Geelong in game discussion

[goswannies]

Does Plugger ever help out at the club anymore as a forward coach? He'd be a handy mentor for Jesse, I'd have thought. Both big units. Both straight kicks.

[sWAns63]

Does Plugger ever help out at the club anymore as a forward coach? He'd be a handy mentor for Jesse, I'd have thought. Both big units. Both straight kicks.

Why bring another person into the swans misery let the poor guy have a life with his greyhounds without giving him the heart condition that comes from being with the swans at the moment

[neilfws]

Crowd 30,710. Waste of space having the game at ANZ.

Second lowest ever, says the SMH report - Classy Cats put Swans to sword.

[SimonH]

...
This is going to be unpopular but I think we need to rebuild & all the old list players need to be expendable & that includes the 2 Boltons, Shaw, Mattner, Kennelly, Bevan, Richards, Roberts-Thompson & Barlow

That list just shows how meaningless the 'play the youth and get rid of the old hacks' rhetoric is in the context of the current Swans list. To go through your list:

• Why anyone would want to get rid of one of the best defenders in the comp in CBolt, is beyond me; the last dozen games has confirmed that he's definitely in the top 3 most important players in our side
• JBolt will retire sooner or later, but in the meantime he's playing fine; most sides in the comp have a none-too-fast experienced tough nut who can get contested ball and marshall the troops (e.g. Ling at Geelong)
• If Shaw should be dumped, it's because he doesn't work hard enough and behave accountably enough when we don't have the ball, not because he's 28 years old
• Getting rid of a player like Mattner, who's having a current form dip but remains clearly in our best 22, merely because he's 27 yoa, would just be suicide; if Campbell Heath and MOD get a game it won't and shouldn't be at Mattner's expense
• There's been plenty of evidence in 2010 that Kennelly is past his best. Tonight was just the opposite. He was outstanding; not a good night to run a 'get rid of Kennelly' argument
• Bevan and Richards... meh, regardless of whether we keep or drop. 2010 selections already tell us that these mid-20s players are on the edge of our best 22, i.e. they're depth players depending on how younger ones come on
• Until Sam Reid has played about 30 senior games, getting rid of LRT (regardless of his weaknesses) would be list suicide for its own sake
• Barlow is 23 yoa and will be delisted at the end of the year anyway

The true complaint is really that players in their mid-20s aren't living up to expectations. It's nothing to do with us having an exceptionally old list. There are only 2 players the wrong side of 30 on your 9-player "old" list! And as we've already shed BBBH, MOL, Leo Barry (and are a month away from shedding Kirk), and started giving regular games in 2010 to the likes of Smith, Hannebery, Meredith, Rohan and Jetta, whatever might be said about the strengths or weaknesses of Sydney's list, 'it's too old and we need to rebuild' is not one of them.

[Robbo]

Our forward line is a rabble that's our main problem.

[mcs]

Another one. Bevan could have gone on but waited for them to flood back. Why am I not surprised.

This moment gave me the @@@@s big time- it showed in a nutshell what is wrong with our game plan. Instead of taking a risk and running towards the 50, thus allowing the player kicking to him to kick it to him on the run and in on goal, Bevan stopped completely and than got a short chip to him. Then he took an age to kick it on and made a meal of it. Sometimes you need to take a risk or two going forward- Geelong gave us numerous examples of it tonight. Quick ball movement wins games.

Yep, I nearly spat out my beer when I saw what you're talking about.

ROK has been bloody terrible the last 3-4 weeks. I would say that Goodes and Bolton can hold their heads high. Kirk is clearly gone but I guess he deserves his spot.

O'Keefe looks disinterestered to me, love to hear his opinion but it doesn't look good from the sidelines.

Why can't we tackle Geelong? The only side who seem to slip every tackle - hang the @@@@ onto them for christs sake!

I gave O'keefe an almighty spray when he trotted over our side of the ground after that shocker that directly led to a goal. He however is clearly injured, so it was probably a bit harsh, but from a highly experienced player like him you can not afford stupid mistakes.

As for the game overall, I thought we tried really hard, but our disposal was awful, we gave the ball away far too cheaply and wasted our chances in the 1st half. With a bit of straight kicking we would of been right in it at half time- but when you waste chances against quality teams they make you pay, and Geelong did that in the 3rd quarter. Much improved intensity in the 1st half but dropped off in the 2nd half.

We have some real issues down back however. I know that LRT and Bolton are missing, but our smaller defenders are not doing their job well at all. I thought Mattner was very poor tonight- he is a very ordinary defender 1 on 1, and struggled big time.

Bevan was always going to struggle tonight considering the match up he ended up with, but to me he is nothing but a list clogger. A great tackler but not much else imo, and the sooner we can find a way that he doesn't need to be in the team the better.

I think generally though, we really need to learn to defend from the front again. We did it very well in 05-06, but so often especially against the quality teams we sit behind the attacking player and get caught out. When you play in front you can make your life so much easier than when you are flat footed and behind.

Highlight of the night imo was the monster tackle Pykey (Or was it Mummy) put on one of the Cats. Cats player thought I'll get through here easily and got absolutely hammered.

It will be good to hopefully get a few troops back (Saw LRT tonight coming walking from the car park- looked ok to me (And wow he has a very attractive girl as well!)- so hopefully we will see him next week as Buddy and Roughead are going to hard to handle.)) next week. We are nothing but pretenders, but with results going ok so far this weekend, we are still in with a shot for a home final, but we have to beat Hawthorn to have any chance of it. Pity (Well I assume it would be) that it would be out at that dump again. I dislike ANZ intensely- its only redeeming feature is the relative ease of access to the ground from Canberra compared to the SCG. Apart from that, I wouldn't miss the place if we never played there again.

