Swans v Saints

[Nich]

One of the main problems was there where no Lamb/Jacks or whoever else you want to throw in either keeping the ball locked in or crumbing it for a goal.

Lets face it - Bolton and less so Shaw are not the two half forwards you want for that job and McGlynn was nowhere to be seen. When you can have Bolton/White/Pyke-Mummy/Tippett/Shaw down the one end of the field, against a quality side you must be making sure you kick a score or regather possession.

The sooner Lamb/Rohan/BJack can get game time the better. There was zero forward defensive pressure last week. And that's where it starts from when you turn it over. Transition was way too quick as our talls and our oldies (said with much love) do not have the speed.

[Ludwig]

Very unlikely to change the White/Tippett/Ruckman forward structure this week as the Saint's are woefully undersized down back.

I just hope I don't see 3 giant Swans forwards all competing for the same pack mark this week, last week was horrible. Our forwards must get better separation, if they clump together it makes it too easy for our opponents defence.

I thought this worked fairly well last week. We kept send the ball in Tippo's direction, and he kept marking the ball and kicking goals. It's normal to keep going to a play that works. Considering how few inside 50s we had, kicking long to Tippo was the only thing that worked. Jude got the ball a few times, but missed a couple of makable shots. The invisible Benny McGlynn did hurt though.

I do agree that we need to keep working on forward separation, and they do get in each other's way at times. Lack of forward pressure was indeed a very big problem last week.

I expect we will do well this week, but it may be hard to take much out of it. The Cats will be the test.

[crackedactor]

changes

Very unlikely to change the White/Tippett/Ruckman forward structure this week as the Saint's are woefully undersized down back.

I just hope I don't see 3 giant Swans forwards all competing for the same pack mark this week, last week was horrible. Our forwards must get better separation, if they clump together it makes it too easy for our opponents defence.

Looked top heavy last week. Mcglynn needs match fitness. OUT should be White and Mitchell (rest)
and ins should be Biggs and Lamb.

[mcs]

I don't know about anyone else, but right now I couldn't care less about the future - we have a 2013 flag to win. It's not every year you hook up a top 4 spot. It's not a run-through for future years.

Spot on. Its not often you are in with a realistic chance of winning the flag, even less so that you are defending premiers to boot. We have a flag to try and win, and whether its a gimme game or not on the weekend, we need to be trying to get in players that will play a part in trying to go back to back in the finals, not just looking to the 'future' and blooding young players. I don't know enough about Biggs or Towers to know how they are travelling, but its a pretty long bow to expect them to have a meaningful part to play in the finals (unless injuries hit further). Unless there are obvious players with niggles or in need of a good rest this week, I wouldn't be just blooding players for the sake of it.

[On-Baller]

Rohan,Lamb,Cunningham named on extended bench,no outs as yet.

Rohan will be sub if chosen and i suspect Mitchell and BJ may be rested.


Leigh Matthews on 3aw just now made the interesting point that we have 12 players who have played every game,hawks and cats have 4 each.He pondered whether he would of rested more this week in particular some key defenders,obviously you cant rest all of them at once though.Of course injuries have meant we couldnt list manage as much as we would like to.Matthews thinks we should have rested as many as possible this week.

So what do you all think is having that many play every game until now a good thing ie stability and cohesion or could it bite us in the arse coming into the finals?

[DK_]

Rohan,Lamb,Cunningham named on extended bench,not outs as yet.

Rohan will be sub if chosen and i suspect Mitchell and BJ may be rested.

My money's on BJ for Rohan, Rohan sub.

[mcs]

If Rohan is fit, then I'd say he will be sub, with maybe Lamb to come in for Mitchell or someone that they think needs a rest.

So excited that the Rohan might be back - he could really be our x-factor come finals time. I wonder also whether him coming back so quickly (most expected we would not see him till next year) suggests that there is little chance of seeing Jetta back this year. As there is no doubt we need someone with pace in our starting 18 come the finals.

- - - Updated - - -

Rohan,Lamb,Cunningham named on extended bench,no outs as yet.

Rohan will be sub if chosen and i suspect Mitchell and BJ may be rested.


Leigh Matthews on 3aw just now made the interesting point that we have 12 players who have played every game,hawks and cats have 4 each.He pondered whether he would of rested more this week in particular some key defenders,obviously you cant rest all of them at once though.Of course injuries have meant we couldnt list manage as much as we would like to.Matthews thinks we should have rested as many as possible this week.

So what do you all think is having that many play every game until now a good thing ie stability and cohesion or could it bite us in the arse coming into the finals?

The difference is we don't have the depth at the moment to rest key players, as the injuries have been in key positions. Its not like we could just drop out Ted or Grundy and have a ready made replacement, or indeed any of the key forwards.

I know the Saints are a weak team, but resting a whole heap would of been a show of disrespect, and you never might know what would happen should you play too risky a team. One thing we must do is win on Sunday, that is non-negotiable.

[aardvark]

Three awesome ins. I hope they all play.

[Nich]

Has to be Gaz as Sub. Surely! Even the club seems to be talking it up a little, plus Horse at the start of the week spoke at length.

Besides that the boys were talking on twitter about Gaz potentially getting a new haircut. All in preparation I say for a return to Seniors this weekend! Absolutely pumped and I hope it is up in Sydney this Sunday that we see him, selfishly. I really want to hear the crowd when he runs on. Fingers crossed!

[On-Baller]

The difference is we don't have the depth at the moment to rest key players, as the injuries have been in key positions. Its not like we could just drop out Ted or Grundy and have a ready made replacement, or indeed any of the key forwards.

I know the Saints are a weak team, but resting a whole heap would of been a show of disrespect, and you never might know what would happen should you play too risky a team. One thing we must do is win on Sunday, that is non-negotiable.

Yeah your absolutely right injuries have crueled us but you still have to wonder if its a good thing or not come finals time,i think we maybe could rest one of Reg or Ted and got Rampe or Incy too play in a key position,but your right about treating the saints lightly it could really derial us.Doubt itll happen but im sure Horse and co have spent alot of time pondering who to rest.

[ShockOfHair]

Great to see Rohan getting a chance. Most likely the sub. If all he goes well and gets a full game against the Cats at Simmonds (yeah!) where does he play? Rotating through half-back and half-forward?

Of the other injured players the tricky one is Reid. He may be playing for the twos this week. Hope so. Need him to get some touch and confidence back before he plays As.

[Ludwig]

The 8 day break probably obviates the need to rest players, although I am sure after last week's performance the workload will be monitored closely. Assuming they play, I would like to see Jude, Benny and Lamb take more of the midfield load this week, and lighten up on ROK, KJ and JPK, trying to keep them fresher for the 6 day break leading into the Geelong game. Hard to predict the final changes.

I would have liked to see: OUT: Hanners' haircut (omitted). Hoping for a late change.

[ugg]

There is going to be some interesting discussion here tomorrow afternoon. And no it's not what everyone's thinking

[Jewels]

Yeah your absolutely right injuries have crueled us but you still have to wonder if its a good thing or not come finals time,i think we maybe could rest one of Reg or Ted and got Rampe or Incy too play in a key position,but your right about treating the saints lightly it could really derial us.Doubt itll happen but im sure Horse and co have spent alot of time pondering who to rest.

We never felt the need to rest players last year when faced with a similar draw and that worked out all right!

[Ludwig]

There is going to be some interesting discussion here tomorrow afternoon. And no it's not what everyone's thinking