Top 2..Is it that essential?

[Cant turn right]

I hope the players are taking it one week at a time........

Lucky for us we don't have to

[Swansongster]

Thanks ScottH I stand corrected re Brisbane in 03, I think rather they lost their first finals game and had to do it the hard way.

Beating us in a prelim at Homebush is always going to be hard. Swans in 05 of course also "did it the hard way" (i.e. recovering from a first week loss).

[Dirtyburt]

I hope the players are taking it one week at a time........

I just hope they realize if they keep winning we will stay top!

[jono2707]

I just hope they realize if they keep winning we will stay top!

I also hope they aren't drawing any inspiration from Olympic badminton

[Swansongster]

I also hope they aren't drawing any inspiration from Olympic badminton

Great tweet from Gerard Whateley yesterday "Tanking at Olympics meets with swift justice. Eight badminton players disqualified for failing to "use best efforts to win". No deniers here."

[msb]

Our biggest concern by far come september IMO is our form at the G and whether we are capable of winning big finals there. Of course finishing in the top 2 would be awesome but ultimately we all know where the GF is played.

[DamY]

Swans hardly ever get a chance to play at MCG, maybe one or two matches in the home and away season. Obviously this makes our form there hard to read. Let's say we took the Aurora Stadium match as an example - we have a 100% success rate there, better than our SCG form. If we played at MCG more it wouldn't be an issue, we just happen to not play that well on the few days we've played there. Transplant the final to Simonds Stadium, maybe we'd win, maybe not but I just think our poor form there is irrelevant, it'll come good eventually

[top40]

I actually sense more confidence playing Adelaide at Football Park than at Homebush.

We have a terrible record against the Crows dating back to a decade or so, no matter where we play. Indeed we have only beaten Adelaide in Sydney once since 2001..

However, who remembers the Swans going to Football Park for a Qualifying Final in 2003 againt minor premiers Port? They were $7.50, and had 3 players gone during the game with injuries. No real ruckman to speak. Yet a might victory. First Swans finals win away from the SCG in 58 years!

[ernie koala]

Swans hardly ever get a chance to play at MCG, maybe one or two matches in the home and away season. Obviously this makes our form there hard to read. Let's say we took the Aurora Stadium match as an example - we have a 100% success rate there, better than our SCG form. If we played at MCG more it wouldn't be an issue, we just happen to not play that well on the few days we've played there. Transplant the final to Simonds Stadium, maybe we'd win, maybe not but I just think our poor form there is irrelevant, it'll come good eventually

Totally agree....It's a media issue...not a real issue.

We just happened to of played a few ordinary games there...could of been anywhere.

[Cheer Squad]

However, who remembers the Swans going to Football Park for a Qualifying Final in 2003 againt minor premiers Port? First Swans finals win away from the SCG in 58 years!

Quite an achievement, considering at that stage we'd only been based at the SCG for 21 years.

But yes, that was the first time we'd won a final away from Sydney.

[Danzar]

I get your logic Ernie but I really think this is being debated by reference to the Swans of 2005 and 2006. We were like Lleyton Hewiitt. We played our best when under the pump and just hard to drop a set or two to spark the comeback. The football world widely, and rightly sees 2005 as an anomaly. A beautiful one, yes, but still an anomaly.

Put simply higher up the ladder you finish, the better your Premiership chances because it means that you are a better team. You won more games and kicked a better percentage. Home ground finals are a reward.

Finishing 3 or 4 is not an acceptable outcome because we will have to lose to the Pies and Hawks to do so. Finishing 1 or 2 will get us a Premiership because we will have to beat the Pies and the Hawks to do so.

[Cheer Squad]

Put simply higher up the ladder you finish, the better your Premiership chances because it means that you are a better team. You won more games and kicked a better percentage. Home ground finals are a reward.

Finishing 3 or 4 is not an acceptable outcome because we will have to lose to the Pies and Hawks to do so. Finishing 1 or 2 will get us a Premiership because we will have to beat the Pies and the Hawks to do so.

+ 1

[GongSwan]

Our biggest concern by far come september IMO is our form at the G and whether we are capable of winning big finals there. Of course finishing in the top 2 would be awesome but ultimately we all know where the GF is played.

I don't know what the fuss about the MCG is, we've lost one game there this year

[barry]

Winning a final against a Victorian club at the MCG is one thing, winning a final against another non-victorian club is another.
In games at the MCG against non-victorians, we are 1:1, both decided by less than a goal.

If we finish top 2, we are much more likely to play once at the MCG, and against a non-victorian. In which we'd at least go in 50:50.

[top40]

Quite an achievement, considering at that stage we'd only been based at the SCG for 21 years.

But yes, that was the first time we'd won a final away from Sydney.

My point was that from 1945 until 2003, (a 58 year period), the South Melbourne/Sydney Swans had only won three finals games, all at the SCG, (2 in 1996 and 1 in 1998).

They didn't play any finals at all from 1946 to 1969. And they lost in Melbourne once in 1970 and again in 1977, and twice each in 1986 and 1987.