2019 Swans academy and U18 discussion

[dejavoodoo44]

Not sure if it’s been stated but stats (not live) are available on the Footy Live app

There's also a NAB League app, that has live stats. Though the live coverage seems to often have glitches, that the YouTube coverage doesn't suffer from.

[dejavoodoo44]

Apparently Sandringham (and many of the other Victorian NAB League sides) will have many of their better players missing due to trial games and/or APS footy.

I just tuned in a few minutes early to the YouTube broadcast and they had the team line-ups on the screen. One of the Swans' opponents today is Jai Florent, younger brother of Ollie. I just looked him up to check he is, indeed, Ollie's younger brother (he is) and saw that this is his first game for the season with the Dragons, so he's clearly one in to replace the missing topliners.

That would probably explain the lopsided halftime score. Though I am impressed, by how our academy youngsters harass their opponents and deny them space.
Individually, I've liked Sam Thorne's inside work, the skills of Braeden Campbell and the poise of Errol Gulden. Hamish Ellem has shown, that a big lump of a lad, can also have twinkle toes.

[liz]

Another very impressive quarter by the Swans - five more goals to Sandringham's three. First was to Errol, strolling into an open goal, then a third for Maguire, two on the trot for big Hamish Ellem, and one to Ky McGrath to round out the term.

Gulden struggled to get into the game in the first quarter, but he worked his way into the game in the second. When he decides to hoof the ball, he has a penetrating kick for such a small chap, but he can also execute short, precise kicks to a target. But even though he had a good second quarter, he hasn't been the dominant force for the Swans he was in the Tasmania game, mostly because he has a lot of team mates playing very good football.

Thorne has been a terrier in the midfield, Campbell has shown a few flashes of real class, Ellem's work when the ball hits the ground seems a little better than last week and he provides a big target up forward. Macguire has been very good with his three goals. I've liked some of the work of no 33 (Kyle Martin in defence - medium sized rather than a KPP). And Raynor, who was underwhelming in the first two games, playing in the forward line, has been switched to defence and looks a lot more comfortable. He's taken some good grabs and generally distributed the ball well.

But plenty of the others have shown a lot too. It's going to be hard for Crouch to select his "best players" for this match if they carry on the same way in the second half.

[dejavoodoo44]

Nice effort. Probably the most pertinent statistic, was winning the tackle count, 40-18.

[707]

FULL TIME
Sydney 16.9.105
Sandringham 12.11.83

Goals:
Maguire, Campbell 3
Ellem, Gulden, Tyson, Thorn 2
Watling, McGrath 1

Gulden 26 disposals, 6 Marks, 9 i50, 2.1
Thorn 21 disposals, 5 Marks, 4 tackles, 3i50, 3r50, 2.0
Watling 16 disposals, 3 Marks, 7 i50

We've got plenty of draft picks this year if any of these guys are draft worthy and you'd assume some are. Gulden is in the 2020 draft I think, at this stage shaping to be a high draft pick. I wonder how that AFL review of the academy system is going, Eddie will probably be asked for ideas!

[liz]

Nice effort. Probably the most pertinent statistic, was winning the tackle count, 40-18.

I'm not sure I've ever watched a TAC Cup game (or NAB League) between two Vic sides. I got the impression that the pressure and tackling that the Swans applied (and not just the efforts officially recorded as effective tackles) was something that the Sandringham boys weren't used to. There were a few times they seemed to get agitated by the overall pressure applied to them.

I thought Sandringham were much better in the second half than the first. They managed to get the game more on their terms, playing a kick and mark style. They also gained ascendancy at centre bounces to give themselves first use of the ball. They had more players capable of kicking to a target than the Swans did. Still the Swans managed to make it enough of a ground ball game in the third quarter to still register four goals to the Dragons' two. But in the final quarter the Dragons managed five, to cut the final margin to 22 points (or thereabouts). I thought the Swans boys looked pretty tired in that final term - I see that as a good sign of how hard they worked early in the game.

As per my comments at half-time, it's tough to single out the standout players, so good were the contributions from many. I'd probably give the nod to Thorne over the course of the whole game, but there were a couple who became more prominent in the second half (Luke Parks in defence, Harrison Parker in the midfield, while Tommy Tyson kicked two skilful goals from tight angles). Gaden is another that was a solid contributor throughout, though maybe stronger in the first half than the second. He did the majority of the ruckwork for the Swans (with Ellem relieving him for short periods). He's not AFL ruck height (though nor was his opponent) but he got the ball to his midfielders' advantage at times, and also was good when the ball hit the ground.

[111431]

I went to the game and was very impressed with the swans size and intensity- they really hit in hard. If this is the caliber of the academy it is an excellent investment- we have some good draft opportunities

[liz]

Just a couple of other, fairly random observations...

Although there was no commentary for the game, there were microphones picking up ambient noise. I think the main microphone (or maybe the only one) was right next to the Swans bench because you could hear a lot of shouting at players, either names (presumably to get them to the interchange bench or to switch position) or sometimes encouragement or instructions ("you've got one spare", "just a minute to go", etc). The shouts were clearly coming from the Swans' bench because we heard "ERROL" and "HAMISH" a lot.

Our underage Isaac Heeney lookalike has had a trip to the hairdresser (or maybe barber) since last weekend's game. Today he was sporting a "do" almost identical to Isaac's latest short-sided look. That suggests Sheather is fully aware of the physical resemblance and doesn't shy away from it.

