took hold and for once balanced things out. And perhaps we played a cleaner game, on the whole. Who cares now, we won. And Bevo kicked a couple - whoohoo!!

[ugg]

With Mattner's OOB, the boundary umpire put the whistle in his mouth, but then thought, "what the hell I can't be bothered" and didn't blow.

[Mr Magoo]

I also just about packed up and went home when I saw who the umps were. We were going to play 25. However maybe their collective guilt from previous shockers took hold and for once balanced things out. And perhaps we played a cleaner game, on the whole. Who cares now, we won. And Bevo kicked a couple - whoohoo!!

I think the reason we were on the right side of the ledger was that our guys were the hardest at the ball whereas the bombers held off more to make the tackle. In the wet conditions as long as you got rid off the ball you were unlikely to be pinged for holding the ball (or incorrect disposal) whereas you were more likely to get a free for putting your head over it. Seeing as the 100 metre free didnt result in a goal , bombers fans have little to whinge about, especially as early on I think they got two goals from fairly hard calls against us in front of goal.

As for players - finally the senior players lifted when they should have and lead the way. This hasnt happenned over the last few weeks and I believe was the reason we didnt get over the line against Hawthorne and the reason we did get over the line today. Bolton and McVeigh should always be leading by example. Again the younger guys were exciting, Rohan a gem, Mumford a far better player at the same stage compared to Jolly and LRT a rock in defence. Bird showed obvious class and considering the conditions White was very clean when others werent. Goodes timing totally out , I cant believe the way he positioned himself for some of those marking contests. Like he needs his eyes checked.

[gossipcom]

Sadly it wasn't just the Bombers fans that were feral, can't remember the player but he came off the ground and watched the throw in. He stood there and went completely off at the umpire whilst off the ground (happened right in front of me).

[Hartijon]

A gutsy win and top effort from key players,Bolton,ROK ,Kirk McVeigh LRT,Mumford. When you look at the hitouts in our favour and the clearances,how did the Bombers stay in the game? We won the centre convincingly,it was our turnovers,our backline mistakes and our failure to put it on the scoreboard which kept them in the game. Malceski had a game he would want to forget and that missed short pass which resulted in a Bombers goal summed up his day.LRT ,magnificent! Reg ok too.How did Mattner miss that 100 metre gift goal? which became a point and a Bombers possession. Gods of football decided the decision was too harsh? The forward line was disfunctional for 1/2 the game but Jesse gradually ran himself into form and when the centre line set up players with handball we looked good.Goodsey kicked the sealer but thank Jude for that. Generally he got thrashed by a much shorter opponent who ran off him as well and did damage up field all day.Playfair managed to stuff up stock standard FF marks and fall over when there was some crumbing to do. Its a shame we haven't used the Bradslhaw absence to blood TDL..he could not have done any worse and he is the kind of finisher we need.
Great effort though but no forward polish,huge backline mistakes.

[ScottH]

With Mattner's OOB, the boundary umpire put the whistle in his mouth, but then thought, "what the hell I can't be bothered" and didn't blow.

Maybe it was full of water.

It was similar with Mumfords mark.
The Boundary umps, arms start to move, then he gives the benefit of the doubt.
They need Jobe to point to the point where the ball bounced.

There wer quite a few close calls made by the Boundary umps, that could have gone either way in this game.

[aardvark]

I also just about packed up and went home when I saw who the umps were. We were going to play 25. However maybe their collective guilt from previous shockers took hold and for once balanced things out. And perhaps we played a cleaner game, on the whole. Who cares now, we won. And Bevo kicked a couple - whoohoo!!

Maybe we should strike whilst the irons hot and change our name to the Mc Swans

[giant]

I just finished watching a replay of the game and after comments on here about Bummers fans reactions I expected to see a litany of soft frees, obvious frees to them missed, or umpires getting sucked in. Up to 3/4 time, it was hard to pick one obvious umpire error. In the final term, it did look like they missed it when Mattner took the ball out, but given the Bombers took the ball into their forward line very soon afterwards, hard to argue that was game changing. Maybe Jetta (theirs) could have got one 60m out, maybe the Rohan free on the boundary line for HTB was harsh on the Bomber, but that was pretty much it. Umpires let a lot of very soft, marginal things go in the conditions. Isn't that what most fans scream for?

Likewise Liz, just finished watching the replay and while we got the 50/50s, I didn't see any howlers (the 100m penalty was very tough in the context of the game but Mattner made sure it had no impact) and generally the umps were pretty consistent all day. Yes, the Mattner ball was over the line but he coughed it straight up which given how they were smashed at the clearances was a much better result for them than a boundary throw in. Bomber fans suggest that's the worst umpiring perforamance they've ever seen - I think they don't realise how good they get it.