Swans v Power

[dimelb]

Generally, I thought is was an excellent grafting win, against a highly motivated opposition...Same as last week.

Both games were played in a finals type manner, hard and tight, with loads of pressure.

IMO, it was a really good win and shouldn't be undervalued.

Some fine tuning over the next few weeks, hopefully not to many injuries, and we should be cherry ripe for September.

About how I saw it too.

[Swanny40519]

I know we are all watching the same game lol. What is happening is we are watching different aspects. My opinion is that bird has been terrific gathering possessions and tackling etc through the midfield. But I think his disposal has been a bit wayward. It's those two aspects that give rise to those opposing opinions.

In fact I think generally swans disposal isn't as good as other elite teams. Not the quality of hawks or Geelong. We make up for it with immense pressure. If our disposal improved we would be awesomely formidable

+1.

Bird get a lot of possessions and he is good at that aspect of the game. However is disposal lets him down and the past 2 weeks he has turned the ball over many times.

If we are to get through the final games and on to the GF and most probably play the Hawks, our overall disposal by foot and hands has to get a lot better - up to Hawks standard otherwise we will struggle to get the win.

[barry]

Laidler is a very strong mark but slow.
Rohan is fast but a fumble fingers.

Can we combine them?

[joemoore12]

+1.
wonderful, high pressure football in front of 50,000, in wet conditions, and against a team that was up for it. A fantastic win. Soaked up that first 11 minutes of intense pressure, then never looked like going down. Bird is a beauty in and under; there are mistakes, but in the context . . . People also talking down Malceski, but he kept bobbing up in the right place, and I know that whenever he did my hands unclenched on the whiskey glass. Jetta is doing great things?he scrubbed a couple, but overall, what a contributor. And the run is outstanding?Cunningham, Rohan, even Goodes showing a clean set of heels. Hannerbery had his run on, too, and Parker and Kennedy gave the lie to those who talk them down as trundlers. Our boys simply outran and out-tackled Port (yes, Matt80). Let's get behind this mob. 14 wins from 15, a healthy list, and a full head of steam. What a team. What a season.

Agree 100%!!!

[liz]

Given how readily the umpire paid a 50m penalty against the Swans when someone (Bird?) played on in the midfield when the team legitimately thought it had won the ball, not realising that Boak had been given a free, I don't think too much can be read into Buddy looking back to check. He had clearly been involved in a contest that could have been adjudicated differently.

They replayed the contest several times on the big screen at the ground, raising the ire of the home crowd. It still wasn't entirely clear to me whether Buddy's arms' were involved in a push or whether his opponent backed into him and then went down like a sack of potatoes when he felt contact. I will need to watch the replay on my own TV screen. Whether or not this one should have been a free against Buddy, I am glad that the umpires have stopped automatically assuming that when a defender losses a one-on-one contest and goes to ground, that the forward should be penalised. That's definitely an improvement on years gone by.

Jetta did some wonderful stuff last night but his kicking - normally a strength, did let him down a few times. He's certainly becoming a more complete (and thus more valuable) player and has plenty of improvement left in him I reckon.

And Harry must have a thing about the Adelaide Oval. That's six goals he's now kicked at the ground this season. Let's hope he doesn't ask for a trade to one of the two Adelaide sides!

[shaun..]

Agree about Franklin but what about the Neade goal late? I'm sick of players dropping the ball in a tackle and then bouncing back up and kicking a goal. Two weeks in a row our tackle pressure close to goal has gone unrewarded.

Yep. And (then) getting a free for "holding on" when they have dropped the ball as an incorrect or illegal disposal..

Apart from that, the umpiring was fairly solid. They didn't fall for the baiting and boos from the crowd. And it was a great crowd too.. much louder than any I've been to at home.

[Chilcott]

I thought Jetta's game was quite good. Can now get his own ball and uses it well on most occasions. I've been disappointed with Craig bird over the last 2 weeks. Gets a lot of the ball, but turns it over too often. Just doesn't have any penetration in kicking or hand balling at the moment.

[aguy]

I thought Jetta's game was quite good. Can now get his own ball and uses it well on most occasions. I've been disappointed with Craig bird over the last 2 weeks. Gets a lot of the ball, but turns it over too often. Just doesn't have any penetration in kicking or hand balling at the moment.

I think it's mostly his disposals by foot that have led to turnovers. But still these are not every time. We just notice them more because we are highly critical audience.

