Changes for R18 v Suns

[Markwebbos]

We have been carrying Hanners, Rohan and to a lesser extent Jack. Why bring any of these back when their replacements had equal or more possessions and way more effective. Doesn't make any sense to me. These blokes have to earn their return in the 2's. If they don't they are yesterday's men.

On McCartin; we have a habit of leaving promising young players in the team. He doesn't seem to be tiring. I reckon they are getting as many games as possible into this 18.5 year old promising footballer.

P.S why do people use the term Footy Player instead of Footballer. Footballer is not gender specific and is the correct English word.

I was listening to the North game on the radio and Mick Malthouse made the point that, in his opinion, it was pretty much our best 22 who played. That there weren't any better players waiting in the wings (you could argue about Mills, Macca, Reid, Naismith, Melican but none of them are likely to play again this year). He singled out Rohan as a player he thought was better out of the team than in because he didn't get enough of the ball.

Completely agree with you and Malthouse; we shouldn't bring Hanners, Rohan etc back, but it's slightly scary to think that the team that played North is our best 22 for the 2018 finals series!

[Ludwig]

P.S why do people use the term Footy Player instead of Footballer. Footballer is not gender specific and is the correct English word.

I never knew that.

I thought only male footy players were called Footballers, but female footy players were called Pussyfooters.

[707]

Completely agree with you and Malthouse; we shouldn't bring Hanners, Rohan etc back, but it's slightly scary to think that the team that played North is our best 22 for the 2018 finals series!

It's not, Dawson still needs to come in :-)

[RogueSwan]

The Thunder v Swans NEAFL game was on NITV last night and Cameron, Dawson, Towers and Amarty (sp?) were the standouts for mine. I don't know who comes out for any of those guys though.
Left field suggestion: does Lloyd get a week off to rest? He is vital to our run into the finals.

[rb4x]

As far as I am concerned it is a nobrainer that Cameron has to come in. He has been bashing the door down for some weeks in the NEAFL now. Sinclair is starting to look a little fatigued even though he topped the fantasy points for us against North. The Suns have two big ruckmen in Witts and Crossley so there will be no rest for the Swans rucks and I would not want to see either Parker or Kennedy going up against Crossley. Aliir has shown what he can do running out of defence. Let him consolidate on that. It seems a perfect opportunity against the out of form Suns for Cameron to debut. Given all that I will still not be surprised if Cameron is left on the shelf by the selectors who obviously know more about the players than I do.

[707]

Kennedy highly unlikely according to latest reports, Jack didn't train, Grundy ready.

So whilst not like for like it would be Grundy in for Kennedy, shuffle midfield deckchairs, I'd think Jones into midfield to give us some explosiveness out of centre bounces.

[AB Swannie]

• Grundy comes back in. No question. He has been underrated by the league for so long and now it seems he is copping the same from some supporters. Marsh goes out.
  
• It looks like Kennedy will miss. I think this is the prudent play. Dawson is the man! I must admit that I didn't get to watch the NEAFL game against NT where some were saying it wasn't his best but I reckon 29 disposals, 10 tackles, and 7 clearances seems pretty handy.
  
• I'd also like to see Cameron rewarded but I don't think we want to change around our structures so much to accomodate him. I don't think they want to go too tall with Buddy, McCartin, and Cameron/Sinclair in the same forward line. It could work but McCartin and Buddy would play up the ground. However, if he was playing I think there would've already been a debut announcement.
  
• I've always been a fan of Rohan but he needs to play NEAFL this week. I can't see him being suddenly converted into a defender in his 9th season of AFL footy. His best position is in the forwards but at the moment Ronke, Hayward, and Paps are doing his role better.
  

In summary:

Ins: Grundy, Dawson, (maybe Cameron)
Outs: Marsh, Kennedy, (maybe Fox)

[Mark26]

• Grundy comes back in. No question. He has been underrated by the league for so long and now it seems he is copping the same from some supporters. Marsh goes out.
  
• It looks like Kennedy will miss. I think this is the prudent play. Dawson is the man! I must admit that I didn't get to watch the NEAFL game against NT where some were saying it wasn't his best but I reckon 29 disposals, 10 tackles, and 7 clearances seems pretty handy.
  
• I'd also like to see Cameron rewarded but I don't think we want to change around our structures so much to accomodate him. I don't think they want to go too tall with Buddy, McCartin, and Cameron/Sinclair in the same forward line. It could work but McCartin and Buddy would play up the ground. However, if he was playing I think there would've already been a debut announcement.
  
