#AFL Round 4, Sydney Swans v Bulldogs, 4:35pm 14/04 Etihad @sydneyswans #AFLDogsSwans

[Ludwig]

Hanners doesn't quite have that zip in his game since the groin problems of last year. It may take him a while to get back to that massive work rate that makes him such a good player. He's only 27. I think he will do it. Lots of players have sluggish periods due to injury and work themselves back into top form.

JPK had a rare off game. I certainly wouldn't write him off either.

The midfield seems to be going through a bit of a makeover with a lot more positional rotations. We see more variation in individual performances form midfielders than before when just a few players dominated the on ball time.

The team as a whole is not quite right at the moment. The forward line won't be right until Reid gets back. The first thing to work on will be to fortify the defence once Melican and Aliir are both fully fit. And then we'll how that goes and what the possibilities are of releasing Mills into the midfield.

[Blood Fever]

That is a shame to hear. If that is the case we might need to plan a gradual rebuild of the midfield and take a look at some of the younger players earlier than expected. We need to be prepared in case we suddenly lose several top midfielders.

Fake news. Will take a while to run into form after injury. If you took what was in the Herald Sun seriously and at face value, you would end up severely misinformed.

[mcs]

Just on Dan Hannebery. Article in today's Herald Sun suggesting he is past his best and is lucky to get a game. Combined with JPKs demise, it looks like we need to get a couple of new mid-fielders.

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Hanners just needs some more time I think - to build up fitness. I thought he improved on Saturday and will get better as the season goes on.

All players - even the best ones, have peaks and troughs. We all know JPK will be good to go when the big games roll around.

I do think our midfield group is a bit down as a collective per say so far this year - but its only 4 weeks in, and we are 3-1, so no time for alarm bells yet!

[liz]

As we all know, Hanners injured his knee quite badly at the end of the third quarter of the 2016 Grand Final. He had a bit of a rest in the off-season but then got back into his running in a big way and blitzed the early pre-season, which, according to Longmire (at the recent AGM) was the worst thing he could have done (with the benefit of hindsight) because he then developed groin soreness. I thought he worked his way through 2017 pretty well considering. He changed his game to play a bit more on the inside, presumably because he could no longer deliver the outside gut running that we'd come to expect from him. 2017 wasn't his most dominant year but he was still a pretty good contributor after a slow start.

As we also all know, he had no pre-season leading into 2018 so it's hardly surprising that he's not firing on all cylinders. He's going just OK but the idea that he's lucky to be getting a game is daft. We have no-one running around in our NEAFL midfield who could come in and perform even at his currently reduced level of output.

He may well be past his best but we can only know that in hindsight. He's still in the peak years, age wise, and there have been plenty of players whose form line has stuttered, coinciding with a period of niggling injuries, only to regain their mojo and have more excellent seasons.

I'm also a bit baffled by the certainty implied within the comment "JPK's demise". He's started the season slowly but he did so last year too. By the end of the year, he was deemed by many to be the unluckiest player to miss the AA team and he polled 23 votes in the Brownlow, finishing 4th in the count. In neither year was he dreadful at the start - he was just down a bit on his normal levels of production.

Every player eventually declines but, as with Hanners, we can't know whether he's fallen off a cliff until we have the benefit of hindsight. It would seem unlikely that a player still close to the prime age (especially for a solidly built inside mid) would "demise" (I don't know what the correct verb form is) over such a short interval. Maybe we should wait a bit before condemning him to the scrap heap.

[707]

It's never as bad as it looks and it's never as good as it looks is an old adage that posters should remember before hitting the keyboard.

[dimelb]

Hanners has been offered a $1,500 fine for starting a melee. Underperforming? Nah,he's extending his skills.

[AnnieH]

Just on Dan Hannebery. Article in today's Herald Sun suggesting he is past his best and is lucky to get a game. Combined with JPKs demise, it looks like we need to get a couple of new mid-fielders.

Don't forget Hanners has been playing for 9-10 years... we got him when he was still in nappies.
Don't give up on Hanners yet... he'll get his groove back.

[ugg]

Hanners has been offered a $1,500 fine for starting a melee. Underperforming? Nah,he's extending his skills.

Hanners would feel harshly done by. He engaged in a bit of push and shove with Johannisen before the bounce, but it's something you would see in many AFL games. The fact that it turned into a melee was due to the Dogs wanting to stick up for Johannisen when they failed to do so at our last meeting. No fines for the other participants in the melee as far as I can tell.

[jono2707]

Any AFL Fantasy player worth their salt knows that JPK always starts the year relatively slowly (by his lofty standards) and then roars home as the season progresses. No cause for alarm yet..

[Mark26]

Wow. Can't believe a minority are willing to ride off a couple of our best mids. Hanners and Joey are nowhere near past it. They will fight their way back into form too. True champions of the AFL and our club.

[Scottee]

Hanners doesn't quite have that zip in his game since the groin problems of last year. It may take him a while to get back to that massive work rate that makes him such a good player. He's only 27. I think he will do it. Lots of players have sluggish periods due to injury and work themselves back into top form.

JPK had a rare off game. I certainly wouldn't write him off either.

The midfield seems to be going through a bit of a makeover with a lot more positional rotations. We see more variation in individual performances form midfielders than before when just a few players dominated the on ball time.

The team as a whole is not quite right at the moment. The forward line won't be right until Reid gets back. The first thing to work on will be to fortify the defence once Melican and Aliir are both fully fit. And then we'll how that goes and what the possibilities are of releasing Mills into the midfield.

I just hope he is really over the groin problems.


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[Scottee]

Any AFL Fantasy player worth their salt knows that JPK always starts the year relatively slowly (by his lofty standards) and then roars home as the season progresses. No cause for alarm yet..

I also think that he is sharing the load more to allow others, such as Heeney and Papley, time on the ball. It's a good strategy to improve our overall midfield strength.Probably time to give Mills more of a go too.

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[Beerman]

Wow. Can't believe a minority are willing to ride off a couple of our best mids. Hanners and Joey are nowhere near past it. They will fight their way back into form too. True champions of the AFL and our club.

I'm not writing them off, but there is no denying that they are not playing their best (which admittedly is a very high standard). If it's just fitness then they have to play. If it's an injury, then maybe they should be rested so they have a chance to recover properly.

Unfortunately our draw is pretty tough, with no games against genuine bottom teams until about round 9, so I think it will be hard for them to rest if they are carrying a niggle.

[Beerman]

I agree with Ludwig that our defence this year is a concern. Normally we are just about best in the comp when it comes to points against - so far this season we are mid-table in this regard. Ahead of Carlton and Brisbane but way behind GWS. Even the Suns have allowed fewer scores and even after being thrashed this weekend. Interestingly it is North who have conceded the fewest points so far this season - and by a long way!

Remember that North played in torrential rain in week one, and have also played Carlton & St Kilda - so no surprises that they haven't had many points scored against them.

MRP
Lachlan Hunter can accept 1 game, rough conduct on T Papley.

I thought this one was borderline, but glad to see he got a week. It was a very poor act - completely unnecessary and unsportsmanlike.

Interesting article by Nick Dal Santo, which a few on here would agree with

Sydney is "vanilla, but it?s a damn good vanilla,? says Dal Santo

I love vanilla. It's my favourite flavour. You know that person at the gelato shop shouting "Vanilla is a flavour too!" - that's me.

[ScottH]

Did anyone see Papley run 50+ metres from the fwd area into the centre square during a stoppage in the first qtr?
Snared the ball from the tap, unmarked ran out of the pack easily with the ball. didn't result in the goal but it was a great bit of individual effort from Papley.