Where to now

[doctor swan]

At the moment I am seeing red and its not red as in red and white its red as in raging. Had a funny feeling about todays game and sadly that feeling was right. What it took was a 1percenterto change the game the take by Martin off McVeigh and Shaws mistake and the Tigers had a sniff and we were in trouble.
We have Bolton , Bradshaw and Seaby out , thats the spine and they are major outs, then we should have players that are in and playing that should be out..... Shaw, Kennelly, TDL was a major disappointment, Goodesy is terrible with his kicking at goal, Playfair even though injured was a poor selection all along and his injury compounded thing. We dont have a target up forward and our options are appalling. Why drop Rohan, he looks a gun , is a gun and will be a gun select him , leave in and let him play. Jack is missing way to many targets.
Ins LJ, Rohan, White maybe he ll wake up now play like last yr and stop believing he is the next big thing, add Meredith as well.
Outs .... start with Shaw, TDL, Playfair.
We are clearly lacking depth at the moment and of our top tier players to many are down. We look a rabble at the moment and maybe we should use this Richmond loss as a wake up as we did in 2005 except finals will be a happy reward to settle for.

[doctor swan]

and forgot abt vez and mod what do they have to do , at least we know they can play.

[swansrule100]

know what?

[mcs]

TDL should not be dropped. Clearly was as nervous as hell in the 1st half and did some really good things in the 2nd half. Its about time we get more young blokes in,say we have confidence in you and give them a proper run. He also wasn't helped by the total lack of a forward structure, as is always evident when Bradshaw is not playing. Some on here expected him to be BOG and kick 14 today. I thought he worked his way into the game ok. He needs time to adjust and get used to the game at the elite level.

Some others that you mention however have no excuse. Shaw being one of them. Playfair is a waste of time- you can see that the brain clicks over quite reasonably, but his body is nowhere near capable of competing at the elite level. he is just clogging up a spot up front that we could be using to play a young player like Johnston. We need to just get a forward structure decided, stick to it and go from there. I.e. pick 6 players in the 6 positions (With alternatives for injuries) and say this is how we are going to line up and go from there. That would be a great step of progress from the absolute lack of a forward line that we currently have.

[swansrule100]

TDL should not be dropped. Clearly was as nervous as hell in the 1st half and did some really good things in the 2nd half. Its about time we get more young blokes in,say we have confidence in you and give them a proper run. He also wasn't helped by the total lack of a forward structure, as is always evident when Bradshaw is not playing. Some on here expected him to be BOG and kick 14 today. I thought he worked his way into the game ok. He needs time to adjust and get used to the game at the elite level.

Some others that you mention however have no excuse. Shaw being one of them. Playfair is a waste of time- you can see that the brain clicks over quite reasonably, but his body is nowhere near capable of competing at the elite level. he is just clogging up a spot up front that we could be using to play a young player like Johnston. We need to just get a forward structure decided, stick to it and go from there. I.e. pick 6 players in the 6 positions (With alternatives for injuries) and say this is how we are going to line up and go from there. That would be a great step of progress from the absolute lack of a forward line that we currently have.

i agree i would of just kept white in ahead of playfair once bradshaw was out though. I know he hasnt set the world on fire, but without bradshaw i think we had nothing to lose by keeping white in and keeping his confidence up.

Im not sure why goodes gets lapses in confidence, not like we would ever drop him ever

[Robbo]

Back to school to learn how to spell

[lwjoyner]

Hopefully not TDL, his confidence would be shot. Malceski can be added to Shaw and Matner is close also. Why cant they kick the ball long even if it is to a contest. TDL short passed on fowd line where he should have kicked the ball to the goal square. The backline today was deplorable, LRT has not the brains for AFL looks for a free Red&White and doent care wahts beyond. Smith and Grundy where not much better how Rewoldt got between them in the 3rd quarter to take a mark is beyond me, we are not strong enough down back. Kirky should retire now he is too slow we need some speed in the mid field.

[Bas]

To the Liquor Shop !!!!

[sWAns63]

Hopefully not TDL, his confidence would be shot. Malceski can be added to Shaw and Matner is close also. Why cant they kick the ball long even if it is to a contest. TDL short passed on fowd line where he should have kicked the ball to the goal square. The backline today was deplorable, LRT has not the brains for AFL looks for a free Red&White and doent care wahts beyond. Smith and Grundy where not much better how Rewoldt got between them in the 3rd quarter to take a mark is beyond me, we are not strong enough down back. Kirky should retire now he is too slow we need some speed in the mid field.

I think it's time to make some serious changes Johnston in for Playfair since the slow midfield is untouchable should Mattner & Shaw give way to two of either ODywer, White, Meredith, Rohan. I'd probably say Rohan & Meredith and switch Smith to defence.

