NAB Cup Round 3 - Swans v Essendon

[giant]

Morton didn't do enough for me, I'm not sure he's guaranteed a place in Round 1. Seemed to skirt the edges of the pack waiting for the ball to come out and his tackling and chasing wasn't crash hot either.

He was godawful wasn't he? Not nearly desperate enough for a bloke playing for his career. Forward line still looks like mess - need Rohan to play 4 qrs not just cameos.

[JudesaGun]

Can someone YouTube the Goodes goose step?

[Swanner]

Good and bad

I think Everitt can only play up forward. He actually plays the 2nd or third tall role well, down back he loses his man and gets caught ball watching. I don't know why Longmire keeps pushing him down back. Morton is no improvement on TDL. Looks physically more like an AFL player but he gets beaten to the ball far too often. I don't think he is soft either but he just doesn't read the play well enough. Can't see Tommy Walsh making it if this is his third year on the list there won't be much upside. Reid developing nicely along with Parker and Jetta, Cunningham looking really good while the veterans have turned up again in good form, from Goodes to Bolton to mcveigh and Mumford.

I have my fingers crossed that an improved Reid, Parker and Rohan will be enough to push us I to the top 4.

Finally as a club we should be pretty happy because it almost goes unnoticed but the swans always dig deep under pressure and get themselves back into the game when they are down four or five goals. It is one of the great things about our team that we take for granted IMO.

[dimelb]

Just back from Etihad and agree with most of what people have said. I thought Seaby had an edge on Pykey tonight. BOG was Watson - wonderful game. Our best were Goodes, Mumford, Reid, Parker, Bird, Jetta, LRT. Rohan did some good stuff without dominating. Players were being switched between forward and back: Walsh, Cunningham were noted.
Handling generally was awful early, Essendon much cleaner, but we began to improve later. The back six leaked a bit tonight, missed Ted, and Smooch didn't shine.
There were a few fluent passages from us that I hope they can produce more regularly.

[Auntie.Gerald]

indv upside: those who lifted another notch = Parker, Jetta, Walsh (I saw enough in Walsh to see him playing Spangs role and progressing beyond)

indv downside: not to many except Pykey who appeared lost and or tentative.......or both

The rest: all played ok


gameplan:

In attack: I was contemplating why we played so direct with the long ball.................it was killing me because.......... the delivery was terrible and we didnt even play to a leading indv out in front.........most of the delivery was to a pack where we were outnumbered with their loose defender............but it was interesting to note that we have played alot of talls upfront for all 3 games to give our talls a great opportunity to get game time.

In defence: I thought we either didnt have nearly enough intensity in the forward press and or we decided to defend a little further back because we had so many talls the first 3 qtrs in the forwards. We also really really struggled without our man Mattner coming across to crash the pack and be the loose defender.


oh well !

[S120]

Just back from Etihad and agree with most of what people have said. I thought Seaby had an edge on Pykey tonight. BOG was Watson - wonderful game. Our best were Goodes, Mumford, Reid, Parker, Bird, Jetta, LRT. Rohan did some good stuff without dominating.

Really? He got beaten pretty badly by Ryder in my eyes.

[ugg]

Longmire press conference

In general
Played in fits and starts for the night. Inconsistent for 4 quarters
At the start of the game our ball use was too long and predictable and after changing it up we played better.

On who the better players were
Shaw was okay, Reid took some good marks forward which helped us but probably most of the time most of the blokes were in and out of the game and no one really put together 4 quarters. That's why it will be important next week when we get our full team back.

On Parker's game
Parker was okay, still learning the game in general. He's got a fierce attack and is an enormous competitor and we all love that about him but he's still learning the game and the team structures and getting used to playing AFL footy and what that's all about.

On how many ruckman can we carry
Depends on who we play. History suggests that 70% one bloke will play ruck and the other bloke's playing on the flipside 70% forward. So we have to ensure that the ruckman who is playing forward is marking and kicking goals or putting pressure on. We're still trying to get that mix for Round 1 and something we have to talk about. It was good that Mummy got another hitout, still managing his gametime that's why he went off at 3/4 time but should be right for next week.

On being more exciting
Certainly the change in personnel, the players' strengths that have come in are different so that makes you look as though you play a fair bit differently at times. Blokes with genuine run and speed do change the way you play the game because they're playing to their strengths. That's why we recruited them and they should be playing to their strengths so we've changed a little due to that. But we have to ensure that our foundation is still really strong. In the end, they have 15 goals tonight and we lost the contested possession total so we still have to get that balance right while bringing these new players into the mix.

