Round 19: Geelong v Sydney Swans

[aardvark]

Plus I think we stuffed up by letting Biggs go. Ok he is not getting a game with Bullies but then again they are playing a bit better than us. He would be better and more consistent than about half of our team at the moment.

I watched him play in the Bulldogs first team the last 2 weeks Wolfie and he is playing really really well. I agree it's a shame we lost him. He had 27 today and 22 last week v the bombers.

[The Big Cat]

You didn't mention Kizza & Macca not standing up once again. Very poor from our captains. I don't think Kizza has put more than 1 game in every two together this season. Rhyce is finished, he has played about a third of the games. Do you realise according to that really great stats firm, Champion Data, he has only had 6 goals kicked on him this season. I nearly choked. He got 4 in one match and followed up with 3 against so I can't see how he can only have had 6 for the season.


We played out GF last week on all the emotion. We proved how unfit we are this week. to whoever said we were too slow. Yes we were but more because we are too unfit. I saw players chasing guys they would normally have mowed down and giving up because they were blown. Lukie on Kelly. He would normally swamp him but he was all blown out. I watched him just give up and bend over. @@@@ that is really bad. He wasn't the only one, Kizza, Hannas, Lloydy, even Heeney, normally good chasers just gave up too often. To me it is an indication of a fitness problem not a speed problem as Harry, who is quick also had the same problem.

Yes we have problems with depth. What team wouldn't when you can't trade. But buddy & Tip have to also be blamed for some of it too. But when we have injuries in both the Seniors and Reserves it really hurts. The natural replacement development wise for Pykie would have been Naismith but he has been injured. Several other players who were expected to push for selection this year have either not developed or have been injured. We also have several on the Rookie list, including Big Sammy that may be better than a few on the Senior list. Marsh for instance should have been de-listed and retaken as a rookie. That could have made room for Newman on the main list. He is the most likely of the backs to make it other than Melican, who has been injured all year.

Hewett is developing nicely. Davis is a good prospect. Hiscox will develop and is looking good but still makes basic blues yet. Robbo should have played today not BJ. Aliir is developing but still not quite ready, he needs to stop his lapses in concentration. But I will say that we could have used him as a second ruck instead of Nanka today. Xav is developing nicely and I don't think he is too far away.

On the rookie List; I like Foote. He's tough. He also knows how to win the ball and tag a player really hard. He makes them earn their ball. Newman is a real find and the sooner he ends up on the Senior list the better. Young Perris is going to be something. He plays tall for his height and knows instinctively where the ball is. He is also a good deliverer. Melican looked so good in the pre-season. We might get to see him next week as he is now fit to go. McLaren has not developed much at all but it is early days yet. He is a really tall but doesn't have the weight yet to fulfil the role of a tall at open age level. He would have been really good in the under 19 but at open level he is up against men whose body development is years ahead of his.He is painfully thin. He shows talent at times and is very good when thrown into the ruck at times. But I think they are developing him slowly due to his build.

We have a lot of players who are future and raw at this stage but not a lot who are ready. We lost too many players when Bud came. Mummy, Drey, Spang, Lamb etc. Players we were developing. Plus I think we stuffed up by letting Biggs go. Ok he is not getting a game with Bullies but themn again they are playing a bit better than us. He would be better and more consistent than about half of our team at the moment. We have had injuries to key players and that has hurt when we also had injuries in the Twos. Birdie was just coming back and got injured.

I think our fitness gurus need to be shed and we need a better fitness team next year. They have stuffed up big time. Our players are having problems. I would also be looking into the supplements program. Yes we do have one. Some of then cause shortness of breath when you are stressed exercise wise and are only good for weight gain and weight lifting. If we are using any of them we should shed them immediately. It is the worst condition I have ever seen a Swans side. Yes we lack some speed but it is not speed in itself that is beating us it is the ability to get to the contest. We are slow because we are not fit, simple really. When you are less fit than the opposition the longer a game goes the longer it takes to react. Your concentration lapses, you get slack on covering, you don't read the play well. We need to examine our fitness regime.

You can't be serious about fitness! We are maybe going thru some loading.

Everrit, Lamb, Biggs, etc wouldn't be getting a game and would be true list cloggers. We do miss Mummy

[annew]

We did lose 3 of our last 4 games in 2012 and then came and beat Adelaide in Adelaide round 1 of the finals. I still think we will finish 4th but may limp into finals cos we don't seem to have had continuity this year and probably too many passengers and weaknesses.

[ugg]

Assuming we win our remaining games (and that's a big assumption - I think St Kilda has a gameplan that may trouble us), and assuming the Dogs lose to the Eagles we should still finish 4th.

[wolftone57]

You can't be serious about fitness! We are maybe going thru some loading.

Everrit, Lamb, Biggs, etc wouldn't be getting a game and would be true list cloggers. We do miss Mummy

So Everitt was a list clogger. His last year with us was very good in fact. He is doing very well at his new club. I agree about Lamb but Biggs had promise. Yes we do miss Mummy and Spang was very good too except for injured far too often.

I am serious about fitness. We don't play out games. even last week we barely held in the last half. We made our big move in the first half. When a side doesn't play four quarters out fitness is always a problem. almost everything comes from fitness; confidence, ability to run games out, skills (you are not rushed if in peak fitness), psychology, game plan works out because you have the wherewithal to apply it. But without a top line fitness base you can't do all of the things you want because you are not capable. Simple really.

