Game Day GWS vs Swans Rd 1

[O'Reilly Boy]

We were crazy not to play a second ruck?and RLT was so underdone as not to count. With the number of stoppages, particularly in the wet, we were always going to suffer. We could have sacrificed one mid to have Derickz in there just to put some hard body on Mumford while Pyke rested. The rain was a huge factor (which is annoying enough . . . it would be nice to think that they could deal with the wet), but when we started getting smashed in the clearances as Pyke got worked over the worm turned. Had we taken chances in the third quarter it would have been very different. No panic stations yet. But please, Horse, make sure that we have ruck options.

[The Big Cat]

RLT was so underdone as not to count.

LRT would have been a better option!

[Ludwig]

Our Coach is on the case

Longmire ironing out a few problems in the game plan:


Horse ironing out problems.png

[Meg]

Ludwig that is hilarious! And probably exactly what Longmire wants to do to the players. I assume it is from "An Early Autumn's Night Nightmare" by the well known playwright William Shakedownthethunder?

[Matt80]

Longmire ironing out a few problems in the game plan:


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Does anybody know what sort of dressing down that Longmire gave the players after the GWS game? I would much rather see that than Dermot and Jason's Grand Final Recall!

[Wardy]

It's only Round 1 - FFS - we have lost the unloseable on many occasions - Buddy was well held and the feed too him was rubbish - also this a bloke who has a weight of the world on his shoulders - he'd have been nervous like any normal human being would be. GWS were hungrier - we just turned up expecting the 4 points without putting in the effort - simple - so all of you calm down - the panic button should only be hit if it gets to round 5-6 and the situation hasn't changed.

[mcs]

Ever since Sydney stopped playing slingshot footy they have struggled. In 2012 the Swans dominated by free-flowing quick transition football with the mids kicking the majority of goals. Bombing to key-forwards over and over again has absolutely trashed Sydney's win/loss ratio because it is so easy to predict and defend against.

Now that we have Shaw, Jetta and Rohan all fit and healthy in the seniors, Longmire should be looking to bring back the "trademark" slingshot footy, with perhaps Buddy and/or Tippett/Reid leading up the ground emptying the forward 50 for the remaining forward to have a one-on-one contest or even watch the ball sail overhead for a goal kicked by one of the quality mid-fielders.

The Swans certainly have the run out of defense, depth of talent in the mid-field and the pace to do this. Having powerful forwards is always an asset, but they shouldn't be hit up every time.
Thoughts?

I know injuries played their part last year, but why did we stop playing slingshot footy in the first place? We still have the legs and players available to do it. It might be more risky, but compared with the bomb it long and hope rubbish we employed on Saturday, its a damn better chance of winning football games.

[Industrial Fan]

I still dont think this has sunk in. We lost to GWS on the weekend. I realise the hyperbole with saying the sky is falling, but as a team with aspirations of a flag this year - this is not a good start, and with no other footy played it cant be written off as an abberation either.

The slingshot footy stopped when Tippet played against Port. We were indestructable the week earlier against Adelaide, and thereafter looked tired in 2013. We look tired from round 1 this year. How can that be?

[Meg]

The slingshot footy stopped when Tippet played against Port. We were indestructable the week earlier against Adelaide, and thereafter looked tired in 2013. We look tired from round 1 this year. How can that be?

Yes the match against Port Adelaide killed slingshot footy for us because it was clear in that match that other teams' coaches had worked out our plan and countered it. Hinkley always left a defender parked at the back. We kept slinging the ball over the top and the Port defender was always first to the ball to bring it back. One of the reasons we lost that match.

[Matt80]

I watched the GC v. Richmond game and the GC midfield is really impressive. They are so slick the way they move the ball. It's like the oft mentioned Adelaide game last year where our midfield was so dominant. I think we have to get back to that level to compete effectively this year.

The Giants' midfield are probably less skillful than GC, but more tenacious, which should hold them in good stead. Jeremy Cameron is like a young Buddy Franklin and Patton is also very agile for his size, with Boyd yet to come. I think the Giants are for real.

I am sure the team expects to lift their game, because it is pretty obvious that if they don't, the Swans are just going to be an also ran this year.

Eddie Maquire on Fox Football last night was making editorial comments about the GWS and the GC Suns!