[goswannie14]

I just wonder how the Cats keep all those Premiership & Grand Final players within the salary cap. Last year I could understand them wanting revenge for being beaten by the Hawks & not taking a salary increase but not this year after another Premiership. The Lions had to shed players every year after the second Premiership to keep within the salary cap. I reckon there might be some creative accounting going on at Geelong.
This is going to be unpopular but I think we need to rebuild & all the old list players need to be expendable & that includes the 2 Boltons, Shaw, Mattner, Kennelly, Bevan, Richards, Roberts-Thompson & Barlow

I agree with the first part of your comment, I have wondered that quite a bit myself.

The second part of your comment I disagree with......except the part about Bevan.

[Primmy]

That list just shows how meaningless the 'play the youth and get rid of the old hacks' rhetoric is in the context of the current Swans list. To go through your list:

• Why anyone would want to get rid of one of the best defenders in the comp in CBolt, is beyond me; the last dozen games has confirmed that he's definitely in the top 3 most important players in our side
• JBolt will retire sooner or later, but in the meantime he's playing fine; most sides in the comp have a none-too-fast experienced tough nut who can get contested ball and marshall the troops (e.g. Ling at Geelong)
• If Shaw should be dumped, it's because he doesn't work hard enough and behave accountably enough when we don't have the ball, not because he's 28 years old
• Getting rid of a player like Mattner, who's having a current form dip but remains clearly in our best 22, merely because he's 27 yoa, would just be suicide; if Campbell Heath and MOD get a game it won't and shouldn't be at Mattner's expense
• There's been plenty of evidence in 2010 that Kennelly is past his best. Tonight was just the opposite. He was outstanding; not a good night to run a 'get rid of Kennelly' argument
• Bevan and Richards... meh, regardless of whether we keep or drop. 2010 selections already tell us that these mid-20s players are on the edge of our best 22, i.e. they're depth players depending on how younger ones come on
• Until Sam Reid has played about 30 senior games, getting rid of LRT (regardless of his weaknesses) would be list suicide for its own sake
• Barlow is 23 yoa and will be delisted at the end of the year anyway

The true complaint is really that players in their mid-20s aren't living up to expectations. It's nothing to do with us having an exceptionally old list. There are only 2 players the wrong side of 30 on your 9-player "old" list! And as we've already shed BBBH, MOL, Leo Barry (and are a month away from shedding Kirk), and started giving regular games in 2010 to the likes of Smith, Hannebery, Meredith, Rohan and Jetta, whatever might be said about the strengths or weaknesses of Sydney's list, 'it's too old and we need to rebuild' is not one of them.

Good post Simon.
Except about Richards who did some towering work.
Was disappointed in Adamon a few levels;
We desparately miss LRT and a goal rolled through that he would have chased to the end of his fingers and whoever just let it go ... grrrrrr
Dear Kirky - its time.....you are right. He took a hell of a knock and stayed down and that may have been the first time I have ever seen him face down on the ground.....still managed to get up and kick for goal, but......I bet today he is soaking in a tub and his kids are patting his shoulder in sympathy. Me too.
What is wrong with Shaw@!!@ He has to be carrying, there can be no other explanation. We noted he spent a lot of time on the bench.
Pyke wasn't up to this game (who was), but his tackles are outstanding. He also had a monster at one stage and was brought off, but sent back almost immediately (maybe he looked like a bit of shades of bbbb).
The boys were obviously stressed, couldn't kick for nuts. Did have a few terrific combinations though. Far too many kids out there but our choices were......what? Noone I saw in ressies is up to this pace. No One. Make note.

[Scottee]

The Cats are back to their imperious best.HP

No they are not! They just played the Swans, that's all. (Melbourne squeeked in by 10 points against Brisbane).

[msb]

Does Plugger ever help out at the club anymore as a forward coach? He'd be a handy mentor for Jesse, I'd have thought. Both big units. Both straight kicks.

No way, he's all st.kilda now.

[erica]

I thought that, although Geelong had excellent skills last night, they didn't show hunger to win. We had opportunities to goal (all those behinds!) and Geelong really should have put us away on the scoreboard. But that hunger wasn't evident and after seeing them play at the stadium last night I think they won't be premiers this year. Collingwood has the hunger and, as much as it pains me to even think such a thing, I suspect the pies may go all the way.

[Cheer_Cheer]

Our forward line is a rabble that's our main problem.

I totally agree.. We had enough inside 50's (albiet poor ones) to get a better return. Isn't/wasn't Horse our forwards coach

[Jesse Richards]

I would have thought that we would have used Bradshaw to improve our forward line when he is not playing for such a stretch. And that Jesse White would have learnt heaps from him by now. WTF are the forward coaches doing and why can't we kick goals when we do have the ball?

And I am heartily sick of us playing injured, sick, sore and tired players.

Thank God for Ted Richards - at least he tried all night and took contested marks and kicked or handpassed quickly and forward.

[Primmy]

IMO Ted Richards played the game of his life last night. At least we had something to cheer about.

I am going to be the baddy here. Although Adam was visible around the ground and worked very hard, he was not effective enough. there I have said it, the boos can start now.

Jesse is not a natural player. It shows. Then what do we do now? Dunno. Bring in TDL. Grow some height and weight and legs? Recruit bigguns?

[giant]

Haven't seen ROK kick with his left foot in the last 3 weeks. I guess it's one of those injuries that won't improve with rest - otherwise, we're being very harsh expecting him to be out there. The Swans expect a lot out of our veterans and no doubt the success we've had has come from the unbelievable durability of Goodes, Kirk, Bolton and ROK - but there comes a time when this becomes counter-productive.