Swans vs. Magpies

[mcs]

Sure we were beaten by a fierce tackling side tonight, but what if the free was paid to Teddy in first qrt for a blatant push by Cloke, the momentum changed then and they slowly got on top. That free was not the only one that went against us but that baldy ump was poor and has always umpired against the Swans.

The umps I thought were inconsistent all night but clearly were not the reason we lost. However, a run of very ordinary decisions (and non calls when frees were there but not paid) in the 1st quarter really helped them get back the momentum after our excellent start. On another night, we might have kicked 7 or 8 goals to 1 or 2 in that first quarter and it might have been a very different game.

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But we still finished top 4 last year, if we don't win 2 of the last 3 we will not finish top 4.

Thats the crux of the matter. If we dont finish top 4, then without a hurculean effort and everything falling our way, we simply cant win the flag. That last quarter fade out against freo may really come back to bite us.

Im confident we will knock off one of geelong or hawthorn, but it would be no suprise if we dropped both either.

[liz]

Glad its not only me then - im giving myself a self imposed ban from watching them play Collingwood unless im at the ground!

Really disappointing performance, really flat, especially in midfield.

One thing became crystal clear last night - we cant win the flag without the individual h brilliance of goodes and the midfield leg speed provided by jetta (or perhaps if he is not fit rohan).

Compared to the mcg game earlier in the year, it was like chalk and cheese!

I think there were a few very sore bodies in the midfield tonight. Jack was heavily tagged, and Hanners and JPK looked sore right from the start. They're our "big three" in the middle, and the likes of Parker and Mitchell aren't yet good enough to pick up the slack when these three are struggling to find the ball. The style of football our lads play is pretty taxing, but the midfield has had to work overtime this year with so many of the x-factor players missing. We need to wait and see whether the coaches can freshen the midfield up enough for us to be a force in September.

On the positive side, Ted was fantastic in game 200. I know Cloke might have finished up with 5 or so goals, had his conversion not been so comical, but that takes nothing away from Ted's performance. With the amount of ball travelling into the Pies' forward line with relative ease, it could have been much much worse without Ted's sterling efforts. In fact, most of the defence was quite good, defensively. They just struggled to find a way to get the ball out of there.

At the other end, Tippett has been a revelation. The team still needs to find a balance in the way they use him - ie not kick it to him quite so predictably. But we couldn't have asked any more of him yesterday. His conversion for the last two weeks has been excellent too.

Finally, need to give credit to the Pies. They definitely brought their A game. It will be interesting to see how long they can keep it up for. I think it is incredibly hard for any side to maintain that kind of pressure for a long string of games - the losses to Geelong and Hawthorn last week and ours this week show that. Can they keep it up right through to the end of September?

[annew]

We are still third and I am not confident we can win 2 of the last 3 but our fate to finish top 4 is in our hands. I have done the ladder predictor so many times and I keep coming up with us out of the top 4 and Richmond or Collngwood in.

[bloodbrother]

bloods

We are still third and I am not confident we can win 2 of the last 3 but our fate to finish top 4 is in our hands. I have done the ladder predictor so many times and I keep coming up with us out of the top 4 and Richmond or Collngwood in.

there seems to be a lot of panic about our top 4 prospects , we will win at least 2 of our last 3 matches.st Kilda is a no brainer , we are definitely a chance against the cats if we bring our A game and I like us against the hawks at anz ..swans are a finals team so don't lose faith ..we will hold top 4 ,play either cats or hawks at mcg then straight through to the prelim..every team has a shocker every now and then ,last night was our turn...goodes to come in rd 23 , rohan against st kilda

[top40]

We will not finish top 4 as I do not believe we will beat either of Hawthorn or Geelong. I have done the ladder predictor several times and Richmond could easily finish 4th.

Long before the start of this Collingwood disaster I was fully aware of this assessment. The issue however ties in with a 'reality check' that if this assessment is correct, the Swans therefore are simply not good enough to go back to back in 2013. If under the pressure of making the Top 4 we can't beat both Geelong AND Hawthorn, (and at a ground which the Hawks have played just once, and then over four years ago), how can we possibly ultimately win the flag?

I pose this question to old time Swan supporters. Is 2013 a rerun of Seasons 1987 and 1997, when Sydney were flying high around Round 18 or 19, but fell apart in the last 6 weeks or so?

In 1987 the Swans at Round18 were on top of the ladder, with just four losses for the year, and three recent games in a row where their lowest winning final score was 198 points. They went on to lose all but one of their last 6 games, including a 99 point lost to Hawthorn in the Qualifying Final.

In 1997 Sydney were at Round 18 in third place, having won 7 of their past 8 games. They then collapsed, and ultimately won only one of their last five games.

[annew]

On another note, the swans have or will play at 9 different grounds, the pies play at the MCG 17 times and Etihad twice, never mind the COLA that is a huge advantage. All 3 remaining games for the pies are at the MCG we pl 3 different venues. We should be at the SCG for all home games.

[Bloodthirsty]

This is just what I think, Shoot it down if you like but this is what I feel would help us get our balance right:

- Replace MGlynn with Mitch Morton (once he's rested his knee). Forget about the fact that he's not playing next year (ironically probably cos he can't get a game). We need his spark, smarts and forward pressure. **** politics, pecking orders and future planning. We need our best, most talented and in-form team on the field right now no matter what.

