Changes for Rnd 7 V Brisbane.

[ugg]

Naismith & Marsh named in Swans squad, but warmed up away from main group before session was closed. McVeigh & Aliir certain INS i reckon

— Adam Curley (@AdamCurleyMedia) May 5, 2017

[CureTheSane]

I'd like to comment on one specific thing, and that is the reported lack of talking on the ground by the Swans players.
This equates to lack of leadership as demonstrated when Mills felt he had to take control.
Parker looks like he has been concentrating on his own form, and probably feels that he can't demand more from players when his form is down.
Kennedy may well turn out to be a poor choice as captain.
Great players aren't necessarily great leaders.
It seems that he is a fairly quite "go about your business type"
I try not to comment too much on selections for leadership etc as the club has to know what they are doing in selecting players.
And I could be well wrong in implying this about about Kennedy - I hope I am.

Can't believe I'm saying this, but I think McVeigh should come in.
If he does, it is the club admitting that on field leadership is lacking, and bringing this in could mean the difference between continuing the form slump and breaking out of it.

But if he does play, then it's an indication that the coaching staff may be looking for quick answers to the issues, rather than looking at game plans etc and being more self critical.

[Ludwig]

Or has Horse finally taken Ludwig's advice and they are going to get Towers / Aliir to ruck?

The Board has to justify the huge consulting fees they are paying me.

So many untried coaches on social media and club boards, the AFL and its club would be so silly not to pick the vast array of brilliant minds all displaying a knowledge that would make a 5th division coach blush.

Me? I would rather leave it to the experts, but i know, like, thats totes, like old school. I guess I need to start asserting online how much more qualified and better I am in coaching a team than someone whos job is actually that.

And let's not forget about the untried Presidents on social media thinking they know how to run the world.

Me? I'd rather leave the killing to the Generals. They know what they're doing. It's their job.

[Cosmic Psycho]

So many untried coaches on social media and club boards, the AFL and its club would be so silly not to pick the vast array of brilliant minds all displaying a knowledge that would make a 5th division coach blush.

Me? I would rather leave it to the experts, but i know, like, thats totes, like old school. I guess I need to start asserting online how much more qualified and better I am in coaching a team than someone whos job is actually that.

+1!

[RogueSwan]

Mcveigh, in his prime was a top 10 player for the swans.

However last year he became a fringe player for the seniors, and played one quality game for the season. This is simply because he has lost his speed and a fair bit of strength. His marshalling of backline and slick handballs were still there, but he simply was getting beaten one on one too many times.
Last year he came back in to the seniors after injury and was very ordinary for the first 4 weeks. A liability.

Macca may have a roll in 2017, but it would be based on meeting all these:
- Exceptional form and fitness in the NEAFL
- A lack of leadership in the firsts due to blooding the youth.

Surely after 0-6, we are focussing on youth and 2018 for this year. Whats the point of limping into 8th and playing all away finals ?

But we have seen in other teams lack go purely for youth, without any experienced footballers helping guide them, live in the wilderness for far too long. Dees and Blues had a host of top draft selections but it didn't help them because they let their seniors go too early. There needs to be a balance. Maybe Macca is past it but does deserve a chance to prove himself and help out the kids. Although, he could only be one injury away from retirement.

[barry]

Of course he does... In the 2"s

[waswan]

Surely Alir and Newman are in front of Marsh ?

[Ludwig]

Of course he does... In the 2"s

I agree with you on Macca. He hasn't played since September and with his recent history of soft tissue injuries and slow start last season, it doesn't seem prudent to bring him straight into the seniors.

I've always liked Macca as a player and didn't feel, until recently, that he was slow, because he had good evasive skills and it didn't hurt his game. But now, at 32, I just don't see how he fits into our plans for next year, and given our 0-6 record, there's not much point in playing Macca ahead of someone who we want to develop for future.

Macca needs to earn his spot in the side by going through the NEAFL, just like any other player. I wouldn't want to see Macca taking Newman's spot, for instance, who is a likely starter in the back six over the longer term.

[Ludwig]

Surely Alir and Newman are in front of Marsh ?

I think all 3 can play if we push Mills into the midfield, where I think he belongs anyway. Once Rampe comes back and Aliir regains his spot in the back six, we are going to have to move Mills out of defence anyway, so why wait? And if Macca returns, then Mills definitely will move to a different position.

