Match Day Thread Rnd 22 Adelaide V Sydney. Adelaide Oval 19.50 pm. Or 19.20 ACST.

[CureTheSane]

What I take away from the game was that we were lucky to win, just scraped home, hung on with some good fortune, were lucky the Crows didn't kick straight, were gifted the win by poor umpiring decisions.

This is because of the Fox Footy telecast.

Sad that they struggle to barrack for both teams at times.
Only chance the Swans ever have of some support is if they come from behind at the last minute and build momentum and the commentators have no choice but to get excited,

[MattW]

I'm usually pretty phlegmatic about the commentary, but last night that Channel 7 mob did my head in. They were only commentating one side of the contest; the only story was the Crows. The sustained paeans to Crows players were offset by moments of grudging back-handed references to Swans, and, towards the end, by their equally grudging acknowledgement of the Swans' premiership favouritism. Of course Sloane was terrific, but the Heeney match up was pretty much a diversion: KJ or Hewitt next time.

Anyone watching without seeing the scoreline would have thought that the Crows were winning all night. The Swans were magnificent, twice clawing back the lead after the Crows came so hard. One of the great wins by an outstanding football team. I loved the deadpan lack of engagement with that fool BT in the rooms afterwards; Papley just gave him the evil eye throughout what passed for an interview, and Rohan looked at him with mocking contempt.

All the way, boys, all the way.

No changes next week unless Jones suspended (he'll get a week won't he? He leapt off the ground and collected Crouch late in the back). Hayward was always going to struggle in that company, and will be the better for the experience. I though that Tippett was good; very involved, combative and showed some nice skills.

The boys looked pretty sore post game: Rohan was lurching on that leg, and Papley had a big bruise on the back of his thigh, but next week should not present too many challenges, and then there's a week off.

Yeah, I actually thought the lead commentators suggested a few missed frees to the Swans during their call, but they never seemed to tally them up and later claimed they hadn't noticed the umpiring.

I thought this one summed it up. Brett Bonetti on Twitter: "How is this a free kick to Adelaide?? ???? #AFLCrowsSwans https://t.co/WC7T3Qhqs3"

[S.S. Bleeder]

Yeah, I actually thought the lead commentators suggested a few missed frees to the Swans during their call, but they never seemed to tally them up and later claimed they hadn't noticed the umpiring.

I thought this one summed it up. Brett Bonetti on Twitter: "How is this a free kick to Adelaide?? ???? #AFLCrowsSwans https://t.co/WC7T3Qhqs3"

That is amazing. If anything it should have been a free the other way.

[Steve]

Yeah, I actually thought the lead commentators suggested a few missed frees to the Swans during their call, but they never seemed to tally them up and later claimed they hadn't noticed the umpiring.

That's exactly right - had to chuckle at that. I think it was BT, after the free kick count was shown at one point, he was fairly dismissive with words to the effect "I haven't noticed the umpiring". But as Matt says, all night he and the others were repeatedly saying "surely a free kick to Sydney" or "[fill in the blank with an Adelaide indiscretion] not paid".

The umpiring was a classic case of letting it go one way (which was OK for many of the decisions), but quick to pay them the other (coincidentally to the home team). The HTB (forget who it was) in the middle where the Adelaide playing didn't even come close to laying a tackle, ball was merely knocked out of the Sydney players' hand, was a shocker - surely it has to be a que to the ump that a tackle has actually been laid. It was a bit strange to have 3 ordinary umps rostered to such a big game.

Eddie on the Fox post-game coverage was going on and on about the Mills 50m - sometimes it's hard to distinguish between his showmanship as a presenter vs his bias, but he wouldn't let it go. Even after Roos highlighted the overall free kick discrepancy, he could only say "I'd prefer that one to all the others". It was definitely play on, but technically Betts probably hadn't come back another 1m or so and shouldn't have been where he was to be able to lay the tackle. Unfortunately for the ump that's not why he paid it a 50m, so it was a plain error.

