Game Day : Vs Saints

[Vonsteinman]

Some people quickly forget what it takes for the Swans to win a flag. Agreed it didn't look too flash on tv but I imagine Horse will be a lot happier this week. Tackles were up, pressure was up. We are 4-1 with plenty of improvement in the team.

Tippett will be a welcome addition but I think the 'can't come quickly enough' comments are disrespectful and frankly misguided.

[DamY]

I thought Everitt was poor. I can't see where he has improved. He is but a depth player.

I'd drop Armstrong before Everitt but I thought both were serviceable

[dawson]

I'm stoked to have won. We've lost plenty to the Saints over the years and this is a game we could have easily lost.

4-1 is a great way to start the season.

Looking ahead, Brisbane should be ok and then it's Hawthorn at the G. Last year our record during the year against the other top 4 sides wasn't that good. Obviously we rectified that in September when we beat each of them.

So while it's not the end of the world if we lose to the Hawks, it would be amazing if we won down there.

[Matt79]

Rampe...looked very comfortable out there tonight! He's a keeper!

[Ludwig]

The conditions were obviously difficult and StK competed relentlessly to their credit. Riewoldt had a great game and Montagna kicked a couple of nice goals. It was a game where it was difficult to show off your talent with all the fumbling and effort went a long way to determining where the ball went. Everitt was disappointing, but Armstrong was better this week. Reid is a worry as a key forward at the moment, but he's pretty handy around the ground. Just shows how cleaver we were to land Tippett. He will be needed.

[Auntie.Gerald]

very happy for Rampe

he is our Mattner of the future

loves a contest.......has a solid long left kick

has some vision and appears to be dominant on the smalls.........can he take med talls is the question that will be answered over time

[Auntie.Gerald]

very happy for Rampe an our Swanny backline !

he is our Mattner of the future

loves a contest.......has a solid long left kick

has some vision and appears to be dominant on the smalls.........can he take med talls is the question that will be answered over time

[dimelb]

We are still missing AJ, but not by quite as much after watching Rampe tonight - very encouraging. I had Ted as our best, but happy to see Dan get the nod for the medal.
St Kilda deserve credit for the pressure they applied, and despite their errors I thought their ball handling skills were superior overall. Their midfield outplayed ours at the centre bounces; we have had this problem for a while and I wish someone would fix it.
Sam Reid had a mixed game but I'd be very unhappy to see him dropped. He was very closely marked and often team-tagged. If he is to become the topflight CHF I believe he will be he simply has to learn how to deal with what happens, and he won't learn that in reserves.
The umpiring was a bit patchy, but I think the faults tended to cancel out over the game. At least they weren't whistle-happy.
And it will be a while before I gripe about the catering at the MCG. Westpac Stadium is locally known as The Cake Tin, and that's where any resemblance to decent food ends. The pies literally stank - I am not using metaphor here - and the rest of the food was overcooked fsh 'n' chps plus the odd sandwich.
We still have a lot of work to do but a win is a win; I'm happier than the St kilda people tonight.

[swanspant12]

Rampe...this blokes gonna be a player. Calm, Composed and a good left peg. People need to give Reidy a chop out aswell. I saw him lay a solid 5 hard tackles tonight. He competes and brings the ball to ground. And he's bloody 21. Ease up!

[hot potato]

I thought The Saints deserved a lot of credit as well, they were relentless and gave us precious little disposal time all game .
I was happy with Reid and Armstrong. Parker is terrific.
Hp

[31 hard at it]

It was very wet under foot (heavy rain in the morning) and very windy and under lights that were not designed for AFL - I think a solid effort from the Swans.

16 premiership points in the bag early so as teams start to sort themselves out we are a lot closer to the top than most

Brisbane next week at home (and we get a few extra days recovery.

2013 setting up nicely for the reigning Premiers

[Beerman]

Very frustrating game to watch. Not sure that I would be that excited about next year if I was a Wellington resident (Wellingtonian? Wellingtonite? Welly?). But a win is a win, and you don't get more points for winning pretty than fumbling your way over the line.

Umps did let the game go a bit, which was good, but there were a few shockers against us. In particular, in quick succession Benny got a whack in the head with no free and then Mattner was pinged for deliberate OOB (always very ticky-touchwood those) and then for running through the mark when common sense suggested letting it go.

[Cheer_Cheer]

I am happy with the win.. I think we have a lot of upside..Hopefully we can start to click before we take on the Hawks.. Was I the only one who found it hard to understand what Barry Hall was saying tonight.. He is like an octave below everyone else.. Subsonic..

[swanspant12]

How good were Parks and Hanners? Ill answer it: Very good. Guns.

[wolftone57]

Parker, Hannas, Rampe, Jude, Benny all good. The others tried and I presume the conditions were not good, very slippery. The ball seemed to have been layered in soap it was so slippery. But there were several players who didn't handle the conditions, Marty was one especially in the first half. Lukey's skills in the conditions were silky. His ball control was about the best out there and his kicking was superb, as though it was dry.

Still not convinced about this year even though the conditions were not good. We got opened up down the guts too often just like last week. We need to improve incredibly before we meet the Hawks, Pies and Bombers. Cats showed us just how far behind we are and it showed again tonight. We should have killed this mob but we only just got over the line.