Match Day Thread Rnd 5 V Western Bulldogs.

[mcs]

That tippett call was absolute bull@@@@ - just muscled him out of the contest, nowhere near hands in the back.

[CureTheSane]

We handed them at least 3 goals.
We missed too many easy shots.
The end.
@@@@ happens.

[Beerman]

In a close game, the umpiring had an impact. I don't know how others saw this but I was livid when Tippett foaled on the line, turned and kicked it through and was then pinged for pushing: in my view he was using his hands to hold his ground.

That's true about the Tippett mark, although the umps did gift a goal to Rohan with that 50m - very soft. I would be spitting chips if that was paid against us, so I have to say it's a bad call. I was livid about the Pyke call as well - I was under the impression they had ruled that he had played on, but the Fox replay clearly showed touched. There was another mark around the ground that Pyke held that was called play on as well. Umps hated him today.

Anyway, I think we all need to take a deep breath. Swans have got some things to work on, but it's round 5, not round 23.

Also, everyone's ripping into Rampe. The problem is not that he's terrible - the problem is that he was one of our best defenders!

[Ludwig]

Also, everyone's ripping into Rampe. The problem is not that he's terrible - the problem is that he was one of our best defenders!

It's not specifically Rampe, but the combination of players we have down back struggle to get the ball out of defence and oppositions sides are taking advantage of this by putting forward pressure of the group and forcing turnovers. We even had problems last year in this regard, but often got bailed out thanks to Malceski.

Grundy is too slow to run out of trouble and Shaw is too poor a kick to kick out of trouble. Everyone is looking for the boundary to relieve the pressure. It's too hard to find someone who can hit a target outside our defensive 50 and get us moving forward. We need to add 2 skillful players to the defensive mix. It might cause a bit of pain at first while we work through the transition, but we have to bite the bullet sometime if we hope to compete against the better sides.

Hawthorn lost their 2 top key defenders, but don't seem to have much problem finding a team that can run away with a game. Collingwood seem to have half their best team on the injury/drug list and have put together a very competitive team with many inexperienced players. Why don't we just pretend that we have an injury list comparable to most other clubs. Let's say: Grundy, Shaw, Goodes, Towers, McGlynn and Pyke are all out injured. Who could we play? From those missing from the current side we have Reid, Heeney, Jones, Naismith, Nankervis, Xav, Abe Davis, Robinson, BJ and maybe even Harry Marsh, who seems a much improved player this year. I can understand why the management were so keen on getting Nick Newman on the park given how desperate we are for someone who can kick out of defence.

Not desperation times yet, but time for a reality check. There's plenty that needs fixing at the Swans.

[mcs]

We handed them at least 3 goals.
We missed too many easy shots.
The end.
@@@@ happens.

Only a couple - Try 8 goals from turnovers, including the three gimmes from appaling kicks out of defence.

[Auntie.Gerald]

i do remember last year playing north in the wet at the SCG and we looked terrible in the early rounds

At least this time we were bloody close and we look better in the early rounds then last year

BTW GWS who have looked very very good got belted yest............just mentioned to maintain relativity !

PS - but our poor entries into our forward line certainly helped the Dogs to counter attack on us and come back the other way in numbers like Freeo did to us

[stellation]

That's true about the Tippett mark, although the umps did gift a goal to Rohan with that 50m - very soft. I would be spitting chips if that was paid against us, so I have to say it's a bad call. I was livid about the Pyke call as well - I was under the impression they had ruled that he had played on, but the Fox replay clearly showed touched. There was another mark around the ground that Pyke held that was called play on as well. Umps hated him today.

Anyway, I think we all need to take a deep breath. Swans have got some things to work on, but it's round 5, not round 23.

Also, everyone's ripping into Rampe. The problem is not that he's terrible - the problem is that he was one of our best defenders!

I thought that 50 to Rohan was absolutely there. I can understand why the Doggies player braced the way he did, but he still cleaned him up after he'd taken the mark.

[Hotpotato]

If you were sitting there as a Dogs supporter, it was such a good opportunistic , clean , skilful and accurate performance by them . They were exciting in the wet, and may well have been too good for us in the dry.
The Swans don't seem to renew the talent as efficiently as some other clubs.. Too many names rusted on the playing list... With young Heeney and Sam on the park , would have put the Doggies back in their kennels.

[Ampersand]

Mitchell absolutely needs to stay in this team. His kicking is no worse than Parker's (who seems to have the yips) and he takes the focus off Joey who always has a player on his back. It also frees up Hanners, Parker and Jack to rotate forward.

If one thing worked yesterday it was our tap and clearance work, especially before the heavens opened up.

