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

[S.S. Bleeder]

Neither were the Dogs at the conclusion of Round 23 in 2016

The difference is that we won't get the dream run by the umpires they got and the GF isn't played on our home ground or in front of a home crowd.

[goswannies]

The difference is that we won't get the dream run by the umpires they got and the GF isn't played on our home ground or in front of a home crowd.

Our form away is much better than at the SCG this year

- - - Updated - - -

NEVER do that.

Agree. It’s not like they’re not trying. Under delivering at times, but still trying. It’s ok to be disappointed but booing is poor form. Having said that, I don’t boo the opposition either, so I’m hardly going to do it to the team I love.

[Ralph Dawg]

Our best (of currently selected players) midfield:
Kennedy, Parker, Heeney, Florent, Hewett
Compare this with Geelong:
J Selwood, Dangerfield, Ablett, Duncan, Menegola
Or Richmond:
McIntosh, Cotchin, Ellis, Edwards, Martin
Or GWS:
Ward, Coniglio, Shiel, Kelly, Whitfield
Or even Brisbane:
Beams, Berry, Zorko, Mcluggage, Robinson
I think we have been punching well above our weight with our midfield. Kudos to our defenders for repelling constant inside 50's and hats off to our forwards for converting from minimal opportunities. And thumbs up to the coaching staff - I suspect they are implementing a game plan to suit a team with an undermanned midfield that still has us in fifth possibly fourth by the end of today.

[Markwebbos]

Our best (of currently selected players) midfield:
Kennedy, Parker, Heeney, Florent, Hewett
Compare this with Geelong:
J Selwood, Dangerfield, Ablett, Duncan, Menegola
Or Richmond:
McIntosh, Cotchin, Ellis, Edwards, Martin
Or GWS:
Ward, Coniglio, Shiel, Kelly, Whitfield
Or even Brisbane:
Beams, Berry, Zorko, Mcluggage, Robinson
I think we have been punching well above our weight with our midfield. Kudos to our defenders for repelling constant inside 50's and hats off to our forwards for converting from minimal opportunities. And thumbs up to the coaching staff - I suspect they are implementing a game plan to suit a team with an undermanned midfield that still has us in fifth possibly fourth by the end of today.

What do we do to fix our midfield woes? With the ex-Dogs man in our recruiting team I wondered if we’d go after Wallis or possibly Libba? In the short term give Dawson a game, although I presume it’s a lot easier to win clearances in the NEAFL than AFL?

[Ralph Dawg]

What do we do to fix our midfield woes? With the ex-Dogs man in our recruiting team I wondered if we’d go after Wallis or possibly Libba? In the short term give Dawson a game, although I presume it’s a lot easier to win clearances in the NEAFL than AFL?

No short term fix other than our current cattle stepping up. Remember when we drew a line in the sand last year when Carlton worked Mills over? I really hope another line has been drawn and the boys come out with some mongrel for the remaining rounds. Dawson might help (I really hope he does!) but Neafl form doesn't necessarily transfer to the AFL. Newman, Marsh, Rose, Foote etc just tear it up in Neafl but have all had their struggles at AFL level. Moving forward, we need a few things to happen. First is for our young midfielders to move up into the elite category by playing top footy week in week out. Second we need Hanners and Jack to recapture some form of old - unfortunately I think that is unlikely for this year (and maybe forever). Third, recruit some under utilised guns who won't necessarily cost an arm and a leg - another Joey (could Wallis be the man?) would be great or an overage bargain like Kelly and Menegola from the cats.

[Sandridge]

Far too many 'after the fact' experts here tonight.....selections are always a gamble and if there was ever a game to try a thing or two, today's was it. As I've said many a time, no one has a crystal ball, none of us nor the selectors. They tried a few things that didn't pay off, basically due to a team wide complacency......hardly their fault.

While it would be silly to suggest that this was a loss we had to have as a reality check before gearing up for a big finals series (because in reality it was a chance to cement our place the finals which we now have to fight for), I do know we can play far better than we did today and as a result of that embarrassment, I'm sure we shall improve in the coming weeks and the selectors will maybe not be so 'bold'.....except Dawson in next week and surely Grundy will return.

Yes, it was a shocker today but it's not time to run around carrying on like headless chooks. In all honesty, considering all of our injuries and our overall list, I'm looking to 2019 for really meaningful progress, I think this year is fading......but some crucial list management decisions will have to be made. Maybe that's where 'boldness' will be needed......

