Rnd 8 Match Day Thread. Richmond V Sydney. MCG 19.25 pm.

[crackedactor]

Double standards

Wow. Bad miss from the umps there. Arm over the shoulder and held Tippett down. If I was Horse I'd be asking for a please explain given some of Reg's "infringements" down the other end.

Yes those two free kicks against Reg in the 2nd quarter were beyond belief. Then we witness this and of course its play on. I think its time Horse at least ask for a please explain. Did poor umpiring cost us the game? oF COURSE IT DID. Should have we been in the position of allowing poor umpiring to cost us the game? OF course Not. so many poor tackles, turnover and missed targets. Not looking forward to next Friday night's game. Its looking like a replay of the 2014 GF.

[Ludwig]

Hewett looks a bit slow to me. Yes good skills, but he doesn't get the footy often enough yet.

After Buddy, I'd say it's a close call between Heeney and Hewett for the second best kick at the Swans. We can't afford not to have him in the side.

It's the lack of possessions for Cunningham that worries me. He's got 60 games under his belt and averaging around 11 fewer possessions than Lloyd, who plays a similar role and has similar senior experience. But Harry has become a tackling machine of late. His mother had to quit her job 'cause she's spending so much time washing his dirty shorts.

Papley will be a good player and perhaps even an elite small forward one day, but he does go out of games for long stretches. Mills also seems to be feeling the heat and making lots of errors. 8 straight games could be getting to them. Perhaps Rose could come in for a week and give Papley a little rest.

I noticed that Ross Lyon has finally realised that he needs a quicker backline and has dropped Dawson and Barlow. I think Horse already knows this, but we just don't have fit senior personnel atm to do much about it. I really hope Rohan Reid and Talia are up and ready to go before too long.

[Hotpotato]

That was a brilliant game. No way I blame Towers for the loss . Tippetts in the goal square , that's a logical place to kick it .
The Tigers were very impressive all night, they came with lots of self belief, had six more scoring shots and pulled off a thriller on the siren .
The Swans are going OK . Fabulous experience for the kids on the G.
I've got every confidence in them going forward .

[Mug Punter]

That was a brilliant game. No way I blame Towers for the loss . Tippetts in the goal square , that's a logical place to kick it .
The Tigers were very impressive all night, they came with lots of self belief, had six more scoring shots and pulled off a thriller on the siren .
The Swans are going OK . Fabulous experience for the kids on the G.
I've got every confidence in them going forward .

There's a lot of talk here about Towers and how he should be shown the door etc etc.

For mine it will probably be a pragmatic decision based on salary. If he is prepared to stay as a squad player and earn $100,000 base with bonuses for performances then I reckon we'll keep him as a depth player who is clearly a popular and professional player around the joint, things that are important.

If he thinks there is interest elsewhere and if he gets a nibble that he thinks is better than what he can get here then I say make a trade happen but overall I'd like to see him stay but at an appropriate salary

[AnnieH]

Wow. We REALLY miss Joey and his 40 possessions, don't we?

Swans shouldn't go into ANY game thinking the other side are easybeats. Ever.
Like Horse (sort of) said... every single player out there was @@@@. No exceptions.
Once again, percentage is MOST important.

[AnnieH]

We must have the lowest percentage of effective disposals in the competition.

Seriously... there are half a dozen players whose efforts at hitting someone wearing red and white (either by hand or foot) were piss poor.

That needs to be looked at.

[Plugger46]

Sinclair is never going to be an A grade ruckman, but as the Hawks have shown in recent years, you don't need two out and out superstar ruckmen to be Premiers. As long as the second one can be competitive (as Sinclair is) and give the main ruckmen some time to recover, then they are doing their job. Given the early season lack of form from Jetta, we are a long way in front on the trade at this point.

I still hope desperately that Naismith can get his body right and get a sustained period of footy behind him, as I genuinely think he can be a very fine ruckmen.


Your point about our long tail is a more than fair one however - but what I think the first 8 rounds have shown us is that the nucleus of a Premiership team is most definitely there, it is about finding that depth in the last half a dozen in particular, and filling the gaps as needed.

True enough, I probably couldn't argue with that. I've just seen a fair bit of Sinclair love and in my view, he's been serviceable at best.

[KTigers]

More of our players clearly need to find some consistent form pretty quickly now that we actually have to play other teams in the eight
for awhile. We were lucky to beat Brisbane, the first half against Essendon was pretty lame and we had maybe six of seven decent players
against Richmond. Hawthorn and North will not roll over, and don't we play GWS at Spotless a bit after that? If we don't turn up for that one,
we will get wiped out just like Hawthorn did. Spotless has quickly turned into a graveyard for visiting teams.

