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

[aardvark]

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

He was just auditioning for Gary Rohan's role in the team.

[Merdo5555]

Have we managed our salary cap well given we lost Mitchell. In the current game midfield depth is everything, we won a premiership with a makeshift forward line but a deep midfield. I think we fell into a trap getting Tippett and Buddy thinking everything else was working well and we just need to top off when we should have kept the focus on the midfield.

For similar reasons I think the Tigers are crazy to go for Lynch when they have a style that is winning.

Its so easy to get caught up in the mystique of the dominant full forward. It's been a long time since one was a must to win a premiership.

[ugg]

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.

Cameron barely played any of the last quarter. I doubt it’s injury related. Basically they couldn’t afford for him to be out there taking space in the forward line. It’s a big sign that we stuffed up in our team selection.

[Markwebbos]

Not really when you consider we have been smashed in contested possessions by just about everyone this year. Given the smaller size of the SCG, the contest is even more important. Thats why its been our fortress for so long as we have been the hardest team at the contest until recent times (remember names like Kelly, Kirk, Bolton, ROK, to name a few hard nuts of yesteryear)...

I think you are spot on re: need to win the contest, particularly at the SCG. Commentators continue to bang on about the Swans bigger bodies wearing teams down, but we don’t have them anymore. Quite the opposite.

There was an irony today that we were trying to play as quickly as possible and take the game on, Suns we’re trying to slow the game down and force a contest.

We are trying to become a quicker transition team but aren’t quite there yet and clearly struggle against sides with a genuine ruckman like... yikes Pies, Dees, Bombers etc

Do RWO folk think we’d go better next week with Jack, Grundy, Rohan etc in the team or should we persist with youth?

[Gary]

Can someone explain to me what happened in the last 3 quarters ... we were totally outplayed by an inferior set of players ... who simply understood what it means to be desperate whoever you are playing?

[Markwebbos]

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

I think that’s partly why Grundy went out.

I also think it was a calculated risk to give Sinkers a rest and reward NEAFL form and, after 0.001 seconds reflection, believe it backfired.

[0918330512]

That was about Nick Smith's worst game.

Should set the record for the most games without a Brownlow vote. Trying to stay positive

Jones - what do you do with him. Complete disaster the past few weeks.

Few weeks?! you’re benevolent

Happy for him to join his brother.

Bit late for that. His stocks peaked just before he re-signed. And everyone was bemoaning at the time that they thought he was going.

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.

And yes he’s been our most effective tagger in a while

O'Riordan was ok.

Conserve your praise for a kid in his second game

Thank goodness for Allir and Rampe.

Yes

Newman is as soft as butter. Got to be his last game.

... got nothing for that one

Fox was ok last week but is he really up to one's footy.

Like 8 other kids out there with less than 30 games experience, perhaps wait another 20 games before we crucify him? LRT wouldn’t have amounted to anything based on his first few seasons

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.

Hahaha this is the youngest kid in the AFL with less than 10 games experience you’re talking about, right?
Barry Hall has 5 goals on the board by game 9 of his career. Tom’s on 4. Lockett kicked 11 goals from his first 9 games (and he WAS the team’s key forward ... McCartin has to share the space with Buddy). If Tom is a quarter as good as Lockett by careers end, the kid is ok.

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.

Towers best vein of performances was with consistent games. Dawson, yes. AJ might take more time (but his size and potential ability would be handy - not sure about the match fitness and actual senior level skills).

[Merdo5555]

The biggest mystery we need to solve is why does the team always play so poorly when its hot favourites, its been a trend for years and is one of the main reasons we haven't won another premiership.

What are we doing to fix it?

[barry]

I think you are spot on re: need to win the contest, particularly at the SCG. Commentators continue to bang on about the Swans bigger bodies wearing teams down, but we don’t have them anymore. Quite the opposite.

There was an irony today that we were trying to play as quickly as possible and take the game on, Suns we’re trying to slow the game down and force a contest.

We are trying to become a quicker transition team but aren’t quite there yet and clearly struggle against sides with a genuine ruckman like... yikes Pies, Dees, Bombers etc

Do RWO folk think we’d go better next week with Jack, Grundy, Rohan etc in the team or should we persist with youth?

Just pick the best 22. Rohan and Jack aren't in the best 22.

[rojo]

Maybe having Stewie Dew as the opposing coach was a telling factor. He knows the strengths and weaknesses of all our players as well as Horse's moves.
We played well for most of the first.quarter, what caused the dramatic turn around in the second? Was it brilliant moves by Dew, bad moves by Horse or just a lack of endeavour and poise by the players? Or non of all
of the above!

[barry]

Nick Smith has played two shockers in a row.

[0918330512]

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

So we wait until every tall on the list is out injured before we play him? Sorry, I have to disagree. Getting a first gamer to carry the load as a key forward or a ruckman without experience and support around him won’t help him develop. He had a bad first game. Full stop. Hopefully he gets another chance.

[dimelb]

If our backline wasn't one of the best in the league, we wouldn't be in the top 8 this year. We might not even make finals now for all we know.

Our midfield is seriously struggling this year, it's basically Kennedy and to a lesser degree, Parker, shouldering the load. Heeney needs to take that next step in his game. Time to get Dawson back into seniors now perhaps? He won't fix our midfield problem, but at least give him some experience for the 2019 season.

The talented young defenders and forwards coming through in Aliir, Mills, Melican, Hayward, Ronke, Florent, McCartin etc. is exciting, but we might need to draft/trade for our midfield now. Kennedy hasn't got many seasons left in him.

I was at a family occasion and only saw the second half of Q4, but on the strength of that I'd have to agree with this diagnosis. Noted that our best players going by the Fox ribbon were, in order: Parker, Aliir and Joey.

At such times I think of a Tony Morwood comment: games are won and lost in the midfield. It ties in with what Jeynez says. I don't think we can afford to rush Hannebery and Jack back into the team. I agree that's where Heeney belongs, and some time ago I said we might do well to give Dawson a few goes at the job - built like Bontempelli and could learn to play like him too. If our youngsters played all game in the manner I saw, I'm not surprised we went down. These things happen, sometimes all at once, and part of what they learn is by following on from what they've learned.

Was it arrogance on the selection committee's part to play Reg in the seconds?

Finally I agree with the many people here who keep saying that our skills, especially kicking under pressure, are inadequate and need more hard work. And I'm sure I could add that I bet the boys are feeling as down as we are.

[0918330512]

Nick Smith has played two shockers in a row.

Right, we’ll add him to the list of players we try to trade on at seasons end

[Blood Fever]

I think you are spot on re: need to win the contest, particularly at the SCG. Commentators continue to bang on about the Swans bigger bodies wearing teams down, but we don’t have them anymore. Quite the opposite.

There was an irony today that we were trying to play as quickly as possible and take the game on, Suns we’re trying to slow the game down and force a contest.

We are trying to become a quicker transition team but aren’t quite there yet and clearly struggle against sides with a genuine ruckman like... yikes Pies, Dees, Bombers etc

Do RWO folk think we’d go better next week with Jack, Grundy, Rohan etc in the team or should we persist with youth?

We could be in a bind now with the likes of our older players like Jack and Hanners feeling the pinch and our younger players running out of gas at this stage of the year. Hope I'm wrong.