VFL Round 20: UWS Giants v Sydney Swans Reserves @ Spotless Stadium

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NEAFL 2015 Round 20

UWS Giants v Sydney Swans Reserves

Saturday 22nd August 2015
10.20am
Spotless Stadium

With 2 rounds to go both these teams have secured their finals spots. A Giants win would see them claim their minor premiership courtesy of their ridiculous percentage advantage over 2nd placed NT Thunder, however the Swans' final position will not be known until after the completion of the final round. With the Swans level on 44 points with Sydney Uni and Aspley but with a inferior percentage, a loss here would render a Top 4 finish very unlikely and with it any chances of a home final.

When these 2 sides last met in Round 13, a Giants side brimming full of confidence and with a small injury list demolished a weakened Swans outfit by a whopping 183 points. Since that win, they've 'struggled' to replicate that form and have won the last 5 games by margins of only 94, 130, 97, 93 and 110 points respectively. The Giants will be fielding a weaker team this time round, but still will have an advantage over the Swans in the number of listed players in their lineup.

The Reserves came from behind to defeat a strong Gold Coast outfit last week, overcoming injuries to key players Dan Robinson and George Hewett to triumph, like the seniors who were to follow, by 11 points. The Giants had the bye last week.


NEAFL Ladder
Recent Form
Reserves
UWS Giants
Past Meetings
2015
Round 13 @ Blacktown International Sportspark
Round 5 @ Spotless Stadium


Round 2 @ Tramway Oval
2014
Round 2 @ Spotless Stadium
Round 7 @ SCG
Round 13 @ SCG
Round 20 @ SCG
Last Round
Team List
Listed players
Changes
In: Bird, Foote
Out: Zak JONES (seniors), Dean TOWERS (seniors), Dan ROBINSON (collarbone), George HEWETT (concussion), Lloyd PERRIS (?), Xavier RICHARDS (senior emergency)

An inopportune time to lose so many players as the side will enter this game with a season low 11 listed players. Losing key inside midfielders in Robinson, Hewett and Perris will necessitate a re-shuffle in the middle with the returning Bird, Davis and Foote likely to take the main on ball roles. Foote should also take on the burden of a run with role with Jake Barrett or Paul Ahern his likely target.

Melican only played the 2nd half last week and it's likely he won't play the full game again this week as he is eased back into full fitness. Bird could also possibly be placed under a playing time restriction.

Academy Players/Topups
In: Baron-Hay, Kilpatrick, Veale, Wilson
Out: James CUBIS, Jackson KELLY

Brown impressed last week in a midfield role. Wilson, Baron-Hay and Behagg are taller types who can play at either end of the ground

Statistics

Disposals
Kicks
Handballs
Marks
Tackles
Hitouts
Clearances
Inside 50s
Rebound 50s
Goals
Coaches Votes
NEAFL MVP Votes (public count stopped at Round 18)
UWS Giants (listed players in BOLD)
In: Faul, Himmelberg, Hodgson, Owen-Auburn, Reid
Out: Tomas BUGG, Caleb MARCHBANK, Jack STEELE, Dylan MacDONALD, Harrison MacREADIE

Players to watch:

• Curtly Hampton - a very attacking half back who loves to run and create. Averages more inside 50s than rebound 50s.
• Jed Lamb - Leading goalkicker for the Giants NEAFL team, he has spent this year playing exclusively as a small/medium forward. He has had some great one on one duels with Marsh in the past 18 months and that matchup is likely to happen again.
• Paul Ahern - Pick 7 in the 2014 draft, has been a little overshadowed by the likes of Kelly, Steele and Barrett but with Steele and Kelly not playing will be one of their key ball movers
• Adam Tomlinson - Played as a key defender in Round 13 and could reprise this role as the Giants senior side has a possible vacancy with Phil Davis out.
• Jarrod Pickett - Pick 4 in the 2014 draft. The Giants are prepared to be patient with Pickett, and he has learnt his craft in the NEAFL this year. He had a relatively slow start to the year but in the last 5 rounds has really hit top form kicking 14 goals in total. Pickett could be a testing proposition for one of our small defenders such as Newman.

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Match being streamed live

[troyjones2525]

Great as usual ugg! But this one could get ugly considering all our outs!

[wolftone57]

wonderful preview Ugg. If we win this it will be a miracle. I will start calling Marty God. Very little hope due to injury unfortunately. But it will be good to see the few listed players that are there play again. I am looking forward to seeing Melican play a longer game. Foote was impressive oin the matches I have seen and look forward to seeing him again too. He is a hard bugger. He'll make the GWS players earn their stripes.

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Halftime Us 4.4 28 Them 8.12 60

Undermanned but toppies generally competing well. A little let off by their wastefulness but generally speaking can't be too unhappy with that effort.

[Ludwig]

Didn't see much of Melican or Bird in the latter part of the 2nd qtr. Hope it's just time management and not something more sinister.

