Sydney v Melbourne

[barry]

Melbourne are a better team under Craig than they were under Neild. So the score reflected that.

However the talls experiment failed. Tippet and pike were continually flying for the same marks, spoiling each other.

[hot potato]

The Swans rarely dominate the lower ranked teams, it's just not in their nature !
HP

[DeadlyAkkuret]

Yeah the Hawks are characterised by huge percentage boosters. Heard that last year, too.

[Bloodthirsty]

Swans sung the most uninterested club song I have witnessed. They know.

[Auntie.Gerald]

Melbourne today outscored all but 3 teams that have played us in 2013 - NM, Hawks, and the Cats

given that Lambie and Brandon had to play big minutes and that we lost Sammy early and we have 9 players out of our best 22 then a 6 goal win on the big MCG is not to bad

BUT it aint that great either

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Melbourne today outscored all but 3 teams that have played us in 2013 - NM, Hawks, and the Cats

given that Lambie and Brandon had to play big minutes and that we lost Sammy early and we have 9 players out of our best 22 then a 6 goal win on the big MCG is not to bad

BUT it aint that great either

[Cosmic Wizard]

I think we are all underestimating Melbourne.
For once they had there two best forwards apart from Clark in the side.
They had a go, and we are legendary at being totally awful at the MCG.
If we had play them at the SCG, it would have being a 100 point thrash.
GWS to complete two weeks of training sessions next week

[Auntie.Gerald]

also to be fair our tall forwards / ruckmen resting up on the forward line in the 4th qtr cant be expected to chase their opposing defenders every minute of the last qtr.......Melb HBF Defenders and all their defenders simply flooded forward with nothing to loose and we looked exhausted

[Legs Akimbo]

Was at the game today and a few observations

1. The injury count is really starting to show
2. Tippett is a great mark but his kicking is bad. Could have (should have) kicked six today. When he kicks points and the ball rebounds, it costs us.
3. Pyke and Tippett definitely flew against each other but most of the time it reflected poor forward entry. They need to work out who is going to lead wide to draw the the main and open up the forward line and then it will work better.
4. The whole backline looked half asleep. Reg was pretty bad, but Richards made a few howlers too (albeit made up for them at other times)
5. One of those games where we carried passengers all day and most were down in general. Hannebery has had pretty ordinary last few weeks. Work rate in general was down...
6. There were some tired boys at the end in the last quarter. I think those two games in the wet have taken their toll. They weren't chasing hard and the Dees just looked a lot fresher...

...and yet we won and got 4 points. Next week is a new week.

P.S. - possibly the worst umpiring I have seen. The only redeeming quality of it was that it affected both teams approximately equally.

[Cardinal]

Almost a shrill panic in the air. Every team has games likes this throughout the course of a long season. We got the four points. The coaching panel will go through the game with the players (glad we don't have to). Lessons will be learnt and everyone will move on.

Whatever happens come finals no-one will be referring to this game. Doubt it will get even get a glance from me in the end of season book - I do always go to the exciting bit where we win the premiership first though.

I went to the GWS game this week. The endeavour and effort from the Giants was pretty good. IMHO a few more seasons and I wouldn't be taking anything for granted.

[Swansongster]

Does anybody understand the umpiring in this game? Is the AFL professional? seems like a bush league at present with pathetic commentators on their broadcast partner and equally pathetic umpiring on the field

I agree that the umpiring was shocking but I quite enjoyed the commentary team.

That was not a premiership performance. We really need more uncontested marking and less bombing long on spec.

Not too perturbed though. There was enough there to stay optimistic. Little BJ is certainly staking a claim for first 22. Nice cover for the missing Jetts and Rooster.

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I agree that the umpiring was shocking but I quite enjoyed the commentary team.

That was not a premiership performance. We really need more uncontested marking and less bombing long on spec.

Not too perturbed though. There was enough there to stay optimistic. Little BJ is certainly staking a claim for first 22. Nice cover for the missing Jetts and Rooster.

Paraphrasing:

"Someone should check the deck. There's too many Jacks. Melbourne have four and Sydney have two."

"He's only got pigeons to beat out there"

[Dosser]

Nothing to worry about here. I was at the game and it was obvious from the first quarter that Melbourne were switched on and we werent. I am of the opinion that our boys would have found it pretty difficult to get psyched up for this one and probably wanted more of a canter after the last 2 games. We did enough to win and it was never in doubt.
I agree that the umpiring was diabolical and I was a bit embarrassed from time to time as we got a lot of advantages. I was chatting to some Melbourne supporters who were sitting behind me and none of us could figure out what was going on with some of the (non)decisions.
We will be fine next week and we will gradually build again for the next big game. Keep the faith - our boys are on track.
Oh, and apart from being underwhelmed by the game itself, I confess I was a bit disappointed by Lamb - only because he had been talked up a lot on here. I think he needs another preseason as at one stage he looked to be running through treacle to get to a contest. He was really labouring. I was really looking for some x-factor from him but maybe this just wasnt his day. On the other hand, BJ has got something. Although he wasnt prominent throughout the game, he was in the right spot when it counted. That is instinctive and very difficult to be taught.

[Ruck'n'Roll]

Clearly they didn't take the Dees seriously, I just hope they are sufficiently embarrassed to be out-tackled by the Dees that they snap out of the low intensity footy they played today.

[Swansongster]

With Reid likely to be out for a few more weeks, it is nice to not be so concerned at the prospect of Jesse coming back in.

Hope he has a field day next week against GWS (if selected).

[DK_]

With Reid likely to be out for a few more weeks, it is nice to not be so concerned at the prospect of Jesse coming back in.

Hope he has a field day next week against GWS (if selected).

Agree with this. I'm actually looking forward to him getting another run in the dry. I hope Longmire gives him the gig - he's earned it IMHO. However, it's far from guaranteed going by Longmire's post-match comments.

[AnnieH]

Lucky we got away with that win.
They've got to get rid of that "easybeat" mentality.
We should have beaten them by over 130.

P.e.r.c.e.n.t.a.g.e.

Happy for the four points anyway.

How good was Brandon? That bit where he just picked it up in traffic and snapped (3rd or 4th). Brilliant.