Gameday!

[Melbournehammer]

Watching the replay of the stream of goals right now. Major issue was the shallow 50 entries to a half forward line where we were outnumbered. Hawthorn players were able to burst forward and kick over our players who were heading towards the contest (such as it was) at half forward. Guerra, suckling, young all burst forward with straight line running and we had no answer. We should have manned up the spare player.

[wolftone57]

Grundy was our backline weakness in the first half. Rarely came across to assist Ted against Buddy.

Listen Nico I think he had his own problems minding Roughy mate. He was not the one who was designated that role anyway it was Mattner that does that job against the Hawks because of the Hawks talls.

[wolftone57]

There has been a lot of talk about why we lost here. Centre clearances were a factor at crucial times. But even if we got the centre clearances they were being cut off by the two players the Hawks had set on the defensive side of the square. How we allowed Brett Guerra to be a loose man in defense in the last quarter is beyond me? It was crucial that we man up and Guerra was just standing on his own at the back of the centre square nobody on him. don't know who was supposed to be on him. It is beyond me that we could allow the guy who sets up all their defensive structures to be on his own for a good part of the last three quarters.

with the clearances, especially the Centre Clearances, the Hawks were rotating one player different every Centre Bounce in the last quarter and I think this upset our balance but what I don't understand is why we didn't do something to counter this? At one stage they stuck Bruest, who is normally a forward, into the middle to get an advantage over our smaller players. They had Bruest, Sewell & Mitchell, we had Parker, Joey and Kizza. The height difference was a factor in the next clearance as Bruest was able to out reach Parker and tap to Mitchell. Pies did a similar this to us in the last as well. Maybe the coaches need to look at that and find ways of combating it.

I thought our defense was pretty good on the whole, after all they only kicked 15.12. That is one of their lowest scores for the year. The other thing is we kicked 14.11 against them and kept them low at the same time. I thought they strangled the game and went for the pack situation the same as the Pies did three weeks ago. They ran the ball from the packs with very accurate kicking. It is not a pretty sort of footy as it is so stop/start like footy of the '60's. I can't blame the umpiring as I think it was ok for the most part. A couple didn't go our way but I'm sure they are saying the same thing. The 50m penalty was there and not paid and that could have made a difference. The push to Teddy was also there. But it wasn't the umpires in the end it was our inability to stop their field kicking that was telling.

[wolftone57]

Watching the replay of the stream of goals right now. Major issue was the shallow 50 entries to a half forward line where we were outnumbered. Hawthorn players were able to burst forward and kick over our players who were heading towards the contest (such as it was) at half forward. Guerra, suckling, young all burst forward with straight line running and we had no answer. We should have manned up the spare player.

Our forwards were standing too far back and the Hawk backs were able to pick off any short entrance. They did this in the last too, you would think we would learn wouldn't you!

[Nico]

I was at the chairmans lunch john Blakey spoke after the game amd said the guys were shatterred, he was asked if he thought Jude would have made the difference and he said yes. Gary Rohan also spoke said he was coming along well but still only walking laps at this stage IMHO Rohan would have been the player that could have made the difference but thats just dreamland stuff. I thought Jetta missed 4 crucial tackles throughout the game and hasnt really handled the pressure off having a tagger over the last 4-5 weeks. Jetta needs to learn quickly because there will not be one easy kick for the rest of our season should he even play next week given his last 3 weeks??



Cheers

waz

Another bloke missed a number of tackles.....McGlynn. He struggles against the good sides.

[Nico]

There has been a lot of talk about why we lost here. Centre clearances were a factor at crucial times. But even if we got the centre clearances they were being cut off by the two players the Hawks had set on the defensive side of the square. How we allowed Brett Guerra to be a loose man in defense in the last quarter is beyond me? It was crucial that we man up and Guerra was just standing on his own at the back of the centre square nobody on him. don't know who was supposed to be on him. It is beyond me that we could allow the guy who sets up all their defensive structures to be on his own for a good part of the last three quarters.

with the clearances, especially the Centre Clearances, the Hawks were rotating one player different every Centre Bounce in the last quarter and I think this upset our balance but what I don't understand is why we didn't do something to counter this? At one stage they stuck Bruest, who is normally a forward, into the middle to get an advantage over our smaller players. They had Bruest, Sewell & Mitchell, we had Parker, Joey and Kizza. The height difference was a factor in the next clearance as Bruest was able to out reach Parker and tap to Mitchell. Pies did a similar this to us in the last as well. Maybe the coaches need to look at that and find ways of combating it.

I thought our defense was pretty good on the whole, after all they only kicked 15.12. That is one of their lowest scores for the year. The other thing is we kicked 14.11 against them and kept them low at the same time. I thought they strangled the game and went for the pack situation the same as the Pies did three weeks ago. They ran the ball from the packs with very accurate kicking. It is not a pretty sort of footy as it is so stop/start like footy of the '60's. I can't blame the umpiring as I think it was ok for the most part. A couple didn't go our way but I'm sure they are saying the same thing. The 50m penalty was there and not paid and that could have made a difference. The push to Teddy was also there. But it wasn't the umpires in the end it was our inability to stop their field kicking that was telling.