[royboy42]

So many untried coaches on social media and club boards, the AFL and its club would be so silly not to pick the vast array of brilliant minds all displaying a knowledge that would make a 5th division coach blush.

Me? I would rather leave it to the experts, but i know, like, thats totes, like old school. I guess I need to start asserting online how much more qualified and better I am in coaching a team than someone whos job is actually that.

I guess we just shut the site down?

[wolftone57]

Not sure i agree with this. Arguably Martin and Goldstein are among the top 3 or 4 ruckman in the league and their teams are sitting 15th and 16th. Sandilands dominates ruck contests and they are 11th. West coast are missing both their top 2 ruckmen and yet they are 5th. I wouldn't call Stanley an elite ruckman, but Geelong are 3rd. Granted Jacobs and Mumford are contributing to their teams success. But I don't think there is any evidence to prove a dominant ruckman results in a dominant team.

Norf & Lions win the clearances but can't convert that into scores. If the mids are any good, which the Brisbane mids actually are, they should win the clearances with a top flight ruckman. West Coast are overrated as far as I'm concerned and will come down to earth with a big thud this weekend. They do have a ruckman though his name is Giles and he has done very well for them. So don't say they don't have a ruckman, they do. The post was referring to dominance in the clearances as if you bothered reading the first sentence you'd know. A good ruckman does help in good mids setting up their team. It is all relative to the dominance in each department. But if the mids are crap a winning ruckman won't matter. It is all relative to the talent in and around the stoppages. This year i don't think it would matter a huge amount how many times Naismith hit the ball down the throat of our mids as they are @@@@ful.

But then again a great midfield can get crushed by having a crap ruck department too. If you constantly lose the taps you have to rove to their ruckman and to do that you need to know their set ups and be able to negate their mids. Against a great midfield, GWS, Crows, even Eagles, this isn't going to happen too often.

[aardvark]

I don't see how any of the "armchair coaches" could have a worse win loss record than Horse this year so far.

[Sandrevan]

On SEN yesterday they were talking to the guys who do the stats for all AFL games and they seemed quite positive about our future. They said we have 10 young kids that have very good potential plus we will probably pick up Blakey (who they said is a gun). They said that the Swans staff know exactly where we are at and are doing the right things. They also said that we are missing McVeigh much more than is obvious as there is little onfield organisation.
They also said the stats show that the Swans are being hunted more than any other team with the stats showing that the pressure applied by opponents is much higher against us than against any other team. I wonder why that is?

Dosser, I always like your posts - considered and thoughtful.
It's probably no surprise the Swans are being hunted more than any other team given our success over the last few years. All the pundits say if you win the battle of the midfield you win the game. JPK is not called the clearance king for nothing - that's why he's being targeted so much. Other teams want to stop our midfield dominance. From what we've seen this year they seem to have figured it out.
The Swans are on the bottom of the ladder and now I am wondering if our coaches need to think about how we stop other teams midfields. For this weekend how do we stop the likes of Daniel Rich and Tom Rockliff.

[Sandrevan]

So many untried coaches on social media and club boards, the AFL and its club would be so silly not to pick the vast array of brilliant minds all displaying a knowledge that would make a 5th division coach blush.

Me? I would rather leave it to the experts, but i know, like, thats totes, like old school. I guess I need to start asserting online how much more qualified and better I am in coaching a team than someone whos job is actually that.

This is a footy fan website. We're all entitled to have and express our opinions. We watch the games at the ground (in different spots) and on TV, etc and we all draw our own conclusions about the team makeup.

The purpose of this thread is to discuss player ins / outs for the game against the BL. So, what's your opinion? Do you even have one?

Or maybe you're just a Whorethorn fan.

[Belmasta]

So many untried coaches on social media and club boards, the AFL and its club would be so silly not to pick the vast array of brilliant minds all displaying a knowledge that would make a 5th division coach blush.

Me? I would rather leave it to the experts, but i know, like, thats totes, like old school. I guess I need to start asserting online how much more qualified and better I am in coaching a team than someone whos job is actually that.

Very well said. My job is to Cheer, cheer the red and the White..... ????