Game Day - R18 vs Hawks

[CureTheSane]

FWIW, I was watching the game, not only complaining about the umpiring from a Swans fan perspective, but around 3 or 4 times I said "...that should have been a free against us..."
15m was very subjective last night. Kind of like the umpired decided that if it was a conservative kick (usually a Swans kick) it wasn't 15, and if it was an attacking kick (usually a Hawks kick) it was ok.
Remember a Swan laid a tackle around a hawks biceps and as the hawk fell he slid through the arms. No contact to the head, but a high tackle was awarded.
never thought I'd say it, but I think the 'holding the ball' time allowance to get rid of the ball has gone too far.

[mcs]

FWIW, I was watching the game, not only complaining about the umpiring from a Swans fan perspective, but around 3 or 4 times I said "...that should have been a free against us..."
15m was very subjective last night. Kind of like the umpired decided that if it was a conservative kick (usually a Swans kick) it wasn't 15, and if it was an attacking kick (usually a Hawks kick) it was ok.
Remember a Swan laid a tackle around a hawks biceps and as the hawk fell he slid through the arms. No contact to the head, but a high tackle was awarded.
never thought I'd say it, but I think the 'holding the ball' time allowance to get rid of the ball has gone too far.

Look no further than the htb not given that should have been for the late wee and poo goal in the third quarter. The hawks player had plenty of time to previously dispose of the ball before getting tackled, should have been pinged inmediately. Instead got given a good few extra seconds to 'dispose' it, ( even though to me at the ground it looked a throw). It didnt decide the game but certainly helped give them all the momentum going into 3/4 time.

[CureTheSane]

Yep, there were two very obvious ones.

[rojo]

I agree with most of your points.

Though Goodsey can't run and is being found out....It's a problem. Horse and co need to find a way of covering his lack of acceleration.

I also was pleasantly surprised with Towers, he did a great job as sub, his pressure was good and he has really quick, clean hands.

We had a few of our usual suspects down last night...Kennedy, Smith, Jack, Pyke, to name a few.

If we play them again, with Hanners and Shaw in, I hope they do play Sewell, he'll be found out like Goodsey.

IMO, we'll beat them well next time around.

Don't know if we would be too happy for Sewell to kick 4 goals!

[Gary]

Free kicks ... don't know the number but as above we got some bad calls ... couldn't believe the hospital hand pass Jack gave (is he less than fully fit?) ... but the free kick against our receiver for HTB was in an immediate act of attempting to kick ... there was no prior opportunity ... so it should be "play on" as in the old days. This is driving me crazy ... it is inventing an infraction when none exist ... and it cost us a vital goal.
Overall ... we did not play well and I was expecting it ... though will admit it looked reasonable at 23 up! After that we just lost our way with foolish stuff down back.What was with the Reg take off ... he was his usual mad mix ... but I felt like taking both Cunningham and him off for that crazy hand pass behind, so that Reg can kick it into a hand.
Can't remember a game where we were beaten so often and well by opposition players simply turning to the boundary and going past our blokes who seemed to have forgotten how to defend.
So much one could say ... Essendon all of a sudden look like a major threat.

[Ludwig]

Look no further than the htb not given that should have been for the late wee and poo goal in the third quarter. The hawks player had plenty of time to previously dispose of the ball before getting tackled, should have been pinged inmediately. Instead got given a good few extra seconds to 'dispose' it, ( even though to me at the ground it looked a throw). It didnt decide the game but certainly helped give them all the momentum going into 3/4 time.

What gets me is that shortly after, early in the 4th qtr. Puopolo tackled Rampe in what has been usually let go for no prior opportunity, because he was tackled immediately, but was called on it and Puopolo kicked the goal, (as noted by Gary above). So that's total inconsistency that went against us for more than the game margin. I thought the umpiring was fairly even, but the calls against us were very damaging. There was also a legal handball that was called illegal against Reid just out of the goal square that cost us another opportunity.

[mcs]

What gets me is that shortly after, early in the 4th qtr. Puopolo tackled Rampe in what has been usually let go for no prior opportunity, because he was tackled immediately, but was called on it and Puopolo kicked the goal, (as noted by Gary above). So that's total inconsistency that went against us for more than the game margin. I thought the umpiring was fairly even, but the calls against us were very damaging. There was also a legal handball that was called illegal against Reid just out of the goal square that cost us another opportunity.

Yep, 2 harsh calls didn't help - 50/50's that didn't go our way on the night. Same again with the late Goodes 'no mark'. But maybe we are saving the 50/50's to go our way when it really counts in September

[Matt80]

Everyone is trying to explain away the Laidler goal as some sort of strategic mix up. It was no such thing.

It was about a player being beaten one on one due to a lack of pace. If have been ridiculed on Red and White for talking about players with electric pace. This is the situation where electric pace was needed. Rohan, Towers, Shaw or Jones would have got that ball to the boundary or executed a tackle.

