no respect

[nicko18]

Why are you the u?

Settle down, she is entitled to a view

eh,

you might remember that the T was the only letter that was right every time.

[SwansFan1972]

wow you need to take off your red-and-white coloured beer goggles for a sec. Yes we have been going great and have a great chance to win this game, but to complete disregard Hawthorn's impressive form is laughable. You talk like we only have to turn up to win because the Hawks have only beaten the good teams when their opposition have had bad days. They have a 15-5 record and currently sit 2nd on the ladder! They have been flogging good and bad teams ALL YEAR, with or without their best forward playing. They have the best attack and 2nd best defence in the league after 21 rounds.

Do you think its even remotely possible that teams like the Pies, Crows, Bombers, Blues, Saints, Kangaroos, Dockers only had bad days because the Hawks have been just so dominant this year?

You clearly rate them higher than I do. One of us will be right! FWIW, I guess I could be accused of disrespecting them . . . in much the same way our team is routinely disrespected. . . For the record - no - I don't think we need to 'just turn up' to win - anyone with any knowledge of our team knows that if they are off even a little bit across the board, we have issues. I just don't expect them to be 'off' for the Hawks game. Quite the opposite really.

The Hawks had a tough opening to their season (and were on the nose to all and sundry at the time). Since then they've had a pretty soft run. As for the teams you mention 'having bad days because of the Hawks' (to paraphrase you slightly), here is the form of those teams around their Hawthorn games:

Pies (Rnd 2, beat Tigers by 21; Rnd 3, lost to Carlton by ten goals; Rnd 4 beat Port by 4 goals). Hardly at their best, and it is always handy to get one of the grand finalists (preferably the losing one) early in the next season.

Pies (Rnd 15, lost to Carlton by 23; Rnd 16, beat Cats by 31; Rnd 18 beat GWS by 20 goals; Rnd 19 beat St Kilda (with help) by a goal). Cats win a tick, GWS as expected; other two results pretty ordinary.

Crows - boasted winning form around the Hawks loss, but let's see - who did they beat? Rnd 1, the Suns. Rnd 2, the Dogs. Rnd 4, the Giants and Rnd 5 Port. Maybe Mick has a point about soft draws! They've been good this year, but fading from 38 points up against the Lions? Screams 'credibility gap' to me (although they do represent a danger to the Swans, unfortunately)! Number 2 on the Swans 'wouldn't it be good to beat them in a final' list!

Bombers - please - do you even watch any other games? To suggest they represent a quality victim ignores the fact they've won one game (against Port) since Round 15. Early season they were great, but Hawks only got a look at them in Round 18 when their season was well and truly in freefall.

Blues - Have been great early and late this season. When the Hawks got them, the Blues recent form included wins over Melbourne (Rnd 9), Pies (Rnd 15) and the Dogs (Rnd 17). Losses to Port (Rnd 10), Cats (Rnd 11), Weagles (Rnd 12) and North (Rnd 16) suggest that the Hawks met them at a fortuitous time!

Saints - 10th on the ladder and cooked. Yep - beating them is rolled gold form. They boast back to back wins only twice this year - against Suns and Dogs in Rnds 2 & 3. Then against the Bombers and Lions in Rnds 15 and 16. But they do have some meritorious wins - perhaps more than the Hawks as it happens!!

North - in the games leading up to the Hawks in Rnd 10, they had beaten the Giants in Rnd 2; Cats in Rnd 3; Suns in Rnd 5; and the Lions in Rnd 9. Cats win gets a tick, maybe a break even against the Lions, the other two as expected. Losses against the Bombers in Rnd 1; Swans in Rnd 4; Weagles in Rnd 6; Dogs in Rnd 7 and Port in Rnd 8. Since mid season they are drinking deeply from the Fountain of Form, but when they played the Hawks? Well - hmmm. They were mired in crisis, playing crap footy and losing games (against the Dogs and then Port - after leading by 6 or so goals in the last quarter) they were expected to win. Brayshaw looked cooked and their CEO bailed out or was turfed. They have turned things around and are to be admired for sure - now. Not then.

