Sydney Swans Reserves vs. Belconnen Magpies 26th March

[Auntie.Gerald]

thanks everyone

great to hear Parker is on the rise and rise !

Luke "Manchild" Parker.............if he can keep his mobility, maybe he will become the next Swans dominant in and under midfielder..............from memory he clocked 15 on the beep test at the Draft also so besides his tenacity and solid distribution he has the stamina but not quite the speed......he definitely looks like the old style midfielder.........ie a Voss or Ruscitto

I just reckon he is a stand out.......... but a stand out with Kennedy, Bolton and Macca playing in the role that would most be suited to him in Seniors..........he will get his chance very soon.

[Frog]

Since I wasn't home today, your tweets were much appreciated ... Thanks Ugg!

[ugg]

Arrived a few minutes late, but looks like I only missed a few behinds. The clouds were circling overhead, preventing the sunlight from coming through and providing a nice chilly atmosphere. It started drizzling quite a bit in the 1st quarter but it quickly cleared up and was pretty dry for the rest of the match. In the 2nd half, there was a strong breeze blowing from the west that added to the chill factor.

For the 2nd week running, the Swans were dominant heading towards the City end. Last week they only conceded 1 goal in 2 halves, today it was a complete shutout. It may just be a crazy co-incidence but one that I've keenly noted.

Steve Taubert was an interested onlooker on the sidelines, but on the opposite side to where the Swans bench and the rest of the coaches were. Injured players Jarred Moore and Campbell Heath were there to support their mates, but I didn't see any sign of TDL (the mystery thickens as I saw a training photo from yesterday with him in it)

10. Daniel Currie - besides one clever kick into space for Kruger to run onto, it was a pretty frustrating game as he seems lost out there. Pyke spends the majority of the time in the ruck with Dan picking up the scraps as his backup - doing well in the taps mind you. Up forward, he seems bereft of confidence and his once sticky hands seem to have turn into hands of stone. Injury-wise, he started the 3rd quarter but was taken off not long after, I spotted padding/strapping on his upper right thigh and had a slight limp.

11. Jed Lamb - 2 things about little Lamb. He runs hard and straight out on a lead - reminds me a lot of Vez in this regard. Secondly, he relishes the one-on-one contests and ends up winning a lot of them. Does his utmost to keep his feet and has a terrific ability to change direction quickly. Lamb is also terrific by foot, keeping a lot of his passes into the forward line low giving the defenders less chance of spoiling it.

14. Craig Bird - way too good for this level. He didn't look to be troubled by his reported foot injury, and his quick hands in traffic were a highlight. Drifted forward continuously and was rewarded with 3 goals. As liz has said, why he went from playing all preseason games to being the 26th or 27th man remains a mystery.

23. Lewis Johnston - a delight to watch his distribution in defence, looks incredibly balanced and calm when kicking the ball. A very attacking defender as he loves to get up the ground and is a potent threat near goal. He has yet to be tested defensively though and I still hold doubts about whether he can play against big forwards as he tends to get outpositioned and outmuscled at times.

26. Luke Parker - Yes he found a lot of it, especially off Pykey's hands and off the ground but I thought he wasted too much ball. Perhaps should rely on his first instincts as he tends to hesistate at the first option and while he was strong enough to hold off Belconnen today, I'm not sure that will happen at the next level.

28. Dylan McNeil - A quieter game from the Dyl compared to last week's stellar performance. Like the other midfielders, was fed a lot of ball by Pyke's taps but to be honest I didn't notice him that much and was probably behind Bird and Parker in the rankings.

30. LRT - Didn't even notice him until the 2nd quarter, he did what he had to do without being stretched too much. In the 2nd quarter he found Lamb in the forward pocket with a nice kick (which he subsequently missed). Didn't notice he went off until I read liz's report, hope he's okay but may need another run?

34. Alex Johnson - In the first half, spent his time in defence but with Currie's injury moved up forward and played reasonably well. He had a couple of shots that were just rushed home by Belco and finished with 1.3. He moves well, apparently was an strong middle distance runner and this was on show. But he's still too slight and got pushed off the ball a few times when in good position in the forward line.

36. Chris McKaigue - I still think he's a long way from getting a game. Defensively he goes alright, safely punches in a contest, gets stuck in during tackling but when he has the ball he really has no idea what to do besides run and (sometimes) bounce it. He was caught holding the ball a few times today because he was in two minds about what to do.

38. Mike Pyke - He had a taller and more mature opponent this week but gave the same masterclass as he did to the younger East Coast ruckman last week. Taps were consistently going down the throats of Bird, Parker, McNeil and Gordon and they must have been loving Pykey's stellar service. When rested for a short period in the 2nd quarter he took 2 contested marks and with his improved kicking, never looked like missing

43. Eugene Kruger - He's exciting when he turns on those afterburners and sprints clear. I don't think he's as quick as a Jetta or Rohan over a short distance, but quick enough to beat most of the Belconnen players over 20-30m today. As I said last week, he loves a ping at the goals. Also needs work on his kicking as he has a tendency to hook some of his kicks when going for distance.

