Round 9: Sydney Swans Reserves v Queanbeyan Tigers

[Gezball]

As mentioned previously they are missing a lot of players, in particular their talls.

Gotcha, but still, i reckon that's a big margin v's the second best team. Are their missing players injured? Or is it just that as they're not professional, they can't necessarily drop everything to go go to Sydney for a game due to family commitments etc? Ugg, probably stretching even your knowledge in expecting u to know the answer to those questions. Anyway..

[Primmy]

To be honest the Q team knew their game, they were big enough, their skills were good, they didn't play like easy beats, but when it came to putting points on the board the forward line was diminished and the defensive side of things had gaps. They probably didn't factor in the toppie Jordan - to be honest after his last game I didn't either. They had to have been missing some key players.

We had our own share of woeful players, fortunately not regular toppies or ressies. However, after seeing how Jordan progressed after his first toppie game perhaps I could boldly predict that these kids will do so too. Or not.

Interesting game all round.

[ugg]

Gotcha, but still, i reckon that's a big margin v's the second best team. Are their missing players injured? Or is it just that as they're not professional, they can't necessarily drop everything to go go to Sydney for a game due to family commitments etc? Ugg, probably stretching even your knowledge in expecting u to know the answer to those questions. Anyway..

Kavanagh injured with an ankle, apparently he was the co-commentator for the live stream? Not sure about the others.

If you look back at their previous two weeks where they lost consecutive games by 10+ goals and compare it to the previous year's results where they did not drop a game to a fellow Canberra-based side, then this result isn't too surprising.

[ugg]

• 6. Tom MITCHELL - Mitchell has slowly built up his match fitness as the season progressed and is now at a stage where he can play the whole game out in the midfield. Won plenty of clearances, made a heap of tackles and would have kept the statisticians busy with the amount of touches he tallied up (both contested and uncontested). He seemed to kick more and longer than usual (one of his strengths being his handballing skills) - sometimes not to the team's advantage as our forward line was most of the time manned by topups.
• 11. Jed LAMB - Overshadowed by Mitchell's performance but that's no reason to classify his outing as 'bad'. Was more prominent when receiving a handball from a teammate rather than winning it himself, but his ball use was still as sharp.
• 18. Jesse WHITE - Amazing game from White, who was the main ruckman for most of the day but still managed to rest forward and kick 10 goals and have involvement in a few others. White was too strong and smart at full forward for his opponent Andrew Swan, easily winning the battle of strength numerous times and taking what would be classed as a contested mark but in reality was as easy as completing a chest mark. Also dominated the hitouts against the Neils (Kerlin and Irwin) of Queanbeyan.
• 19. Tony ARMSTRONG - First half only. Desperate to impress after his demotion and was very vocal, calling for the ball plenty of times and receiving it. Generally used it well, usually with a short kick to an open man. Hoever, given the question marks are over his defensive skills, he won't get many chances to work on that side of his game in such a one sided match.
• 22. Dean TOWERS - Started as the spare man in defence and finished at full forward as the Swans keep trying to find the perfect role for him. Seems to be on a different wavelength at times to his teammates, and his low confidence is reflected in some of his plays. For example, he used his pace and strength to beat a tackle, had time to compose himself for a shot but then miss horribly with the ball lucky enough to sneak through for a point. This was one of his better games but still not fantastic when measured on an absolute scale. Had a chance to kick for goal with a set shot but unselfishly passed it off to Lamb on a better angle (who missed).
• 23. Jordan LOCKYER - One of two tall defenders but not much height to contend with. The defence worked well as a group to cut out the small number of chances the Tigers had. Queanbeyan were kept goalless until after halftime and even then it was through a dubious 50m penalty that they managed to finally open their account.
• 27. Daniel ROBINSON - Continues to impress, this time splitting his time between the midfield and the forwards. As an onballer, his competitiveness and physicality allows him to win his fair share of the ball (mainly through his hands) and up forward is very composed in front of goals, sizing up the pressure of the situation with a sense of calmness not usually associated with a first year rookie.
• 31. Harrison MARSH - Must have been tagging one of the Tigers' star midfielders (Conroy, Stevens or Daniher) but I couldn't figure out which one. Would also have liked to see him play forward as his strong hands and quickness of the mark would make him a difficult matchup.
• 33. Brandon JACK - The goals have dried up due to some inaccuracy but still very involved in the play on the wing and the half-forward area. A couple of spins out of tackles were very familiar looking...
• 36. Alex BROWN - Can now add 'relief ruck' to his list of roles, and despite his shortish height (190cm) managed to win a few hitouts! Mainly played as a forward when not in the ruck but also on the wing too.
• 42. Xavier RICHARDS - Aggressive style of defending from young Xav, likes to take off as soon as he takes an intercept mark. He also had a go in the ruck in the 2nd half, when White was doing his thing in front of the goals.
• 44. Jake LLOYD - Really liking his progression this season, a runner with a good tank and he covered a lot of ground between the 2 50m arcs. Started each half on a half-back flank but was involved in plenty of breaks from defence; his linkwork with players such as Lamb, Jack, Mitchell and Robinson was a highlight.
• 46. Shane BIGGS - Again was the major instigator of the attacks out of our defence without doing anything spectacular either in defence or attack. Wouldn't have minded seeing what he could offer on the half-forward flank given the game was long over before half time and we had a makeshift forwardline anyway, but alas that opportunity never opened up.

Topups - Jordan Weir was the best of the lot, we've seen him used a lot in defence well today he had the unenviable task of replacing Morton, Walsh and Membrey as the tall Swans forward target. He didn't take many marks but competed well in the one-on-ones and chased and tackled when the ball came to ground. Kicked his 2 goals in a matter of minutes through a combination of luck and skill. Unfortunately I have signficant queries about his kicking action, which will have to improve significantly if he is to make the next step up. Yarran Jaffer-Williams also kicked 2 goals from the goalsquare, one from a 50m penalty and one from a White handball after Jesse had spilled the tough chance. James Dunn had a few good outings last year and he continued that trend with another good run in the forward line. Stephen Wray and Nathan Bosschieter were competent players around the half-back/wing areas and young Dean Gilbert, on debut, displayed some nice kicking skills to finish with one goal and one assist.

Swans 4.7 12.9 17.12 23.14 (152)
Tigers 0.3 0.5 3.6 5.8 (38)

[Swansongster]

[LIST][*]6. Tom MITCHELL - Mitchell has slowly built up his match fitness as the season progressed and is now at a stage where he can play the whole game out in the midfield. Won plenty of clearances, made a heap of tackles and would have kept the statisticians busy with the amount of touches he tallied up (both contested and uncontested). He seemed to kick more and longer than usual (one of his strengths being his handballing skills) - sometimes not to the team's advantage as our forward line was most of the time manned by topups.

Are we there yet?

P.S. Thanks Ugg for the summary.