• I've always been a fan of Rohan but he needs to play NEAFL this week. I can't see him being suddenly converted into a defender in his 9th season of AFL footy. His best position is in the forwards but at the moment Ronke, Hayward, and Paps are doing his role better.
  

In summary:

Ins: Grundy, Dawson, (maybe Cameron)
Outs: Marsh, Kennedy, (maybe Fox)

Like the look of those changes, but I'd keep Fox in over Robbo.

[Ludwig]

• I'd also like to see Cameron rewarded but I don't think we want to change around our structures so much to accommodate him. I don't think they want to go too tall with Buddy, McCartin, and Cameron/Sinclair in the same forward line. It could work but McCartin and Buddy would play up the ground. However, if he was playing I think there would've already been a debut announcement.
• I've always been a fan of Rohan but he needs to play NEAFL this week. I can't see him being suddenly converted into a defender in his 9th season of AFL footy. His best position is in the forwards but at the moment Ronke, Hayward, and Paps are doing his role better.

Just 2 small points on this:

1. If we look at the usual setup of Franklin, Reid and Rohan, then changing to Franklin, Cameron and McCartin actually keeps our standard structure with Cameron playing the 2nd tall and McCartin playing Rohan's role, but just getting more of the ball than Rohan usually does.
2. It seems as though McCartin is not going out of the side even when Reid comes back, so Rohan is all but shut out from his usual forward role, which most of us think he's been under-performing anyway. He's contracted through 2020, so if we don't find another role for him, then he just remains a reserves player for the rest of his time with us, effectively ending his career. He has always been an extremely talented player and think we owe it to ourselves to do whatever we can to find a role where he can perform to the best of his abilities. By process of elimination, defence seems the most likely area on the ground for him. He has played there before with some success.

[rb4x]

I would not bring Rohan in but apparently he kicked five goals last time we played the Suns!

THE SIX POINTS

1. The Suns led by five points at quarter-time when the sides last played before the Swans kicked 13 goals to 2.7 in the next three quarters. Gary Rohan was the star with 15 kicks, nine marks and five goals.

[liz]

[*]I'd also like to see Cameron rewarded but I don't think we want to change around our structures so much to accomodate him. I don't think they want to go too tall with Buddy, McCartin, and Cameron/Sinclair in the same forward line. It could work but McCartin and Buddy would play up the ground. However, if he was playing I think there would've already been a debut announcement.

I think it's unlikely that Cameron will debut (just because it would require a change of structure) but the lack of any announcement thus far means nothing. We had the same discussion a week ago before the team was announced with O'Riordan included, noting there had been no announcement beforehand. And I don't believe any of our other three debutants this season were pre-announced either.

[Markwebbos]

Confusingly the training gallery Training Gallery: the Suns await - sydneyswans.com.au from today says of Josh Kennedy: “He looks likely to play against the Suns.”

Good chance they’ll name him and he’ll be a late out

[wolftone57]

Agree. Whilst Sunday's game style maybe more enjoyable to watch, you don't win premierships conceding 90+ points.

You don't often win premierships kicking less than 80 either. The only ones since 2000 are; 2002, 2005 and 2013, that's three of the last eighteen. Mind you the only one that had less than 20 scoring shots was the Swans in 2005. If you can't score you can't win premierships as a rule and if you play any of these teams you are going to have to score; Richmond, Melbourne, GWS, Geelong (something we failed to do against them last time), Eagles, Port, Crows, Collingwood and North. All of those sides are very capable of scoring very quickly and scoring high scores.

The idea that you can keep finals teams down to 50 or 60 points is now gone by the by. If we keep a team to 75-80 points and score ourselves then we will be a chance but to say you can't win a GF conceding 90 is a little naive in this climate. Last year, maybe, but in 2018, I'm not so sure. I think Tigers were a little lucky the opposition didn't turn up last year. We did the same in 2014 but still managed to score 11.8 which is more than we scored in the three games before the Norf game. In 2016 we just couldn't score because the umpires kept breaking our momentum. But I think the scoring will increase in finals as more teams who have top forward line players make the finals. It's no longer just about defence, it is now about having a far more dangerous forward line than the opposition.

[ugg]

Cameron debut! Robinson out

Still no Grundy! WTF

Emg: Robinson Grundy Towers Rohan

[liz]

I'm a little surprised but very happy that they've finally given Cameron the nod. Along with O'Riordan last week I don't think there's been a harder earned or more deserving debut in recent seasons.

Robinson is a bit stiff - I thought he was OK against the Roos but I guess someone has to make way. And it's fair to give Newman two consecutive games after being in and out of the side sporadically all season.

The Grundy absence is a bit of a head scratcher. I wonder if he'll play NEAFL? (I suspect not.)