The worst effort of all was that Cunningham paddle to the boundary that he let get behind him. This led to a goal in the 3rd quarter.

The Swans also failed to get the ball close enough to the boundary line when they were executing a bail out kick.

[mcs]

Everyone is trying to explain away the Laidler goal as some sort of strategic mix up. It was no such thing.

It was about a player being beaten one on one due to a lack of pace. If have been ridiculed on Red and White for talking about players with electric pace. This is the situation where electric pace was needed. Rohan, Towers, Shaw or Jones would have got that ball to the boundary or executed a tackle.

The worst effort of all was that Cunningham paddle to the boundary that he let get behind him. This led to a goal in the 3rd quarter.

The Swans also failed to get the ball close enough to the boundary line when they were executing a bail out kick.

Matt you posted that on the other thread as well - surely on 1 thread is enough!

Football is not, despite what you think, solely about pace and tackling. Towers does not have electric pace, whatever you may think.

[Ludwig]

We can pick the eyes out of the game if we want, but in the end it was a match between 2 fairly equal sides that could have gone either way. If we play them in the GF we can expect the same.

I thought we had the better of them most of the game, but dropped off enough during that period from midway through the 3rd to midway through the 4th where they kicked 9 goals that determined the game. Horse will surely be disappointed in allowing that change in momentum. And even during this period, you wouldn't say that Hawthorn were dominant. It was more that they were able to string a number of disposals together and kick the goals when it counted. Smith's 3 goals really hurt and Breust can cause so much damage with just a few touches.

It was just the slightest drop off in manning up and chasing that let them move the ball forward. I don't think that will happen in a GF. We also dropped a number of marks in defence that we should have taken. It was a lot of points for us to concede regardless that it was against a high scoring Hawthorn team. It will be a good game to learn from.

We have 5 games now that we should win and seal a top 2. We can probably even lose one and still end up top 2. The game was far more important to Hawthorn than to us, even though it meant we could have rapped up top 2 with a win. Now we will have to keep our intensity up for the rest of the season.

The positives were the good games from Rohan and Towers. Cunningham and Lloyd continue to play decent footy. I loved Lloyd's bullet kick to Buddy that set up our first goal.

[Ampersand]

Run home for our biggest threats for a top two place:

Sydney - Facing 2 Top 8 sides (with only Port a possible rival for top 2)
Hawthorn - Facing 3 Top 8 sides (including Dockers and Geelong, so one team at least will drop a game)
Dockers - Facing 3 Top 8 sides (including Geelong, Hawks and Port)
Geelong - Facing 3 Top 8 sides (including North, Dockers and the Hawks)
Port - facing 3 Top 8 sides plus GC Suns (Sydney, Dockers)

- - - Updated - - -

So basically, here's hoping there's some carnage below us on the ladder.

[Matt80]

Matt you posted that on the other thread as well - surely on 1 thread is enough!

Football is not, despite what you think, solely about pace and tackling. Towers does not have electric pace, whatever you may think.

Apologies. I thought my post in the other thread had not gone through.

I think Towers has great pace. He certainly has the vertical leap record at the draft. This leaping ability will be very handy in our post Shaw, Malceski backline. Rohan, Rampe and Towers will be pacy, high leaping, 3rd man up defensive weapons.

It was thrilling to see Rampe beat Jack Gunston. He was even out bodying him and out marking him. What about the tackle in the goal square?

Rohan's chasing was thrilling. He laid one brilliant tackle in the pocket and had three amazing chase downs that rushed the Hawks carriers. Longmire will enjoy showing those ones on the tape. He must stay in the backline.

[mcs]

Apologies. I thought my post in the other thread had not gone through.

I think Towers has great pace. He certainly has the vertical leap record at the draft. This leaping ability will be very handy in our post Shaw, Malceski backline. Rohan, Rampe and Towers will be pacy, high leaping, 3rd man up defensive weapons.

It was thrilling to see Rampe beat Jack Gunston. He was even out bodying him and out marking him. What about the tackle in the goal square?

Rohan's chasing was thrilling. He laid one brilliant tackle in the pocket and had three amazing chase downs that rushed the Hawks carriers. Longmire will enjoy showing those ones on the tape. He must stay in the backline.

I was very happy with Rohan last night - a big step forward for him, and it looks like it might just be starting to click for him again.

[Meg]

So basically, here's hoping there's some carnage below us on the ladder.

Some carnage today for Collingwood with a win by the Crows by 16 points. Never thought I'd be barracking for the Crows but I was today. That puts the Crows into the top eight and the Pies drop out to 9th.

Hehe, do you think Eddie will blame this on COLA and the Academy??

[mcs]

Some carnage today for Collingwood with a win by the Crows by 16 points. Never thought I'd be barracking for the Crows but I was today. That puts the Crows into the top eight and the Pies drop out to 9th.

Hehe, do you think Eddie will blame this on COLA and the Academy??

And Heeney and Mills as well Meg - surely they are the root of collingwoods fall from grace.... (which I hope may continue long into the future!)