Anyone watching without seeing the scoreline would have thought that the Crows were winning all night.

Other than the first quarter (and not even all of it), the scoreboard was really the only area we were holding sway. After that Adelaide was the dominant team no doubt, their inaccuracy left the door ajar for us.

Having said that, you have to admire the perseverance of our defence to hold up the way they did, the dam wall looked like breaking all second half. That kept us close enough to be able to make that last ditch effort against the run to get those last 2 goals.

Similar to the last quarter of the 2012 GF - to look at the stats you coudn't make any argument as to how we could win, but we clung on desperately and then took our chances the other way.

[dejavoodoo44]

Yeah, I actually thought the lead commentators suggested a few missed frees to the Swans during their call, but they never seemed to tally them up and later claimed they hadn't noticed the umpiring.

I thought this one summed it up. Brett Bonetti on Twitter: "How is this a free kick to Adelaide?? ???? #AFLCrowsSwans https://t.co/WC7T3Qhqs3"

Hmmm, maybe when Lloyd was being tackled to the ground without the ball, he reached out and tapped Cameron on the back??
There was another beauty in the last minute, when Hewett was just about to take a mark in kickable range, but was prevented from doing so, by Lever flying third man up and stiff arming him to the side of the head. George then picked himself up while rubbing his now painful jaw, looking somewhat bemused as to why that wasnt a free.

[liz]

The HTB (forget who it was) in the middle where the Adelaide playing didn't even come close to laying a tackle, ball was merely knocked out of the Sydney players' hand, was a shocker - .

How can you forget who it was? It was Sloane, who only had to look at the ball to be awarded a free kick. (That said, he did play a great game - clearly BOG.) (The Swans player who had the ball knocked out was Jones, I think.)

[crackedactor]

Well Said!!! my sentiments exactly.

[Steve]

How can you forget who it was? It was Sloane, who only had to look at the ball to be awarded a free kick. (That said, he did play a great game - clearly BOG.) (The Swans player who had the ball knocked out was Jones, I think.)

I think I suffer temporary memory loss due to the rage associated with decisions that bad. But you're right, should have been able to guess who the Adelaide player was.

Also re: Sloane, Adelaide might have played a masterstroke letting him get mauled for most of the year, without doing much about it.

Clearly they have gone to the umpiring department for some 'clarification' showing plenty of cases where he might have been held, blocked etc. And then you get umps now starting to look at him expecting indiscretions, and paying frees when they see the slightest thing. At the expense of assessing all players around those contests equally.

[Beerman]

I haven't been convinced that Naismith is the answer since McEvoy tore us apart a few weeks back. I would like to see him be more competitive in marking contests - he doesn't have to win them, but he needs to at least turn them into a 50:50. Both Tippett and Sinclair are ahead of him in that regard I think. (Sinclair had a team-high 8 one percenters, equal with Mills). Tippett in particular was very good in the first half but faded later in the game - in the final quarter he looked cooked. I wonder if he needs a bit more conditioning following his injuries and stint in the NEAFL.

I think that was a good learning experience for Hayward. That was a finals-like level of intensity that he hasn't been exposed to before and he will have a much better idea of what's required now. I'm not writing him off for the finals just yet, but he does need to lift if he wants to be in the team at that level.

I don't think enough credit is given to Franklin's game which was immense, even by his standards. Kicked three great goals himself and had a direct hand in at least a couple more (Rohan's second and Papley at the end).

A couple of other players I didn't notice much ended up being very influential on reflection - Reid in particular. Is Reid our most under-rated player now? Doesn't get much talk, but is one of our most important. It is no co-incidence that when the Hawks beat us, he wasn't playing.

[Matty10]

The commentators not noticing any problem with the free kick discrepancy is understandable.

By and large, they are trying to present an entertaining but neutral call. Just as the umpires are unlikely to hold any particular bias (other than their focus for the week). Both groups are influenced by the vociferous home supporters. They read the play, but cannot help but be influenced by the crowd that draws attention to, and creates pressure for, home crowd free kicks.