If you can give me an example of a game we have completely killed this year then name it. Even against Port, our best game, we slacked off. So name your game! By the way the Hawks game doesn't count they were even worse in their preparation than us and had quite a few players just returning from injury and lost a key back during the game.

do you think Biggs a bigger list clogger than Marsh? I suppose you do but what would you know you wouldn't have seen Marsh play. I think there are several list cloggers playing senior footy at the moment, BJ, Shaw come to mind. BJ just doesn't have the steadiness to play league footy, he panics and gives off the worst HB in history, every time he plays. Marsh needs to go. Shaw is definitely at the end. I would rather we retired him sooner rather than later so we could promote Newman.

We will bow out of the finals early this year because we are just not good enough. I don't care who we get back our fitness base and psychological level are just not good enough. add to that a @@@@ game plan and that really says it all.

[troyjones2525]

We did lose 3 of our last 4 games in 2012 and then came and beat Adelaide in Adelaide round 1 of the finals. I still think we will finish 4th but may limp into finals cos we don't seem to have had continuity this year and probably too many passengers and weaknesses.

Christ! Don't post that stuff and make me think that we may still have a chance this year! Lol. I had already basically convinced myself that we are gone! ????

[Ludwig]

In 2012 we played well most of the year and 2 of those last 3 losses were very close games. This year we have barely put together a convincing 4 qtr effort and were thoroughly trounced by 2 or the better teams. We have been handling Geelong quite easily of late, and were looking okay in the first half. But 1 goal in a the second half of football in a critical game is really inexplicable. It's not a good sign.

[troyjones2525]

In 2012 we played well most of the year and 2 of those last 3 losses were very close games. This year we have barely put together a convincing 4 qtr effort and were thoroughly trounced by 2 or the better teams. We have been handling Geelong quite easily of late, and were looking okay in the first half. But 1 goal in a the second half of football in a critical game is really inexplicable. It's not a good sign.

Yep you've convinced me again. We're @@@@@@! Lol.

[annew]

Y

Yep you've convinced me again. We're @@@@@@! Lol.

Ok maybe my comment was a tad optimistic but I still think we will finish 4th and still believe if it bleeds it can be killed.

[frankee]

Umpires were terrible but, we again had no fwd line and were kicking it to Geelong players in the 3rd. The team keep going back to this style when the pressure is on.

[Swansinger]

Christ! Don't post that stuff and make me think that we may still have a chance this year! Lol. I had already basically convinced myself that we are gone! ??

We are. Serious contenders don't win one from four at this time of year, lose heavily in two of those games and insipidly beaten in one of them.
On the positive side , I'll save a few hundred dollars on not having to buy a GF ticket this year.

I'd prefer us to not reach the GF if we were going to get belted again.
Realistically , we will do well to get even as far as a PF.

[Scottee]

Call me paranoid, but I see a connection between the type of umpiring we saw last night and gambling and the AFL junta.Not that it would have changed the outcome if it was fair, but it wasn't.

[stellation]

I'm definitely in the "the umpiring sucked, but wasn't why we lost" camp- we couldn't maintain composure, couldn't hit targets and clearly didn't think through our forward structure (which would we be moderately forgiveable if Buddy had been a last minute out).

The umpiring after half time was pretty crazy, though, even considering it was Geelong playing at home, and I could almost understand if it got into the player's heads a little bit. Yes, they were the team surging so were more likely to earn frees- but sheesh! I know someone has already listed them, but my favourites were;
1. I have no idea how Selwood didn't get called for a second 50, I'm sure Laidlaw sold it when he went down the second time but you can't be called for 50 for shoving someone who had a kick in the upper chest and them going over, then remonstrating with the umpire and doing it a second time straight in front of them. That was absolutely home cooking/the umpire fearing the crowd's reaction.
2. Duncan coming up to man a mark on our half back line, then proceeding to come forward by a few metres as if the umpire had called play on and nothing. Worse considering Rampe had (rightly) been called for 50 for not coming back on the umpire's whistle earlier.
3. The Selwood head high decision that resulted in a goal- what the hell was that? The umpire on the spot with the best view didn't call it, it was the slightest glance as Joey pulled out of it AND Selwood had started to duck to cause the contact. Crazy.
4. The late tackle on McVeigh- it didn't matter because Hawkins had come up with the ball in a good position anyway, but that really was a terrible call.
5. Tippett (who I thought rucked pretty well) being called for a block in the ruck contest when the umpire hadn't bounced the ball straight. It happened twice, but the second was particularly strange because apart from it was the umpire's bounce that caused it to basically sit on top of Tippett's head, he didn't really even block.

Special mention to Dermie for the beautiful bit of commentary following a Cat free/shot on goal coming from clearly bending the knees/ducking the head; Dunstall "he ducked!", Dermie: "Nah, he just lowered the body"

That said, as Swans fans we probably need to put our hands up to help the club. If they could get a thousand of us to the SCG this week and run some drills where they just have to kick the ball with a swarm of people running at them it might help.

[Mountain Man]

Do "out on the full" penalties count as "frees"?

If so our Frees for need to be discounted by at least 4!

[troyjones2525]

I just really want us to smash Collingwood this Friday night! Whatever happens after that I don't care because I don't think we are a chance of doing any real damage come finals time anyway!