On next week
Probably only McVeigh and AJ who have played most of the minutes to date. So our plan is to play as a good as team as we can next week. McGlynn, Richards, Mattner will be back and Hannebery almost played tonight but we wanted to give him another week. O'Keefe is another who may come back into the mix but our plan is to play a pretty strong team next week but knowing only 1 or 2 that we have to be mindful of. The rest should be ready for Round 1.

On next week's venue
Not sure yet but expect to be back up in Sydney.

On Jack's injury
Got a kick to his shin, at this stage of this season we put the cue in the rack and subbed him but he'll be okay for next week

[Old Royboy]

A very mixed bag tonight. Parker obviously the standout, Bird was good easly on, Reid will kick a dozen if we eve get our delivey forwrd right. Poor hands in the guts cost us many times. Everitt continues to underwelm and Morton at present looks like a mistake. Rohan looks like he has been reading the press too much and needs to come down a couple of hat sizes, poor game. Not much use flying like a superstar and then spill the lollies. Midfield needs to get smarter, no good winning the tap if it goes down Watson's throat every time. Traditional slow starter LRT never lets us down, last year I had him in the Rooty Hill swamp with the tiger snakes, this year concrete boots in the Yarra. In ten weeks time (provided no injury) he'll be back in business - that's LRT. Considering that Longmire chose not to bring many fresh legs in the second half, I was pleasantly surprised that we nearly won. There is heaps to work on - tackle pressure-poor, kicking to forwards advantage - poor as usual, handling under pressure, poor. At least our season effectively does not start for another month, hopefully a couple of practice matches (hello GWS) and things will have improved when we meet Freo in April.
I would also like to thank the AFL for this weeks programming; switched straight over to the ABC and caught the delicious Essie Davis just in time.

[dimelb]

Really? He got beaten pretty badly by Ryder in my eyes.

True, he found Ryder a handful tonight, but he also made some good spoils, broke up their attack and his disposal was pretty reliable.

[troyjones2525]

I am not a big fan of would've and could've but if ted richards had of played and went onto rider i think the game would have been ours, jetta has improved a lot over the preseason and i reckon will be considered a great player possibly top 10 for the swans by the end of the season.

Missing four out of our top 22: Mattner, Richards, ROK and Hanneberry and they had their top22 in for the most part so a pretty good effort considering.

Would also argue that McGlynn is a certain member of our best 18 so thats 5 of our best 18 that didn't play tonight which is encouraging. I also agree with another post that Spangher is probably in our best team as well as a marking tall forward from viewing his previous games and that nobody else is really showing much in that area so far! It's early days but also hope that a fit Tony Armstrong would force his way into the 22 as he has showed great pace and skill form his games with the crows, and finally we all have high hopes for young Tom Mitchell to be a future star if he can get his body right! Fingers crossed but i think our list is looking pretty decent on tonights performance and if we can get all the boys fit and firing!

[aardvark]

I also agree with another post that Spangher is probably in our best team

Agree, Spanger is ahead of Walsh, Morton, White and probably Pyke/Seaby. We still don't have anything that resembles a functioning forward line. Cunningham got caught out one on one in defence a couple of times but he looks good. Horse may decide to let him learn on the job.

[lwjoyner]

Not sure if mentioned earlier but the number of goals the dons got from frees and a couple of 50metres is disturbing. And we didnt grt a free to LP just before half time. Even the commentators ?'d some decisions.

[Far Reach]

Not sure if mentioned earlier but the number of goals the dons got from frees and a couple of 50metres is disturbing. And we didnt grt a free to LP just before half time. Even the commentators ?'d some decisions.

You'd expect the umpires would be saving this until the real thing

[S120]

It was good to see Horse making sure Cunningham knows he has a lot to learn by playing him down back for a bit. His offensive game is pretty advanced for a 18yo and he hits packs and tackles as he should but, as has been the way with Swans young players, they are forced to learn how to play the defensive side of the game.

After what I saw of Morton last night (or perhaps more accurately, what I didn't see of him), I'd be tempted to put Cunningham in for round 1. Perfect sub option if you ask me.

[wolftone57]

I am a bit peeved that Horse is persevering with Rohan as a HF. When is he going to realise that he is much better if he can hit the ball and run off. That means Wing or HB. I presume Everitt played wing and HB last night, no coach should let that bloke anywhere near a backline. He would be better on the HF. Please Horse play Garry Rohan on the Wing!!!!! He will still kick goals, he proved that toward the end of last season when he played wing.