Match Day Thread Rnd. 5. Sydney V GWS. SCG. 19.25 pm.

[ugg]

.@sydneyswans have confirmed Kieren Jack is injured. Will miss this week with a hip issue. How long he'll be out is TBD #TalkingFooty

[Billericay]

.@sydneyswans have confirmed Kieren Jack is injured. Will miss this week with a hip issue. How long he'll be out is TBD #TalkingFooty

Sad to say I'm relieved he won't be playing this week ditto McVeigh

[wolftone57]

I generally agree with these changes, except that even if Hannas needs a chondroplasty he would only miss a couple of games, so wouldn't be put on the LTIL, therefore, no upgrade of a rookie for him. If this is his problem, it would be a good time to do it, as he would probably only miss the Carlton and Brisbane games. I'm also not ready to pull the plug on Smith. I think he's among a number of senior players that just needs to get back into form. I don't think he needs time in the reserves to do it and expect he will be a key part of our defence for several years to come.

I'm not saying Smithy won't be a key player. just not now. He is sadly out of form. If you really want a look at how out of form he has given away 20 goals in 5 games. Not good. Every player no matter how important he seems to the team should expect to spend time in the reserves if his form is suspect. His form is not just suspect it stinks. he has now had 5 stinkers in a row. Not even Adam Goodes was allowed, he didn't allow himself, to get away with that. two players I think have put themselves above the team, Kizza and Smithy. Both pathetic. Reg has not been as bad as either of these. Now it turns out Kizza was injured. TUT TUT Longmire!!!!

[RogueSwan]

... two players I think have put themselves above the team, Kizza and Smithy. Both pathetic..

OMG what an overreaction. They know their game so much better than we do and must believe they will pay themselves back into form. I am pretty sure Goodes is the only example of a footballer dropping themselves too. So are all the other out of form players selfish too? Following the above logic means most of the seniors should request a week or two in the 2s but won't because they are all to selfish. I mean Kennedy's form has been r ordinary all year but no one is questioning him and whether he is being selfish.


Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

[wolftone57]

OMG what an overreaction. They know their game so much better than we do and must believe they will pay themselves back into form. I am pretty sure Goodes is the only example of a footballer dropping themselves too. So are all the other out of form players selfish too? Following the above logic means most of the seniors should request a week or two in the 2s but won't because they are all to selfish. I mean Kennedy's form has been r ordinary all year but no one is questioning him and whether he is being selfish.


Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

Kennedy has not been anywhere as bad as these guys. Plus he's been targeted by the opposition.

[Meg]

Match Day Thread Rnd. 5. Sydney V GWS. SCG. 19.25 pm.

Longmire was on the On The Couch show and said KJ will miss several games to get his hip working better and find form.

I really feel for Kieran. He did the post-game interview after the GWS match and was clearly really devastated by the match and the position the Swans were in. It is now pretty obvious he was probably in pain as well. As fans we do expect a lot from our players.

[0918330512]

I really feel for Kieran. He did the post-game interview after the GWS match and was clearly really devastated by the match and the position the Swans were in. It is now pretty obvious he was probably in pain as well. As fans we do expect a lot from our players.

I found it curious that an ex-captain who had a dirty night fronted the media after a horrid loss. He looked very uncomfortable. I'd have preferred JPK or perhaps Lukey Parker. After how Cal Mills spoke to the players, maybe even he might have been articulate. Not that Kizza wasn't, but he seemed distracted and a little distraught, eyes darting away from the camera and interviewer. A few cliches thrown in. Uneasy to watch

[Markwebbos]

Can this (endless) discussion please have its own thread? It's wonderful that so many have take a strong position against the use of the R word, but I would like to discuss AFL if everyone's ok with that?

[Nico]

I am a little perplexed by the discussion on Jack and Smith. Longmire has disclosed that Jack has been playing with an injury, but that happens almost weekly with many players. Before this game Jack had some bursts of inspirational footy but the club now feels he needs a rest. I commented that he looks cooked, but I now doubt that.

Smith always plays on the best small forward. We have had backline problems all year due to injuries and lack of fitness. Allir, as Longmire explained, had a toe injury that cost him 12 weeks of pre season training. Rampe has a broken arm and appears out until just before the bye. Add this to the fact that we have blooded new defenders/first gamers. All this creates a less functional backline which puts enormous pressure on the likes of Smith and Grundy, and to expect them to be playing right up to their top standards while covering for the less experienced under these circumstances is pure folly. Also it means we can't release Mills and Jones into the midfield.

As Longmire said, you need all the 9 core players available from the GF to be playing at their peak to be competitive. And he made the point about the mids.

When a side is unbalanced like we are it is much easier for teams to concentrate on our game players, because the inexperienced are not going to hurt them.

To say Jack and Smith are putting themselves above the team is drawing a long bow.

Right now we are suffering from a lack of quality, experienced players and until we get our best team on the park we have to suck it up. It is just one of those years.