[neilfws]

All I have to say about this game is that I wondered aloud on Twitter whether the Tigers really are a "bogey team" for us, and one of my stats friends rose to the challenge.

The short answer is "somewhat, yes."

Who's Your Team's Bogey Team

[rojo]

Interesting that Barratt and Lloyd, with a camera shot from above, lay the blame for the outcome of the Swan's 40 sec. stuff up, on Rampe. They show that he couldn't make up his mind which player to defend as the ball came whizzing down and ended up blocking no one!

They are also of the opinion that our defence is our ongoing area of weakness - which is not a surprise. We have yet to find a Malceski/Shaw replacement, we are yet to find out whether Talia has got what it takes for a key defensive role, Macca is not yet able to make much of an impact and Aliir may have what it takes but he is not ready yet. We do have Marsh, Newman, Melican, O'Riordan and XR in the reserves along with Aliir - all backmen but at the moment either not suitable or not ready to step up. When our mids are under the pump and don't get back, our backline is very vulnerable. I would put Jones and Mills in the Macca basket at the moment, do their bit but when the chips are down unable to make an impact. No wonder Rampe was running around in frazzled bewilderment at the end of the game - too many holes in the dike. I find Smith's game a bit disappointing these days but maybe he does a lot off the ball work that I don't see.

[Plugger46]

Any defence is going to be vulnerable when your midfield gets beaten. We didn't have anywhere near enough contributors in that area.

[snajik]

I'm not sure that I buy this argument of our skills not being up to scratch. The opening four games of the season suggested otherwise. Our skills were slick and precise earlier in the season. I suspect that when confidence and form (team and individual) starts to wane, skill execution follows. All are intertwined. It might just be a matter of regaining some form and confidence.

[Cosmic Wizard]

I'm not sure that I buy this argument of our skills not being up to scratch. The opening four games of the season suggested otherwise. Our skills were slick and precise earlier in the season. I suspect that when confidence and form (team and individual) starts to wane, skill execution follows. All are intertwined. It might just be a matter of regaining some form and confidence.

WE don't have any speed in the backline; and once the pressure is applied, we crack, as simple as that.

Against lowly teams we are alright, but as was show in the 2014 GF, once that pressure is applied to the backline we just lose the game big time.

Talia coming back would help, but so would Jones.

McVeigh should replace Papley up forward, if he is to get a game at all.

The coaching staff has finally, hopefully, learnt the lesson that continually playing the same player and hoping for a different outcome is just not going to happen.

If Towers or anyone else can not improve after four years, lets try the rookie on our list, so are actually very good, as has been show this year.

And Mills needs a spell in the seconds, the game is too much for him at this stage or his development.

[Luke Shannon]

WE don't have any speed in the backline; and once the pressure is applied, we crack, as simple as that.

Against lowly teams we are alright, but as was show in the 2014 GF, once that pressure is applied to the backline we just lose the game big time.

Talia coming back would help, but so would Jones.

McVeigh should replace Papley up forward, if he is to get a game at all.

The coaching staff has finally, hopefully, learnt the lesson that continually playing the same player and hoping for a different outcome is just not going to happen.

If Towers or anyone else can not improve after four years, lets try the rookie on our list, so are actually very good, as has been show this year.

And Mills needs a spell in the seconds, the game is too much for him at this stage or his development.

Mills blasted this amazing pass across the field in the 3rd term that opened play up. It was in the back pocket and travelled flat 55m across goals and opened up the press. It was the play that got our 3rd quarter going again.

I love how he goes for these plays. All are not going to come off, but they will set up goals when they do.

Mills reminds me of a young Roger Federer. Has all the great shots, but is inconsistent. A battler like Hewitt beat him for years until one day all Federer's God given talent clicked and no one could beat him. During those early inconsistent years, Roger kept playing those shots and eventually it all came together. Let Mills keep going for those passes, don't drop him and one day it will all click and you will have another Sam Mitchell distributor by foot.

[Cosmic Wizard]

Mills blasted this amazing pass across the field in the 3rd term that opened play up. It was in the back pocket and travelled flat 55m across goals and opened up the press. It was the play that got our 3rd quarter going again.

I love how he goes for these plays. All are not going to come off, but they will set up goals when they do.

Mills reminds me of a young Roger Federer. Has all the great shots, but is inconsistent. A battler like Hewitt beat him for years until one day all Federer's God given talent clicked and no one could beat him. During those early inconsistent years, Roger kept playing those shots and eventually it all came together. Let Mills keep going for those passes, don't drop him and one day it will all click and you will have another Sam Mitchell distributor by foot.

Yes, but a couple of good plays do not make a great game, and our weakness is our backline.

Mills is not killing it and after not playing any footy last year it is showing on his form this year several games in.

We need to try everyone in the backline to see it we can't find a gem or two,

Otherwise it will be a wasted year