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Yes, I'm a little bit annoyed that Reg was charged at all; as to me, it looked like a glancing blow to the shoulder, that was accentuated by Hodge's staging. The fact that the Tribunal graded it as, "low impact to the body", suggests that Hodge clutching his head in agony, may not have been reality based.
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Sydney Swans Vs Hawthorn - Match Centre - AFL.com.au
If you go the Highlights at that link the Burgoyne free is about 6:05 in. Tough one, I think you could argue it was there but I feel like you see that relatively frequently in games and it doesn't get called. I don't think it gets called if he doesn't throw his hands up.I knew him as a gentle young man, I cannot say for sure the reasons for his decline
We watched him fade before our very eyes, and years before his timeComment
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If you look at the Collingwood, Power and Carlton matches there is a very obvious trend happening in their game styles against us. They are kicking to position to lots of free players to break our zone. A zone we should not be playing because it will be the end of us and is being the end of us. Hawthorn played the same way exactly. They were allowed to do this all day with Swans players giving them heaps of space. The zone we set up no longer works because the opposition coaches are all a wake up to it. I could tell last year that the opposition coaches were starting to work out our zoning off and to exploit it. In the Grand Final in parts dogs did this. But up until Power and then Pies it wasn't obvious.
Of course we put the losses down to too many injuries and playing young players. I was never that confident that was the case. In fact I bemoaned our lack of pressure on the defending team as they brought the ball out of defence. Sure our experienced players were not playing well. Sure we had a lot of inexperienced players. The fact is most of our experienced players are playing more than ok now. But the problem still persists and it isn't one of lack of motivation on the part of the players or lack of form. It is about a lack of coaching awareness and the inability of our coaching staff to change things in the heat of battle. Players will play to whatever game plan or the coaching staff organise. If told to play man on man they will. If told to play the zone they will. Our coaching staff did not change tack at all last week and we lost the same as we did against Power. Pies and Blues. They didn't change then either. You'd think that if something is not working then you'd change it. But Longmire and his staff seem to be unable to do so.
If this doesn't change soon we are going to be literally bottom. There are some major flaws in our game and the inability to counter the slow kicking to position game where they spread to one side and the back the other way is astounding. There have been so many free players in all four games for the opposition that I thought they must have had more players on the field. But no...It is our inability to keep track of their players while playing our zone that is the problem. This leaves all our players on one side with three to four free opposition players on the other sidee of the ground. It made me feel sick to see this happening again on Friday night. I knew then that we were in deep @@@@. That our coaches had no @@@@ing idea at all and it is time for a rethink on Longmire and his team. Everyone of them. I am not saying this because I have any significant loathing for Longmire of the other coaches. It is because even if we were winning games last season the effort to do so was astounding and I was worried our game plan would not stand up on that last day in September. As it turned out it didn't, with some extenuating circumstances. But the reality is we couldn't contain their spread out of defence. This has transferred into this year and it is far worse than before because everybody knows what we do and they counter it immediately then catch us out. GWS & Dogs did it to a lesser degree too. Every team, except Saints, know how to counter us. So we won three. Lions you can say just don't have the cattle. We did well against Norf but their coaches still haven't wotrked out how to beat our zone same as Saints. The rest we have played certainly have. But it was so noticeable against Pies, Power, Blues & Hawks. The Hawks came into the game with virtually a reserves team and still beat us. Talk about Longmire losing the unlosable.
I think it is time to look at a new coach. We will never win another premiership with coaches that simply can'y change things up at a minutes notice. We need onfield leadership who can see what's happening and take the initiative to change things on the field. Hodge for Hawks does it all the time. Murphy for Dogs. Our structures are far too rigid. We need to get flexibility back into the game plan. If we keep playing this sort of footy I am simply going to turn off and go and watch the reserves, who are playing great footy. They are not playing the same as the Seniors either by the way. they have different personnel and are playing accordingly. Shaw has them believing and playing great footy. A very tough, smart, skillful game of footy. If the senior coaches took some of the stuff the dew kickers are doing to senior level we could just win a few games. Mind you Shaw is developing their one on one game and the boys are tough, uncompromising and tight. Can't say that about the seniors. Bomb the ball into Bud or Tip, lose ball and get slaughtered on the way back or get a point and play a zone that allows their players 10 metres. Then get lost on the spread. Reserves don't allow that to happen. Game and player awareness are a great thing and maybe many of our older players just don't have it. But I think it is just a flawed zone. A zone that allows the opposition to lose their players on the way back. Too many of our players overlap and soon they don't know who their opponents are or where they are. Simple really.Comment
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That idiot Brereton on SEN said that "Hodgey doesn't stage" and reckoned Grundy got away with one after blatantly smashing Hodge in the jaw. He even encouraged people to look at the video. You look at the video and you see Grundy never went anywhere near the jaw - it's clearly the shoulder. It just shows what a poor commentator Brereton is, how partisan and divorced from reality he is when it comes to any matter involving the Dawks. He simply can't be trusted to be rational or objective. It just reinforced why my usual reaction is to turn off/change channels as soon as Brereton comes on.My opinion is objective truth in its purest formComment
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Yes and I suppose that in Dermyworld, Hodge doesn't push people into goal posts, take cheap shots behind play or instigate brawls when the mustard and turd are behind. In fact, it's just poor accident prone Hodgey, having a series of unfortunate accidents, in which the opposition players get injured.Comment
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Not Really.
