#AFL Rd 21 Swans v Melbourne, MCG, Sun 12 Aug 3:20pm @SydneySwans #AFLDeesSwans

[KTigers]

When teams kick seven goals in a row, they tend to win games. I don't call that luck, I call it skill and good playing. We deserved
to win, and ground it out well in the last quarter with only two guys on the bench. Improves our record against Top 8 teams to
6-and-2. Giants at Spotless are very hard for anyone to beat (Richmond couldn't) but having won 8 from their last 9 they are
possibly due a loss.

[Beerman]

Buddy booing feels like it's at a tipping point where it could go the way of Goode's booing.

I think there is a feeling that Buddy plays for, and gets, favourable treatment from the umpires. I find this a little hard to understand. While he has got away with one or two blatant fouls in the past couple of weeks, he gets gets plenty of free kicks called against him (most of any Swans player I think) and he gets paid about one free kick for every three infringements against him, so he's not exactly an umpires favourite (like Ben Brown, for example).

More generally, booing an opposition star is an interesting thing. I consider myself pretty fair-minded (I thought the umpiring of the Collingwood game was fine, maybe we even got away with a few) but I don't mind booing an opponent if they are lining up to shoot for goal - maybe it will put them off! On the other hand, in general play I wouldn't do it, and I'll even applaud them if they do something brilliant and entertaining. (Daniher's pack mark in the 1st quarter of last year's EF springs to mind).

[Ludwig]

To some extent I agree. Quite a few players look better at higher standards of football, with more structure and better team mates around them. It's one reason why it's hard to assess outside, running players at NEAFL level, because they often don't have quality ball delivered to them, or team mates knowing where to run to be a target.

In AA's case - and particularly last year - we know he had fitness issues to go along with any form/confidence problems. I think you have to trust the club to know when a player - especially an inexperienced one - is physically ready to make the move up to senior football.

I try to project NEAFL performances on the basis of whether the kind of game a player plays would hold well at AFL, which is why I've always seen COR as an AFL player, and it doesn't matter if Robinson gets 45 possessions in the reserves, it's just high numbers without much substance. And it's also why I rate Foote and Fox better prospects than Robinson, Marsh and Towers.

We made a big mistake not bringing Aliir in last year when he put in a solid block of performances in the back half of they ear. I could see in Aliir, with all his faults, and he does have them, a player that can transform the way a team plays. Our defence will now transform itself around Aliir, like our forward line has around Franklin.


On another matter, I hope Newman can carry forward with his current form. What a bonus it would be if he played well enough to cement a spot in the side. His kicking is a real weapon that has scoreboard impact. If only he could kick on his right side, because he can get caught out trying to swing onto his left and I worry that once more players are aware of this it might hurt his performance.

[KSAS]

I liked what Gary Lyon said OTC tonight when dissecting Melbourne's performance: "The Swans are what the Melbourne FC are aspiring to become but just aren't". This is after Gary praised the Swans for finding ways in winning big games the last 2 weeks even though they had been down on form.

[Plugger1300]

On the rewatch i can't believe the turnaround from quarter time
I can only imagine that AJ getting around the boys in the qtr time huddle
lifted them
amazing performance

[Nico]

I was in transit to Thailand so missed the game. Couldn't believe it when I sent a message to my son from KL airport and I quote..."another backs to wall win". So I called him, hang the cost. As I always say to friends....as a Swans supporter we always get a run for our money.

[barry]

On the rewatch i can't believe the turnaround from quarter time
I can only imagine that AJ getting around the boys in the qtr time huddle
lifted them
amazing performance

Yes, but there could be a big come-down this week. You can only ride on ""doing it for AJ" for so long.
so go easy on them if they do lose. Theý are are only human.

[Meg]

I was in transit to Thailand so missed the game. Couldn't believe it when I sent a message to my son from KL airport and I quote..."another backs to wall win".

And I was in transit from Germany via Dubai to Sydney and also missed the game.

Had an early first quarter score (and the terrible AJ news) while in Dubai airport (didn’t look promising, oh well I thought that’s the season over). Then found later I could get a very small data allocation on a poor wifi connection on board the plane. Couldn’t access the AFL or Swans sites to find the final result, so turned to trusty RWO. Of course none of you repeated the score but I could tell from the comments that we had won! I nearly woke everybody up by cheering!

Eventually got a msg re 9 points win from a desolate Demons-supporting friend just before my data ran out. Now home gorging on all the videos and commentary. Thanks RWO.

[Nico]

I was in transit to Thailand so missed the game. Couldn't believe it when I sent a message to my son from KL airport and I quote..."another backs to wall win". So I called him, hang the cost. As I always say to friends....as a Swans supporter we always get a run for our money.