Dockers - Had won two games leading into their date with the Hawks - against the Suns (Rnd 6) and Port (Rnd 7). Then they were widely rated as 'totally uncompetitive' (If I recall reports of the time correctly, and since I turned that game off before half time) in their effort against the Hawks. They then followed up with losses to Weagles (Rnd 9) and Crows (Rnd 10). If you are dipping into your 'form against the Dockers' kit bag to find creditable wins, then there can't be too many other good wins to pick from!!

In any season you can get teams at a good time. Hawks have had the good fortune (and good luck to them) to get many of the abovementioned teams at a good time. I think most would agree that if they were facing the Blues, North or Freo NOW, a win against any of them would look a lot better. But they aren't facing them. They're facing us. And I really really hope (and expect) that we will kick their butts.

If that makes me a 'red and white beer goggle wearer', so be it. But I think I've looked at things pretty clearly and (to the detriment of my waistline) I watch a lot of footy from the couch and the outer, so I'm not just shooting from the hip. I ask - again - which wins do you rate as the standout results in the Hawks season? The wins that showed guts, and/or fight, and/or were unexpected?

And as for being 'dominant' this year, maybe a pair of red and white beer goggles could look good on you - the brown and yellow ones sure have muddied your perspective. The Hawks ladder position reads thus over the course of the season: 6-8-7-9-11-11-9-6-8-6-6-5-6-6-5-4-3-2-4-4-2.

You want dominant? How about ladder position that reads across the season like this: 1-4-3-2-2-3-5-4-5-5-2-4-2-2-1-1-1-1-1-1-1. Guess which team owns these figures? Need I say?

Over to you all. I love the banter. I love this site and all the passionate supporters who hang here. I love the footy. And most of all, I love the Swans! I like the Hawks, and generally enjoy watching them play. I respect them at a level I think they currently deserve. If they surprise me and win on the weekend, may need to reassess. But it hasn't happened yet, and I just don't think it will. So sue me!

[SwansFan1972]

Some articles are based on hearsay, with very little truth, i.e. recent Buddy articles.

Other articles are based on the journo's opinion. If a journo doesn't barrack for the Swans or doesn't watch many of our games, I would think it reasonable that his/her opinion may differ from ours, in most cases.

If a journo writes articles based on who s/he barracks for, s/he's a fan - like us! Not a journo though! If they write without watching many of our games, they are guessing. And should be writing on toilet paper, not in major newspapers.

[DLBIA14]

Absolutely. The most ridiculous thing is there is a plethora of die hard footy fans out there who have an understanding of the game far superior to 75% of the 'footy experts' out there. The fact that these morons get paid for their incompetence is laughable. Let's not even get into the 'articles' which apart from a tag line are mostly a word for word regurgitation of a weekly presser.

Now I know our club is notorious for talking a lot and saying nothing, but I would like something a little interesting once in a while. Just on the subject, when is the last time somebody has read a quality article about us? I'm not talking just fluff, but really interesting or compelling work. The article last year about our Xavier boys sticks in my mind. It was something actually researched where you got an insight into players that you wouldn't come across anywhere else.

[ShockOfHair]

Absolutely. The most ridiculous thing is there is a plethora of die hard footy fans out there who have an understanding of the game far superior to 75% of the 'footy experts' out there. The fact that these morons get paid for their incompetence is laughable. Let's not even get into the 'articles' which apart from a tag line are mostly a word for word regurgitation of a weekly presser.
.

You're kidding yourself there. I haven't seen or heard anything but praise from pundits for LRT this year. They judge him on the role he plays, whereas diehard 'experts' have judged him on dream team points or some other random measure.

[Vonsteinman]

If you haven't read any positive, quality writing about the Swans this year, you're not looking hard enough. There has been plenty. Andrew Wu on Fairfax is one who has devoted a lot of time and effort into the Swans and 'knows his stuff'.

Some of you are so hell bent on whinging about the Melbourne journos that you fail to realise that your call has been answered.

Wu knows his footy and I assume lives in Sydney as he's producing something on the Swans every couple of days.

