Finals

[stevoswan]

Unfortunately everything has ground to a halt footy wise in Sydney. We're not in the GF, even GWS didn't make it, and they
were the pre season favourites. There are two boring teams there instead. No Sydney teams in the league GF either.
Things are not going well.

Go STORM!!!!!

[Nico]

For a team that haven't won for 37 years, in a city with 10 teams, how does Richmond who have been such a 9th placed embarrassment for so long have nearly 73k members?

Bit of history HP. Richmond being one of the founding inner suburbs of Melbourne, has like Collingwood, many generations of families that have stuck fat. Also in the eighties they were a power club and many young people adopted them. Just like Hawthorn was the poor relation, the easy beats of the VFL until the 60's, and decades of success dragged in many younger people, particularly the eastern suburbs, and they were smart enough to recruit young members in that area. Both Carlton and Essendon (still healthy member numbers) have many latent supporters but you watch their memberships soar when they become successful.

[dimelb]

Disagree. Nankervis was very good. Worked hard around the ground and was at the fall of the ball to assist much mire than Jacobs. Jacobs won the hitouts but to what effect after quarter time? Centre clearances 14 to 12 to Richmond. Toby was very competitive at centre bounces both in ruck contests and when the ball was on the ground. Will always be a better player than Naismith. Is a natural footballer.

I think this is right. A ballup is a lottery where first hand on the ball does not guarantee possession. And once the ballup is done, the issue becomes: Who is of most value round the ground?

I am a latecomer to the game so I don't take my own ideas too seriously, but I have come to agree that one ruckman is enough. I am very happy, after this season, to have a backup like Dean Towers, who has a lot to offer in other ways. And I am still slightly peeved with Horse for putting Callum Sinclair in the ruck as often as he did in the loss to Geelong when we had the impression that Sinclair had more to offer as a tall marking forward. But I put that down to the (in my view) mistake of going into a game like that with only one - one - tall defender, which meant that one of our best forwards (Sam) was brought back to defend for anything more than the final 5 minutes for each quarter. End of rant.

[stevoswan]

On a brighter note.....good to see Leo's mark won the fan vote for No 1 'top finals moment'! That gives the Swans three out of the top five....Leo's mark @ no. 1, Plugger's point @ no. 4 and Nick Davis 'come to save us' @ no. 5. Go Swans! On a lesser note, No. 3 should be erased from history.......last years 'fairytale'. Nothing from today's GF will ever make the top GF moments reel......pretty average game on the whole.

[Industrial Fan]

Disagree. Nankervis was very good. Worked hard around the ground and was at the fall of the ball to assist much mire than Jacobs. Jacobs won the hitouts but to what effect after quarter time? Centre clearances 14 to 12 to Richmond. Toby was very competitive at centre bounces both in ruck contests and when the ball was on the ground. Will always be a better player than Naismith. Is a natural footballer.

agreed nico.

Seems we have constant revisionism when a player leaves to join another club (also see: Membrey, Mitchell).

Wasn't best on ground but he played a good game as he did in the Adelaide final last year.

[Nico]

agreed nico.

Seems we have constant revisionism when a player leaves to join another club (also see: Membrey, Mitchell).

Wasn't best on ground but he played a good game as he did in the Adelaide final last year.

Very disappointed to see him go. I expected him to be our No.1 ruckman this year.

[S.S. Bleeder]

About 90 years.

The AFL needs to get out of the deal if they GAF about integrity. If they stopped p1551ng cash against the wall on other crap they could afford it.

[Ludwig]

How long do we have to wait for the MCG 'deal' to finish?

About 90 years.

So not quite as long as Tippett's contract. I can wait.

[Hotpotato]

Bit of history HP. Richmond being one of the founding inner suburbs of Melbourne, has like Collingwood, many generations of families that have stuck fat. Also in the eighties they were a power club and many young people adopted them. Just like Hawthorn was the poor relation, the easy beats of the VFL until the 60's, and decades of success dragged in many younger people, particularly the eastern suburbs, and they were smart enough to recruit young members in that area. Both Carlton and Essendon (still healthy member numbers) have many latent supporters but you watch their memberships soar when they become successful.

Thanks Nico.
I sort of get it, so will Carlton go from 50k to 75k if they get a sniff of form.

[Cainit]

I hope all Swans players saw todays game and felt like it should of been them. Last year and this year were the GF that got away.

[stevoswan]

Very disappointed to see him go. I expected him to be our No.1 ruckman this year.

When we thrashed St Kilda last year and Buddy got that goal after Nankers paved the way by flooring Gilbert, I thought "we have our new Mummy!" and like you, was very disappointed when he went to Richmond.

[MattW]

I think this is right. A ballup is a lottery where first hand on the ball does not guarantee possession. And once the ballup is done, the issue becomes: Who is of most value round the ground?

I am a latecomer to the game so I don't take my own ideas too seriously, but I have come to agree that one ruckman is enough. I am very happy, after this season, to have a backup like Dean Towers, who has a lot to offer in other ways. And I am still slightly peeved with Horse for putting Callum Sinclair in the ruck as often as he did in the loss to Geelong when we had the impression that Sinclair had more to offer as a tall marking forward. But I put that down to the (in my view) mistake of going into a game like that with only one - one - tall defender, which meant that one of our best forwards (Sam) was brought back to defend for anything more than the final 5 minutes for each quarter. End of rant.

Very well said. Still miffed a panel of coaches managed to screw up selection to the extent they did. Left out a tough, quick, spoiling, *tall* defender against *Geelong*; wasted Reid/Rohan, dangerous forward all year (Reid kicked the first goal), covering for his absence. Lost a bit of faith in John with that.

Naismith's second half of 2016 was outstanding, kind of explicable that Nanverkis was the player let go at the end of 2016. Sam had an injury ravaged season; hopefully bounces back hard next year. Having said that, Nankervis was clearly very good today - excellent around the ground, including defence.

[ugg]

I felt that Jacobs still dominated most of the taps. Nankervis has never been a great tap ruckman due to his height but that deficiency happens to work with Richmond?s gamestyle. Their midfielders know he is unlikely to win the tap anyway so have a chase and tackle mentality in place already.

Where Nankervis shines is his tackling and intercept marking (stats shows he is clearly the best ruckman in this category). And he is surprisingly clever with ball in hand

I doubt the Swans ever saw him as a full time ruckman judging by the amount of time he spent forward in the NEAFL. And I suspect the Tigers didn?t either and recruited him as a ruck forward but due to injuries to Maric and Hampson they had no other choice but to play him as first ruck.

[barry]

The last two years have shown that manic pressure win flags, not so much skill.

[goswannies]

Very well said. Still miffed a panel of coaches managed to screw up selection to the extent they did. Left out a tough, quick, spoiling, *tall* defender against *Geelong*; wasted Reid/Rohan, dangerous forward all year (Reid kicked the first goal), covering for his absence. Lost a bit of faith in John with that.

Naismith's second half of 2016 was outstanding, kind of explicable that Nanverkis was the player let go at the end of 2016. Sam had an injury ravaged season; hopefully bounces back hard next year. Having said that, Nankervis was clearly very good today - excellent around the ground, including defence.

Wasn't Nank the only ruckman out of contract & he requested a trade for more opportunities?