I was really frustrated with Longmire's tepid comments about Mitchell's performance in the presser. If 30 disposals and 9 tackles on a first game return to seniors is par for him, what the hell does he have to do to impress?!

[liz]

The Swans don't seem to renew the talent as efficiently as some other clubs.. Too many names rusted on the playing list... With young Heeney and Sam on the park , would have put the Doggies back in their kennels.

Not sure I really understand the above. If you are comparing us to the Dogs (who are surprising everyone by just how quickly their young players are coming together), sure we don't because we haven't had numerous top 10 picks in recent year. I do think the Dogs have used theirs very well - Bontempelli, McRae and Stringer in particular are great pick-ups, even allowing for how high they were taken.

We lucked in with Heeney this year and it shows what a difference a genuine top 5 talent can make.

We are seeing a few barely hanging on at the backs of their careers but they have been part of a team has been very competitive for an extended period of time. Sure, another couple of clubs have been slightly better over that period - taking the period as a whole - but we've still been remarkably fortunate. And we still are, because the nucleus of a very good team is still there. Enough players played well enough yesterday in the conditions to have won that game if our defence hadn't had a half dozen or more brain fades.

[stellation]

Enough players played well enough yesterday in the conditions to have won that game if our defence hadn't had a half dozen or more brain fades.

That was what I took away from yesterday's game- wet weather footy becomes such a lucky dip for results that I didn't really read a lot into the result. Sucks to miss the 4 points, but I was left feeling that, good as the Dogs were, we lost the game.

I think our back 6 needs work, which was my thought after the previous game as well- but even then I don't know if it is a change of players in the 22, if it's coaching/structure or just simply a bad run for a few guys that will naturally correct itself. I do wonder if we're trying to get too many numbers behind the ball and if that's then removing an option of a quick bail out kick because we don't have as many players on the wings. We're a little slow in the back line when relying on Ted, Grundy or Laidler to move the ball out and they rarely seem to have a decent long along the lines bail out target.

[Simo]

Towers = Flowers
Jetta= butter
Fair dinkum, with respect to our hard midfielders and buddy, we got bashed up by kids.
Nick smith, got the all Australian and put the que in the rack, shaw do us a favor and retire, Grundy...bend over son. How mcglynn wasn't in the side is beyond me, even as sub, he loves hitting hard. Lloyd, bird, Jetta, shaw, smith, flowers, macca and Harry don't go hard enough. The dogs showed us and they will others that there is no I in team.

Soft not for the first time this year. I'm not panicking because in the dry we get away with it, but these games hurt later on.
Mitchell plays every game, his hands can release, shaw goes, jones or marsh in...give them a go at least, heeny back for goodes, flowers out for a shadow
Get Naismith in ASAP. Kid has talent and skills, could be a Goldstein type.

Too old, too slow, not hungry.

Anyway, we will make finals as per usual. But the hunger seems to be wavering. Not in results but in effort and on field body language.

[aardvark]

Too old, too slow, not hungry.Anyway, we will make finals as per usual. But the hunger seems to be wavering. Not in results but in effort and on field body language.

Agree. It was like it was all too hard for quite a few. I was really disappointed in our captains, Mc Veigh was invisible for the whole game, Jack a little better in the second half.
The team we have at the moment won't win the premiership, as others have said it's time to take the hit with the next group of players for the greater good.

I did enjoy Gary Rohans game. He is really maturing into a good player.

[Ludwig]

Mc Veigh was invisible for the whole game

No wonder he landed 11 tackles to lead our side. No one could see him coming.

[Wardy]

I'm sure that Joey & Shaw have baby brain - joeys turnovers were pretty significant - Shaw - goes in blazing and his passes went over team mates heads - but certainly the wet didn't help.
Grundy - OMG the less said the better. Towers not really up to seniors standard. Mitchell , Hanners & Rohen stood out too me as giving their all. Laidler - hmm nah, agree Rampe get a haircut. We had a swans supporter sitting behind us who still had it in for Buddy (obviously winning a Coleman and being our best player in a losing grand final isn't good enough),anyway I turned around gave him the death stare and just said "well if you can get out there and do better, go on then knock yourself out" he and his equally annoying wife went silent. But I digress, Jetta - I've said all year - LAZY!! sure he is to be used for bursts of speed but if the ball is near you get in and have a go against your opponent! And never let him do the kick in again Ever!!! What the hell was that all about ?
We actually missed Heeney!!!
Full credit to the dogs though - they are playing footy how it should be played. Kick long and fast. Our stupid hand passing to players under pressure was making me pop a valve . Changes need to be made - Reid into the back line, Grundy dropped that's just a few, I'm need breakfast and to put it behind me!!!????????