#AFL Round 13, Swans vs Eagles, 7:50pm, SCG #AFLSwansEagles @sydneyswans

[Hotpotato]

I love the way Florent, Ronke and Aliir have changed the look of the Swans. They have transformed us into one of the most exciting sides in the league. The New Swans have arrived.

• Those lamenting the Tom Mitchell trade will have to have a rethink.
• I thought Ronke was a good recruit and would be a senior player, but I didn't imagine he would be this good, and do it so quickly. He could be another Dayne Zorko. I look at the way he plays and I'm thinking Zorko. Exciting.
• Aliir has only played 18 games. Another year and he could be a real force to be reckoned with. He adds new possibilities of how we can play our defence, particularly the way we rebound. It will be nice to see his confidence build in the coming weeks. I hope Longmire keeps him in the senior side.
• McCartin is such a pleasant surprise. The youngest player in the AFL having a breakout game on the big stage. It bodes well for the future.

And it's so nice to see young old time favourites Lloyd and Hewett becoming 2 of the most important players at the club.

I didn't care much for the rumours about recruiting McGovern or Moore. When you see Aliir and McCartin play so well it's hard to see the need for recruiting another KPP and paying big bucks. Amartey will be a good player and I suspect Blakey will too.

The Swans' pressure was very good and matched a team that also brought a lot of pressure on the night. It shows that if the team plays a high pressure game, the skills can be off, but you'll always be in the game, and come out on top most of the time.

Enjoyed these comments, and btw love bullet points , so much better than one huge para.

We were only going to win if quite a few youngsters took their game to another level rather than being awestruck and they did just that.

When Ronke decided to continue the charge and kick a goal Buddy, demanding the ball, was momentarily annoyed , then he just stood there and clapped along with us. Priceless.

[waswan]

No.
If you said it in the first place you won't see it so I won't bother.

He is playing well but you tell me who comes out for mcviegh ?
Like i said I reckon Melican and Reid come for Marsh and Mccartin

Rohans pressure keeps him him, can pinch hit ruck and play on attackung defender
Ronke is ahead of Paps for me atm

Who else comes out ?

[S.S. Bleeder]

I'm praying that the Swans and WCE finish top two. It's a massive disadvantage having to play a Victorian team on the MCG.

[Blood Fever]

Category: | Herald Sun

The comments section is ridiculous, with some claiming the Swans were gifted the match by generous umpiring! Did these idiots said the same about the Bulldogs when celebrating their fairytale 2016 flag? Also laughing at the comments Buddy is a protected species, when he's had the most frees paid against differential!

Try hard not to read comments section on anything. Recipe for losing faith in the human race.

[Markwebbos]

He is playing well but you tell me who comes out for mcviegh ?
Like i said I reckon Melican and Reid come for Marsh and Mccartin

Rohans pressure keeps him him, can pinch hit ruck and play on attackung defender
Ronke is ahead of Paps for me atm

Who else comes out ?

Good question.

It would be great to keep Aliir in the side and replace Marsh with Melican even if that makes a very tall backline for Richmond.

If someone other than Rampe can take Reiwoldt this might work as Rampe is quick enough to play as a small defender. Can?t imagine either Melican or Aliir are slower than McVeigh.

Macca has to come back but I agree at whose expense?

One completely left field (stupid?) idea would be to play Aliir as a defensive forward on Rance.

[Blood Fever]

He is playing well but you tell me who comes out for mcviegh ?
Like i said I reckon Melican and Reid come for Marsh and Mccartin

Rohans pressure keeps him him, can pinch hit ruck and play on attackung defender
Ronke is ahead of Paps for me atm

Who else comes out ?

Rohan is capable of big plays and often produces them in last quarters. Last night, he was clearly outnumbered about 70m out from our goal. His pressure and pace caused a turnover and although it resulted in a behind, it was reminiscent of his efforts against the Hawks this year and Tigers and Crows last year. Crucial ability in tight matches.

