#AFL Round 2, Sydney Swans v Port Adelaide, 01/04/18, SCG @sydneyswans

[stevoswan]

Good call re Longmire TBC. Not sure about Optus surface. Eagles on fire v Bullies. We did tire but I reckon a lot of it was mental after huge effort and domination in first half only to be a couple of goals in front. Takes its toll psychologically and that transfers to the physical.

WC didn't have to travel to and from as well...... it will be interesting to see how Essendon go next week after their trip and PS game although I notice a lot of comments on here, by people who watched the game, point at us being underdone fitness wise......this is of concern and is something that needs to be looked at. Do we have gun conditioning and fitness coaches or what? I thought we did......fitness and hardness has always being our hallmark.

[Markwebbos]

No one has mentioned how hot / humid it was yesterday. I can?t remember going to a game when it?s been as hot as it was yesterday. Plus travelling to/from Perth is known to take it out of teams. So I?m not sure about our (lack of) fitness.

We should have made more of our opportunities in the first half when we comprehensively outplayed Port except for on the scoreboard.

Disappointing how completely we were outplayed / outcoached in the second half, and had few answers.

We have new coaches on every line this year.

Our FWD line is looking very one-dimensional. Defence has leaked more points than usual and we got beaten around the ball in the second half yesterday.

Huge game on Saturday

[O'Reilly Boy]

Florent was my highlight. His chase and tackle was excellent. He was afflicted by our poor kicking, particularly in the first quarter, when he collected 8 possessions. But he found space all night and took a few critical marks low down, under pressure.

I don't agree with the suggestion the club hasn't been transparent with Reid's injury. Longmire said on Tuesday that Reid's tight hamstring would mean he'd miss the main session to run instead and he seemed pessimistic Reid would play. In his post-game presser he said he hoped Reid would get up for this week. Gotta say, he sounded a bit pessimistic about Jones and it was still too early re Hannebery. I suspect we'll be told more details at Longmire's presser tomorrow.

On Jones, I thought we missed his line busting runs and long kicking.

Fair cop on Reid. My apologies.

[MattW]

Fair cop on Reid. My apologies.

Not at all, mate.

[Scottee]

Actually I?d suggest that?s a simplistic view on cramping.

etc

Superb post Goswanees.

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[goswannies]

Superb post Goswanees.

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Whew! I was aiming for mostly correct spelling and punctuation

But more seriously, after a loss, Horse cops a massive amount of heat on here at times. Fair enough if it?s warranted, but he gets blamed for a lot of things that are ridiculously beyond his control.

[Plugger1300]

I?m sure as supporters we are now under no illusion how fast the game has become and the class of ports running game combined with contested footy was just awesome

We need running players more then ever to take on port because they have the run and the hardness and the smarts today

Port looked a step above us

Classy and they have gone hard for players with some strong recruitment. I think they have crept up on my understanding of just how deep and strong they are as a squad

Class above is a stretch. If we had hit targets in the first half the game would've been over. They got the momentum and capitialised

[AnnieH]

First of all, Horse doesn't actually play, so stop asking for his head on a pillow.

I've said it a million times... what doesn't win you games is handballing into traffic, kicking to a two or three on one, dropping easy marks and just kicking it for the hell of kicking it.
They gave up towards the end of the second quarter, and once the ball got a bit slippery, it showed. (I'm using the "slippery ball" as an excuse here... Port seemed to handle it a lot better.)
We've gone back to the first six weeks of last season. Last week was a fluke.
Not very impressed.

[penga]

Our skills, composure and midfield pressure cost us that game. Time and time again we fumbled the football. Do the swans ever train at night when the dew starts to set?

This.

It really does seem like as soon as there are any dark clouds nearby, Horse must look to the heavens and say, inside boys!!

[penga]

The downfield free, for what it's worth, was for a push in the back by the chasing Swans player, who pushed the Port player into the Swans player. I went back and had a look at it at the time as I was confused by where it came from. It was there, albeit soft.

[Industrial Fan]

Thanks penga. Saw the onscreen replay and couldn?t work it out at the ground.

Still think the ground was heavily watered before the game - very damp surface, more than surface dew.

[liz]

Thanks penga. Saw the onscreen replay and couldn?t work it out at the ground.

Still think the ground was heavily watered before the game - very damp surface, more than surface dew.

I haven't read the whole thread but I wondered if any explanation had been provided (on the TV commentary) about the conditions. There couldn't have been any dew in the first half - it was a blazing hot afternoon and the sun was up for the entire first half. And it's hardly rained in Sydney for the last fortnight. Even after half-time, it is hard to imagine there was much dew. The temperature didn't drop much.

It was bizarre watching the game from the stands, wondering why the players couldn't hold simple marks or handle the ball cleanly.

[Industrial Fan]

I walked onto the ground for kick to kick and it was damp. I walk through other ovals to get home and didn?t pick up any real moisture.

I don?t remember a game with so many dropped chest marks and hand passes that weren?t in a deluge.

A new groundskeeper for the scg this year too apparently.

[Hotpotato]

The players should know this Ground better than anyone and what happens to it after dusk.

The Swans just got sloppier (Horses term) and the Power sharper and nailed snaps from out of you know where.

Without Buddy, it was how to out fumble each other.

Port played like the Swans can often play which they will on Sat.

[bloodsbigot]

Maybe I'm wrong, but it seemed that we were just employing the same tactic we developed in the off-season (Handball through the middle and pass long to Buddy in a one-off), because it worked well last week with Buddy kicking 8.

Port knew we were doing this and were countering our counter way too easily. And we had no plan B. I think this inaction cost us the match.

That's been really typical of our team under Longmires reign. No plan B's. Just playing out the same strategy until the final siren. No big in-game changes. It often works, but I think it exhausts out team.