Match Day Thread Rnd 12 Sydney V Western Bulldogs. SCG. 19.20 pm.

[Beerman]

Great games from all our players tonight. I agree that Naismith & Heeney were good and I thought Sinclair was good in the first half too.

I notice when we play well that one player will contest the mark and the others will stay down and crumb. Happened against the Saints and again tonight. When we lose, everyone goes up.

I hate to say it, but are we a better team without Rohan? I like Marsh, and Ronan is starting to fill me with dread and disappointment. (Maybe it's his lack of tank). One thing is clear, if Ronan plays, then he has to play forward and apply lots of defensive pressure.

[wolftone57]

We have pretty much our full team back. Rampe is still building and Heeney said on TV he still isn't quite there. What I would like to see is us win the rest of our games, Joey lets Isaac be best on each week, Isaac wins the Brownlow and 5000 large drops into my account.

Just on footy terminology; I have noticed some RWOers call it "pinned" when a players gets a holding the ball decision against him. The correct term is "pinged" holding the ball. This term has been one of the long standing terms in the history of the game.

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We got a lot of frees in the last quarter. I wonder what the whingers are saying on Big Footy. I did notice that the Dogs players duck their heads into tackles quite a bit.

Our gun defence is back in town. They were bloody terrific. Solid as rock and backed each other up big time. Marsh survives RWO once again. Thought he was pretty good.

We got a lot of frees in the last because the umpies knew Doggies were shot. If it was tight it may have been different. But they were there and the Doggie were under huge pressure and were stuffing up constantly. Simple, if you play the ball, keep pressure on the plaayer with the ball when you don't have it and always have numbers at the ball the frees and the win will be yours.

[Markwebbos]

Hewett is developing well, Papley was missed big time and having Heeney and Rampe back shows what we were lacking back in rounds 1-6. Naismith also made a huge difference and I don't care if Tippett kicks 15 goals in Saturday, I hope he stays in the twos. I'm not one to bag McVeigh but I'd like to see him play at least a couple of games ion the NEAFL to prove his body can still hold up. Rohan is the only one I'd contemplate bringing back in.

I can't see a spot for McVeigh in the team, now Newman is settled, nor Tippett for the foreseeable future.

If Rohan returns for Marsh, could continue to be a long wait for AA too.

[wolftone57]

Liz and others have commented on Hewett's game. Watching the reaction of the boys after the game, I reckon it was pretty obvious they rated his game highly, as a number of them went up to him and gave him what appeared to be particular acknowledgement of his own efforts in nullifying Johannisen, beyond just mutual congratulation and sharing the joy of the win. Hope this game will be an important one for his development.

Haven't seen Jake Lloyd criticised here for maybe a fortnight, but the last two games have shown both negatively and positively that in his unflashy way he's a really important player for us.

Of course, there are a lot of others who deserve credit. As a team, it was great to see the four-quarter game they put together tonight.

Josh Kennedy made a bee line for Hewee after the game and put his arm around him and ruffled his head, obviously saying 'Great game kid'. He killed Johanison tonight. He took him out. How did he do that? A player who is by far too slow to keep up with him? He didn't allow him space and niggled him all night.

[Mug Punter]

I was so wrong about Newman, he looks totally at home at AFL level and I just love his delivery by foot.

The second half of the season provides some great opportunities across our squad and I'm really looking forward to seeing who takes them.

As for those (myself included) who debate whether we let Sammy go for pick 6,7 or whatever it is, not on tonight's performance we don't. Though I do think getting our NEAFL Ruckman off our list (as well as some of his salary) may be required to keep him...

[Danzar]

Great games from all our players tonight. I agree that Naismith & Heeney were good and I thought Sinclair was good in the first half too.

I notice when we play well that one player will contest the mark and the others will stay down and crumb. Happened against the Saints and again tonight. When we lose, everyone goes up.

I hate to say it, but are we a better team without Rohan? I like Marsh, and Ronan is starting to fill me with dread and disappointment. (Maybe it's his lack of tank). One thing is clear, if Ronan plays, then he has to play forward and apply lots of defensive pressure.

Beerman, completely agree with everything but Gazza. We are not a better team without Gazza. If we had Gazza playing tonight, fully fit, we'd have smashed the doggies by much more than 46 points. Doggies are faster than us and they exposed that fact in the first quarter and for parts of the second. I kept looking at the wing and seeing gaps that Gazza would have punched through easily.

On 'Ronan' he might have a word or two about his game: Ronan's kick with Buddy - sydneyswans.com.au

Great game, the doggies chucked themselves at the contested ball and we found a way out every time.

[bloodspirit]

Great to get another win and a good performance. At half time I was frustrated by the poor conversion and worried that the Dogs might come back even though we had totally dominated to that point. Got better from there as we kicked more goals.

One of the highlights was the even contribution across the 22 - nobody got under 50 Fantasy points which is unusual.

Sadly for Ludwig our rucks were great - although they were playing a team that was going with the rucks don't matter that much philosophy so it wasn't stiff opposition. Still wasn't any vindication for that approach.