- - - Updated - - -

Can you believe he's only 18? Just goes to show that Beatson is probably the most underpaid person at the club.

McCartin looks to have a huge future. Natural footballer with a huge tank, especially for his age. Reckon he could play forward or back in the future.

[dejavoodoo44]

Yeah Kennedy basically ran into Rampe and just bounced off cheers of justice for that miss.

Possibly another one that we can blame Clarkson for.

- - - Updated - - -

They showed a little package of McCartin's game highlights on Seven and I was thinking to myself, "have Saints fans ever seen that sort of nous and output from Paddy?" I reckon we got the good one.....and I have to concede Paddy's had a few head knocks to be fair....but Tom looks to be a beauty.

I was wondering if it's too early for me to claim that we've got the good McCartin. But hey, now that you've put it out there.

[dejavoodoo44]

Wow. Didn't think I'd ever read you being quite that positive about Harry.

You're right, though. He seems to have really found his groove and confidence this year and is contributing consistently to the team.

Very hard to find anyone who didn't play a good game today. Buddy wasn't at his best, but his "OK" is still pretty good and valuable. I thought Jack had his best game for a while, the defence was uniformly superb (with Reg the highlight but AA not far behind). Even Marsh seemed to track and attack the ball with more confidence and vigour than he sometimes does.

Do you reckon the media still thinks the Swans are an old and slow team? The "slow" tag still seems to linger, mostly based on the JPK/Parker/Hanners trio not being overly blessed with speed, but they aren't atypical of that kind of player, and Parker, in particular, seems to have found a little more leg oomph this season. He's certainly barging through and dodging around tackles. Would there be many other teams that can boast a cast of mids/flankers with more collective pace than Jones, Rohan, Ronke, Papley, Haywood, Cunningham, Florent and Jack?

Yes, one thing that I've been enjoying lately, is the speed of the chase down pressure, mainly from the players that you mentioned. And speaking of speed, in a race to the ball between McCartin and Jetta, it seemed that neither was outpacing the other. Another upside to McCartin.

[Blue Sun]

We really missed macca I felt in the first qtr last night and struggled to be as clean with our exits on transition

It would be fascinating to watch that same game last night, except with McVeigh playing. I reckon we would have won by an extra 4 or 5 goals. He would have organised the troops better coming out of the backline, not so many turnovers you?d think. His disposals in general have been elite this year. Hope he stays on next year.

[dejavoodoo44]

I love the way Florent, Ronke and Aliir have changed the look of the Swans. They have transformed us into one of the most exciting sides in the league. The New Swans have arrived.

• Those lamenting the Tom Mitchell trade will have to have a rethink.
• I thought Ronke was a good recruit and would be a senior player, but I didn't imagine he would be this good, and do it so quickly. He could be another Dayne Zorko. I look at the way he plays and I'm thinking Zorko. Exciting.
• Aliir has only played 18 games. Another year and he could be a real force to be reckoned with. He adds new possibilities of how we can play our defence, particularly the way we rebound. It will be nice to see his confidence build in the coming weeks. I hope Longmire keeps him in the senior side.
• McCartin is such a pleasant surprise. The youngest player in the AFL having a breakout game on the big stage. It bodes well for the future.

And it's so nice to see young old time favourites Lloyd and Hewett becoming 2 of the most important players at the club.

I didn't care much for the rumours about recruiting McGovern or Moore. When you see Aliir and McCartin play so well it's hard to see the need for recruiting another KPP and paying big bucks. Amartey will be a good player and I suspect Blakey will too.

The Swans' pressure was very good and matched a team that also brought a lot of pressure on the night. It shows that if the team plays a high pressure game, the skills can be off, but you'll always be in the game, and come out on top most of the time.

Ronke another Zorko? Quite possibly. But I'm thinking of dubbing him, Ben the Albino Rioli. Though I'm not quite sure how I feel about that??