[Mr Magoo]

Liz ,
Good observation. I have watched a few TAC games this season with the new App and the games between Victorian teams are generally not as intense in terms of contest and pressure. Its generally a kick and mark game . As a result the skill level in kicking and hitting targets does seem better than the swans group.

At the benchmark academy level (16s plus) they tell the boys that they are training them in the same way as they train and coach the swans, so the game style is no surprise really.

Its not only at TAC cup level that this is the case as even against GWS the two differing styles pervade. At the under 16 academy game last week , GWS were definitely more comfortable when they could move the ball in space and kick and mark up the field but as the swans applied pressure through the middle all day , they only got a chance to play this way if there was a quick rebound down the line. This is probably the "swans ethos" that Nick Davis and others speak of.

It would have been interesting to see if Sandringham had their metro players in. [I] doubt the the result would have been so much in Swans favour as its a big hole in any team to take out your best 14 players. Next game against Bushrangers will be interesting in that respect.

[baskin]

I'm not as good an analyst of games as others on here, however I took my 89yo dad to the game on Saturday.

What impressed us the most was the accuracy at goal (helped a bit by the fact it was a still day, not a breath of wind at all) and the passing to position.

The standard of football made for a great day. Liz I can confirm our players were tiring, with many around the ground fighting cramp, especially Sam Gaden. Probably didn't show on the footage.

The talking you could hear from the bench was constant through the game and the talking on the ground from our players was just as noticeable. They weren't afraid to direct each other and reposition each other at stoppages or in defence.

Sandringham had a few more underage players on the ground than us, and many players that still had a lot of filling out to do. Quite a few of our academy boys have obviously been doing their gym work and looked much stronger in the legs.

I asked my dad if there were any in the team he would draft and he particularly liked Sam Thorn (for his workrate and skill), Hamish Ellem (due to his size & mobility and his chase efforts) and Kyle Martin ( he became my dad's favourite due to his attack on the contest, running and repeat efforts).

A nice story that has nothing to do with the actual game......we had a chat to the parents of one of the players. Their son was a soccer devotee until he was invited to the academy at the age of 13. The family had no interest in the Swans before then. I asked if he enjoyed his football, they answered "he just loves running around". On watching the game I can confirm he certainly never stopped moving! The players travelled to Melbourne on Friday, these parents left home at 4.30am on Saturday to fly to Melbourne and were returning to the airport straight from the game. They asked us why we were at the game. Our reply "we thought the players could do with some support as they were a long way from home. And my Dad has missed watching reserves games since South moved to Sydney." They were appreciative of our support but didn't have any knowledge of the South Melbourne connection. My dad made sure they received a bit of a history lesson before the game was over!

[Blood Fever]

I'm not as good an analyst of games as others on here, however I took my 89yo dad to the game on Saturday.

What impressed us the most was the accuracy at goal (helped a bit by the fact it was a still day, not a breath of wind at all) and the passing to position.

The standard of football made for a great day. Liz I can confirm our players were tiring, with many around the ground fighting cramp, especially Sam Gaden. Probably didn't show on the footage.

The talking you could hear from the bench was constant through the game and the talking on the ground from our players was just as noticeable. They weren't afraid to direct each other and reposition each other at stoppages or in defence.

Sandringham had a few more underage players on the ground than us, and many players that still had a lot of filling out to do. Quite a few of our academy boys have obviously been doing their gym work and looked much stronger in the legs.

I asked my dad if there were any in the team he would draft and he particularly liked Sam Thorn (for his workrate and skill), Hamish Ellem (due to his size & mobility and his chase efforts) and Kyle Martin ( he became my dad's favourite due to his attack on the contest, running and repeat efforts).

A nice story that has nothing to do with the actual game......we had a chat to the parents of one of the players. Their son was a soccer devotee until he was invited to the academy at the age of 13. The family had no interest in the Swans before then. I asked if he enjoyed his football, they answered "he just loves running around". On watching the game I can confirm he certainly never stopped moving! The players travelled to Melbourne on Friday, these parents left home at 4.30am on Saturday to fly to Melbourne and were returning to the airport straight from the game. They asked us why we were at the game. Our reply "we thought the players could do with some support as they were a long way from home. And my Dad has missed watching reserves games since South moved to Sydney." They were appreciative of our support but didn't have any knowledge of the South Melbourne connection. My dad made sure they received a bit of a history lesson before the game was over!

Great story Keith!

[dimelb]

Great story Keith!

Second that motion!

[liz]

In case anyone is sitting around, twiddling their thumbs, awaiting this evening's game, the Swans Academy team is currently taking on the Murray Bushrangers in Blacktown. Stream can be found on YouTube.

[dejavoodoo44]

In case anyone is sitting around, twiddling their thumbs, awaiting this evening's game, the Swans Academy team is currently taking on the Murray Bushrangers in Blacktown. Stream can be found on YouTube.

And the coverage has commentary today. I wonder if such extravagance will extend to the NEAFL coverage?

[dejavoodoo44]

Another encouraging quarter by the young Swans. Probably a bit better at applying pressure than the Bushrangers, and certainly better at finding a player in space. I thought Thorne was probably our best, with Barling also working hard in tight. Ellem continues to do impressive things. His mark, turn and long kick, to hit an unmarked player in the goal square, was very nice.