[liz]

Can this (endless) discussion please have its own thread? It's wonderful that so many have take a strong position against the use of the R word, but I would like to discuss AFL if everyone's ok with that?

Fair point. It is an interesting discussion but has got to a point not really related to Saturday's game. I've siphoned off the posts and put them in a new thread on the general AFL board. The title's a bit lame. If anyone thinks of a more appropriate one, I am happy to change it.

Sledging

[dimelb]

I am a little perplexed by the discussion on Jack and Smith. Longmire has disclosed that Jack has been playing with an injury, but that happens almost weekly with many players. Before this game Jack had some bursts of inspirational footy but the club now feels he needs a rest. I commented that he looks cooked, but I now doubt that.

Smith always plays on the best small forward. We have had backline problems all year due to injuries and lack of fitness. Allir, as Longmire explained, had a toe injury that cost him 12 weeks of pre season training. Rampe has a broken arm and appears out until just before the bye. Add this to the fact that we have blooded new defenders/first gamers. All this creates a less functional backline which puts enormous pressure on the likes of Smith and Grundy, and to expect them to be playing right up to their top standards while covering for the less experienced under these circumstances is pure folly. Also it means we can't release Mills and Jones into the midfield.

As Longmire said, you need all the 9 core players available from the GF to be playing at their peak to be competitive. And he made the point about the mids.

When a side is unbalanced like we are it is much easier for teams to concentrate on our game players, because the inexperienced are not going to hurt them.

To say Jack and Smith are putting themselves above the team is drawing a long bow.

Right now we are suffering from a lack of quality, experienced players and until we get our best team on the park we have to suck it up. It is just one of those years.

I agree with this assessment.

[Sandrevan]

Oh dear, we are in trouble now. After 15 years of sustained success we find ourselves at the bottom of the pile. We were 22 points down at 3/4 time but couldn't get any closer. Our fall from grace is worse than Fremantle in 2016. Fortunately, the Swans fly under the radar a bit here in Melbourne and most of the media attention has been on Hawthorn and Collingwood. Before the start of the season all the 'pundits' predicted Nth Melb would bottom out, Hawthorn would drop (but not by as much as they have). They all had the Swans maintaining a top 4 position. I know the season has a long way to go but I can't see us making the top eight from here. For some players and fans this is new territory.
Opposition teams will have put a fair bit of homework into how to nullify the Swans after 2016. We have significant injuries but I think there is a big component of our slide is that we're tired. We've had a small band of senior players who have held the Swans together and now they're tired. Our contested footy approach is exhausting and no longer working. The game has moved on. Other teams have worked out that if you nullify JPK, Parker, Hannebery you go a long way to beating the Swans. These 3 are targeted, particularly JPK.
On account of our continued success we've had very few high draft picks and the trade ban has hurt too. Father time has caught up with McVeigh, KJ and Reg. We should be proud of our long period of success despite what the AFL and the umpires have thrown at us.
The best thing we supporters can do is to continue supporting our team.

[barry]

The draft should have had no impact on our performance this year. Essentially we have had a top 5 pick 3 out of the past 4 years (Heeney, Mills, Buddy). We have got essentially the same sort of draft picks the struggling teams get, if not better.

The only reason we are where we are is because weve played so many finals over the years our playing stocks have played the equivalent of 6 years of footy over 5 years, and that must take some toll. Plus a bad run of injuries early in the year, probably related to those extra games.

I think we have the team to be top 4 (just), and we'll need a bit of coaching magic to turn that into a flag, but on the other hand it wouldnt do us too much harm to have a normal 23 round year, blood some youngsters, go after a free-agent in the off season, and reset for a flag tilt in 2018.

[Billericay]

Not sure if this is the correct thread for this, but article on the AFL website On trend: Stats that show how your team's playing - AFL.com.au has some damning statistics:

"With the Swans sitting on the bottom of the ladder and still yet to win a game, there's little surprise that their major trend is a downward spiral in winning the footy. The Swans have gone from being ranked fourth for disposals differential last year (+26.9), to 16th this season (-41.2), with their contested possession differential dropping even further from third (+11.5) to 17th (-13.8). The uncontested side of it is not much better, the Swans plummeting from fifth (+16.3) to 16th (-31.6) in 2017. In short, Sydney's star midfielders can't get their hands on it enough to be the dominant force they have been in recent years. Josh Kennedy and Luke Parker have shown glimpses but are down on disposals (-4), with Kieren Jack (-7) and Dan Hannebery (-8) struggling even more."

[ugg]

One stat that I've seen that sticks in my mind is that despite being bottom of the ladder we are still ranked number 1 in conceding marks inside 50, i.e. we've conceded the least amount of marks inside 50. Which means the majority of our goals are coming from open play, and most likely from turnovers. Turnover stats, and in particular turnovers leading to goals, aren't publicly available but I would guess that Lloyd, Smith and Jones would be high in the individual list.