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I would have ROK ahead of Bird. Both are slow, but ROK finds more of the ball and has better consistency.
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I would agree with you Captain! ROK is a better all-round player than Bird! At the similar point in their careers ROK was a star half forward flanker!
I suspect that Bird is one of those guys that is a favourite with the coaches. Bird is a definite favourite with this forum!Comment
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Bird may be slow but he has excellent evasion skills, reasonable disposal, and he's a very good tagger who also gets plenty of his own touches.
ROK is an excellent tackler as an inside midfielder.. But when in possession, he pretty much just throws the pill on his boot and kicks blind over his shoulder.
He's a good overhead mark, or at least he used to be...He rarely gets the opportunity, for one on one marking, in the forward line these days.
I'd like to see him revert more to a defensive forward pocket role, though maybe his lack of pace would be a problem.Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it's time to pause and reflect... MTComment
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TOP TEN IN 2013 BOB SKILTON MEDAL
Jarrad McVeigh 807
Kieren Jack 769
Josh Kennedy 650
Dan Hannebery 634
Ryan O?Keefe 625
Luke Parker 542
Ted Richards 483
Craig Bird 479
Nick Smith 453
Nick Malceski 443
So the coaches agree with you - but that was their order in the Top 10 last year. This year ROK wasn't in the starting 22 but Bird was. And presumably still ahead of Smith and Mal.Comment
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We seem to be having a messy start to the season. Goodes and KT still not right, LRT, Pyke, Shaw, Rohan and Jetts still getting back to match fitness, possibly Mitchell and Buddy too but all playing. We may be in for a few more unpleasant shocks before the team is up and running anywhere near its best. We look to be about a quarter of a season behind the teams that are flying right now but we will get there - eventually, one hopes.
I'm a sentimentalist. I think that ROK has to be allowed to get his 300 games up - another 12 games, I think. He deserves to be up there with Goodesy and Jude (as well as M O'L). As J McV is the only other player who has a possibility of reaching the 300 milestone until potentially Hanners, if he hangs around, it is a very rare achievement and ROK is so close. Even if he is past his best I am sure he can contribute as much as Jude did last year. It is just unfortunate that we are having to play a few others who are down on form, who are part of our future.
This week if LRT is out we have to play a second ruck, so that is not going to free up a spot. If Kieran comes back I would put ROK in and consider leaving out Laidler, Shaw or Rampe depending on matchups - we did manage without Shaw and Laidler last year! McV can always drop back and LRT/Derickx/? can back up there too. Apart from rotating 4 or 5 players through 21 and 22 each week, my only other suggestion is to make ROK a sort of permanent sub if he is being squeezed out in order to give up-and-coming youngsters a game.
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What I sort of don't get with ROK is, if he is not good enough to play in midfield, why not stick him in a forward pocket like they did with Jude? He still can take a decent mark, and is a reasonable shot at goal. He has been, for most of his career, a far more accomplished mark of the ball, and a better kick for goal than Jude (although Jude in this sense definitely got better with age!)
Am I missing something with my analysis here? Arguably, he may not be in the top 22, but he would do a job up there in my opinion, and if you put him in a forward pocket, he is hardly going to get exploited for lack of pace (at least not in a damaging way). If I was an opposition coach, I would see him as a difficult match up, as he is also good when the ball is at ground level.
I really hope he makes it to 300 games - woudl be a crowning achievement for a glittering career. There aren't many other swans that can say they are dual premiership winners and norm smith medal winners and 300 gamers!"You get the feeling that like Monty Python's Black Knight, the Swans would regard amputation as merely a flesh wound."Comment
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ROK is our Chapman, give him a bit of time he will come goodComment
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Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it's time to pause and reflect... MTComment
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Perhaps he's not willing to play up in the pocket?-Comment
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It's not so much what position he plays, it's that we would have to drop someone like Cunningham to play him. With KJ back, Cunningham is likely to be the sub. So if Ryan comes in, then we would have to drop Cunningham and make someone, Bird perhaps, the sub. I think is the selection dilemma.Comment
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Surely JL can tell him that he will play where he wants him to play!
I can see where Ludwig is coming from with his analysis, and there is most definitely a selection dilemma there and I don't think an easy answer. Swans might try and target it so that ROK gets his games to make it to 300 across the season - I have no doubt he will still get there, unless he is out of the team for an extended period (which given our recent injury woes, seems unlikely!)"You get the feeling that like Monty Python's Black Knight, the Swans would regard amputation as merely a flesh wound."Comment
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ROK has been a workhorse and a tackling machine over the past few years. But guys like Mitchell, Parker and Bird, also good tackling inside players, are pushing Ryan out. The suggestion of him playing the 'Jude' forward pocket role is a good one, but the forward line is getting crowded as well. I'm sure he could go back to his previous role of running up and down the wing and do a good job, but other players may be preferable at this time. I would imagine Horse would like to give Towers a go on the wing; at 24 yo in May, it's time for him to show what he's got at senior level.Comment
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Workhorse @okeeferyan raising the intensity at boxing today #GoSwans #Boxing #SydneySwans pic.twitter.com/cR9HbHUct4
— Christian M (@TeamChristianM) March 24, 2014
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