I know watching of 5 minutes of highlights doesn't give you much of a picture of a game, but did I notice at lot more players getting inside 50 metres.

[liz]

On the rewatch i can't believe the turnaround from quarter time
I can only imagine that AJ getting around the boys in the qtr time huddle
lifted them
amazing performance

We can't know how much AJ's misfortune and subsequent actions galvanised the team. They would have been robots if there hadn't been some effect, but I'm not convinced emotional things like that have a sustained effect, certainly not on skill execution.

Turnarounds in team performance from one quarter to the next (or sometimes within quarters) aren't unusual though. Sometimes it's down to a positional or tactical tweak made by coaches but often I reckon it "just happens". You only have to look at our recent game against North, where it felt like we were just hanging on in the first term and conceded a few late goals. Then we came out and completely outplayed North in the second quarter. They regrouped at half-time and had a period of scoring dominance and then we turned it around again. There were lots of swings of momentum in that game.

[ugg]

Listening to Shane Crawford and James Hird talk about the game on their podcast, Hird said that the Swans defence usually likes to push up the field but pointed out that the Swans defence sat much deeper than usual to adjust for the loss of 2 defenders to reduce the amount of running they had to do. He said Melbourne struggled because they kept bombing long into the forward line, and that suited the Swans defenders just fine, particularly with a hobbled Jesse Hogan and Max Gawn.

Will be interesting to look out for this on the replay.

[Plugger1300]

We can't know how much AJ's misfortune and subsequent actions galvanised the team. They would have been robots if there hadn't been some effect, but I'm not convinced emotional things like that have a sustained effect, certainly not on skill execution.

Turnarounds in team performance from one quarter to the next (or sometimes within quarters) aren't unusual though. Sometimes it's down to a positional or tactical tweak made by coaches but often I reckon it "just happens". You only have to look at our recent game against North, where it felt like we were just hanging on in the first term and conceded a few late goals. Then we came out and completely outplayed North in the second quarter. They regrouped at half-time and had a period of scoring dominance and then we turned it around again. There were lots of swings of momentum in that game.

Agreed i don't usually believe in the hype of milestone games etc
Once the ball is bounced all of that is forgotten
but if that is AJ's last appearance for the Swans it will be remembered for that image of him at quarter time

- - - Updated - - -

Plenty on here complain about Vic-centric bias and i read comments regarding BT and his Gawn commentary
He definitely can be annoying but he gushed over Alir in the same manner as Gawn and no complaints
I thought the commentary was largely well rounded on the weekend
Really Like Bartel as special comments

[Nico]

Some will dismiss our last 2 victories because of injuries to opposition players. Hogan gets injured in the game and Gawn looks to have gone into the game injured. However, it is swings and roundabouts. We could argue that we have key injuries also. Gee 2 down at Q time. In the end, in almost every season it is the teams that win the war of attrition that contest the big day. In 2016 Kennedy and Parker both went into the GF with injuries incurred in the PF, then Hanners got injured early in the last quarter.

To me, even with AJ and Smith out our backline will hold up. Looks like COR will come back in. As long as the rest of the team stays on the park we can make an impact in finals. How good would it be if we knock over Hawthorn in the last round to claim 3rd.

I have a few Melbourne supporter friends. They think that Petracca is good but not as good as Heeney. What do RWO'ers think about how they went in comparison on Sunday?

On the booing; I am not one who gets too excited about the term " tall poppy syndrome" but boy some supporters should stay home. We all know Hawthorn have a history of booing opposition players but it seems to be getting out of control. So Buddy got booed for aggressive but fair strong play. Am I to believe that some supporters would rather be watching touch football. When we played Essendon, people behind us were bagging Heeney all game. We just didn't get it. I felt like saying watch the game you Neanderthals. I have been watching our game for 55 years and can't remember this rubbish at the level it is. Back in the day we used to marvel at the ability of star opposition players. Fans went to watch and barrack on their teams and were absorbed in he game. Now people think it is funny to bag opposition players and racially abuse players. Has society changed this much? Grown adults sit there and laugh and giggle at their mates comments.

So Hawthorn bag Ablett for a stage. Strewth staging has been part of the game since day dot. I guess we should think that Hawthorn are who they are, because they lauded and still do, the dirtiest player ever.

[gossipcom]

Yes, but there could be a big come-down this week. You can only ride on ""doing it for AJ" for so long.
so go easy on them if they do lose. Theý are are only human.

Well it is the derby this weekend so I wouldn’t expect a big come down. Though it also depends how much that game took out of the players with the less players being available on the bench etc.

[Mel_C]

I was thinking this morning that if the AFL introduced the 6-6-6 rule then Heeney wouldn't have had that amazing last quarter.