Swans v Eagles march thread

[MightyBloods]

Luke Parker is the best under 23 midfielder in the AFL.

Brownlow voting will be interesting. Parks is having a great year. I may have a few $ on big odds.

[Auntie.Gerald]

wow what an effort today.

Buddy with 8 tackles in a game where he could have thought why am i even out here........yet he still made an impact

PArker and Mcglynn great effort

plus our pressure through out the game only allowed for West Coast to have 2 inside 50m marks all day compared to our 8.......

Teddy what are a star

for me though we continue to amaze with our massive loss of hitouts but we wrestled back the clearances this week which was so important as this trend had to change

30-69 hitouts we lost !

53-38 clearances we won !!!!!!!!!

[crackedactor]

agree

seriously, what does Buddy have to do to get a free kick? This has been going on for weeks.. If an opposition player touches Abblett, Judd or Watson, the umpires immediately blow their whistle,they are protected, but Buddy, the best forward in the game, is treated abysmally.

The Swans must complain to the AFL about the lack of protection given to Buddy. There is a chance that he could get injured because of the umpires lack of care...

Wake up AFL and please complain Swans admin.

I thought the umpiring was an absolute disgrace. Does anyone know why Buddy had that free kick paid against him late in the second quarter??? Buddy received about one of 10 holding the man decisions. I also noted when west coast got caught holding the ball it was play on.. when it happened to the Swans it was a free kick to west Coast!!! I agree that some kind of complaint needs to be made because it will start getting worse now that opposition teams know they can get away with it!!

[Ludwig]

With Parks, Bird and Benny all ratcheting up the performance this year, our midfield is really looking great at. We can lose Hanners and it's hardly noticed. Hard ti believe Parker is only 21.

Once Lloyd gets a bit stronger, he'll be quite a good player.

Despite the frequent mistakes from BJ, I love his speed. And he hammers in there just like his brother. He's another one that looks like he will be a very dangerous player in a couple of years.

Along with Jones and Cunningham, all 4 are under 21 yo. The future is looking good, without even thinking about the draft.

[Ludwig]

I thought the umpiring was an absolute disgrace. Does anyone know why Buddy had that free kick paid against him late in the second quarter??? Buddy received about one of 10 holding the man decisions. I also noted when west coast got caught holding the ball it was play on.. when it happened to the Swans it was a free kick to west Coast!!! I agree that some kind of complaint needs to be made because it will start getting worse now that opposition teams know they can get away with it!!

I made a similar comment during the game. The whole game McKenzie had his arm across Buddy's chest. It was not even in the marking contest. He was just holding him up from getting to the ball. I agree with you. There could have been at least 10 holding calls against McKenzie.

On the incident you mentioned, it think it was Schofield who was not even looking at the ball, was right in Buddy's face, and I think they said that Buddy was holding on to Schofield. I think Buddy had a couple of fingers on his jumper. It was truly an absurd call.

[ernie koala]

Luke Parker is the best under 23 midfielder in the AFL.

Good call Stella, he's got all bases covered..Would have to be in AA contention at this stage.

[Melbournehammer]

wow what an effort today.

Buddy with 8 tackles in a game where he could have thought why am i even out here........yet he still made an impact

PArker and Mcglynn great effort

plus our pressure through out the game only allowed for West Coast to have 2 inside 50m marks all day compared to our 8.......

Teddy what are a star

for me though we continue to amaze with our massive loss of hitouts but we wrestled back the clearances this week which was so important as this trend had to change

30-69 hitouts we lost !

53-38 clearances we won !!!!!!!!!

Interestingly those stats very similar to big toms and had everyone calling for his head...

Just sayin.

[Auntie.Gerald]

agree re TD vs MP and the hitouts lost

i reckon those stats above re clearances winning % vs hitouts lost % must be close to a record too !!!

it is like there is no clear relationship between hitouts won and clearances which has made my mind boggle this season for the Swans............ almost an outlier

[Ampersand]

Oh come on, here we go again!

Pyke is our number 1 ruckman and he should be playing when he's fit. IMHO we should only play one genuine ruckman per match so unless you're suggesting Derrickx at his best is better than Pyke at his best it's no contest.

On another note, I'm becoming more and more convinced that hitouts are a terrible indicator of a team's clearance rate.

Interestingly, I noticed Parker taking a few of the forward throw-ins and actually thought his speed and mobility worked to our advantage in getting clearances. Cox might have sometimes got the first touch but Parker was right there to take the ball away.

I think having a bona fide ruckman is essential for center bounces to offer a contest but I think the system we have in place of rotating medium/tall size players through the ruck around the ground works really well.

That said, I wouldn't be surprised to see a team in the next few years experiment with using a Josh Kennedy size midfielder to take the center bounces, effectively attempting to read the ball off the opposing ruckman's hand and also acting as an additional midfielder to clear the ball.

[Ludwig]

Oh come on, here we go again!

Pyke is our number 1 ruckman and he should be playing when he's fit. IMHO we should only play one genuine ruckman per match so unless you're suggesting Derrickx at his best is better than Pyke at his best it's no contest.

On another note, I'm becoming more and more convinced that hitouts are a terrible indicator of a team's clearance rate.

Interestingly, I noticed Parker taking a few of the forward throw-ins and actually thought his speed and mobility worked to our advantage in getting clearances. Cox might have sometimes got the first touch but Parker was right there to take the ball away.