My son and I made our annual Melbourne to SCG trip yesterday. While we were very disappointed, I agree totally with above post. I, too, think we're unlikely finallists this year. Both the senior team and the NEAFL team looked cooked yesterday and it would appear that injuries have finally caught up with us. However, we've uncovered some great young talent. I fear our 2018 will peter out but the future is bright!

Regarding booing your own team. It's like disowning your own kids when they make a mistake. Just not acceptable. My son and I received a pass into the rooms after the game. By the time we got there, only Isacc Heeney, Robbie Fox and Nic Newman were in the public area. My son has autism and intellectual delay. All 3 of those players were wonderful with him and happily had their photos taken with him. Their attitude to him brightened up an otherwise bleak day. Booing young men like that is just disgraceful.

[Ludwig]

Our best (of currently selected players) midfield:
Kennedy, Parker, Heeney, Florent, Hewett
Compare this with Geelong:
J Selwood, Dangerfield, Ablett, Duncan, Menegola
Or Richmond:
McIntosh, Cotchin, Ellis, Edwards, Martin
Or GWS:
Ward, Coniglio, Shiel, Kelly, Whitfield
Or even Brisbane:
Beams, Berry, Zorko, Mcluggage, Robinson
I think we have been punching well above our weight with our midfield. Kudos to our defenders for repelling constant inside 50's and hats off to our forwards for converting from minimal opportunities. And thumbs up to the coaching staff - I suspect they are implementing a game plan to suit a team with an undermanned midfield that still has us in fifth possibly fourth by the end of today.

Even with several key midfielders missing for us we still stack up reasonably well against other groups, on paper at least. We were beaten by a midfield of Weller, Lyons, Brodie, Touk Miller and Lonergan. Not much better than a good NEAFL midfield. On paper, Geelong should be doing a lot better than they are, and so should Melbourne, for that matter.

I do agree that we've been punching above our weight in general, mainly due to several young players who have filled in for the injured players usually in our best 22.

There's something deeper that's gone wrong, but it's not clear what it is. I noted that this was the 3rd game, out of 4, that we lost after playing the previous week at Etihad. Maybe there's something not right about our preparation covering this sequence of games. The trouncing that NM took against Collingwood, who were quite undermanned, also seems more than coincidence. Was it just an emotional letdown after playing such a high intensity, high quality game, for both teams?

It's just so weird that the whole team played so poorly, and that extends to our reserves side as well. We will have to see how things go this week. We are coming off 2 consecutive 6 day breaks, so preparation will play a big part in Friday's game as well.

I think we have a very strong midfield group. Once you add names like Hannebery, Mills, Dawson and Jones, it should be very strong going into 2019. It's not that easy to predict how a group will gel together, how injury will effect the group and how many of the group will be playing at top form or having off years, like Hanners and Jack. It seems like we're heading in the right direction, but games like this one can make you wonder.

[0918330512]

If you’re there boo them off the ground
Disgraceful

There have been a few responses to this one, and IMO this is why we probably shouldn’t “passionately post” after a loss. People jump on RWO to vent. We hastily type what we might feel in the heat of the moment, but 99.9% of the time, if put in the situation, not actually do. But, once you press the Submit Reply button, you only have 10 minute window to fix or delete your hasty post.

To be honest, I don’t really know if caj23 would boo Swans players, but I’ll happily give him the benefit of the doubt that this was just a frustrated lapse in judgement.

I find the often harsh posts immediately post loss disheartening. It would be good if people type their posts but DON’T immediately submit it. Wait 10 minutes. Re-read it. And then if you’re happy for it to be read and commented on, THEN submit it (you’d still have another 10 minutes to change or delete it, but you’ve had time to reflect on whether it’s how you wish to be perceived).

[MattW]

My son and I made our annual Melbourne to SCG trip yesterday. While we were very disappointed, I agree totally with above post. I, too, think we're unlikely finallists this year. Both the senior team and the NEAFL team looked cooked yesterday and it would appear that injuries have finally caught up with us. However, we've uncovered some great young talent. I fear our 2018 will peter out but the future is bright!

Regarding booing your own team. It's like disowning your own kids when they make a mistake. Just not acceptable. My son and I received a pass into the rooms after the game. By the time we got there, only Isacc Heeney, Robbie Fox and Nic Newman were in the public area. My son has autism and intellectual delay. All 3 of those players were wonderful with him and happily had their photos taken with him. Their attitude to him brightened up an otherwise bleak day. Booing young men like that is just disgraceful.

