Changes Round 14 v Carlton

[annew]

Now I think Brisbane winning after being 52 points down just before 3/4 time is a bigger upset than swans losing. Don't feel so bad now.

[Doctor J.]

Now I think Brisbane winning after being 52 points down just before 3/4 time is a bigger upset than swans losing. Don't feel so bad now.

Brisbane winning has made me even more depressed about losing to port!! We'd be 2pts of 2nd if we won

[Captain]

what is soft is coming on a website anonymously and labelling players duds. The game should be noted for what it was. Armstrong was willing to take the ball and turned it over. smith didnt want it, but was just as fumbly as anyone on the day.

i am not saying smith is soft. he is a very very good defender. but he doesnt often want the ball and his delivery at times is awful. but he gets it less than others so it isnt as obvious as reg.

i am just sick of people bagging players, particularly in the games where people would struggle to find ANY winners on the day. To then turn around and bag individuals I have come to realise is pathetic.

The bigger question is what went wrong and what can you do about this ? We can always blame jesse white and armstrong and whoever the last on first off is that we want.

but longmire was right i think - the problem was downfield and it was the midfield which was absolutely putrid. we couldnt clear the ball all day, lobbe beat pyke comprehensively on the day, and we were beaten on both the inside and outside. there was very little run other than from jack.

lest it be thought it was only our midfielders the forwards and coaches got beaten. the half forward line of white, mcglynn and bolton was terrible and as we were chasing the game in the last quarter the stupid structural system of tippett and white on the wing with the half forwards back inside fifty meant that we kicked it long and the ball rebounded so quickly. so coaching deserves some criticism for the strategy when we were in trouble.

equally, none of the defenders deserves a pat on the back. they trailed their men, dropped marks, fell off tackles, kept handpassing backwards to persons in worse positions and failed to shepherd at all effectively when doing so. we couldnt clear it, couldnt kick it couldnt hand pass it and couldnt mark it. And it was across the board. we looked slow, and port looked like from the second quarter onwards that they thought they really could win it and we ceased looking like we thought we would win in the third quarter - and we didnt really have anyone step into the breach.

it reminded me of the north loss when we conceded was it ten goals in the final quarter. we stopped looking like we knew how to win and knew how to use the ball or even to get it. we would have been out of the game at three quarter time if we hadnt been kicking with the breeze and each port player missed from 40 metres out having marked inside fifty.

it was a bad game all round. stop bagging the weaker players.

How often have I bagged a player in all of the years of coming on here? Fact is, Armstrong isn't up to AFL standard and is only getting a game by default. As a person he might be a legend. As a footballer he is a dud and I will be surprised if he stays on the list when his contract is up.

It wasn't his fault that we lost, but he contributed to it. Terrible field kicking and poor pressure on the opposition from a fringe player isn't good enough.

Again, no idea why you are bringing Smith into it.

[liz]

Armstrong has some attributes, but defending against very quick, agile forwards isn't one of them. Neade was dancing all around him.

He does have some straight line pace, however, and we're sadly lacking that on the wing at the moment, with Jetta out injured. So it might be good to move Armstrong up the ground to play a more offensive role this week. The main problem is that there is no-one else to even try to play on Gartlett (assuming Smith takes Betts). Garlett hasn't been in great form for the past few weeks but he can be very dangerous if allowed to run free.

[ugg]

Armstrong has some attributes, but defending against very quick, agile forwards isn't one of them. Neade was dancing all around him.

He does have some straight line pace, however, and we're sadly lacking that on the wing at the moment, with Jetta out injured. So it might be good to move Armstrong up the ground to play a more offensive role this week. The main problem is that there is no-one else to even try to play on Gartlett (assuming Smith takes Betts). Garlett hasn't been in great form for the past few weeks but he can be very dangerous if allowed to run free.