The main reason we don't see the game the way the others do is because of our bias (which is subject to being unreasonable at times).

Perhaps the only way that it could be evaluated in a truly neutral fashion by umpires and commentators would be with devices that filtered out the crowd noise. Not much else can be done really.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Steve]

I haven't been convinced that Naismith is the answer since McEvoy tore us apart a few weeks back.

A couple of other players I didn't notice much ended up being very influential on reflection - Reid in particular. Is Reid our most under-rated player now? Doesn't get much talk, but is one of our most important. It is no co-incidence that when the Hawks beat us, he wasn't playing.

Naismith was playing injured for a lot of that Hawthorn game, to the extent he's missed the following 3 weeks. He does give something very different with his extra height/reach/leap around the ground, but particularly at centre bounces. I think there were some stats last year that after he came into the team, our clearances (centre clearances in particular) went through the roof.

In terms of Reid, I've always been a huge fan. I think he's one of the smartest players in the game (definitely top couple of forwards). Obviously that's demonstrated by his designation as loose in defence late in quarters and/or whenever we're under any pressure. He does a massive amount of work keeping other defenders away from his teammates etc. Most of which goes unnoticed.

[Markwebbos]

Can someone expand on Ling's comments? I was saved from the C7 post match commentary by dint of watching FF instead. I don't recall Papley getting a free all night, nor of him exaggerating contact to win a free that wasn't paid. Did Ling actually provide examples, or has he still not moved on from Duncan whacking Papley?

Liz he was referring to the 2 punches earlier in the year not to anything in the game. Ling actually seemed to be openly barracking for the Swans at times during the commentary.

[giant]

Yeah, I actually thought the lead commentators suggested a few missed frees to the Swans during their call, but they never seemed to tally them up and later claimed they hadn't noticed the umpiring.

I thought this one summed it up. Brett Bonetti on Twitter: "How is this a free kick to Adelaide?? ???? #AFLCrowsSwans https://t.co/WC7T3Qhqs3"

That decision was comical and cost us a goal (and also came at the end of a streak of nonsensical home town calls) - Bruce didn't even blink.

[707]

Damian Hardwick was correct in his presser last week, it's just that it was a heap worse for us than what it was for Wretchmond in their failure at Kardinia Park.

I found out that the Swans are only allocated 600 tickets for members at Adelaide Oval. Crowd last night was 51,500 ish so that's just 1% of the crowd that are Swans, 99% or 51,000 are rabid Crows supporters calling for free kicks.

But the umpires should be better than that, the inconsistencies in calling the as near identical situation nearly cost us.

The comment earlier about Hayward's loyalty was disgraceful, he is just a slightly built 18yo playing what was as good as his first final's pressure game. He may not yet be up to finals but is a huge talent who I have no doubt will have a celebrated career with us. Place in the 22 could be in jeopardy.

Towers, has been marginal for a few weeks now, probably time to demote, gave us little.

Rucks, haven't seen the stats but looked like probable AA Jacobs towelled us. Hope Naismith is right as he is clearly our best tap ruckman and would have nullified Jacobs influence. Just not sure who goes out for him or how we structure up ruck wise.

Too late now to make too many changes but we can improve on our bottom few players. Huge NEAFL game today, shine there and maybe get a gig next week.

[giant]

I don't understand the towers hate. He did a lot of good little things and a couple of bad. Almost all players dropped marks. It was slippery.

I think the game exposed or ruck problem even further. It might be finally dawning on Longmire. We have one genuine ruck: nainsmith. And I think Sinclair had more upside as a forward than tippet.

I wish Dean the best of luck in his water polo or backgammon career or whatever other endeavour he chooses to follow, but if I see him in a red & white jersey again, I'll be livid. He contributed nothing of any value last night and plenty that was deleterious to our chances. Last year, I always had a view that we couldn't win a flag with Xavier Richards in our best 22 - the same goes this year with Towers. Move him on pls coaching panel, for the sanity of one and all.