The reason Guerra was where he was is because they knew our centre bounce weaknesses. When we do get the footy they are usually poor or errant handpasses or scrubby kicks. Jack is only there as the handball receive so we are one down already. Kennedy gets his hands on the footy but the opposition are ready for it so pounce on him. When he does get a kick it is usually short and ineffective because he rarely gets into a position to clearly roost it. Hawthorn got quick, clean clearances from the feet of the ruckmen. We have been getting it wrong for a long time now and I am buggered if I know why it hasn't been addressed. If it has then they are are making an awful meal of it.

[ShockOfHair]

Good outlook - the hawks will be buggered purely because they had to walk a couple of kms just to get to the away team shed!!! The thing is we are still in the Top 4 that's a heap better than being in the bottom half.

Thanks for the much-needed positive view, Wardy. You've also reminded of my Collingwood Theory, which is that the Swans game buggered their season. They fired their last bullet trying to win at the SCG and have lost the two games since. Let's see how the Hawks back up next week against the Eagles.

[giant]

Missed Jude's hardness in the centre clearances.

Ain't it the truth? That's two games we've lost because we haven't quite been hard enough at critical centre bounces in the dying moments - hard to believe Jude wouldn't have made a difference.

Another cracking game - what ever happens this season you'd have to say Swans fans have got their money's worth, so many memorable games.

We know we can match it with these teams now - need to find another gear and hope the luck goes our way, and maybe something special might happen!

[giant]

I was at the chairmans lunch john Blakey spoke after the game amd said the guys were shatterred, he was asked if he thought Jude would have made the difference and he said yes. Gary Rohan also spoke said he was coming along well but still only walking laps at this stage IMHO Rohan would have been the player that could have made the difference but thats just dreamland stuff. I thought Jetta missed 4 crucial tackles throughout the game and hasnt really handled the pressure off having a tagger over the last 4-5 weeks. Jetta needs to learn quickly because there will not be one easy kick for the rest of our season should he even play next week given his last 3 weeks??

Cheers

waz

The missed tackles really hurt, a couple on Guerra that directly lead to goals. Yep, needs to get tougher on those but worth remembering he's a young kid coming to the end of a tough season. If we're relying on him, then we're probably stuffed.

[Swansinger]

My humble observations :

1)We turned it over from the back half too often.
And the signs were there in the first quarter.
Reminded me of the times we played Pies and found Maxwell so often.

2)Pyke and Reid need to work out which of them is going for the mark.
Twice (at least) they spoiled eachother.

3)If anyone is waiting for Goodesy to return to Brownlow form , you may as well also leave a light on for Harold Holt. Not knocking his performance last night - he was pretty decent - but the Superman/rabbit-out-of-the-hat days are over.
I wondered if he'd get put in the middle for a while - then I realised that he just doesn't have the stamina to do that now.

4)No idea why we did not get a fifty in the last q , after a Hawks player kicked the ball away.

5)A deliberate OOB was paid against us , fair enough , but no such call when they did the same shortly after.

6)Sucking's second goal hurt - one second I'm jeering his clumsy fumble , next I'm wondering why there was nobody near enough pressuring him as he recovers and kicks.
Overall , however , I cannot knock the lads for their effort and intensity.

[Dirtyburt]

My humble observations :

1)We turned it over from the back half too often.
And the signs were there in the first quarter.
Reminded me of the times we played Pies and found Maxwell so often.

2)Pyke and Reid need to work out which of them is going for the mark.
Twice (at least) they spoiled eachother.

3)If anyone is waiting for Goodesy to return to Brownlow form , you may as well also leave a light on for Harold Holt. Not knocking his performance last night - he was pretty decent - but the Superman/rabbit-out-of-the-hat days are over.
I wondered if he'd get put in the middle for a while - then I realised that he just doesn't have the stamina to do that now.

4)No idea why we did not get a fifty in the last q , after a Hawks player kicked the ball away.

5)A deliberate OOB was paid against us , fair enough , but no such call when they did the same shortly after.

6)Sucking's second goal hurt - one second I'm jeering his clumsy fumble , next I'm wondering why there was nobody near enough pressuring him as he recovers and kicks.
Overall , however , I cannot knock the lads for their effort and intensity.

+1 with addition of jetts shocking defensive efforts. Clear his tendon is bad but you can still stick a tackle.

[Go Swannies]

I was saying last night how much we were missing Jude. Josh was astonishing but it would have been handy to have Jude stop their run when they took possession in the middle. And he would have been another inside to get the ball out to our players. Come back Jude - we need you. A lot.