Tom Derickx spent so much time on his knees I thought he was a Spotless Stadium groundskeeper.

[troyjones2525]

Just turned the stream on with around 5 mins to go in the 3rd (working well for a change I must say!) and didn't see any sign of Bird or Melican?

The undermanned Swans are well down at 3 qtr time 95 to 30. On a positive note the commentators did mention how well Newman has played in an understrength side!

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Bird and Melican sitting on the bench not looking amused at proceedings. Don't look injured so probably time management.

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Sydney Swans
Goal Kickers: J. Hiscox 2, J. Campbell , B. Kilpatrick , A. Aliir , S. Wilson
Best Players: , A. Aliir , C. Bird , T. Derickx , T. Nankervis , J. Hiscox , N. Newman

Southport upset Uni today so it's likely we will stay in Sydney for week 1 of finals. Either uni 4th and Us 5th or vice versa

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It's not often that your team gets beaten by 80 points and feel that's a good outcome. The Swans were undermanned all day and while they competed hard in the first half, they fell away in the second when their resource shortfall was compounded Bird and Melican being withdrawn in the last quarter resulting in only one available bench rotation spot. It became so desperate near the end of the game that the two ruckmen were both in the centre bounces, one as the ruckman and the other the ruck-rover. Quite a funny sight.

Of course UWS's profligacy helped the margin and it would easily have been a 100 point thrashing had they kicked 26.16 and not 16.26. But you can hardly fault the efforts of most of the players who were visibly exhausted at the end of the game. In particular many of the toppies put in a great shift defensively even if some of them look about 65kg wringing wet

Bird played just short of 3 quarters, but also spent relatively long periods on the bench during the game. When he was taken off for the last quarter, he didn't seem to have any icing or treatment done, just sat on the bench still in his playing gear but not looking happy. Melican didn't play the first quarter, came on in the second, made a few mistakes and then sat next to Bird for the last quarter. Given that he was 'rested' for the first quarter, his withdrawal is more likely to be health related but it's hard to be 100% sure.

Bird was by far our best midfielder (some might say the only true midfielder in the team), even with a hard tag employed by Barrett. But with a limited forward line to kick to, his impact was quite muted. Foote and Davis were the other main (listed) midfielders. Foote had showed some nice skills and vision when he had the ball but alas these instances were few and far between. He worked tirelessly around the ground though and is a good tackler. Davis impressed with his non stop running all game and is showing more confidence with each game he plays. The Swans will have to work out what his role would be in the seniors though and prepare him for that role because I doubt it will be in the inside midfield role that he is currently occupying in the ressies.

Nankervis made his presence known in the ruck and up forward with his physicality but had little impact as a key forward. He's a clever player whose solid footskills belie his big, lanky frame. Derickx probably received a little more of the ruck time, and while he broke even with Downie in the ruck, his play around the ground left a lot to be desired at times. Twice he took strong marks around the ground but subsequently undid his good work by poorly disposing of the ball. The first on he kicked it straight to Tomlinson 15m away and the second trying to put a kick over the top into space for a teammate but making poor connection with his boot and had it dribble across the boundary line 5m away.

Aliir's attack on the football was very exciting and he more than held his own in the early exchanges against Tomlinson. However some of his kick-ins, and he wasn't the only culprit, were atrocious turnovers leading to direct scoring opportunities for the Giants. Newman was very, very busy down back and he struggled against taller opponents who ran him ragged and then outmuscled him in marking contests. He was absolutely spent in the 2nd half, and had trouble getting from contest to contest.

Hiscox played mainly off half forward and a wing and with his pace was a valuable conduit to the forwards. But again struggled to get much of the ball especially in contested situations. McLaren started the game as a forward and finished as a defender - looks more natural in defence as he struggles to demand the ball up forward as a key tall target.

UWS 3.8 8.12 13.17 16.26 (122)
Swans 3.1 4.4 4.6 6.6 (42)

UWS GIANTS
Goal Kickers: A. Tomlinson 3, M. Flynn 3, J. Townsend 2, J. Pickett 2, J. Cornell , D. Addison , J. Lamb , H. Himmelberg , J. Barrett , C. Owen-Auburn
Best Players: , S. Reid , J. Finlayson , D. Addison , L. Plowman , A. Kennedy , A. Tomlinson
SYDNEY SWANS


Goal Kickers: J. Hiscox 2, J. Campbell , B. Kilpatrick , A. Aliir , S. Wilson
Best Players: , A. Aliir , C. Bird , T. Derickx , T. Nankervis , J. Hiscox , N. Newman

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[YvonneH]

Jack Hiscox interview a few days ago shows what a good speaker he is. No umm's, aahs, etc.

[troyjones2525]

Hey ugg when do the teams come out for the reserves and where can you find them?

[ugg]

neafl.com.au usually about midday Friday but sometimes they are tardy and it's an hour or two later

[troyjones2525]

Cheers thanks ugg. Hoping that Callum Mills plays this week! I believe its going to be on the neafl YouTube channel again!