#AFL Rd 18 Swans v Suns, SCG, 21 July 2018 @SydneySwans #SwansSuns

[stevoswan]

Last week before the Roos game, Campbell Brown said he thinks the Swans are the biggest 'pretenders' currently in the eight.....after the Roos game I thought 'take that Browny!' but after today, I agree with him.

[Merdo5555]

Fundamental question is can we win another premiership using the current approach, the current approach would have been justified if we won in 2016.

With the increasing move to the need for skill and speed (I think the rule changes will place an emphasis on this) we aren't ready.

We have built great teams with a few flair players and mainly grunt players. I think we need to fall back to recast the list with an emphasis on skill and speed.

It will mean some pain in the short term, some supporters will leave but the team will be fine.

Most agree we need change its a debate whether its root and branch or a bit of lopping here and there. I believe in bigger change, the game has clearly moved past some, because the current approach/team wont win a premiership. We are a mile off Richmond who are the benchmark, they should have creamed us.

[0918330512]

It is tiresome to hear - I get sick of people always bringing up players who we shouldnt have let go. But after such an insipid performance where we got hammered at the contest, you cant blame me for dreaming about the what if.........

That logic I will accept. And while we lost Tom, I think we’ve more than benefitted from players leaving their clubs to come to us. That said, I’d say Tom might miss being a part of our midfield too

[Nico]

That was about Nick Smith's worst game.
Jones - what do you do with him. Complete disaster the past few weeks. Happy for him to join his brother.
Hewett - Clubs have worked him out big time. Slow as treacle with the footy in hand and when he manages to dispose of the footy it turns to mush.
O'Riordan was ok.
Thank goodness for Allir and Rampe.
Newman is as soft as butter. Got to be his last game.
Fox was ok last week but is he really up to one's footy.
McCartin - got to cut him some slack but he mesmerized me with his strange disposal selections. For a budding key forward he sure as heck doesn't like kicking for goal.
Looks like Dean Towers gets another call up next week. And surely they have to play Dawson and maybe even Johnno can get his recall, because he could not possibly be as bad as a couple of our backs.

[Bexl]

Well....I've been at work all day then busy for the last hour or so, so I didn't see any game, didn't hear any commentary and have just been keeping up with the score via my AFL app. So I have no opinion on the game except to say that would have to be our most EMBARRASSING loss in nearly two decades. I only have questions.....

WTF happened?
Did we get cocky after quarter time?
Did the Suns play great footy?
Were our skills @@@@?
After showing true Bloods grit to win last week, how can we possibly back it up with a performance like that?
Do we not want to make the top four?!
Do we have a plan B?
What is with our form at home, FFS?

..........and lastly......WTF happened?

We were cocky before quarter time.
Yes the sun's played very well and put a lot of pressure on.
Skills crap and not enough effort.
Lots of young players who did not handle the pressure the sun's put on.
Form at home is terrible.
That said our only loss away from home so far was against Richmond.

[ugg]

Gold Coast came in with a game plan which they executed brilliantly. They shut down Lloyd and with McVeigh also unavailable that cut off our two main avenues out of defence

Jones can provide some run but can be prone to poor decisions. It’s a problem that doesn’t look likely to be solved in the short term.

In hindsight it was a mistake to play 2 ruckmen, neither of whom could match Witts in the ruck. Intensity was poor after quarter time, too often second to the ball and too many missed tackles.

[Vonsteinman]

To save you the misery of going back through the usual post-loss posts

1) Horse should be fired again. Can’t coach.

2) Jones plays like an angry little man that can’t dispose of the ball

3) lost it at selection. again. Grundy should have played. Apparently the NEAFL dominant Darcy Cameron shouldn’t have

4) disposals were crap

5) umpires blah blah blah

Pop back after a win for a more clearheaded batch of posting here

Haha, thanks for the summary. Although can you pls confirm that there was some lamenting of a lack of ‘plan B’?

[Danzar]

Haha, thanks for the summary. Although can you pls confirm that there was some lamenting of a lack of ‘plan B’?

Don't think that one has come up yet surprisingly

[aardvark]

5 losses at home. Might be time for a return to ANZ Barry? or maybe Albert Park?

[Bexl]

We played like Millionaires in the first quarter, totally failed to respect our opponent, got behind and then it all got too hard.
For once I don't really blame Horse, this one's on the players who were complacent and thought they would win easily.

Yep

[MattW]

To save you the misery of going back through the usual post-loss posts
...
3) lost it at selection. again. Grundy should have played. Apparently the NEAFL dominant Darcy Cameron shouldn’t have
...

There was logic to Cameron's selection, but it's hard to argue, having watched the game, that it was a good one. He played 55 minutes, pretty ineffectively. That's a low TOG, so I'm not sure how much rest Sinclair got.

I had kind of hoped he'd be used forward to give us a tall focal point, to counterbalance Buddy further up the ground, but that didn't really happen.

[stevoswan]

I just saw Darcy Cameron's stats......again, WTF? Hugely disappointing for him, especially after COR's great debut last week.

[Merdo5555]

I would have given Sinclair a rest, he hasn't played number 1 ruck for a whole season before and his performances have been dropping off, I think he needs a rest.

[stevoswan]

I would have given Sinclair a rest, he hasn't played number 1 ruck for a whole season before and his performances have been dropping off, I think he needs a rest.

Well he probably won't get one now......

[barry]

That’s not the point. The point is that he was playing good NEAFL football consistently and had earned his spot (probably ages ago). He had to get a game some time. This would have seemed a good time, pre-game. Hindsight, after a loss, sure doesn’t look as good. But he had to debut some time. Bud & Sinkers won’t be around forever and while Cameron didn’t have a spectacular debut, but Buddy - by his standards - was quiet. Sinclair was pretty well beaten for hit outs (Darcy was 3rd best hit outs on the ground).

He upset the dynamic of the team. Team balance > rewarding neafl play.