Malthouse says Swans are predictable and easy to stop

[SwansFan1972]

Collingwoods pace hurts us and has for years. We don't take easy marks on the lead against them. Also the swans strength is hand balling from congestion, with the slippery conditions this skill was made very difficult. We failed to get the ball into the open to aid better disposal into the forward line.

With all that running against us, they won by 8 points from 7 fewer scoring shots. They should feel very fortunate to have gotten away with that win (much the same as our boys when the Bombers kicked themselves out of the game earlier this year). Two straight kicks out of 16 and they head home with their tails down. They've dodged bullets two weeks in a row now (with gratuitous assistance from the umpiring department), so if they are feeling good about themselves it is a false dawn. And North look very capable of doing a number on them next week (would be nice to see).

We are in the same position with the pies as the hawks are with the cats - one game closer to the turning of the table! Ideally the streak will be broken at a time when the hurt going back the other way will be felt far more acutely! Prelim would be nice with a kick after the siren ...

[ernie koala]

Malthouse is wrong regarding our game plan not changing....Go look at the stats Mick...handballs to kicks, long kicks v short kicks, uncontested possessions etc etc.

Our game style has most certainly changed. And since it's changed, ie the last 2 years, we've lost to Collingwood by a kick. Both games could of gone either way.

Maybe the fact they beat us so easily playing Roos style has left them with more belief to close out a close game..

But it's not because, as he contends, we play the same predictable game....That's just Mick living in the past, stroking his ego.....It's Bull****

[DamY]

IMHO, if we eliminate a couple of brain explosions/skill failures in the final quarter, get a decent from the refs, or kick just a bit straighter anytime in the game, this consternation about Collingwood would have ended last night - we were so close, we fluffed it and that's really frustrating.

Last night just means better odds for the Swans leading into the run to the finals.

Only real concern I have is that the ressies boys don't really seem to be pushing for a place in the firsts, given that our bottom few players don't seem to be setting the world on fire.

I agree, we lost the game with our wayward kicking.

[707]

Who cares what Malthouse thinks, he is yesterday's man. We would have won with Morton in the side last night!

[hot potato]

The thrice Premiership coach is worth listening to, he's a year off turning 60, must be wondering what is left to do now.
Without Swan and Thomas, the Pies still managed to shut Sydney down in the clinches, stopped the effective rapid handballs to clear space, and stopped their run and carry to hit targets.
On form the Swans should have nailed this game by a good margin. They were not that far off doing that, so it wasnt too disappointing on reflection and showed exactly where they are on the pecking order which is precisely what Longmire wanted to know. Its all perfect.

[SwansFan1972]

Not content with spruiking on radio, has now slagged off at us and Crows as 'not being top 2'.

Needs to take another look at the ladder with both eyes open and a pair of glasses on. The ladder doesn't lie. Everyone knows that draws can be good, bad or indifferent, but no-one who has ever spruiked for Collingwood (or is championing their cause now) should EVER whinge about the draw. They've had the easier suck of the sauce bottle on that front for longer than anyone can remember.

Swans, Crows not top 2: Malthouse

Apologies to all our Vic based friends, but I hope it pans out just as Mick hopes it doesn't and the non-Vic teams dominate this year. And if Pies and Hawks don't get any higher than they are now, and end up facing some battle hardened foes like the Cats, Eagles or Roos as a result, then tough luck. If they are as hot @@@@@@ as Mick thinks they are, they should be able to surge to glory regardless!

[SimonH]

But he then posits a theoretical where Adelaide and Sydney beat Hawthorn and Collingwood in the 1st week of the finals. Um... How is that possible if they're not the best teams? Unless of course the Hawks and Collingwood aren't the best teams either. Who is the current best team in the comp, Mick... West Coast? Richmond? The man is clearly a genius.

The more 'legendary' coaches talk, the more the myth of the super coach who leads a bunch of stragglers to glory, becomes apparent. Most currently good teams would play well, and most currently bad teams would play poorly, regardless of who was coaching them.

[bloodsbigot]

Collingwoods pace hurts us and has for years. We don't take easy marks on the lead against them. Also the swans strength is hand balling from congestion, with the slippery conditions this skill was made very difficult. We failed to get the ball into the open to aid better disposal into the forward line.

I agree. The weather severely affected our play. It really didn't suit our gamestyle of quick handballs out of congestion. The weather just always seems to @@@@@@ us up against Collingwood (Who are traditionally a good wet weather football team).

Malthouse really is one smug bastard. IF it were that easy to beat us, then the whole comp should have beaten us by now.

[unconfuseme]

Lucky for us that Mick is not coaching any of the teams we will play in the finals

Now that all the other teams think they only need do what the 'pies did, we just need to convert 2 more scoring shots, and it won't matter

[Cheer Squad]

Who cares what Malthouse thinks, he is yesterday's man. We would have won with Morton in the side last night!

I'm always interested in hearing what Malthouse has to say about Sydney, because his coaching record against us is simply outstanding.

He coached Collingwood 18 times against Sydney for 13 wins and 5 losses.

He had us worked us right from the start. His wins took place at every venue where he coached - ANZ, MCG, Etihad, SCG.

Significantly, Collingwood had more scoring shots against Sydney in 16 of those 18 games; the only times they did not were once in 2000, and then narrowly in 2006.

So Saturday night was the first time in 6 seasons that we've actually had more scoring shots than them.

I wouldn't dismiss Malthouse as yesterday's man at all. He knew what he was doing.

[Plugger46]

If we'd kicked straight last night we would have won, so....

That's not to say we were the better side, bad kicking is bad football, but it wasn't to do with strategy or blocking our run. Collingwood took their chances, we didn't. Simple.

Absolutely spot on. Saturday night was different to the normal beatings - I think we outplayed them, we just didn't get the points.

[mcs]

Malthouse can go jump for all I care. Hopefully the boys will use it as motivation to show him and the rest of the football world that we are the real deal. He wouldn't be spruiking if we had of kicked straight on Saturday night and got the points that on the balance of play we probably just deserved.

Nice way for Malthouse to fire up Sydney and Adelaide though - both will be gunning to show him up over the rest of the season.

[jono2707]

I'm always interested in hearing what Malthouse has to say about Sydney, because his coaching record against us is simply outstanding.

He coached Collingwood 18 times against Sydney for 13 wins and 5 losses.

He had us worked us right from the start. His wins took place at every venue where he coached - ANZ, MCG, Etihad, SCG.

Significantly, Collingwood had more scoring shots against Sydney in 16 of those 18 games; the only times they did not were once in 2000, and then narrowly in 2006.

So Saturday night was the first time in 6 seasons that we've actually had more scoring shots than them.

I wouldn't dismiss Malthouse as yesterday's man at all. He knew what he was doing.

Well said. We should underestimate what he says at our peril.

First we complain when people in the media don't talk about us - then when they do we shoot them down when we don't like what they say. I think most of us are looking for that magical 'under the radar' place to hide away in again

[aardvark]

Nice way for Malthouse to fire up Sydney and Adelaide though - both will be gunning to show him up over the rest of the season.

Its just a cunning plan to fire us and Adelaide up so Collingwood don't win the premiership. Then he can run around saying how they would have won with him coaching.

[joemoore12]

Does anybody really care about Malthouse's opinion of our game plan that has successfully taken us to the top of the ladder? I'm sick to death of hearing about Collingwood and how they think we're predictable. I feel as though we had the better of the match and if we had've kicked straight, we would have comfortably won. End of story. Great effort AGAIN by the Bloods. We're in this premiership fight right up to our necks!