Go well, mate.

[Blood Fever]

What do we do to fix our midfield woes? With the ex-Dogs man in our recruiting team I wondered if we’d go after Wallis or possibly Libba? In the short term give Dawson a game, although I presume it’s a lot easier to win clearances in the NEAFL than AFL?

Mills will come into midfield next year surely.

[Go Swannies]

I don't have the energy to read back through all the post-game posts after a very disappointing loss. But I went for a long walk today and started viewing the game from the other side. I presume the Suns players (and Carlton!) are paid the same as the Swans? Yesterday they played some very good footy and earned it. If you go with the tired cliche of the Sun's 2018 Grand Final, playing their coach's old team at its home ground would be it.

Stewie Dew is a clever coach and he knows the shortcomings of every Swans player and weaknesses in our game plan. He used that all very well yesterday. The long repelling punches when the ball came into our forward line was used over and over and worked well, for example. They also seemed to catch Swans players out of position a lot. I remember a conversation with Adam Goodes around 2005/6 when I expressed frustration with an ugly part of the Swans game. He replied "we know it doesn't look good but don't expect us to stop doing it because statistically it wins us more games than it loses". So the Swans' game plan (like all the others) plays the odds and Dew exploited each one of those of those very well yesterday. As inexperienced Swans team helped - and some some very wayward passing - but if there was a game we should have seen as a danger game this was it.

It had me thinking. I wonder if Hardwick coached the Suns against the Tigers whether he'd manage to get a win? I suspect that he might.

On the walk home from the SCG after the Cats game a few weeks ago I called my wife to say I was on my way. She asked how upset I was and I replied that I was disappointed but not upset. On average you should expect your team to lose every second week. I'm guessing that'd be about right for the Tigers, too (Ninthmond suggests about equal win/loss.) In 17 years of following the Swans closely I think I've seen a lot more wins than losses. But that's the rational part of my brain - I still hate bloody losses like yesterday.

[Markwebbos]

I think we have a very strong midfield group. Once you add names like Hannebery, Mills, Dawson and Jones, it should be very strong going into 2019. It's not that easy to predict how a group will gel together, how injury will effect the group and how many of the group will be playing at top form or having off years, like Hanners and Jack. It seems like we're heading in the right direction, but games like this one can make you wonder.

I admire your optimism that players who haven’t really played in the midfield yet will fix our problems.

Jones might be better served bursting out of packs and kicking inside 50 rather than from our backline.

I think I’ve underestimated the seriousness of the loss of form of Jack and above all Hanners for our midfield. They’ve left a huge hole.

[GAP2065]

Have been sitting in the O'Reilly stand for most SCG games over last 25 years and yesterday against the Suns included some of the worst quarters by the Swans that I have seen.

The stagnant and indecisive play by the Swans at too many times was frustrating in the extreme. Poor handballs and poor kicks added to the frustration. The kicking backwards or long crossfield kicking seems to get us into trouble rather than maintaining possession.

The teams currently playing well, especially Richmond, have good skills with long accurate handpasses and accurate kicks and fluid movement and running waves of players supporting each other from one end to the other. Wish the Swans would adopt this style rather than stagnant attempts to maintain possession.

[The Big Cat]

After reading this thread there obviously something must be wrong with my computer. It is saying that Sydney is fifth (equal fourth) on the ladder!

[Kafka's Ghost]

Our best (of currently selected players) midfield:
Kennedy, Parker, Heeney, Florent, Hewett
Compare this with Geelong:
J Selwood, Dangerfield, Ablett, Duncan, Menegola
Or Richmond:
McIntosh, Cotchin, Ellis, Edwards, Martin
Or GWS:
Ward, Coniglio, Shiel, Kelly, Whitfield
Or even Brisbane:
Beams, Berry, Zorko, Mcluggage, Robinson
I think we have been punching well above our weight with our midfield. Kudos to our defenders for repelling constant inside 50's and hats off to our forwards for converting from minimal opportunities. And thumbs up to the coaching staff - I suspect they are implementing a game plan to suit a team with an undermanned midfield that still has us in fifth possibly fourth by the end of today.

Spot on, Ralph Dawg. Our midfield has been losing for most of the year, due to a mix of injury and form, with our attacks starting from half-back. Stuart Dew adjusted for this half-back attacking style after quarter time, and the Suns started making the most of their chances. Likewise, our half-back line has changed personnel dramatically over the year, as further injuries have also hit. Mills’ intercept marks have been a big loss.