44. Max Otten - Didn't mention him once in my Twitter feed, so he didn't do anything important. He is tall enough to play key position but at the moment looks more comfortable playing as a halfback flanker. I know the ball didn't go down in defence a lot, but he has to get himself into the game more as it's the 2nd week in a row he's been that quiet.

45. Nathan Gordon - Full of running and the effort was there but just didn't seem to impress me that much. An elite runner with vanilla skills, he'll need something extra to take him to the next level.

46. Ben Haren - I've talked him up in the other thread quite a bit. He was really good for the first 3 quarters, might have gone off in the last as I didn't notice him out there that much. Firstly, he leads well for a big man, he took a lot of marks leading out to the 50m line. Secondly, he has tremendous reach which he applies just as the ball comes in, rendering the defender's attempted spoil ineffective. Some of the key position rookies in the past in their first year (Sam Rowe, James Wall, Paul Currie) have looked real awkward - a mess of tall, gangly legs and arms that seemed ready to snap at the first sign of physical contact. Haren's definitely more filled out, although still has a lot more to go. He also has a terrific left boot, kicking an awesome goal from out wide from about 50m out.

Topups
2. If this was Blake Guthrie, then he has completely changed his appearance, much shorter hair. Looks to have a solid pre-season of weights under his belt.
3. Didn't note anything that he did.
4. Jackson Potter - again got a good run in the midfield. Compact player.
6. Jack Lynch - Must have been working with RC in the offseason. Used to be a spindly fellow but has filled out and has muscles on show now. Last year looked ill-equipped to play key position but this year will be a handy backup for the reserves if they are short of talls. Played first half defence, second half attack from memory.
8. No idea who he is, didn't see him for big patches of the game, but looked skilful enough when he had the ball.
15. Well built midfielder, as I said before I think it's David Linsen but I could be wrong.
21. Same redhead as last week, I think it's Mitch Thompson but haven't got a confirmation or denial either way. He has an eye for goal, a big kick on him and also looks very fit.
22. Kane Murphy. Played a half-forward role not too dissimilar to that of McGlynn . Not so enthusiastic about him as some others, yes he's fearless but I think his disposal is subpar and combine that with his lack of size you can see why the Saints didn't pick his option up.

Sydney Swans Reserves 2.2 11.5 14.7 19.18 (132)
Belconnen Magpies 3.3 3.3 5.4 5.5 (35)

Goals: Bird 3 Haren 3 Pyke 2 Kruger 2 toppie21(Thompson?) 2 Johnston Parker McNeil Lamb toppie15(Linsen?) Johnson toppie22(Murphy)

My Best: Pyke Bird Haren Parker Lamb Johnston

[Primmy]

22. Kane Murphy. Played a half-forward role not too dissimilar to that of McGlynn . Not so enthusiastic about him as some others, yes he's fearless but I think his disposal is subpar and combine that with his lack of size you can see why the Saints didn't pick his option up.

Interesting point ugg. I think all of our perspectives came from where we were placed around the ground. The bulk of the watchers were either on the southern part of Driver Ave side, or southern part of Anzac Pde side.

I saw Kane just go for it and dispose from ground level at speed - but that was near halfway and on the Driver Ave side, where I was. I saw Otten work his way into the game in the second half and become more evident and available - on my wing.

I also watched Lewis Johnson and commented to my friend later that he reminded me a bit of Dale Lewis, looked laconic but his work was good although his spoiling wasn't as good as I would hope (but that's me). He's tall enough to see almost all over the place. Ben Haren is a bit hard to miss and I am delighted as I noted him quite a while back as being persistent; of course I was watching him particularly so its hardly surprising I noted how he is travelling.

Guess its all part of the footy package to see it from varying levels and site lines. I did like the redhead though.

Ah well, Jude Bolton used to play like an over enthusiastic puppy so there's hope for all of them.

[ugg]

After last week's great effort, this week's official report is disappointing in that it's even worse that last year's affair.

Reserves improve in second win - Official AFL Website of the Sydney Swans Football Club

It does say LRT played 3 quarters and sounds like it was all pre-planned. The Bombers don't have a particularly tall forward line though there's no need to rush Mr RT back in there.

[ugg]

4. Apparently TDL rolled his ankle during the week.

Primmy, I didn't pick this out till now. Do you mean Moore rolled his ankle, because that was the problem he had carrying over from the St Kilda NAB Challenge game, or did TDL also roll his too?