I still think he is a very valuable player because the possessions he gathers are Invaluable. Think about it this way. If he is substituted for a player who gets less possessions what happens to those possessions. You may think they go to other swans but I suspect alot of them would become opposition possessions which changes the balance of pressure and potentially leads to more scores against us thereby scoreboard pressure.

He's just gotta work on the disposals

[Doctor]

I agree with a few on here. I thought it was a good grafting win against an opposition that may be down on form but was definitely up for the game. They also had most of their injured guys back, and their loss was really when the poor run started. It was also a bit wet and greasy and we know our track record in those conditions.

On the plus side, we won without Smith and got through it with no injuries. I thought some of our "lesser lights" like Harry and Gary were excellent. Benny had another superb game, other than some of his kicking for goal. Goodesy looked more mobile than he has in a while and Ted did a superb job on Jay Schultz.

In terms of negatives, I think our mids are still kicking it inside 50 looking for Franklin or Tippett too often. Macca spotted up Buddy perfectly once and showed when it's the right time to do it. Other times the midfielder in question would be clear with noone near him and kicked it forward to a contest rather than running on or holding up and waiting for an option to arrive. Defensively we still look pretty good although I was concerned about Port's ability to keep us locked inside our defensive 50 for long periods a couple of times.

I'm looking forward to us hopefully flexing our offensive muscle a bit in the next 3 matches, without taking our opposition lightly.

[giant]

1 watch it
2 learn the rules

Really????

http://www.afl.com.au/video/2014-08-09/buddy-pushes-his-luck

[Jewels]

Really????

http://www.afl.com.au/video/2014-08-...ushes-his-luck

I don't know how anyone could not think it was a free, a clear push in the back for mine.

[Melbournehammer]

Posting this a bt nervously, but...
I am not really convinced by our form and I wonder whether the next three weeks is a bit of a trap.

We scrambled over the bombers who got belted by the Tiges. We best port but hardly decisively - the same port who lost to collingwood - a team which has just been belted by ten goals by west coast.

The repeated references on here and elsewhere are to solid grafting wins. That is where we are currently at. Then we are going to play three softish games leading into a qualifying final. I confess to some nervousness

- - - Updated - - -

I don't know how anyone could not think it was a free, a clear push in the back for mine.

For mine too. He clearly starts bumper barring the port player but ends up clearly pushing him with his hand. Much more obvious than laidler later in the game.

[Zlatorog]

Agree. I wonder if it is part of the strategy to cruise by instead of going with full on game. Injury to Hannebery and Tippet probably caused this cautious approach. It's the finals the at matter and healthy playing list.

[ernie koala]

Posting this a bt nervously, but...
I am not really convinced by our form and I wonder whether the next three weeks is a bit of a trap.

We scrambled over the bombers who got belted by the Tiges. We best port but hardly decisively - the same port who lost to collingwood - a team which has just been belted by ten goals by west coast.

The repeated references on here and elsewhere are to solid grafting wins. That is where we are currently at. Then we are going to play three softish games leading into a qualifying final. I confess to some nervousness

You're obviously in the 'glass half empty' camp.

We've won 14 of our last 15. Our 2 latest wins have been against finals bound teams who were clearly desperate and up for the challenge.

Against Essendon we came off a bruising game against Hawthorn and a 6 day break, to Essendon's 12 day break.

Port, and the 50 odd thousand screaming fans, were desperate and(according to all the commentary I've heard and read) they played their best footy since they were on top of the ladder.

I think there's no doubt teams get up for games against us these days, we are seen as a benchmark of where they want to get to.

We beat them both, without it being our best footy....

I'm definitely in the 'glass overflowing' camp, at this stage.

Also, I don't think either game, against the Dogs or the Tigers, will be soft games.

[Melbourne_Blood]

The Port game was played at a pretty ferocious intensity for the most part. It was finals like. Pressure was huge, and the score line slightly flattered us, but we held off a strong challenge from a desperate team who at one stage this year were sitting two games clear on top of the ladder and looking unstoppable. They can play and they bloody well came to play on saturday! We did enough against Essendon , never looked like losing for mine. We've lost 1 game since round 4 and beaten all teams in contention for the premiership. The ( narrow) loss to the hawks is the only real blip so far, and there's no shame in losing to that mob at the G. A soft run in maybe but hopefully that gives us a chance to freshen up some of our hard working mids. I think we've got far more reason to feel bullish than we do to feel concerned.