Round 7: Sydney Uni v Sydney Swans Reserves

[mcs]

Glad to see Mitchell got through ok.... little steps for now with him as they build up his fitness.

[Primmy]

Came back to it after upgrading my Real player. Made no difference. Very disappointing. crying.....

[GongSwan]

Commentators saying Morton has RSI from kicking goals, not bad, 7 should sign these blokes up

[Dosser]

Just logged on. Where is Al now?

[aardvark]

Just logged on. Where is Al now?

New RWO game... Where's wALly ?

[GongSwan]

A lazy 38 goals to the ressies

[aardvark]

and 10 straight to MM. Walsh and Nipper get my votes.

[ugg]

Twitter down so I'll post here

Gordon 10 Morton 10 Walsh 4 White 3 Pyke 3 Meredith 2 Lamb 2 Armstrong Moore Cunningham Biggs

[liz]

Anyone looking at that list of scorers would conclude that the senior team has a such a strong forward line that we have a multitude of forward options who just can't force their way in. Even more so when you consider one forward (as he was played this year) in Rohan is out injured, and arguably our best medium sized goal kicking option was the non-playing emergency today. Even allowing for the quality of opposition today, it was an impressive display of conversion from set shots by a number of players capable of playing as specialist forwards.

I did get irritated by Morton playing on a couple of times and kicking around the corner when he'd taken a mark 15 metres out right in front of goal. Even though he scored the goals, you'd have to think his instruction would be to just go back and take the set shot.

I don't think Walsh is overly quick but he did show today that he is learning to time his short, sharp leads in the forward line quite well, and he seems to have a safe set of hands marking out just in front of himself. His kicking was mostly sound too.

[giant]

What position was Nipper playing?

[BSA5]

What position was Nipper playing?

Essentially as a key forward, which is IMO by far his best role.

[ShockOfHair]

Did we win?

[swans_premiers]

Did we win?

I heard it was close?

[longmile]

A complete drubbing

[ugg]

Short thoughts before I head out to the SCG.

It was a brilliant goalkicking display this afternoon, although most were from set shots which helps the accuracy they weren't all gimmes and it was a big turnaround from the yips they suffered last week. Field kicking wasn't as flash hot considering the lack of pressure from the Sydney Uni players. Heavy clouds were threatening in the second quarter and it even began raining a little in the 3rd but it cleared up for the rest of the game so we can't blame the conditions for the ball use.

The debut of Mitchell and the absence of TDL from today's side allowed Nathan Gordon to return to a forward role where he was excellent all day, his prodigous leap and strong hands a feature of his play all day long. A big improvement on the error-strewn performances of recent weeks, playing further up the ground.

Mitch Morton's bag of 10 was a class below Nippa's. A lot of crumbs and easy marks thanks to assists from the likes of Moore and Nippa himself. Also needs a shave, badly. Jarred Moore was very busy and excelled again in the midfield, and was blowing hard by the end of the game. Such a clever player who can assess the situation in a calm and efficient manner and is incredibly effective in delivering balls into our forward line.

Tommy Walsh started slow but finished strongly, at times facing 2 men at the same time. He started to throw his big weight around more in the 2nd half and was duly rewarded with 3 goals in that half. Jesse White wasn't as prominent, I struggled to notice him for long periods of time even though he was our 2nd ruckman. Mike Pyke spent less time rucking today and provided a presence as a tall forward target. He got his hands to a lot of those contests but agonisingly failed to hang on to most of them.

Shane Biggs seems to glide across the ground, takes quick little steps almost effortlessly. He displayed some nice evasive manouevres, provided good run on the wing and is a tidy kick. His best game for us thus far. Tony Armstrong seemed to move progressively further up the ground as the margin kept increasing. He was involved in a lot of runs and handball exchanges coming out of defence. Harry Cunningham played a lot through the midfield but felt he had a quiet game.

The name on everyone's lips - Tom Mitchell. He played the first half only, pre-planned and was very prominent in the early exchanges getting the ball out amidst the bodies with his quick hands. His kicking wasn't as impressive as his handballs as a few short ones failed to find their target. He has a nuggety build, not that of your usual 18 year skinny rake draftee and looks physically ready to play in the seniors this year.

Brett Meredith was assigned an outside role when Mitchell was on the field and even spent a long patch as a forward pocket in the 2nd quarter. He moved back inside once Mitchell departed and while he had a lot of the ball, I would rate his performance as solid rather than impressive. Jed Lamb spent more time forward today and while he did some nice things inside 50 and finished with 2 goals still looked sluggish. Dylan McNeil spent less time on the ground due to the increased number of listed players, as did Jack Lynch and Eugene Kruger. Kruger continued to struggle when under pressure, his long kicks seem to be a case of hit it as hard as you can and hope it works out. Needs to maintain composure - Moore could teach him a thing or two. Lynch was okay and worked well with Heath who did well in the limited action he saw in defence. Heath again very vocal in directing the topups where to stand and who to mark.

All in all, can't read too much into the game, the boys were a couple of classes above that of Sydney Uni's, they knew that, the crowd knew that (found myself cheering for Uni at times) and the coaches knew that. In fact the sideline coaches and the runner seemd quite casual all day, we also had Berbakov watching from the stands instead of the coaches' box (who today were Crouch, Stone and Maxfield) and he had shared a few comments/jokes with the runner. The umpires made their fair share of poor decisions as per usual, but for once it went our way although it was definitely not needed today!

Next week a much tougher task as they travel to Brisbane to face the Lions reserves.

Sydney Swans Reserves 13.4 20.6 30.8 38.11 239
Sydney University 0.1 2.3 3.6 5.6 36

Goals: Gordon 10 Morton 10 Walsh 4 White 3 Pyke 3 Meredith 2 Lamb 2 Armstrong Moore Cunningham Biggs

Note: Both Nippa and Morton kicked 10 straight although Nippa hit the behind post with his last shot.