In praise of ....

[Doctor]

Great effort. Well done Tom D!

[mcs]

His work around the ground is good, and you most certainly can't fault the effort he puts in. His skills are ordinary, but I really like the improvement we are seeing every week from him, and that's all we can ask of him. I've seen much worse play in the ruck in red and white and give just a small percentage of that amount of effort (cough cough Chambers!). Well done Tom D, and hoping the improvement continues every week.

[gazza]

Just watching a replay and towards the end of the game Tom seems to be stuffed and Reid is taking some ball ups, I'm expecting Tom to be off the ball for a while but no, there he is at the next contest, battling away.
Another who deserves some love but doesn't often get it is Reg. He played on one of the games premier forwards in Roughead and, IMO, won (well, he didn't lose the battle :-) ). I realise Roughead still got three goals but they were not due to poor play from Grundy.

does reg ever do anything other than "poor play".i will love him when he is in the twos and a footballer takes his place

[jono2707]

does reg ever do anything other than "poor play".i will love him when he is in the twos and a footballer takes his place

Reg and Teddy form one of the best, if not the best, defensive duos in the league and the regular calls by some to drop him are misguided.

[aguy]

Reg and Teddy form one of the best, if not the best, defensive duos in the league and the regular calls by some to drop him are misguided.

That's very true. I was looking at the extended table and once again we are about the best defender in the competition. We have conceded 595 in 8 games (avg 74.4). Only teams conceded less are Geelong 527 collingwood 532 north 565 and west coast 499. All of those teams have only played 7 games. And only west coast is likely to still have less than us after they play gws today. That makes us second best defence numerically so far and that was after our slow start. Seems like the swans we know are coming back

[Triple B]

does reg ever do anything other than "poor play".i will love him when he is in the twos and a footballer takes his place

Not sure what is more bizarre about that post, the content or the (lack of) punctuation.

I'll go with the content, the punctuation is a result of laziness, saying Reg is not a footballer is a result of cluelessness....

[ScottH]

Reg had one of his best games on Friday for the year.
From memory there was only one silly mistake, late in the game.
Although I was wondering if he and Rhyce were on the ground in the first term. But then the ball wasn't down there much.

[Mel_C]

Agree with Scott that Grundy had his best game this year on Friday.

On Fox Footy during the after match they said that Grundy and Richards used to be known as the Blunder Brothers!

[DK_]

Ted and Grundy aren't there for their amazing attacking skills. They're there because they regularly shut down the competition's best power forwards. I've lost count of the times where they've kept the Swans in the game while we're being overrun everywhere else on the field. Those who call for Grundy to be dropped whenever things don't go our way are delusional. They are what they are because they work together and understand each other so well. Calling for one to be dropped is like asking for Bonny without Clyde.

Having said that, I think they do alright. I love the confidence that they work the ball out of tight defensive positions. Things are pretty bad before they they start bombing it out of defence.

[Matt80]

Reg Grundy always cops heat on the Red and White for no good reason. No football pundit or Swans person has ever put any heat on Grundy. Our team would lose solidity with out him in it.

I wonder if there is an orchestrated, organised agenda against Reg Grundy by some parties on Red and White!

[Ludwig]

I thought Reg was inconsistent last year and had a few dismal games. He had me calling for his head a few times. But he seems to be back in form this year and thought he had a very good game on Friday. He's always going to make a few blunders. Everyone does. And when you're a defender, it stands out more. Hanners had a great game, but made a few errors as well. Even Kennedy missed an easy kick to Cunningham to set him up for a goal.

[goods78]

Reg Grundy always cops heat on the Red and White for no good reason. No football pundit or Swans person has ever put any heat on Grundy. Our team would lose solidity with out him in it.

I wonder if there is an orchestrated, organised agenda against Reg Grundy by some parties on Red and White!

I don't get it either Matt80. He is tall and over 100kg's - gets the tough jobs on the power forwards and the resting rucks.

Lets face it, you can only have a bad day as a defender - I don't know why anyone would play there!

He is not going anywhere this season.

[CureTheSane]

Reg Grundy always cops heat on the Red and White for no good reason. No football pundit or Swans person has ever put any heat on Grundy. Our team would lose solidity with out him in it.

I wonder if there is an orchestrated, organised agenda against Reg Grundy by some parties on Red and White!

What a load of rubbish.
There has been plenty of good reason to be harsh on Grundy in the past. And suggesting an organised agenda is ridiculous.

This year he has been good, so criticism has slowed, if not stopped.
At times he is perhaps unfairly compared to Richards, who is more skillful and plays a more noticeable role.
I was surprised to see his age recently (thought he was older) and hope he continues to improve and make less errors, but if he starts to becomes a source of frustration, I'll happily lay into him, regardless of how ostracised I may be made to feel.

[Hartijon]

There is no substitute for experience and Tom D's learning curve has been steep. Against Hawthorn he found the right position more often than not and took and attempted some field marks. His knockwork is still haphazard but no one doubts his commitment and energy roughing it up rather than rucking it up!He is a clear case of how big men often have delayed development only coming good post 25.Therefore I do not agree that his development has finished.I would bet he gets into the best players by the last few games of the minor round.Any takers?

[O'Reilly Boy]

At this point I would take Bo D's 8 effort-filled, rapidly developing and increasingly significant games over Mummy's 2 games for GWS. Looking like not such a bad trade after all? What did the physio department know? Mummy looked terrific (and highly motivated) in that first game?better than he had for some time?but since then . . .