I was really interested in WauchopeAnalyst's point about a new game style. I hope you will elaborate more. I thought one difference was that we kept control of the ball a bit more (although sometimes I was wanting us to play a bit more directly). Then I wondered what wolftone would think and he was happy too. Any chance you'll give Horse any credit?

One player that particularly caught my attention tonight was Sammy Reid. He just pulled down mark after contested mark. 7, count 'em, 7, contested marks, most of them inside 50 (too bad they didn't result in a bunch of goals though). I think he is underrated by posters on RWO. Easy to say after he had a good night like tonight (or like when he kicked 6 earlier in the season) but I think he has been really valuable for us most weeks, even when he hasn't played as well. It's so valuable when we can send him back or forward or even chuck him in the ruck (like ugg). He's a super mark when he's on song; he's a neat kick; and he applies good defensive pressure and has a good tank. We are really lucky to have him. Given we don't have a lot of KPF depth I hope we hang on to him and think we will.

I hope to hear more from WA and wolftone and the mysteriously subdued Ludwig.

Bring on the Tigers. We are certainly capable of beating them and I will always back us but I'm not overly confident. Our record against them in recent years hasn't been great - but was wonderful to DESTROY them last time we played!!! Let's do it again.

[longmile]

Swans to win comfortably and umpires to stay out of it

told ya


feels so good x

[Odysseus]

I hate to say it, but are we a better team without Rohan? I like Marsh, and Ronan is starting to fill me with dread and disappointment. (Maybe it's his lack of tank). One thing is clear, if Ronan plays, then he has to play forward and apply lots of defensive pressure.

+1
Is there an RWOer who doesn't love Gazza? All the same, I wasn't disappointed he was ill and couldn't play. I'd actually been hoping both he and Tippett would be dropped for this game, so I was watching keenly to see how we'd go without him. There's no doubting his manic courage, and I know Longmire says he doesn't have to get a high possession count to influence a game, but sadly I don't think he's developed as we could have expected. He's looked a bit lost from what I've seen this season (his Carlton game was excruciating, right until he knocked himself out cold), and I just can't get out my head the image of him trying to dummy Easton Wood on the wing in the GF. Like Tippett, I think he should be worked hard to get his place in the best 22.

[Mug Punter]

I was really interested in WauchopeAnalyst's point about a new game style. I hope you will elaborate more. I thought one difference was that we kept control of the ball a bit more (although sometimes I was wanting us to play a bit more directly). Then I wondered what wolftone would think and he was happy too. Any chance you'll give Horse any credit?

Ha ha, yes I'm interested in WA's analysis of our new game style too

I clearly don't have his insight into the game but to me we were just harder at the footy and slicker with our skills and we made less mistakes than our last game.

I get as emotional as anyone at the game but I like to remember what some of the coaches say, that your good is never as good as it seems and your bad is never as bad (unless you are Brisbane). I think at times as fans we forget the fine margins that these games are decided upon, it's part of why we get so incensed with umpiring decisions. Against the Hawks we were a bit off, and tonight we were well on. The general EFFORT was similar but we just executed so much better tonight.

[rojo]

The best game of the year for me so far, especially sweet as it was v the Dogs. Also the best I have seen Hewett play, he finally gets a tick from me for inclusion in the best 22.
Paps is a real gem! At last we have a player who has niggle, bump, dig, annoy etc in his DNA! He has the ability to lift the team with his style of play even when he makes a mistake or two, or three. Totally unperturbed when he cops a bit back. As we build a team for the future, my one concern is the absence of AA. As others have said it is now hard to find a spot for him. As Melican and Newman are used to playing along side him already he has got to be somewhere in the back line. He looked to have the makings of a really special one of a kind player.

[ugg]

I don't think our skill levels were particularly great tonight - a lot of fumbles and slips but we can attribute that to the conditions. 28 scoring shots generated from 71 inside 50s is below par

What was really impressive though was the pressure, particularly in the forward half of the ground. It was hard, tough and unrelenting and forced the Bulldogs into rushed kicks and handballs and eventually into turnovers. 24 tackles inside 50 (out of 63 tackles) really illustrates this point.

[Hotpotato]

They were interesting stats outlined in the pre-game by John Ralph....
That Sydney had very low expectations this year, given they played in the Granny, could only get 20 fitness sessions into the boys compared to 28 by clubs not in the finals and with all the injuries, only 2 players completed the twenty , Zak and someone else, maybe Lloyd and hence their form and the poor form of many of the others.
So it's taken this long to get most of them up and about.

[KTigers]

Best game we've played since last year. This is what we are capable of when 22 guys are switched on. What I liked
was our pressure and frantic attack on the footy for all four quarters, even when it was clear we were going to win.
Hewett winning the ball in front of the player race against four Bulldogs opponents was the benchmark.

[Beerman]

your good is never as good as it seems and your bad is never as bad (unless you are Brisbane).

I laughed. Reminds me of a comment in about round 9, that Richmonds ladder position flattered them greatly given their performances, and so did Brisbane's!

Last night's game just makes the Hawthorn game more frustrating. If we had played like that two weeks ago we would have smashed them and would have a decent chance at finals. Let's hope we can bring it again against Richmond next week and especially against Hawthorn later in the year.