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Bumped Mitchell high with his shoulder - he will be suspended I expect, mainly because he moved, ever so slightly, to ensure contact - that is what will see him pinged. Mitchell naturally went down like a pack of spuds, being the cheating grub he is and all, but I'd be exceptionally surprised if Teddy gets off. Certainly won't help us next week against the tall Wet Coke forward line.
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"You get the feeling that like Monty Python's Black Knight, the Swans would regard amputation as merely a flesh wound." -
Just to put this into prospective in 1996 we beat the Roos by 79 pts during the season but they went on to beat us quiet comprehensible in the GF
I just wanted to suggest to all the doomsayers that the season is not over & lets look at the positives.
We were beaten but to my eyes everything went right for the Hawks & the opposite for us.
We were competitive for long stretches of the game.
We cannot blame the umpires & I think it's a bit over the top to suggest they are cheats & that the AFL should check their bank balances.This is defamitory!
I'm not saying that the Hawks aren't raging favourittes for the flag but we are not out of it.
We just need to put it together on the day.WE still have a bloody good football team!
Also to all those heaping cr*p on Longmire just remember this coach won us our 5th flag & that was only 3 years ago.
C'mon people a bit of faith.Comment
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I read this last night and gave it a little bit of thought. I woke up this morning sweating and yelling out Eade, Eade, Eade. I think this post is a real risk. The team will keep winning lots of games, but you can see the issues, you play finals but you know you are not a contender. The coach just yells in the box every 5 minutes, Eade does, Malthouse did, Parkin admitted you did it way too much, sometimes every game, and so does Longmire. Players are very sensitive for negative words, posture, displays and that creates a toxic environment with players under massive stress to NOT MAKE MISTAKES, and the structure and game plan makes it harder. I also believe that Longmire is a man manager coach but him and his crew cannot make positive changes in our structure.
We need positive coaching, leadership and a game plan that allows some mistakes. GWS, SAINTS, BULLDOGS play a more attacking game style, without the same cattle, but you can see what they are trying to do. With a forward line that we have and cant kick goals, you have to think about that!
Daisi, you have created nightmares for me.Comment
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Re Ted: Richards reported after Mitchell hit - AFL.com.au
He could get a fine if impact graded as low (Mitchell played the rest of the match) but I suspect it will be graded as medium impact with penalty of two matches down to one with early plea (same gradings and penalty as Franklin and Tippett a couple of matches ago).Comment
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I have lost the faith in the current team as it is but cannot see where we can improve with the restrictions. We do not appear to be jelling as a team and have too many deficiencies and no depth. No team will beat Hawks this year in a GF and that is demoralising.Comment
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There were no positives to come out of last night in my book.
'We were competitive for long stretches of the game' - even if it is true (which I'm sorry but I can't agree it is), we still lost by 15 goals - that is an absolute drubbing, which suggests, that in the parts we were not competitive in, we were absolutely monstered by the Hawks.
As for the umpires - Stevic has plenty of form, go back and watch the 2012 GF and say otherwise. And if you want evidence of how a run of umpiring decisions can dramatically shift momentum, look no further then the few minutes before the half time siren. Umpires had no role in deciding last nights game, but there is good reason why many of us question their continued decision making, in particular from a select few.
I still think we can go deep into the season, but it would take an almighty turn around for us to get near the Hawks when it matters - we have now been humiliated by them 2 times out of the last 3 we have played them. Whilst we might be 11-4, I think one can conclude that we have never shown this season anything like the form needed to win a flag (in terms of quality performances).
Our best hope is someone else deals with the Hawks for us - I just can not see how we are going to beat them when it counts. But as your Roos example does show, footy is a strange game and things can change quickly. But we need it to change very quickly, or our top 4 place will soon be in doubt as well.
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That's what'll hurt him - that he moved to create the high contact. If he just braced for it and Mitchell run into him (Which probably would have happened if Teddy did not move), he would of been alright. But the movement of the shoulder to hit Mitchell will see him in trouble."You get the feeling that like Monty Python's Black Knight, the Swans would regard amputation as merely a flesh wound."Comment
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Yes it was un-Ted like, lacked judgement, to me he looked sluggish last night after his concussion. Ironic, he was knocked out, missed a week, comes back and gets reported and will now miss at least another match - while the player who concussed him got nothing (and by the way I didn't have a problem with that MRP decision).Comment
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Well, I still think that the season is still alive, and I wouldn't expect the management to treat it as otherwise. But I think that we are now at long odds for a premiership this year, and it would need a fair amount of improbable things to occur to have us genuine contenders again. Firstly, we will need to have a remarkably clear run with injuries, while Hawthorn, and to a lesser extent the other contenders, all have horror runs.
