Where are we going wrong??

[goods78]

Too much facial hair and stupid looking haircuts.
Shaw / McVeigh / Jetta now have the exact same heads. Is this a ploy to disguise their blunders?
All this hair is weighing them down, making them even slower, particularly in the wet. Why else do swimmers wax?
Universal full body waxes by Saturday is what's required, otherwise we'll know they are not taking it seriously.

I love a show of team solidarity! Not sure about the full body wax, but shave their heads & beards (no 1 clipper minimum) and let us know they mean business.

This could even catch on with the supporters.........albeit we could lose the hipster crowd!

[Auntie.Gerald]

ben mcglynn comments on plan B

The Dockers used a stifling brand of football to shut the Swans down in their bruising preliminary final last year and McGlynn concedes the outcome that day forced the Swans to go back to the drawing board.

"They played well," he said. "They shut us down and we learned a bit from that game and put a few things in place over the summer to learn from experiences like that.

"But you don't really think about those situations coming in, especially in the position we're in.

"We're about getting our processes right and making sure everyone has a fair dinkum crack on Saturday."

[mcs]

ben mcglynn comments on plan B

The Dockers used a stifling brand of football to shut the Swans down in their bruising preliminary final last year and McGlynn concedes the outcome that day forced the Swans to go back to the drawing board.

"They played well," he said. "They shut us down and we learned a bit from that game and put a few things in place over the summer to learn from experiences like that.

That's what we spent the summer doing! Shame we didn't spend any of it trying to spend time improving our skills, or working out strategies for playing in the wet...

[tasmania60]

Agree seems to be no plan when teams start to beat our team plan ,should be a back up plan ,really teams have to evolve if not things aren't looking to good . Must be hard to instill a game plan that a team can follow , no one seems to have 2 or 3 mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm?

[Ruck'n'Roll]

Of course. It was bad enough last year after we won a flag and got Tippett, to add buddy to that! We are well hated now. If another team did what we did we would all hate them too!!!

For most of our history we've been the victim of star-nabbing recruiting raids, now we're the perpetrators. Leaving aside the ethical implications - this is the 3rd time I have seen the Swans go down this path, and it is yet to pay off with a flag. Perhaps this year, but I can't help feeling it's like that bit from "Rocky & Bullwinkle" Bullwinkle's Hat Trick- All 4 animals - YouTube

[Faunac8]

Oh woe is us panic stations for sure and the armchair experts all united in their opinion that we are no chance this year now.
The team is too slow/old/lacking in skills/one dimensional etc etc etc.
Horse cant coach or at best is a one trick pony
Lance has divided the team and created a rift
KT is a waste of money
And worst of all other teams supporters are enjoying seeing us in this position

I would much rather have them envy us then pity us as they did in the early 90's

Let's face it it is the worst start to the season since 2005 and we all know how badly that turned out don't we ?

[CureTheSane]

A dry day and a good win.
Bring on the fine weather

[DeadlyAkkuret]

A dry day and a good win.
Bring on the fine weather

If we can have the game switched to a Spring/Summer sport and matches shortened by 50%, we'll be golden.

[CureTheSane]

As a general rule it's rare for games to be wet from start to finish.
Most start dry and then the rain rolls in, or drizzle dries up through the game.

For me the wrong player have been selected for the wet games, but it's the start of the season and there is always a degree of team set up experimentation.
A roof on the SCG would be nice though

[ShockOfHair]

The big standout for me this year is our last quarters. In our three losing games we?ve lost Q4 by a margin of 104-28.

Sure, it?s a feature of the current side that it tends to have great Q2s in particular and then ends up defending a lead (a la the Essendon game in 2012). In contrast the 2005 team used to start slow and run opponents down with relentless pressure.

I don?t think it?s a fitness thing because we ran out the game OK against Adelaide and Freo. Nor is it game plan, or we would never have got ahead of Collingwood in the first place, only to give up the lead. Against North we were in the game for two and half quarters but just let them run over the top of us.

It's surely a lack of intensity ? our game is built on defence, winning the contested ball and hard running, and these have all fallen off. We beat Freo primarily because we put in the effort.