How about Cunningham (assuming fitness is okay). He has the pace and has had a year of learning the defensive mindset as a tagger in the reserves last year. They tried him as a rebounding defender in the preseason and in the reserves this year before his injury although not exclusively as a small shutdown defender (but neither did Smith during his reserves stint. It's not exactly a role that comes up that often at NEAFL level)

[Ludwig]

How about Cunningham (assuming fitness is okay). He has the pace and has had a year of learning the defensive mindset as a tagger in the reserves last year. They tried him as a rebounding defender in the preseason and in the reserves this year before his injury although not exclusively as a small shutdown defender (but neither did Smith during his reserves stint. It's not exactly a role that comes up that often at NEAFL level)

I'd give Harry a go vs Garlett, ahead of Armstrong.

[Jewels]

what is soft is coming on a website anonymously and labelling players duds. The game should be noted for what it was. Armstrong was willing to take the ball and turned it over. smith didnt want it, but was just as fumbly as anyone on the day.

i am not saying smith is soft. he is a very very good defender. but he doesnt often want the ball and his delivery at times is awful. but he gets it less than others so it isnt as obvious as reg.

i am just sick of people bagging players, particularly in the games where people would struggle to find ANY winners on the day. To then turn around and bag individuals I have come to realise is pathetic.

The bigger question is what went wrong and what can you do about this ? We can always blame jesse white and armstrong and whoever the last on first off is that we want.

but longmire was right i think - the problem was downfield and it was the midfield which was absolutely putrid. we couldnt clear the ball all day, lobbe beat pyke comprehensively on the day, and we were beaten on both the inside and outside. there was very little run other than from jack.

lest it be thought it was only our midfielders the forwards and coaches got beaten. the half forward line of white, mcglynn and bolton was terrible and as we were chasing the game in the last quarter the stupid structural system of tippett and white on the wing with the half forwards back inside fifty meant that we kicked it long and the ball rebounded so quickly. so coaching deserves some criticism for the strategy when we were in trouble.

equally, none of the defenders deserves a pat on the back. they trailed their men, dropped marks, fell off tackles, kept handpassing backwards to persons in worse positions and failed to shepherd at all effectively when doing so. we couldnt clear it, couldnt kick it couldnt hand pass it and couldnt mark it. And it was across the board. we looked slow, and port looked like from the second quarter onwards that they thought they really could win it and we ceased looking like we thought we would win in the third quarter - and we didnt really have anyone step into the breach.

it reminded me of the north loss when we conceded was it ten goals in the final quarter. we stopped looking like we knew how to win and knew how to use the ball or even to get it. we would have been out of the game at three quarter time if we hadnt been kicking with the breeze and each port player missed from 40 metres out having marked inside fifty.

it was a bad game all round. stop bagging the weaker players.

Perfect summation of the game in my opinion. I am not one to bag Longmire but he was as much to blame as the (very weak) players. Hinkley coached his side brilliantly and after quarter time had all the answers and it appeared to me after punishing myself and watching it twice, that Longmire was of the "she'll be right" mind set and just assumed we would wear them down.

[ugg]

Goodes out of this game. "hopefully" one week.

[The Big Cat]

Goodes out of this game. "hopefully" one week.

Credible source?

[ernie koala]

Ugg generally gets it right.....he's a credible source himself!

[ugg]

Twitter / sydneyswans: John Longmire says Adam Goodes ...

[Ludwig]

We might as well give Adam the next 3 weeks off. No need to play him against the Dees and Giants.

We are a bit lucky that our injury list is slightly balanced out vs Carton due to the loss of Marc Murphy. It will be the 2nd week in a row that we play against a team without their captain, hopefully not with the same result.

[Chookbilly]

Assuming Reid & Jetta still not right.

In - Everitt (Membrey if Everitt not fit)

Out - Goodes

Lamb to get a full gig, & Armstrong as the sub.
White survives only due to the lack of Mummy/LRT, and Tippett still requiring match fitness.
If Armstrong gets the chop, would like to see Towers while Shaw is still out.

[GordonS]

longmire said reid and jetta WILL NOT play and everitt MIGHT come back. this was right at the end of the press conference. looks like a new kid will get an opportunity this week

[Ludwig]

Funny what a big inclusion Dre would be. Who would have thought?