Round XXIII: Sydney against the Gold Coast

[Faunac8]

Laidlers disposal was terrible and he was shaky under for someone who is normally a confident and capable ball user. Just hard to understand.

Have to agree he was hesitant and had a few changers but funnily enough it was a season high for disposals and kicks so maybe his disposal performance was amplified by having so much of the ball.

[lwjoyner]

Again showed we need MAJOR work on our kicking particularly from the back line. Keep turning over the ball and we will be thrashed. Rampe, laidlaw.
Shaw they are all at it again. WHY cant we stop this. And Reg with hisshort handballs here you take it ,dno you take it. attitude.

[Scottee]

Maybe a bit harsh on him because you can't knock his endeavour , it was the lack of confidence that was worrying.

[barry]

The SCG claims another key swan ti injury. Is the ground too hard. Luckily we host finals at ANZ this year whose softer surface has shown to cause far less injuries over the years

[erica]

It was great to see Mal in the midst of the Swans players after the final siren. Some of those relationships are still strong.

[ugg]

The SCG claims another key swan ti injury. Is the ground too hard. Luckily we host finals at ANZ this year whose softer surface has shown to cause far less injuries over the years

Maybe it's because we play more games at the SCG than at the ANZ. Anyway you really should provide some stats if you're going to be such outlandish claims

[stellation]

Towers was great, getting a few touches early really seemed to help his confidence. He looked like an AFL player.

I liked having B.Jack, Rohan, Jetta, Cunningham and Towers all on the field at once.

[grarmy]

My fear is his career might mirror his dad's ... wins plenty of ball, but didn't get the votes. Didn't help that Barry had to compete with Williams, Healy, Murphy, Bolton etc. for Tom it'll be Kennedy, Heeney, Buddy etc.
Poor Barry ... in 1991, he averaged over 30 possessions a game, was All Australian, Sydney B&F, a number of media awards ... no Brownlow votes.

Barry was a hell of a player for the Swans. Tough, hard, smart. Was the rover in the VFL state side for a few years and conquered all. It was a tragedy that he left us to join the idiot Magpies in his last couple of playing years. The move ruined him. At a Swans function some years ago, Barry broke down and wept when he recounted the move. He said it was the greatest mistake of his life. When all the muck was going on about Tom moving on because he couldn't get a game in the firsts, I had a feeling that the vibes from dad would play out. It did. Barry is in my list of unforgettable Swans.

[magic.merkin]

The SCG claims another key swan ti injury. Is the ground too hard. Luckily we host finals at ANZ this year whose softer surface has shown to cause far less injuries over the years

What are you smoking? Jack was an impact injury from a player going into his knee.

[MattW]

Towers was great, getting a few touches early really seemed to help his confidence. He looked like an AFL player.

I liked having B.Jack, Rohan, Jetta, Cunningham and Towers all on the field at once.

Yes, a positive difference going into this final series compared to last is how well our quick players are playing. Also, Tippett and Mitchell. Last year we were more dependent on Franklin.

[RogueSwan]

Gary and all the other perpetual moaners, bring it in tight now....We've finished top 4 for the fourth year in a row, we've won four on the bounce and we've just won by 10 goals, albeit against a poor team. Despite your continual whingeing of how rubbish we are we are 16-6 for the regular season which is the same as Hawthorn and one less than the minor premiers...

TBH I always thought they would win but the way that Q3 was heading it was only going to be by a couple of goals but I was feeling the same as the doubters but I don't need to told "told ya's, told ya's". We have seen the Swans play absolute crap footy for too many periods this year to be blindly confident that they can always turn it around. Luckily for us, more often than not they do turn it around, but when they don't it can be costly.

Not at all, I thought Towers played very well

Agreed, he looked like he belonged and really contributed. He seems to be an actually footballer rather than an athlete playing football. If he can continue to develop a forward line of Reid, Towers and Rohan will look very dangerous in the next couple of years. Thats if Gary does't blow out his hamstrings chasing down a tackle in "junk time" of a game already won. It is great to see that never give up chase of his but he needs to be told to choose his chases better.

I didn't think Laidler went that bad definitely seen worse games from him. The worry for me was that Ted seemed very quiet and didn't seem to be in the game at all, but maybe there wasn't much coming his way.

Laids copped a couple of hits to the back of the head so I am not surprised his kicking was a little wobbly.

[liz]

Yes, a positive difference going into this final series compared to last is how well our quick players are playing. Also, Tippett and Mitchell. Last year we were more dependent on Franklin.

Reid too. He finally seems to have decided he's not a youngster any more, but needs to be a key part of the team. He's always been able to do the things he does. He just didn't do them often enough. But he's another who's put together a pretty good last month or so, and should be full of confidence moving into September. Yes, his goal kicking lets him down at times, but his marking is so good that I can almost forgive him. Of course, Buddy in the team, even far from full fitness, demands the attention of the opposition defenders, leaving Reid with more opportunity to bob up as he did yesterday.

[Dosser]

Reid too. He finally seems to have decided he's not a youngster any more, but needs to be a key part of the team. He's always been able to do the things he does. He just didn't do them often enough. But he's another who's put together a pretty good last month or so, and should be full of confidence moving into September. Yes, his goal kicking lets him down at times, but his marking is so good that I can almost forgive him. Of course, Buddy in the team, even far from full fitness, demands the attention of the opposition defenders, leaving Reid with more opportunity to bob up as he did yesterday.

I wonder if Lyon is courageous enough to treat Buddy as injured and put the 3rd best defender on him?

[Daisi]

That was a very sloppy performance. It seemed that they had difficulty adjusting when Jack got injured. That doesn't bode well for finals footy. The second and third terms were terrible in terms of disposal and effort.

I hope they play better next week.

It's difficult to say who played well and who didn't last night because the opposition was worse in terms of skill than we were. Next week will be an interesting test.

[Scottee]

Reid has really hit his straps and has almost come of age. Looks like he could an elite goalkicker like Buddy if he nailed the easy ones. There are simple mental techniques to overcome this.Hope the Swans are aware of these.