Also, last night's game needs to be treated as a strong learning experience, which is probably the easy part, while the harder part is to make sure that a thrashing of that proportion doesn't happen again. In regards to that, in my opinion it would be a mistake to claim that the team lacked effort or didn't show up. The fact that we won the contested possession, clearance and tackle counts, shows that there was effort there. What should be a more useful conclusion to draw, is that Hawthorn has learnt how to deal with our preferred game style, but we haven't worked out how to nullify theirs when it's full flight. And probably the central part of this, is that it seems that our players have been drilled to use multiple short handballs to try and work our way out of pressure. While this can be pretty to watch when it comes off, it can often break down under pressure, especially in slippery conditions. In contrast, Hawthorn seem to be always looking to relieve pressure with quick kicks.
I certainly thought that this was major difference between the two sides last night. That is, once we had possession, Hawthorn were often easily able to deal with our backwards and sideways handballs. They did this mainly through their speedier players, like Rioli, coming from behind into an already congested area, to apply pressure to both the ball carrier and the intended receivers. This meant that we often saw handball chains become increasingly chaotic as they progressed, resulting in turnovers. Or when we did clear the ball, the often chaotic lateral and backwards movement meant that the Hawthorn defenders had time to rapidly organise themselves and man up on our downfield options. In contrast, Hawthorn's preferred option of quickly kicking, meant that they got the ball away from the congested areas much more efficiently. It also meant that the Hawthorn players peeling away from the congestion were more able to affect the next contest, since they probably had the advantage of often knowing where their team mates were kicking to. Time and time again last night, we saw when one of our defenders was able to spoil, Hawthorn players were able to keep the movement going by arriving first to clean up the spillage. And with other options rapidly streaming forward, free targets were often able to be hit. So in my opinion, that was the main reason why a game that was even in many respects, ended up as a massive blowout.
I also suspect that possibly the main reason for the shellshocked look on the face on John Longmire, whenever he was shown on screen, may have been the realisation that the game plan that they have probably spent much of the season and pre-season working on, may now be largely redundant. It will be interesting to see if there will be any significant change in the way that we play. But if we are going to do it, we should start to do it now.Comment
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I'd like to hear Horse say , just for a change : "The boys can do this , they are ready , have the skills and the mindset to beat The Hawks, Eagles , blah blah .. "
Instead of "We are playing a very good team on Sat night ".Comment
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This pretty much sums it up. I'm generally optimistic about our chances, but I know i haven't sounded like it this season. There was something rotten from the start. We always want to have the hope that the next week will be different, but it never seemed to materialize.
The drubbing last night is positively cathartic in a bizarre way. It's a confirmation of where we really are at this time. The delusions of us as a premiership contender are gone, and we can begin to rebuild the team for another crack at the title, hopefully as early as 2017.
There's only one club can be premiers, so there's no shame in not being the one. I very much enjoyed 2011 because you could see we were building toward something, which came to fruition the following year.
We should be a good enough side to stay in the top eight during this period, thanks to a quality midfield. We have so many holes to fill at both ends of the ground that it's hard to see, with any confidence, how it will all come together. We will be burdened with Tippett's salary through next year, which will restrict what we can do during this trade period more than any trade ban. Even if Tippett would agree to leave, who would be willing to take on his salary. By 2017 he will be 30 yo with a mediocre career and may even end up being delisted. We will probably have to wait until the end of next year to know more about where we stand.
I've readjusted my expectations. There won't be any more disappointing performances for me this year. I hope the Swans' brain-trust also understand where we are at. I've felt since the Brisbane game that Longmire understood we were cooked. His anger has abated. He's seen the light.Comment
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How do we rebuild when we have trading restrictions?Comment
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The worst part about the loss was that we won or at least broke even in most stats and key indicators! The main difference was though and what has been a major issue I believe for many years is our efficiency by hand and foot! Our skills and decision making resemble a bottom side and it's only our work rate and hardness sets us apart from them.
Our coaches and recruitment staff are to blame for this as they continually look to draft players who fit the "swans" style gameplan which is hardness and pressure and in an under types. What we clearly lack is players who can kick with accuracy and penetration and have composure to pick the right option going forward.
Now people may say and rightly so that we have been up the top for a while so haven't been able to draft any of the top end talent. But so has Hawthorn but they seem to keep producing players who fit their style which is disposing with precision.
The so called modern game is supposed to be about getting the best athlete to run all day but I really believe that Hawthorn has shown the way and others simply haven't listened by picking players who are footballers first, who have skills and make good decisions.
As I've seen someone say before, there's a difference between speed on foot and speed with ball in hand.Comment
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Dejavoodoo44. Good read with great analysis.Comment
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Another good read with troyjones2525 and future chances from ludwig. I enjoy it when posters give us some insight with a different view of the situation.Comment
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