- Bring in Gary Rohan. Right now. Drop BJ. I am not understanding the concept of outside run in big matches when it is provided by a rookie with poor decision making, nerves and a lot to learn. Now is the time to bring back a proven pace player. If Jetta can't make it back in time, then Rohan is the man.

- If there is a choice between Jed Lamb and BJ, play Lamb.

- Play White in the forward arc, as a leading forward, where he will add 3-4 goals with a good game - or simply don't play him at all. If Ross Lyon and other see the force he would bring as a leading forward, then why do we insist on playing him everywhere else? Make a decision - either go for a dominant Tippett/White combination who's sole purpose is to stack on the goals big-time, or forget about it and go small, and mindlessly bomb to Tippett and rely on his huge talent to grab enough of them.

- If there are people that think we're too top-heavy, I don't see how cutting White and bringing in Goodes is going to solve that. I think that the above structural considerations, along with more in-form goal sneaks is the better solution.

Horsie, get it done.

[Jewels]

Let's not forget last year we lost to Hawks, Cats & Pies in the last 4 weeks of the season, and that was with our best side on the park, with the exception of McGlynn. The only win we had was against the bulldogs.

Totally agree Alan.
Last night was disappointing but by no means the end of the world and I think we are one team that could actually win the whole shebang from 5th or 6th. Call me naive or blindly loyal or whatever, but there is not a ground in this league we are scared of so we get a home semi to start and from there on everyone is on level terms.
Keep the faith - they are worth it!

[DK_]

Very disappointing game.

The positives:

1. Any doubts about our back 6 should be dispelled. Without Ted, Reg and Rampe, we would have been thrashed last night.
2. Tippett is worth every cent we paid. I'm not sure if he was the only option left to us, or we're become dependent Hawthorn-Buddy style, or 2008 Swans-Bazza style, but he is on fire.
3. Though he didn't always finish off perfectly, Jesse used his size well on a few occasions to bust through packs and create opportunities. If he regains his accuracy in front of goal, he could be an X-factor come finals time.
4. BJ was a revelation when he came on. He added some life where we had none. With our lack of speed, I wonder whether we'll see him in the starting lineup next week?

The worries:

1. Collingwood looked unnervingly like the Bulldogs last week, but with a bit more class. Whenever a ball fell out of a pack, there were two Pies there and no Swans. Longmire and friends need to come up with a counter-strategy that works or the Bulldog's contribution to the finals will be showing everyone else how to beat us.
2. Our midfield got smashed. Enough's been said already, but what was with all those intercepted hand-passes? Why didn't the ball ever come our way out of contests?
3. We had no run off half-back. However, Shaw looked lively last night. Perhaps it's time for him to move down back again?

The questions:

1. Is Hannebery injured? That would be a disaster.
2. I've heard somewhere that the top 4 teams do a mini-preseason at this time of year to prepare for finals. Could this be why our team looked tired and slow last night? Or why we lost three of the last four last season? Is that why Geelong and Hawthorn dropped games that they were expected to win?
3. How far away is Rohan? He would have to be looking very tempting to Longmire right now.
4. Did McGlynn do enough to keep Lamb out of the team? On the face of it, I'd say no, but I'm sure Longmire has a strategy.
5. Are these high-pressure games the perfect preparation for the finals or are they exposing weaknesses in our team? If we don't get our senior personnel back, then I'd say they're critical for bringing our youngsters up to standard.

[jono2707]

I hope you are right but there is no way we will beat Geelong and hawthorn we are exhausted.

I hear John Longmire is holding a press conference today to announce that we are forfeiting those games as the boys are a bit tired and there is no way we will win them anyway, so why bother.

[liz]

Yesterday was the first time I have watched the reserves live since Gary made his comeback game. While he showed signs that he's still a very exciting footballer, I would be surprised to see him back playing senior football this year. He made an impact in bursts but couldn't sustain the effort at NEAFL level, which is several steps down in intensity. It might make sense to let Gary think he has a chance this year but I would be surprised. Give him a pre-season to get miles into his legs and then unleash him (plus a recovered Jetta and a wiser, stronger BJ, and a Goodes) on the competition next year.

[Jewels]

I hear John Longmire is holding a press conference today to announce that we are forfeiting those games as the boys are a bit tired and there is no way we will win them anyway, so why bother.

Haha, if he was reading this site Jono he probably would!

[Snake]

Last nights game was lost at the selection table, Shaw and McGlynn are underdone and they where exposed last night, thrown in Everitt who was average at best against the doggies, and remove Lamb who has helped carry the team for the last 6weeks. Why Rohan isnt the sub over Brandon Jack really surprises me.....

Oh well there is always next week

[gazza]

i agree with DK,the midfield particularly looked tired and slow,a week at coogee beach might be good for them.everitt went backwards and grundy has no confidence just handballs to the nearest teammate and mcglynn was way off.lamb and cunningham would be better contributors,briggs must be close to earning a game and surely rohan must return.
recruiting masterstroke was tippett,what a star

[Bloodthirsty]

I agree that selection was where the problems started.

I also agree that it's not the end of the world - and in fact could be a very good thing to analyse, learn and strengthen any weaknesses - IF we still make top 4. If we don't make top 4 now, well, it kinda is likely to be the end of the football world for us in 2013.