Preliminary Final: Eastlake v Sydney Swans Reserves

[Nich]

It's over. 21 point loss.

Spewin'! Not good.....

[satchmopugdog]

A big thank you UGG for all your wonderful reports. They are very much appreciated.


and BSA5 as well....

My sentiments as well

[ugg]

Thanks BSA5, will shout you a coffee one day.

[Damien]

I think it's good for the Canberra league that "one of their own" win it anyway, so an all Canberra GF is a good thing. Although, if we win tonight in the Seniors, it would have been handy having the boys play again next week.

[ugg]

Swans 10.8 68
Eastlake 13.11 89

SYDNEY SWANS
Goal Kickers: K. EMERY 2, D. MCNEIL 2, S. TREVILLIAN , B. SUMNER , N. GORDON , P. VESZPREMI , J. ORAM , K. THORNTON
Best Players: D. CURRIE, S. REID, K. THORNTON, D. MCNEIL, C. HEATH, R. PRICE
EASTLAKE
Goal Kickers: A. BRUCE 2, D. ROULSTONE 2, M. TAYLFORTH 2, L. McMAHON 2, M. DEAN 2, S. CLARKE , P. MCGRATH , C. GIBSON
Best Players: R. McMahon, J. Van Meurs, L. McMAHON, A. BRUCE, N. BOWEN, A. Gordon

[ROK Lobster]

Poop

Rotten day all round really...so far......over the road Motton Preston beat Turners Beach...double poop.

Matt Preston ate what?

[satchmopugdog]

Matt Preston ate what?

Turners Bitch.....you dag

[BSA5]

Thanks BSA5, will shout you a coffee one day.

Cheers mate! It's a pleasure though. I'm enjoying getting to these games. Makes me wonder what I was doing last year. It's rare I have a busy Saturday/Sunday arvo, and makes for a nice bit of "me" time, given I live in college and am constantly surrounded by people!

Anyway, it was quite a good game to watch, really. I don't think it's fair to say we went out with a whimper, the effort was always there. Unfortunately we needed the likes of KT and Reid elsewhere, and McKaigue didn't line up, so our backline was essentially Cambo and top-ups. Against a strong Eastlake forward line, they were always going to struggle. I wouldn't be at all surprised if we led the inside 50s, and by a considerable margin, but we just couldn't stop the goals when Eastlake went forward. Our forwards were constantly playing behind as well. LJ was the worst culprit in this respect.

On to the players:

7. Meredith - Solid and classy through the midfield as usual, but seemed to struggle with an ankle injury which curbed his involvement. On and off the field with the complaint a few times, and I think he may have sat the last quarter out.
10. Currie - Rucked most of the day, with some relief from Emery, and looked good. His tap-work was great as usual, and he and McNeil make a very good pair. Also had some nice touches around the ground, and his work off the ball was good. One of our best I thought.
13. Vespa - Looked very classy, but again struggled for involvement. It wouldn't surprise me if he had a groin complaint to be honest, as he often seemed reluctant to kick, and sometimes struggled to turn. When he had the ball he did good things, however.
16. Rohan - Looked proppy all game. At one point he was genuinely limping as he tried to chase a player. Lacked his usual explosive pace, and at one point took a mark 25 out, moderate angle, and passed it off to a running player. Very reluctant to kick. As such, his output was poor, but he looked like he was trying hard.
20. Reid - Had an off day. His kicking was very much hit and miss, he dropped a couple of uncontested marks, got penalised numerous times for VERY dubious reasons, and wasn't allowed to settle into a position, playing both forward and back. He tried very hard and played with good intensity though, getting to plenty of contests.
22. Sumner - Faded in the last quarter (fitness issue perhaps? He is only young), but was one of our best before that. Just a classy, explosive, one-touch player. Played predominantly off the wing and drifting forward, but set up at some centre bounces as well, winning a few clearances. Looked a little lazy chasing at times, but that and his quiet last quarter are my only criticisms. One of our best again.
23. Johnston - LJ looked lame. He was constantly playing behind, moving slowly, struggled to turn, struggled to chase. I was harsh with a comment earlier, but he was genuinely one of our most useless players today I thought. I'm still a fan though, and have seen him play much better, so I'm going to put it down to his hip injury.
27. Thornton - KT was one of our best. He spent patches in the backline, but ultimately we needed him in the midfield. Won some very good clearances, especially in the last quarter, which sparked a purple patch in which it looked like we might actually come back. It came to nothing in the end, but it was a good game.
28. McNeil - Dill worked very hard in the clearances, won heaps, though his kicking let him down at times. Needs to take a leaf out of Kirk's book and learn his limitations. A shoddy kick can still be effective if you're smart with it. If he can get bigger and stronger, he'll make a very handy senior player, but it is a reasonably large "if". I'm a fan though.
35. Heath - Cambo was basically a lone solider in defence, with KT in the midfield and Reid up forward. O'Dwyer rebounded well, but he's not a "defensive" defender. Anyway, Cambo played CHB, used his body very intelligently, but had little support. Difficult to say whether he'll be named in the bests, because he didn't actually do much, but did well considering he had zero support.
43. Matty O - Won heaps of the ball off half back, scrubbed a couple of kicks (including a running shot on goal which would have brought the house down), but his disposal was overall quite good. Just has that class about him that screams "better-than-Canberra". I really wish he'd had a proper run in the seniors this year, he just has that something about him.
45. Gordon - Won a lot of ball through the midfield, but didn't use it well at all. I have doubts over whether he has the class to make it as an AFL footballer, but he was a good enough contributor today.

