Our game plan

[bloodsbigot]

Where was our slingshot footy, by the way?

It seems to have vanished.

[Melbournehammer]

Our slingshot is gone because everyone sits on it and don't let us out the back.

More broadly I am thinking we are in big trouble. Our form against the better sides was poor from port Adelaide onwards was poor last year. What was our record against Geelong, hawthorn and freo last season ?

We were a side which should have finished 5-8 and fourth flattered us (and yes injuries blah blah blah). I see no evidence from this pre-season of improvement. I will reserve judgment until I see Reid, buddy and Tippett together on a dry track but I am thinking that our midfield could actually be in trouble and against the norths, dogs, port etc we could just get pounded over and over.

Not much use if you can't get it up there

[Panttz]

Slingshot football only works well if the other team plays a heavy press. We definitely need to find a new gameplan because from the first few games we have seen it just isnt working. Everyone and their dog knows to stay 5m goalside of Jetta and Rohan. I think the boys are just waiting for it to all click into place and things to just happen.

[Meg]

Slingshot football only works well if the other team plays a heavy press. We definitely need to find a new gameplan because from the first few games we have seen it just isnt working. Everyone and their dog knows to stay 5m goalside of Jetta and Rohan. I think the boys are just waiting for it to all click into place and things to just happen.

Agree with this. It is one of the reasons we lost to Port Adelaide last year. Hinkley had done his homework on our game plan and always had a defender parked out the back. We kept on slinging the ball over the top and the defender kept on gathering it and bringing it straight back. That game plan won't work for us now.

[Ludwig]

+1

I think we should play Jetta forward along with Rohan leading into space. I think Cunningham is now a better option behind the ball. He's got the speed, but also is more willing to mix it up in close than Jetta is.

Jetta also needs to use his pace to become a better tackler. It would be great have both Rohan and Jetta putting pressure on the kick out of defence.

[Matt80]

Our round 2 game is likely to be The Battle for The Wooden Spoon. The loser has a good chance of being in 18th place.

You are getting carried away Ludwig! The game plan looked great in the first quarter that produced 6 goals! The rain spoils anyone's game plan and brings all teams closer together! I can't wait to see these quick, electric Swans on a dry deck! Collingwood also have Jesse White to come back in, which will improve their ladder position!

[liz]

You are getting carried away Ludwig! The game plan looked great in the first quarter that produced 6 goals! The rain spoils anyone's game plan and brings all teams closer together! I can't wait to see these quick, electric Swans on a dry deck! Collingwood also have Jesse White to come back in, which will improve their ladder position!

I watched a replay of the first quarter - mostly because I wanted to see if the rain looked as wet on screen as it felt on skin - but our best period in that game came when the heavens had opened. The play was pretty even, GWS had had the better of clearances early on in the quarter, and theyhad cut our defence up a couple of times going forward. It was just in the last few minutes that we managed to get a few consecutive clearances, won a free in front of goal (Cunningham) and had Benny fluke one from the boundary.

[Matt80]

I watched a replay of the first quarter - mostly because I wanted to see if the rain looked as wet on screen as it felt on skin - but our best period in that game came when the heavens had opened. The play was pretty even, GWS had had the better of clearances early on in the quarter, and theyhad cut our defence up a couple of times going forward. It was just in the last few minutes that we managed to get a few consecutive clearances, won a free in front of goal (Cunningham) and had Benny fluke one from the boundary.

Fair call! I still think a good dry day will help Buddy and Sam Reid gain some confidence in their marking! It will also allow Cunningham, Rohan and Jetta to have more confidence in their pace and ball handling! The game also demonstrated what important assets that K.Jack, Tippett and Goodes are, and how important they are to get back sooner rather than later!

[Meg]

I like John Longmire a lot and he led us to the 2012 premiership so we've got much to thank him for. But I do worry that his game plan is heavily influenced by his days as a player in the formidable Carey/Longmire forward partnership. And this might explain his enthusiasm for the Tippett/Franklin recruitments. I've just watched a video highlights reel of Wayne Carey kicking 8 goals in a match for North Melbourne. Brilliant stuff characterised by the Roos' kicking the ball long and high looking for him, and Carey delivering with some amazing marks and deadly accurate goal kicking. Longmire was also a great overhead mark and a huge goal kicker. I am not suggesting that both players (particularly Carey) would not be successful today. But the game has changed since they played. In particular defenders have developed to be able to peel off and double or triple up to spoil the ball coming in long and high. The top teams now play with quick, short transition with low passes to fast leading forwards and by using a spread of goal kickers. That's the way Gold Coast was playing last night. That's the way we played brilliantly when we thumped the Crows last year. I think we have to get back to that style of football.