Every adjustment to the game plan has a downside. I understand what we are trying to do. We are allowing teams to take boundary marks by dropping off the fat side to defend the corridor, as well as trying not to allow the ball coming over the top. It only takes one miskick by the opposition to get the ball coming back the other way, but Hawthorn, as well as Collingwood in that first quarter, kept hitting targets. You can find lots of other games for both teams this year when that was not the case. We also had the problem of butchering the ball when we did get it back. The game plan also depends on quick skillful counterplay, something we lacked on Friday.
What we need to do is recognise when this opposition strategy is effective and make adjustments, most likely bringing up a defender and allowing us to forward press man on man trying to force a kick to a contest.
Longmire would be reeling from the scathing criticism he's been getting from all quarters on how he was outcoached. I think we will see some adjustments on the way.
At the selection table, we should pick our best 22 as if the position of ruckman didn't exist. Then choose 3 or 4 players from the selected group to rotate at the stoppages for that game. If Sinclair and Tippett are not good enough to play as key forwards, then we should drop them and bring in Aliir and Talia, for example, and have Reg, Aliir, Reid and Towers share the ruck duties.Comment
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You really do hate ruckmen don't you. Cameron is playing really well in the reserves. Tippett I'll give you is under performing to the max. Don't know what to do about him except put it out there he is no longer a required player and then draft Sam Maize as a Rookie ruck. Longmire doesn't have a plan B though Ludwig. He can't change it once we are doing it and the onfield leaders can't either. If you are being exploited playing omne style the solution is pretty simple change the style to one that isn't going to be exploited. For instance get rid of the zone and play man on man. That generally works against Hawks. That is how we have beaten them, Cats etc in the past. By taking them on and pressuring them. With the zone you rely on the opposition @@@@ing up. That is a really negative tactic and if it doesn't work what happens ids swift accurate ball movement has you caught out with all your players on one side. That happened all the time Friday and also against Pies, Blues and Port. Not to mention most of the game against GWS and also Dogs.Comment
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I can't stand the bloody zone thing, whatever it's supposed to achieve , it doesn't work .
It's so boring to watch again and again .
I can't believe I've cycled all the way to the SCG to watch it all over again .
I'm very interested to go and watch the twos .Comment
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There are a lot of ruckmen that I like. I still think Dean Cox would be the best ruckman in the competition despite changes to the game, because he was a great football play who happened to be a big guy. I like Kreuzer and Max Gawn because they do the job in the ruck and make an impact around the ground. Tippett at his best is that kind of player, but we just haven't seen it since his hamstring tendon injury last year, so if he doesn't come good we have to find another solution. I've made many comments about being hopeful that Cameron can be the one because he does make an impact around the ground and is a goal kicker. Hopefully he can take that game to the next level.
As for the game plan, it's hard to know as an observer if the coach has asked the player to execute a Plan B, but the players just can't execute, or there is no Plan B, because we don't hear what goes on in the huddle and at halftime. We are just guessing about what the coach wants from his players.
Some games we seem to press up really well, but other times we don't. It's hard to know what the game plan is when we see the players play a different game from week to week.Comment
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The whole four OTC have concurred.Comment
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Im sorry but if Longmire needs scathing criticism of Friday's performance to change our game plan then he has to go. Not only was it completely what was expected from the Hawks but the style has beaten us two other times. I think the talent in the group enabled us to keep all 3 games close despite appalling tactics.
I still think we have one of the best lists, yes some pruning is done but there is more than enough talent for top 8 and further if we get on a roll and are injury free.
I would still see what Roosey is up to, if he isn't interested then let's go new school and get young keen coach in. The Bulldogs show it can work and I think a new coach and tactics would get the team bubbling along nicely.
Horse has been great, but the game has passed him and I suspect the players are numb to much he says anymore I have always though Jack Gibson one of the greatest league coaches had it right when he said no more than 2 or 3 years at a club. Maybe one more if your successful. John is starting to undermine a great legacy.Comment
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Ludwig
What i am suggesting is not just tinkering without the ball ie as u have noted by changing how we set up our defence and being flexible to change this when needed
I'm saying that our best defence is not letting the opposition have possession of the ball as much as they did on Friday and other games this season
actually keeping possession when the opposition is on a run and stringing passes and starving us of possession......recognising that we can adjust and go through periods of uncontested and contested to get the game on our terms. I feel at the swans we try to force contested footy to be the answer to everything and it is simply not.
Most goals in soccer come from 3 or less passes. So why not only pass three or less passes all game? why does a top level soccer team go through large periods of the game putting together 10 plus passes????
For one reason.......when they have the ball the opposition does not !!! It is the best defence
The hawks were massively influenced by the same strategy ie ur best defence is maintaining possession and this is exploited at a low risk level via switching and short uncontested kicks / marks
I feel John and the coaching department fail to truly understand this concept that the uncontested chip and mark for significant parts of the game is the best defence and sometimes we need to embrace this in our game plan when we can't get the game on our terms
So far we are showing the opposite with head in the sand and using predominantly one method in attack to arrest the game - I wish our coaches could see the value in being flexible with the ball to counter opposition momentum"be tough, only when it gets tough"
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