[stevoswan]

In regard to the Buddy 'stage' that the non Swans footy world is in a hypocritical lather over......I have been listening to ABC Grandstand this afternoon and they reckon Bud shouldn't get fined as his was more an exaggeration as opposed to a "superman leap" like Rance. Michael Christian could do himself and us a favour by paying less attention to sooky Twitter idiots and Seven and Fox commentators on this one......

[Foreign Legion]

I love the way Florent, Ronke and Aliir have changed the look of the Swans. They have transformed us into one of the most exciting sides in the league. The New Swans have arrived.

• Those lamenting the Tom Mitchell trade will have to have a rethink.
• I thought Ronke was a good recruit and would be a senior player, but I didn't imagine he would be this good, and do it so quickly. He could be another Dayne Zorko. I look at the way he plays and I'm thinking Zorko. Exciting.
• Aliir has only played 18 games. Another year and he could be a real force to be reckoned with. He adds new possibilities of how we can play our defence, particularly the way we rebound. It will be nice to see his confidence build in the coming weeks. I hope Longmire keeps him in the senior side.
• McCartin is such a pleasant surprise. The youngest player in the AFL having a breakout game on the big stage. It bodes well for the future.

And it's so nice to see young old time favourites Lloyd and Hewett becoming 2 of the most important players at the club.

I didn't care much for the rumours about recruiting McGovern or Moore. When you see Aliir and McCartin play so well it's hard to see the need for recruiting another KPP and paying big bucks. Amartey will be a good player and I suspect Blakey will too.

The Swans' pressure was very good and matched a team that also brought a lot of pressure on the night. It shows that if the team plays a high pressure game, the skills can be off, but you'll always be in the game, and come out on top most of the time.

Great comments Ludwig! I was just thinking about the Mitchell trade - it has worked out OK for us now. I admit Tom is a great player but we are getting 3/4 of his value from the likes of Florent and Ronke (bit different I know) for 1/3 of the cost. This is why this club does well. Yes Tippett turned out to be a loss - not his fault - but we don't bottom out because of our clever trading.

McCartin is developing well - I called for him to play against Geelong as Reid/Towers were out but wiser heads prevailed. Having watched 3 or 4 streams of NEAFL with Tom playing was enough for me. Sam may have to play a few in the NEAFL to get back in. Aliir has always been a favorite of mine - saw him once live at Spotless in the reserves and that was enough. As per Bloody Hell's comment - he does player better in the 1s than the 2s!

If come comes down to it I would rather McGovern than Moore.

[waswan]

Good question.

It would be great to keep Aliir in the side and replace Marsh with Melican even if that makes a very tall backline for Richmond.

If someone other than Rampe can take Reiwoldt this might work as Rampe is quick enough to play as a small defender. Can?t imagine either Melican or Aliir are slower than McVeigh.

Macca has to come back but I agree at whose expense?

One completely left field (stupid?) idea would be to play Aliir as a defensive forward on Rance.

Height in our defense is a non issue
Ramps isnt tall and can run
Alir is very mobile
Melican is very Mobile
Reg was 3rd last night for distance covered 800m behind Gaff
All our talls can run and with Mills out Ramps can play his role

[dimelb]

I just heard Hanners call Reg 'Truck' on the radio interview......very apt nickname. Reg was epic tonight......wow, we won a milestone game........again!

The Record article on Reg said "Tonka", which I like better. Also his little 2 y.o. son is Reggie!

[dimelb]

Gary Rohan only had his usual 10 stats but I thought he put himself into the game a lot more.

- - - Updated - - -



I have been a Harry C critic but boy he has played good footy this year and deserves to keep his spot. He is transformed. He runs to right spots, has found a ticker, rarely makes a disposal mistake and has been really cool under pressure.

I agree with your thoughts on Harry. We could add that he's a pretty good kick for goal.