I'm not sure how many times it has to be pointed out to some of you that articles are written and printed to sell papers. If the swans were as popular in football's biggest market as the Pies, then there would be triple the coverage.

It's not going to change so it really is time for some of you to build a bridge

[Dirtyburt]

If you haven't read any positive, quality writing about the Swans this year, you're not looking hard enough. There has been plenty. Andrew Wu on Fairfax is one who has devoted a lot of time and effort into the Swans and 'knows his stuff'.

Some of you are so hell bent on whinging about the Melbourne journos that you fail to realise that your call has been answered.

Wu knows his footy and I assume lives in Sydney as he's producing something on the Swans every couple of days.

I'm not sure how many times it has to be pointed out to some of you that articles are written and printed to sell papers. If the swans were as popular in football's biggest market as the Pies, then there would be triple the coverage.

It's not going to change so it really is time for some of you to build a bridge

Far too sensible and to the point, does not belong in this thread.

[grarmy]

Far too sensible and to the point, does not belong in this thread.

Completely agree. Objective and well thought comment is often out of place among the barking
madness of this site.

[Go Swannies]

I can't agree that the lack of respect should simply be accepted. As Dunstall said the other night it's impossible to believe that the Swans can have the season they have had and yet be continually ignored. The Swans are a game and percentage on top of the ladder and yet they are often not even mentioned on some footy shows. I cannot think of another team in the comp for which this would happen. If it was a Melbourne team you'd be reading double page spreads about Nick Smith and Alex Johnson.

However, I bet if we lose this weekend we'll get four times the coverage we'll get if we win. "The wheels falling off" has a lot more appeal for commentators than "genuine flag threats" I feel. Of course, that desire to put down the nice-but-irrelevant team from loathsome Sydney doesn't carry across to On the Couch that often seems embarrassingly Swans-centric.

[Plugger46]

Couldn't give a rat's.

[Big Al]

Re: no respect

Couldn't give a rat's.

+1

As I've said before as long the club has belief in what it's doing it's of no consequence what the Media think.

[Jewels]

My children laugh at me because I'm never happy. I get so angry when watching the footy shows on TV or reading the press or internet that we are being ignored, then when there is a heap of Swans press (a la before the Pies game) I complain that they are getting too much recognition and it will go to their heads!

[BeeEmmAre]

Let them underrate us. It works.

[DLBIA14]

If you haven't read any positive, quality writing about the Swans this year, you're not looking hard enough. There has been plenty. Andrew Wu on Fairfax is one who has devoted a lot of time and effort into the Swans and 'knows his stuff'.

Some of you are so hell bent on whinging about the Melbourne journos that you fail to realise that your call has been answered.

Wu knows his footy and I assume lives in Sydney as he's producing something on the Swans every couple of days.

I'm not sure how many times it has to be pointed out to some of you that articles are written and printed to sell papers. If the swans were as popular in football's biggest market as the Pies, then there would be triple the coverage.

It's not going to change so it really is time for some of you to build a bridge

I'm assuming this post is directed at me.

What Andrew Wu produces (and for that matter Neil Cordy), becasue yes I do read the paper every day, is not in my mind 'quality journalism'. I could write what he writes. Now I'm not trying to slight his writing ability becasue I understand that he is on a tight word limit and the club, as I said talks a lot without saying much, but maybe every week on a Sunday or Saturday we could get a nice feature piece. Something just a little bit special that involves some actual hard research or draws from an insightful interview.

My post had a crack at the current level of AFL journalism in the whole country. I think there is a lot of width in terms of clubs covered by their respective paper, but I contest the fact there is a lot of depth. I did not for once join a 'Melbourne-media hates us' whinge fest.

You should read what people write before engaging in self-righteous rants.

[BillyRayCypress]

Kebab Knocker King, showed a draw last night on 360 based on teams playing each other twice in the series only getting 2 points.

It had Hawks, Pies, Swans as the top 3 and the Crows were down at 5.

He does compliment the Swans and what they have done this year but says they will lose next two games.

Not long to wait to find out. Lets hope the injury worries for Pies this weekend have some validity.