Top-ups:

48. Potter - Did some nice things. He could be a good player. Played mainly half forward.
49. Lynch - Didn't notice him much, though I think I remember him taking a very nice mark at one point. Very skinny. How old is he?
51. Emery - Well, apparently he kicked two goals, but I didn't see them. From half-way through the first quarter onwards, he did very little, though he had some good taps and thumps forward in the ruck when relieving for Currie.
54. Price? - I liked the look of him a lot. The stand-out of the toppies, playing as a small defender/winger.
55. Oram? - By process of elimination I think this is Oram. Small kid, looked like a cross between Ben Nason and Kieran Jack. Fiesty player, laid some good tackles, had some good touches, and kicked a nice goal from a set shot in the last quarter. Didn't do THAT much, but he stuck in my mind.

[RogueSwan]

Thanks for the updates BSA5, it has been a good read, apart from the result.

[ugg]

I hear we finished with only 1 fit man on the bench.

Also, re McKaigue, I suspect the reason is we could be restricted to 12 listed players in the whole matchday squad for the finals, not the 12 on the field that I've always thought was the rule for a long time. Since they rushed Meredith up from Melbourne someone had to make way.

[ugg]

Season stats, excluding the 2 preseason games

Top 10 Goalkickers

1. Lewis Johnston 39 (19 games)
2. Trent Dennis-Lane 37 (11 games)
3. Patrick Veszpremi 25 (17 games)
4. Kieran Emery 18 (11 games), Gary Rohan 18 (9 games)
6. Dylan McNeil 17 (19 games)
7. Henry Playfair 13 (6 games)
8. Sam Reid 10 (17 games)
9. Jesse White 9 (3 games), Brett Meredith 9 (10 games), Ed Barlow 9 (11 games), Matthew O'Dwyer 9 (14 games), Daniel Currie 9 (18 games), Nathan Gordon 9 (20 games)

Top 10 Votegetters

1. Sam Reid 44 (17 games), Daniel Currie 44 (18 games)
3. Dylan McNeil 39 (19 games)
4. Patrick Veszpremi 25 (17 games)
5. Kristin Thornton 21 (9 games), Matthew O'Dwyer 21 (14 games)
7. Lewis Johnston 20 (19 games)
8. Campbell Heath 19 (14 games), Nathan Gordon 19 (21 games)
10. Brett Meredith 17 (10 games)

[ugg]

Reserves out of finals race - Official AFL Website of the Sydney Swans Football Club

[Bas]

At least the team can bond all together for Mad Monday now. Big send off for Roos, Kirk, Barlow, Thornton and Playfair.

[ugg]

A bit presumptuous Bas?

[AnnieH]

Poor ressies.

Me and a little four year old girl screamed out lungs out - to no avail. Massive crowd. There must have been 150 people there by the end of the game. Five bucks to get in - eight with a record. Loved it.

Not happy seeing Brett Meredith with a hurt hip; and little Ranga injured himself as well.

Was talking to Brett and his parents during the last quarter ... what lovely people.

Funniest part of the day were the young kids who were sitting next to me in the first quarter (ok, they were about 17): every time MOD got the ball, they'd scream out "go Mattress". Hilarous name.