Round 19: Geelong v Sydney Swans

[stevoswan]

The coach is only as good as the team playing. You can't blame the coach for the players playing like @@@@.
We need to be kicking 20 goals a game to be serious contenders.

Which beckons a change in game plan.....which takes us back to the coach. Agree though, the players need a rocket......which takes us back to 'Leading Teams' and fresh lessons on 'Bloods Culture' maybe?

[AnnieH]

There's no reason we can't be kicking 20 goals a game. It looks easy enough on paper.
Midfielders, backs, forwards... if an opportunity is up, go for it.

Flooding is so 2000.
If you're going to play a game of stoppages, make sure that you have the ROVERS to back it up. Our arses are being wiped in clearances. Stop handballing it back into the pack. It's boring.
Make sure a forward stays around the goal square. When the WHOLE team is at the opposition end, it makes it hard to kick goals when there's no one to kick it to... it also takes a defender out of the mob.

[rojo]

Can we appoint you to join the huddle to give the pre-game motivational speech on Friday night Annie?

[AnnieH]

Can we appoint you to join the huddle to give the pre-game motivational speech on Friday night Annie?

I do it from five storeys up... normally they can hear me!!

[Nico]

I wonder if this has got to do with the injuries to Rohan and Franklin. How many times was Goodes one out with 2 or more defenders on him. What about the number of times that Geelong had three defenders all alone in the last line of defense and the ball just kept coming back. It's fine flooding back but terrible when you get the ball and got nothing up front to go to. Maybe a change of game plane would be to have three forwards permanently up forward so that when they get the ball they have some targets to go to.

How about a few players start running forward of the ball. But hang on...they are too slow.

What about leaving Parker as a permanent forward and freeing up the mids for a bit of speed to be added. How quick is Perris? Parker takes a pretty fair mark.

[liz]

How about a few players start running forward of the ball. But hang on...they are too slow.

What about leaving Parker as a permanent forward and freeing up the mids for a bit of speed to be added. How quick is Perris? Parker takes a pretty fair mark.

Perris isn't particularly quick. No quicker than Parker, I'd say. He can win his own ball though. And while his skills aren't silky by any means, he has a good footy brain. I'd liken him to someone like Buchanan in terms of attributes.

I don't think foot speed is an issue in the team. I reckon we have as many genuinely quick players as most sides and I doubt our foot soldiers in the middle are, as a group, any slower than their peers in most other sides. They just seem inconsistent, particularly this year, particularly after half-time, in their desire to put their head over the ball and win the ground ball. Even when playing well over recent seasons, I don't think we've ever been strong at centre clearances but in contests around the ground the "Good Swans" have been pretty reasonable. That desire has been very patchy for much of 2015.

[ernie koala]

IMO there's too much stock put in players actual pace.

I agree with Liz, our team has just as much pace, if not more, as most teams.

When teams are in form and confident, moving the ball quickly and efficiently ...Port last year...they look fast.

When teams are out of form and lack confidence....Essendon this year....they look slow.

Pace is not our problem. It's speed, and efficiency, of ball movement that we lack at present.

[rojo]

I do it from five storeys up... normally they can hear me!!

Fantastic! Can you make it two players must stay in the forward line!

[AnnieH]

Fantastic! Can you make it two players must stay in the forward line!

Then we'd be accused of zoning.
May as well start and get used to it.
When the rest of the comp have to do it, at least we'll know what we are doing.

[Ampersand]

Just watched a replay of the first half and wanted to highlight a pet peeve of mine:

Lloyds marks in the forward 50. Straight in front. 45 out. TRIES TO PASS IT OFF TO THE TOP OF THE SQUARE. Ball is easily rebounded.

This should be a regulation set shot every single time for an AFL player. Goodes is one of the worst offenders for these 50/50 pulled kicks (due to his knees I assume) and is just so wasteful of a hard won mark in the forward 50.

[ScottH]

Just watched a replay of the first half and wanted to highlight a pet peeve of mine:

Lloyds marks in the forward 50. Straight in front. 45 out. TRIES TO PASS IT OFF TO THE TOP OF THE SQUARE. Ball is easily rebounded.

This should be a regulation set shot every single time for an AFL player. Goodes is one of the worst offenders for these 50/50 pulled kicks (due to his knees I assume) and is just so wasteful of a hard won mark in the forward 50.

+1.

At least if the shot lands short, it puts a huge amount of pressure on the defenders and can result in a free.

[Ampersand]

+1.

At least if the shot lands short, it puts a huge amount of pressure on the defenders and can result in a free.

Even a behind isn't a completely terrible result. It allows our defence structure to reset and it's difficult for the opposition to get it out from the goal square, as our own defence has ably demonstrated this year.