[Matt80]

I like John Longmire a lot and he led us to the 2012 premiership so we've got much to thank him for. But I do worry that his game plan is heavily influenced by his days as a player in the formidable Carey/Longmire forward partnership. And this might explain his enthusiasm for the Tippett/Franklin recruitments. I've just watched a video highlights reel of Wayne Carey kicking 8 goals in a match for North Melbourne. Brilliant stuff characterised by the Roos' kicking the ball long and high looking for him, and Carey delivering with some amazing marks and deadly accurate goal kicking. Longmire was also a great overhead mark and a huge goal kicker. I am not suggesting that both players (particularly Carey) would not be successful today. But the game has changed since they played. In particular defenders have developed to be able to peel off and double or triple up to spoil the ball coming in long and high. The top teams now play with quick, short transition with low passes to fast leading forwards and by using a spread of goal kickers. That's the way Gold Coast was playing last night. That's the way we played brilliantly when we thumped the Crows last year. I think we have to get back to that style of football.

You love your football Meg! The interesting point on Carey and Longmire is that a Swans recruiter at the time signed away the recruiting right on those players as 16 year olds for a small fee! The Duck and The Horse should have been Swans players in the 90s as they grew up in our recruiting zone!

[rojo]

Agree Meg. Watching Freo play for a while on Friday night, they looked positively scary. The speed with which they moved the ball and the ferocity with which they tackled had me thinking that they would have had the Swans for dinner too. The Swannies have so got to crank it up a notch or two from Saturday or we will be lucky to make the top 8.

However, as others have pointed out it is only the first game and it is going to take a while for Buddy and the mids to click and for those coming back after being out for so long last year to get back to their best. With Buddy not having much of a preseason it must have been hard to practise strategies etc. It is possible too that Hanners and Jack, Hanners in particular may be experiencing 'burn out' from the extreme pressure of last season - or he is being asked to play a different role. This is going to be a very, very interesting season!!

[Auntie.Gerald]

the game plan for me is in simple layers.......then you put the icing on the cake

if you dont dominate in the below key areas forget about everything else in my opinion !

1. Points for - you need to score more then the opposition and we were fairly shocking in this department even when we had our opportunities > we had 13 behinds last night and.....we only had two less shots on goal and we kicked at 40% and they kicked at 60% !!!!!!!!!!!! plus both teams had the same inside 50's

2. Winning the ball - i wasnt happy with our ruck despite it being level on the centre bounce clearance but our overall clearance work > we were 37 to 58 from memory ? that is just outrageous !!!

3. Max pressure without the ball - when you dont have the ball to win it back - 76-88 we lost the tackle count ie we lost the tackles even though they had more disposals then us...which i know doesnt always reflect the game but still an indicator !!

3i). contested possession we were 10 behind GWS and same again for uncontested we were 10 behind !

[liz]

I have no doubt that the long kicking game style is heavily influenced by Longmire's experiences playing Pagan's Paddock. The main problem with this is that Carey has claims to being the best forward - or certainly CHF - of the modern era and he could do things few others can. Can such a game style work with lesser lights? I think that's what Longmire is banking on, not that a fit and firing Franklin is a "lesser light".

As far as Freo (and Hawthorn and Gold Coast and any other team) playing a different style, I am not sure that means we necessarily have to adopt the same. One mistake chasing teams have made in the past is to try and copy the style of the reigning premiers, only to find they've moved on to something else and other clubs have found ways to limit its effectiveness. Plus the best teams usually evolve a game style that makes best use of the cattle they have available. A club trying to emulate it with a group of players without the same skills or physical attributes is a recipe for disaster.

I don't think there is any reason why a long kicking game to moving targets can't work. It's just that we need there to be multiple moving targets, and for most of yesterday we had Buddy, who was frequently stationary, either via choice or via the long arms of Davis. In the tension of a live game, I wasn't able to work out where Rohan and Reid were hiding themselves for much of the second half.

[Doctor J.]

You love your football Meg! The interesting point on Carey and Longmire is that a Swans recruiter at the time signed away the recruiting right on those players as 16 year olds for a small fee! The Duck and The Horse should have been Swans players in the 90s as they grew up in our recruiting zone!

Yeah thanks Greg miller. Cracked the @@@@s cos he was overlooked for the CEO position. Then went to North and signed them both for north

[Auntie.Gerald]

BTW i cant believe that Macca and Kennedy only had 20 and 22 disposals respectively yet Treloar and Ward had 34 and 31 disposals

I reckon among a few stats our Captain and our leading clearance midfielder will be having a little look in the mirror this week

Game Plan = get that leather football in your hands !