NAB Challenge: Swans v Giants.

[Ludwig]

There have been several indications that Longmire recognises that we have to have more midfield rotations and perhaps even resting some players. JPK played a large part of the last game outside the midfield. Mitchell and Parker did most of the inside work IIRC. Cunningham was at a number of stoppages and Lloyd was played most of the game lining up on wing at the centre square. So it looks as if some changes are in the cards. Also, many coaches are talking about following the Freo and Geelong lead on resting players.

All that said, Robbo has always been a bit of a joke. No journo wants to see him lose his job for fear of taking his spot at the bottom of the heap. Sam Newman, on the other hand, has been very clever playing the fool. As noted, it's made him a real personality over a long period of time and quite rich.

[Mr Magoo]

You work with what hand your dealt though. I think Longmire would have liked to have rested midfielders given the opportunity but the reality is that last year we were so decimated by injury that resting fit players was probably not an option.

In any respect , other than Hawthorn and the startups I dont know who else had a rotation policy in place last year. Geelong has done it in previous years but their depth was tested at times last year.

Having seen our midfield depth this year if we are not decimated by injuries you may find that some mids are rested occassionally.

[Bloods05]

They were ok except Robbo. He basically stopped short of calling Longmuire an over rated coach with a bad gameplan. He said horse is not elite even though he was reminded he won a flag recently which robbo was very quick to remind him the hawks are premiers and that the hawks lost the 2012 GF.

How the hell does "Robbo" even have a job in the media let alone a tv gig is beyond me. But then again Sam Newman was turned into a multi millionaire in melbourne through acting like a misogynist dickhead and well they do worship Eddie McGuire down there.

Robbo, Newman and Eddie are popular in Melbourne because they tell the ignorant what they want to hear and reinforce their prejudices. As such they can be viewed as a slightly more benign version of the Alan Jones/Ray Hadley phenomenon in Sydney.

[Plugger46]

It was a poor usage of words by Robbo, perhaps done on purpose to incite some reaction from the other members of the panel. But I think his point is quite valid, whilst other clubs had some sort of rotation policy going on, particularly with their midfielders, the Swans had many onballers who played 100% of the games and they seemed burned out by the end of the year compared to the midway point of the season where ironically, the media were purring about our 2-way midfield.

Robbo, I believe, was trying to say that Longmire will need to change his strategy and rest his key midfielders at times.

I suspect that would have been done if we hadn't had so many injuries in other areas of the ground.

[DLBIA14]

I suspect that would have been done if we hadn't had so many injuries in other areas of the ground.

Dead right. I have no doubt that it was the midfield that carried our team last year, and with the extent of our injuries, strategic rotations were a luxury we could not afford.

Longmire's not above criticism for what happened in 2013, but I don't think we can blame him too much for this particular issue. Forward entries and kick-outs on the other hand...

[Auntie.Gerald]

i think it is also remarkable how light your legs feel when you are winning effortlessly and how heavy your legs feel when you have to fight to win by a goal or loose by a goal

over a season.....it certainly takes its toll having to heavy contested finals style football every week to be competitive

conversely when you can use the slingshot and use the corridor post ups counter attack style of football a little more it means that your midfield that was down one end of the ground fighting for the ball doesnt have to run back to your forward line to a contested pack to hold field position again.

that couple of kms less running a game, that few less tackles or being tackled per game just leaves you fresh in comparison to the opposite week in week out

[Matt80]

[QUOTE=Ludwig;633430]There have been several indications that Longmire recognises that we have to have more midfield rotations and perhaps even resting some players. JPK played a large part of the last game outside the midfield. Mitchell and Parker did most of the inside work IIRC. Cunningham was at a number of stoppages and Lloyd was played most of the game lining up on wing at the centre square. So it looks as if some changes are in the cards. Also, many coaches are talking about following the Freo and Geelong lead on resting players.

Love your point on the Midfield and it's workload! I've been advocating on Red and White for the sub rule to be used to rest the hardest working midfielders, instead of using it on an quick player!

The hardest working midfielders are Kennedy, K. Jack, Hananbery, Mcviegh and ROK. These guys should rotate as Subs, meaning they get a rest every 5 weeks where they only play one quarter of football!

In games against top teams like Geelong, Freemantle, Hawthorn and Port and Collingwood you play those 5, but against middle of the road teams and lower teams you rotate them into the sub role!

[ScottH]

Bugger.
Just realised I still hae 60 days left on my AFL mobile subscription and could have watched the game last week.

[swanwolf]

Thanks heaps Swanwolf for posting access to the replay of Thursday's game. I too found access to the replay on afl.com blocked and not being able find any other source was feeling quite deprived!! All is now well - so thanks again.

You're welcome! Smart Replay? Dumb Replay more like. Brickbats to you AFL.com.au.

As to the game, His Excellency Ted Richards made the possibility of losing quite remote so excellent was he in his excellence. Overall though, still some work to be done before the real stuff begins. I think we relied too heavily on wooden spooner turnovers and that just ain't gonna happen so much against another top 4 side... unless McGlynn kills one of their players - and the sub. It could happen?

Next match marks the long awaited return of The God of Thunder, also known to mere mortals as LRT. Ha! No chance Wet Toast.

[Auntie.Gerald]

one interesting other change that I have noticed creep into the last half of 2013 is that we are looking more and more comfortable playing larger minutes in our defensive arc and in the past we generally tried to pin down teams in their 50m defensive arc

it was a pleasure to watch a slight change to exiting our defensive arc strategies against GWS.........i havent seen us play that direct, not thru hands but thru a sharp med length kick to a small med attacker who posted up - Towers, Garry, Cunningham and also Reid

i think this is a very important structure to get right against teams like Freeo etc who will do anything to pin you in your defensive arc.........in the past most teams simply try to kick long down the sides and coaches like Ross Lyons team their teams so brilliantly to pick this off.........and return the ball back in.

Towers, Cunningham, Rohan, Jetta etc floating into our forward line will become very difficult matchups in the middle of the field on a counter attack