I think having a bona fide ruckman is essential for center bounces to offer a contest but I think the system we have in place of rotating medium/tall size players through the ruck around the ground works really well.

That said, I wouldn't be surprised to see a team in the next few years experiment with using a Josh Kennedy size midfielder to take the center bounces, effectively attempting to read the ball off the opposing ruckman's hand and also acting as an additional midfielder to clear the ball.

Agree will all of this. I have also made comments about not playing a ruckman, particularly outside the 50 mtr. arc. Having an extra midfielder around the ruck contests and around the ground offsets the benefits of having a 'big man' that doesn't do much other than compete in the ruck contests.

But I think it depends on the individual. If you've got a dominant ruckman like Sandilands or one that's both good in the ruck and around the ground, like Jacobs, then they can be very valuable. I think the most important thing for the ruckman is that they can contribute in some other capacity. I think Nankervis should be one of these, as he can take a strong mark and is an excellent shot for goal.

[Conor_Dillon]

I think there needs to be a ban on all RWO posting during the match...some of that negative dribble is just plain embarrassing!

It was an ultra professional win, with everyone contributing. Our pressure was as good as it's been all year bar maybe the Fremantle game.

The backline was first class, barely lost a one-on-one contest all day. Rampe and Grundy showed a lot more composure than usual whilst under pressure, Teddy, Nick and Mal are just guns. Laidler getting better by the week.

Midfield was again dominant...K.Jack was well held but Benny and Parks stepped up...Bird was just about the cleanest player below his knees on the field and Kennedy just did what he does week in, week out. Jetta loves playing on Subiaco and let's not hope that's an omen for things to come when his current contract is up.

Our less experienced players in Llloyd, B.Jack, Cunningham and Rohan might not have found heaps of the ball but they all cracked in hard and put on immense pressure.

On a horror day for forwards Goodesy had a huge influence, Reid was solid and Buddy found extra ways to contribute. It should be mentioned how well big Bud kept his cool as well, in years gone past at Hawthorn when he has been scragged and held and hampered unfairly he has generally lost the plot a bit and given away silly free kicks. Yesterday he showed great restraint and composure when he could've been forgiven for giving away free-kicks in frustration. It was as if he made the conscious decision that it wasn't going to be his day to kick a bag but he would tackle and pressure and harass for the good of the team. He is becoming an impressive leader and that's a huge credit to our famed bloods culture and ethos.

Mike battled hard all day and whilst he didn't win a heap of hit-outs he used his body really well at ground level to block and protect our midfielders. This is something that Sydney have always done better than other teams yet I don't think I've once heard it mentioned from anyone outside of the club.

Top spot is ours to lose now...a pretty strong case could be made for us starting favourites in every remaining game from here on out and anything less than a top two finish will be below-par. Bring it on.

[sharp9]

I think there needs to be a ban on all RWO posting during the match...some of that negative dribble is just plain embarrassing!

hey, some of us have been posting negative dribble on here since 2002...it's won us 2 premierships :-) Where were you when we collectively decided that Ted Richards was a dud? See how that turned out? And what about when we gave up a prized number 5 pick for a young bloke some on here dubbed McHack? It was just the prompting he needed! I think the vent is good and actually find it fun to read back through posts after the game.

[Go Swannies]

We cannot win in the wet. it's as simple as that. Nobody makes adjustments for the conditions and we continue to give umpires opportunities to either give soft frees or make mistakes in favour of the Eagles. Eagles are absolutely "ON" today and it was simply a matter of whether the pressure would make us capitulate like we usually do when the pressure goes on. Round one was identical....right down to 12 point play for no free to Buddy - length of the ground...goal. Followed by another 5 goals. Expect that to happen unless Horse can do something dramatic to change their mindset. Stop the dinky dry weather handballs. Judge when to soccer and when to take posesseion and a tackle. Masten and Priddis giving our inside mids an absolute lesson in decision making and being in the right place to receive the bobbling ball. On top of this we wasted 10 inside 50s either by shocking kicks to defender's advantage (even when one on one) to missing, what was it, 5 kickable shots in a row. Absolutely guaranteed to see the opposition kick the next goal under that sort of performance. Every time the Eagles get the ball free it is length of the ground uncontested sort of stuff and look like scoring every single time.

This was not your finest hour. Especially as the Swans played the best wet weather game we've seen them play in ages - and certainly this year. Poor teams have worked out they can scrag and tackle us to remain competitive but the impressive thing is that they do it and we still win. That's a new high level for the Swans.

[Conor_Dillon]

hey, some of us have been posting negative dribble on here since 2002...it's won us 2 premierships :-) Where were you when we collectively decided that Ted Richards was a dud? See how that turned out? And what about when we gave up a prized number 5 pick for a young bloke some on here dubbed McHack? It was just the prompting he needed! I think the vent is good and actually find it fun to read back through posts after the game.

Haha all good points! Some of it is fine, nothing wrong with constructive criticism and it's always good to go back and look at old opinions...but there has to be a line. The last thing we want to be is fans that turn on our boys as soon as something isn't going our way like certain other supporter groups of rival clubs.

[Jewels]

When I get home from a game, the first thing I do is read the match day thread, it is always hilarious but particularly after a good win like yesterday. I love the raw emotion, which is why I avoid posting during games!