#AFL Round 11, Swans vs Blues, 7:50pm, SCG #AFLSwansBlues @sydneyswans

[Matty10]

We have every chance to lift our % and show our true on top of the ground form in the 2nd half of the season.

I like the optimism - it is nice to read.

[mcs]

Our form appears to be not as good as we would like, however, I happen to think that has a lot to do with the conditions on the day. We have played 5 night games and one evening game at the SCG and all games the dew has set in and made the conditions difficult, hence closer scores. It rained for most of the Brisbane game.

We play Ethihad Stadium well; why? Because we are a top of the ground team. Arguably our best game was round 1 in Perth - on top of the ground. We beat the Bulldogs at Ethihad and Geelong in the afternoon on a good, dry surface. The day of the Hawthorn game it rained for most of the day, but the MCG being a great surface, dried out and allowed both teams to have clean posssession (no dew).

From now we have 4 games at Ethihad, an afternoon game at the SCG, an afternoon game at the MCG and one at Spotless. We have 3 games in the open at night.

3 of the Ethihad look tough but we have a great record there. We have every chance to lift our % and show our true on top of the ground form in the 2nd half of the season.

Excellent optimism there Nico

The players surely must get a lot of confidence from our trips to Etihad, given how well we play there. Tough games to come there yes, but our record there for a visiting team in recent seasons is absolutely outstanding. And I have always thought we play our best footy in day games.

If we are a genuine challenger for the Premiership this season, then we will build towards the end of the year - if we do make top 4 (with a relatively tough second half of the season to come) we will be every chance come the end of the year. Top 2 is going to be awfully tough - Richmond and Wet Toast will be very tough to dislodge. But if we can sneak into the 4, get back into the team Melican and Reid, then who knows.

Increasing our % would be great of course, but we should just worry about getting the wins needed to set up our season properly. I think given the overall relative inexperience of significant parts of our team, loss of key players at different times (Naismith, Reid, Melican, Hanners and Buddy at times) we have been going pretty well - even if we aren't playing great footy overall. But you don't win flags in June - you sure can lose the opportunity to do so , but at this time of year imo its just about building the wins up and rolling with the punches, with the aim of being ready to go come September (if you are lucky enough to make it). Would be fantastic to win our next two and turn at 10-3, but 9-4 would still be a strong position as well.

[liz]

Thomas is a twitter clown and gossip monger

Seems he repeated his Twitter comments (maybe because he got no reaction the first time) and has now elicited a response from the club. Although ignoring stuff like this seems the way to go, the threat of legal action has some appeal to. Social media makes it incredibly easy for people to peddle gossip, nastiness (and downright lies) quickly and effectively. Roseanne found out last week the cost of making an idle tweet. Maybe Thomas - who's repeated tweets and long term pattern of behaviour suggest far more than idle tweeting - should be made to learn there's a cost too.

https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/its-simply-nonsense-swans-respond-to-explosive-claims-regarding-lance-franklin-and-dan-hannebery/news-story/e08ad54b76072e83ce1cc28ab0457e43

[Blood Fever]

Seems he repeated his Twitter comments (maybe because he got no reaction the first time) and has now elicited a response from the club. Although ignoring stuff like this seems the way to go, the threat of legal action has some appeal to. Social media makes it incredibly easy for people to peddle gossip, nastiness (and downright lies) quickly and effectively. Roseanne found out last week the cost of making an idle tweet. Maybe Thomas - who's repeated tweets and long term pattern of behaviour suggest far more than idle tweeting - should be made to learn there's a cost too.

https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/its...1cc28ab0457e43

His tweeting is doubly malicious because it traps the Swans in a no win situation. If the club ignores it, then the story gathers legs. If legal action is taken, then it also adds fuel to the fire. Ignoring is the least worst option in my book. Thomas is becoming a sad, bitter older guy suffering from Limelight Deprivation Syndrome.

[barry]

A way to judge a premiership contender is in retrospect. For example in tiges and dogs flags a number of mid level players had break out seasons.

This looks the same as us (eg. Sinclair). Just need our top echelon to fire.

[chalbilto]

His tweeting is doubly malicious because it traps the Swans in a no win situation. If the club ignores it, then the story gathers legs. If legal action is taken, then it also adds fuel to the fire. Ignoring is the least worst option in my book. Thomas is becoming a sad, bitter older guy suffering from Limelight Deprivation Syndrome.

Sorry to being pedantic but is "ignoring" the best option. I personally don't go on social media and from what I have witnessed, ignoring social media comments seems the best way to go.

[giant]

As many on here have noted, it was a dull old game and the umps played a major role in making it as unpleasant as possible. Nearly 50 frees in 80 mins of football means more than a free kick every 2 mins - who wants to watch that? 360 had some stats showing how the average has jumped remarkably this year - I'm sure they think they're doing the right thing but at times on Friday night I felt like I do when watching rugby, one pointless technical free kick after another. Dreadful stuff killing the game.

[KSAS]

This is worth a look: Swan's cheeky dig at Clarko and the Hawks - AFL.com.au

Rampe getting stuck into the ump on blocking, mentions clarko and coffee

Even Steve Hocking thought it was good when he was questioned on it. Sledge of the Year! That alone should earn Rampe another All Australian selection.

[Faunac8]

As many on here have noted, it was a dull old game and the umps played a major role in making it as unpleasant as possible. Nearly 50 frees in 80 mins of football means more than a free kick every 2 mins - who wants to watch that? 360 had some stats showing how the average has jumped remarkably this year - I'm sure they think they're doing the right thing but at times on Friday night I felt like I do when watching rugby, one pointless technical free kick after another. Dreadful stuff killing the game.

Just some feedback on this point two weeks ago I attended the Swans Lions game and then travelled across Brisbane to watch the Highlanders Reds rugby union game straight after
I was accompanied by a 20 year old with no real interest in sport but who was keen to see what the attraction was. The AFL game was not a spectacle that would draw him back any time soon unfortunately.
Throughout the game I struggled to explain what many of the free kicks were given for. He also failed to understand why the ball was constantly forced out of play across the boundary line. His thought was that if your team forced the ball out then the opposition should get first use of the ball when it became live again. And why not get to the scoring area as fast as possible.
When we watched the rugby game the reason for any penalties awarded was . much more obvious and easy to explain. While some were indeed technical they made sense when explained i.e collapsing the scrum and being offside
The line out made sense and the flow of the game appealed to him more.
The fact that the whole game took about the same time to complete as a movie was also a plus for him.
When I asked him at the end of the night which game he preferred the Rugby game was the winner hands down.
State of Origin last night was congratulating itself on only 5 penalty?s throughout the game and every one easy to explain to an outsider
Obviously a small sample size but an insight for me into where our game is failing to deliver to potential new followers . I have been watching AFL for almost 40 years now and if I am confused by how the game is adjudicated how can anyone initially being exposed to the game expect to understand what is going on.