[Melbourne_Blood]

Pull up. We could've lost by more if it wasn't for LRT. Grundy and Smith were far from our worst. Shaw i think is finished. He's not part of our future, and he consistently causes turnovers. Kirk should sit a few out for the sake of a giving others a go. TDL wasn't bad, give the guy a break. Our season from here should be about testing out some fresh faces for next year. Particularly potential KPP's. WHO CARES IF THEIR NOT QUITE READY. EVERY OTHER TEAM PLAYS RAW KIDS!! I'd rather us not win a another game all year and give game time to Rohan, Jets, Vez, LJ, Reid, Currie etc, Then scrape into the finals with this current team and possibly win one final and get slaughtered by 150 points in the next one.

[rojo]

I hope TDL gets another game. The young Richmond players are starting to play good football after gaving 12 or so games under their belts. They were terrible at the beginning of the season but it is great to see the progress they are making. Even though Kirk, Bolton, Goodes, Shaw, Kennelly etc are not playing well enough or are unable to play well enough to carry the team with lots of young inexperienced players, I would still like to see White, Jetta, Rohan, Vesz, TDL. Merry, Currie etc (and LJ before the end of the season) get some game time, even if on a rotational basis. I don't think this means you are not going out to win games. It is putting money in the bank for the future!

The most worrying thing to me is the current inability to get the ball out effectively from stoppages. They seem to work on automatic, frantically trying, handballing to anyone and often not to advantage, either no effective strategy or inability to execute under pressure. Then there is the ability of opposing players to run away from Swans players when they get the ball.

If the cornerstone of the gameplan is to win at the stoppages and they are not able to do this then no wonder they struggle against the odds. As a team they are playing with worried frowns on their faces no joy, no confidence. Even ROK today, on his 200th game seemed to lack poise and assurance with the ball in his hands.

[Melbourne_Blood]

Prime example of Playing a raw kid, Jack Riewoldt. Played as a skinny, undersized youngster and has at times struggled massively, but if you expose them to the elite level, while slowly getting their weight and tank where it needs to be, it can only help them be a better player in the long run. Hes only 21 if i recall correctly. Why not try a similar thing with LJ? he's 19 right? In two years time with 30 or 40 AFL games under his belt and a bigger engine ( and added muscle) who knows how could he could be? Running around for 2 years in a medicore reserves competition isn't really preparing them for whats it's really about, and IMO just robs them of the chance to gain valuable experience at the Top level

[Melbournehammer]

Pull up. We could've lost by more if it wasn't for LRT. Grundy and Smith were far from our worst. Shaw i think is finished. He's not part of our future, and he consistently causes turnovers. Kirk should sit a few out for the sake of a giving others a go. TDL wasn't bad, give the guy a break. Our season from here should be about testing out some fresh faces for next year. Particularly potential KPP's. WHO CARES IF THEIR NOT QUITE READY. EVERY OTHER TEAM PLAYS RAW KIDS!! I'd rather us not win a another game all year and give game time to Rohan, Jets, Vez, LJ, Reid, Currie etc, Then scrape into the finals with this current team and possibly win one final and get slaughtered by 150 points in the next one.

LRT played well after being moved from a matchup that should never have been made. grundy and smith were good. midfield just stopped and some bad tactics putting mcveigh and goodes into the forward line (perhaps resting mcveigh there ?) but we lost the players who can actually get the ball. I'm happy to defend shaw becaue he doesn't hide unlike a lot of our players who don't want the ball and becase without his pace we'd be seriousy slow. Goodes is the really disappintment - if he is even in the top 10 for the b&f I'd be shocked

I'm not at all sure you just play people because they are on your list. But I hated the decision to drop rohan and jetta because they are fast and that is a lot of pace to lose in one game.

[Xie Shan]

tne last time we lost to Richmond at the 'G, it was a wake up call that spurred us on to win the flag. There will be no premiership this year (obviously) but today was a reminder of where we are at as a team. We have recruited well to fill the gaps in the side left by the retirees and probably prevented us from sliding down the ladder, but we are not a good enough team that can afford to take ANY opposition lightly, full stop.

That said, I thought LRT and Grundy were pretty good today, Smith and McGlynn look like they both have a football brain, Jude was typically courageous again, but we seem to have a lot of players who have lost confidence. At the minimum, I would bring in Rohan and Vesz (and probably Meredith). We may still fall into the finals (since it's really only North that could realistically push us out), but I don't think we'll do much.

[Captain]

Hopefully not TDL, his confidence would be shot. Malceski can be added to Shaw and Matner is close also. Why cant they kick the ball long even if it is to a contest. TDL short passed on fowd line where he should have kicked the ball to the goal square. The backline today was deplorable, LRT has not the brains for AFL looks for a free Red&White and doent care wahts beyond. Smith and Grundy where not much better how Rewoldt got between them in the 3rd quarter to take a mark is beyond me, we are not strong enough down back. Kirky should retire now he is too slow we need some speed in the mid field.

LRT was always the wrong match up for Reiwoldt. However he took some great marks in defence and was far from the worst.

Nothing pisses me off more than bagging out the FB/CHB after a loss. The ball spent the majority of the last 1.25 qtrs in our backline. That isn't LRT's fault.

Also is it his fault for our poor goal kicking?