- he predicted that both those clubs would dominate the competition for the next 10 years.
- that the clubs have been stockpiling high draft picks instead of having a range of medium and older age players, which the concessions were suppose to promote via trades!
- he described both clubs as being experiments who were about to unleash their dangerous experiments out of the lab!
- that these clubs would make the Champion Brisbane Lions team of 2001 - 2003 look pedestrian!

Eddie has won the Sydney COLA argument, and now he targeting the expansion teams and the concessions they were given!

[Melbournehammer]

two things have happened. Meg has one of them. So our slingshot has been gone because teams are awake to it. But this was obvious at the mcg when we played lowly melbourne last year. They stationed their last man behind the forwards and we still struggled to beat them.

The antidote to the opposition playing their last man behind the contest at is the way the hawks play. If the spare man is actually behind the last forward then the space has to be in front of the forward. Hit the player on the lead. but to do this you need some control on or around the ball and the skills to consistently execute. We are failing this because

1. teddy and grundy are not marking the ball as much. This is because
a. rampe is not as good as mattner was at playing third man up
b. we have played a lot more games in slippery conditions making marking difficult;
c. our midfield is getting beaten and the ball is being stuck in our defensive half which makes it a midfielders contest not a backs v forwards contest.

2. our midfielders are getting beaten on the ball (clearances from stoppages and ballups in the second half on the weekend were 21-4 according to longmire's press conference). This is because:
a. our rucks have been consistently down - pyke is a good but not great contested mark, but is an ordinary ruckman at anything other than laying the ball down immediately under his feet - and every team is now sweating on that;
b. absent goodes, kennedy is our only truly good inside midfielder, and mummy was much better at ground level than pyke or lrt. rok can also do it but he just puts the ball onto his left foot in a kick and hope manner which is not exactly winning the ball and moving it into space;
c. maybe have got a bit ahead of ourself and have lots of players on the outside waiting for someone else to get it to them

3. Our game plan relies on chains of handpasses freeing mal, or rhyce or macca or marty m or tadgh getting the ball in space to hit a target on the way out. Currently we have 15 guys in the 50 and three a kick away surrounded by 5 opponents. if we cant get it in space with the right player we kick it to the wing and hope to force a new contest (which we are losing 21-4) and because we are getting it under too much pressure and kicking it to the wing we are not hitting one of our three. we currentyl are unable to lock it in successfully and this is even more so in the wet where the ball seems to squirt around for minutes until the superior numbers come to the fore.


so slingshot is in trouble which means that we have to rely on our skills to get the ball out of defence and zig zag down the field. and if we cant we need to start winning contested ball or rucking contests.

when you look at that strategy and the players at our disposal i begin to think that - unless horse changes things significantly - we would have been better investing money into an andrew walker and mitch wallis and a ben mcevoy than into a forward who may yet kick us 50 goals a season for the next 6 seasons.

anyway i have spent far too long thinking about this.

[ernie koala]

Eddie has won the Sydney COLA argument, and now he targeting the expansion teams and the concessions they were given!

He was on the committee that designed these concessions...

So really all he is saying is..."Aren't I an idiot for agreeing to such ridiculously over generous concessions ....And the answer to that is a resounding...YES!

[AnnieH]

Yep, I could put up with the fact that the Giants stayed in touch on the scoreboard when we were expecting to gradually break away. I could cope with the fact that our midfield was poor and our finishing poorer. I could even have put up with a narrow loss in a see-sawing final term. The utter capitulation in that final term was down right embarrassing, though. Where were the leaders willing to stand up and wrest a modicum of control, or even just competitiveness.

I confess I did what I have never done before in nearly 20 years of watching the Swans and left before the final siren.

Sometimes my friend, you've just got to walk out on them.
It's hard to do, but I really didn't want to hear them fumble through the words of a song they don't know.

[Plugger1300]

Got to laugh at the supporters that are already saying we can't make the finals. Laughable.
Have you been Swans supporters for long?
We will make the finals without a doubt. The real issue will be whether losses like this will affect the chances of top two.

Calm down and get some perspective

[cartman48]

The umpires treatment of Buddy reminds me of Barry Hall

Buddy's kicking reminds me of Barry Round

Now Buddy is hard done by - he's been hard done by for 8 years so get used to it.... GO GIANTS!!!!