Preliminary Final 2: Sydney Swans Reserves v NT Thunder

[goswannies]

Just finished watching the stream & I thought Tommy Walsh mostly looked composed. Strong in marking contests & if he didn't hold them, brought them to ground. Short passed accurately by foot, good penetrating long kicks and hands looked clean. But that was just my impression. From what I saw, I still think he has something to offer.

[southsideswan]

seems strange that we finished higher on the ladder but do not the home grand final

[Ludwig]

Was pleased to see Richards playing so well on Ewing after being taken to the cleaners on their previous encounter.
Heeney showed glimpses of why he is so highly rated; besides the 2 nice passages of play in the 3rd there were several other good examples of what he can do on the inside, hitting targets and tackling. Looks to be heading for a seriously good career.
Towers is beginning to look like a senior player in the NEAFL. The stints at AFL level are evident.

[erica]

The NEAFL website just updated with the details

NEAFL Grand Final
Aspley Hornets v Sydney Swans Reserves
Sunday 14th September 1.45pm
Graham Road, Aspley

Thanks Ugg.

[ugg]

The NEAFL website just updated with the details

NEAFL Grand Final
Aspley Hornets v Sydney Swans Reserves
Sunday 14th September 1.45pm
Graham Road, Aspley

[ugg]

Who do we play in GF and when is it?

Aspley next Sunday. We've never played them before, in fact we've never played a Queensland-based non-AFL reserves side before in the NEAFL. Should be an interesting game in front of their home crowd.

[erica]

Who do we play in GF and when is it?

[mcs]

I was also impressed watching on the stream of Towers second efforts. Maybe his little stint in the AFL has shown him that he needs to lift an extra notch in terms of work rate and second effort. He did well.

I thought Xavier Richards had close to his best game for the season today. He really had a good game today, and he is developing nicely - certainly a reminder of why the club hold him in very high regard.

[ugg]

Notes:

• - Rain started midway through the first quarter and the Thunder were easily the cleaner side in the wet. They also stuck their tackles which resulted in the Swans struggling to get clean ball by hand out of the middle. However we didn't help our cause by some poor kicks into our forwards who I felt desperately sorry for given the amount of chances we butchered. That allowed the Thunder defenders to rebound off our turnovers and into their forward line, where they had plenty of space to work with. In the second half, we started to get on top we better ball use but also due to the fact the Thunder couldn't match their manic efforts in the first half. The last quarter became a blowout when it was apparent their season was already over.
• - For those wondering why Robinson got BOG, despite not appearing to gather a lot of possessions, he tagged their captain and best midfielder Ilett who had no influence on the game at all.
• - ROK started in the forward line, was relatively anonymous in the first half (as were most of the forward bar Nankervis). Was moved on-ball in the 2nd half and would have had most of his disposals then.
• - Naismith was amazing, both his tapwork and his follow up work especially his tackling were noticeable traits of his game today.
• - Biggs (surprisingly, to me anyway) played off a wing (An aside: The centre bounces were conducted off centre as the middle of the field was a mudheap. That meant one wing was closer to the bounce than the other and poor Biggs seemed to always come off the wing with the farther distance) and while I thought his first half was okay, his second half was terrible. He started it off by marking about 25m out in front of goal and then proceeded to perform one of the most casual goalkicking routines I've ever seen, ended up putting it wide. That seemed to affect his confidence because after that he missed targets by foot that he would have usually hit and generally didn't have an impact on the game.
• - Richards did a fine job on Ewing at full back. The Thunder isolated Ewing in the forward 50 early on, and when they broke into space they looked very dangerous on the counter attack, but Xavier held his nerve in a few one-on-one contests. Ewing finished scoreless, which is an unheard of return for him, so I'm surprised Richards didn't get into the best list.
• - Nankervis was our most dangerous looking forward in the first quarter, a straight set shot and again showed he is very good below his knees even in the wet. Took a knock during the first quarter, limped to the quarter time huddle but played on. Didn't do much ruckwork after this and I think from memory, was rested for most of the last quarter allowing Patty Mitchell a stint in the ruck supporting Naismith.
• - Membrey well held up till half time by Beugelaar who was assisted by the rain and some poor Swans forward 50 entries, but was one of the catalysts for our spark up in the 3rd quarter. I really appreciated some of his kicking into our forward 50 after he pushed up the ground to find the ball.
• - I've been critical of Towers in the past but I can't fault his efforts today. His second efforts were a particular highlight for me, he may have been beaten a few times in an initial contest but he got back up and chased and tackled as hard as anyone. Kicking still wasn't flash, particularly on the run, and could do with a lot of improvement but he'll be right in the mix for a call up for the prelim.
• - Laidler was okay, he let Davey sneak out for a mark in the pocket for their first goal but after that I thought he was solid defensively and was a good outlet from defence with his long kicks.
• - Heeney had a brilliant little patch in the third quarter when he kicked two goals. One was perhaps a little lucky, made contact with his left as he was being tackled and had the resulting ball bounce through, but the second was an excellent leap and contested mark which was complemented by an equally impressive set shot from 50. Played a mixture of half-forward and midfield
• - First time I've Mills and I like what I saw. For someone who won't be draft eligible until 2015 he is a solid unit already. Came to the fore in the last quarter when the game was in the bag and Crouch could rest some senior players giving the Academy boys more time on ground. His kicking is very good already, nailed a couple of forwards on the leads with no issues, and also set up Membrey's 2nd goal with a handball in congestion.
• - Abe Davis played a lot in the 2nd half, as Crouch restructured his team. They took Pat Mitchell off FF, moved Zak Jones from HB to HF and stationed Davis in the back six as his replacement. Good spoiler well, kicks relatively well, a lot to look forward to if we pick him up.
• - Hiscox's two strengths are his pace (quick!) and his eye for goal. I'm not sure whether he could make it in the AFL based on those two traits alone but he would sure be exciting to watch.