Plus key players like Hanna and KJ have been down in form and confidence. And don?t overlook the loss of Mumford and Jude ? they probably accounted for 5-10% of our contested possession in most games.

If we play every week as we did against Freo we can make the top four, but our effort has been so uneven I certainly wouldn?t assume it. I wouldn?t even assume that we beat Melbourne, who embarrassed Carlton last week on sheer effort and will be up for the challenge this week.

[Swansongster]

Slightly off-topic (sorry) but has anyone else noticed how their other-team-supporting mates/colleagues/family are really enjoying the Swans' slow start to the season. Up until this year most were pleased at our success. Now they appear to be equally as pleased at the current poor form and some genuinely believe we are shot ducks. I have a mate who follows Port who wants to bet a bottle of Grange (not '59) that they will finish ahead of us after H&A. Think I'll take him on.

Gee, I wouldn't. Happy to back us to beat home both Collingwood and Norf, but Port may be a mountain too high. They are a seriously good side....

It appears once again you have wisdom well beyond your name-sake, Triple B. For the record, I hesitated after your suggestion and didn't take the bet. Thanks. With that home crowd and improving list, Port are going to be hard to dislodge from the top 4 from here.

[Ludwig]

The Swans are in transition from a strong stoppage side to a strong running side with a super forward line. You just wouldn't know it by the way we're playing.

A good part of the problem is that the forward line hasn't come together yet. We need 3 of the big 4 to be going in order to have the effect intended. With any luck, we might have that come this weekend and maybe even 4 by the round 8, when we really need to get in top form.

When we played our best football last year the midfield was running hard and hitting open targets, another thing missing this year for the most part.

Rampe has been getting into the attack more often, which has been a big positive. He moves the ball quickly out of the back half.

We should try to get Lloyd and Cunningham into the game more. Both are good at hitting targets and are good runners, especially Harry.

Shaw, Benny and Jetta have been good at getting the footy and can run the ball through the midfield, but are often let down by their disposal. We know Jetta can do Betta. With the other 2, it's great what they're doing, but they are not the playmakers and they need to get the ball to those that can hit a tight target inside 50.

I think we should have both Shaw and McGlynn play more run with roles and release Smith and Rampe to have more attacking roles. I've notice this seems to be happening anyway. Nick has been finding himself more in the midfield lately; he's another one that's quite good with ball in hand and is a good decision maker.

We probably have the players to compete with the top 3 if the coaching staff can get game plan working with right players in their best positions.

I heard Ken Hinkley (Port) say that their ruckman Lobbe was doing well by carrying the ruck load, thereby allowing them to play only one ruckman and getting another running player into the action, because they want to be a running side. I think we need to do the same with our side. Pyke will have to carry the major ruck load and someone other than Derickx or LRT have to chip in, because we need to get more productive players on the ground than these 2 have been.

We need to get our running game going against Brissy. I see it as a last practice match before the real season start. We will have to beat some top sides soon or our season will be over early.

[CureTheSane]

Rampe continues to be one of my first picks in the side.
From what I saw of Derickx, he has a way to go.
Got a few taps, but a few of them went to the opposition which kind of defeats the purpose.

[707]

?Tom was one of our best players in the reserves,? Longmire said. ?It was good because he?d been missing, as far as on the training track, continuous training for probably a month or six weeks.

Gary Rohan, who has been battling nerve pain in his upper leg, also lined up for the reserves last Friday, but Longmire said the young speedster still had a way to go before he returns to senior football. ?Gary is still trying to get full match fitness coming back from that ?nervy? hamstring that he?s had really since the start of the season,?

So we've played two guys who have been battling fitness since the start of the season! Why didn't they let Mitchell and Rohan get properly fit and instead play guys like Lloyd and Biggs to start the season?

This finally explains the average performances of Mitchell and Rohan!

[billyboob]

So we've played two guys who have been battling fitness since the start of the season! Why didn't they let Mitchell and Rohan get properly fit and instead play guys like Lloyd and Biggs to start the season?

This finally explains the average performances of Mitchell and Rohan!

I also couldn't believe what I was hearing when I saw today's presser.