[Pmcc2911]

Great shot, ground looks like swamp out in the middle

[ugg]

For Matt80 and other fans of our Academy. The fab 4 - Mills, Heeney, Hiscox and Davis

[ugg]

Big Al tweeted to me at the time that the umpire was in the process of reporting him, but another umpire 100m away came in and cleared the confusion. At first I thought he was perhaps reporting ROK for umpire abuse (is there even such a charge?)

[liz]

He was already limping at quarter but played out the game. I think Pat Mitchell took over the 2nd ruck for most of the 2nd half though.

BTW the rules on the number of listed players next week is 15 including 2 NSW rookie listed players (which are Naismith and Robinson). Patty Mitchell was reported today for rough conduct so may be suspended, and from past experience they tend to give preference to seniority (i.e. how many years on the list you've been) rather than positional need. In the 2012 Eastern Conference GF they left out a tall defender in Jack Lynch for some shorter but more experienced players including Nathan Gordon, Dylan McNeil and Brett Meredith.

Was it my imagination or was ROK also reported. Looked like a ridiculous report if he was - more a clumsy accident caused by the teeming rain than anything else. Can't imagine the charge could be sustained.

And yes, Abe Davis does have great hair!

[goswannies]

How good is Abe Davis' hair?

Great to see Abe Davis in the number 60 ... once worn with distinction for the Swans by Craig Davis, father of Nick.

[ugg]

He was already limping at quarter but played out the game. I think Pat Mitchell took over the 2nd ruck for most of the 2nd half though.

BTW the rules on the number of listed players next week is 15 including 2 NSW rookie listed players (which are Naismith and Robinson). Patty Mitchell was reported today for rough conduct so may be suspended, and from past experience they tend to give preference to seniority (i.e. how many years on the list you've been) rather than positional need. In the 2012 Eastern Conference GF they left out a tall defender in Jack Lynch for some shorter but more experienced players including Nathan Gordon, Dylan McNeil and Brett Meredith.