#AFL Round 4 Swans vs Dees Thur 11-Apr at SCG #AFLSwansDees @sydneyswans

[Nico]

Interesting how the Gold Coast now play like we used to. That game reminded me of the lack of spirit at the end of the Eade era.

[giant]

For me, the big take-out from last night was the lack of penetration in Bud's kicking. Let's face it, we were #5 after H&A last year largely on the basis of this super-talent's ability to do the freakish - often from a very long way out - at the critical moments.

Last night, he had a kick with the man standing on the 50m line that didn't make the distance - last year, that goes through half post high. Later, he had his trademark gather from 60m on the HFF - his kick landed 20m short in the hands of a Dee defender - last year that defender watches go over his head and skid through the goals.

Might be fitness, might be the groin surgery, might be age, but lack of penetration from Buddy's kicking will hurt us no doubt.

[giant]

Too many on here too quick to condemn Allir. Under siege in the second half and thought he did well as did Rampe.

AA and Rampe were outstanding - flashback to last year when they saved the result from being an embarassment.

[Plugger1300]

Absolutely agree with some on here. It's not all doom and gloom
Certainly not Eade era stuff

I personally would just like us to play a more attacking brand
Keep a forward structure

Win or lose i would be much happier
(much like first half last night)

Jones and Ollie break lines and run fast
Keep them in the middle for large periods and Keep Reid and Heeney in the F50

[Plugger1300]

We will be lucky to win another game on that performance. Worst since last year under eade v St Kilda, maybe ? Longmire, why isnt Blakey sitting in the box, who sits next to him now and is the sounding board.
At last r&w's are catching up to me regarding Lloyd as I said before how he won the B&F, worst kick in the side hits opposition more times than team mates. Need a real think on how and who we play
get thrashed next week against the tiges.

Lloyd went at 76% on 26 kicks last night
He definitely had a couple of shocking kicks late but We were 3 goals down with little time.
We needed to try and take on the middle
When your coach sets up defensively it invites pressure
Thought he played very well considering.
Especially considering he had Thurlow next to him

[the jackal]

I dont agree with ex coaches being kept on in an advisory type role as some sort of long service leave thank you. John Longmire is a premiership winning coach and is entitled to the the level of respect that achievement deserves but if its the case that he has done as much as he can or the game has changed --whatever -- then he should have a nice send off and join us in the stands and let the next generation of coaches the room to make changes, especially to the list, without any unintentional and undoubtedly well intentioned interference.
As for the kids not developing we should be amongst the best clubs at doing this with a well resourced academy and the "expertise" I thought it would be bring to this particular challenge.

[Plugger46]

I was actually thinking how glad I am that we kept Lloyd. Amazed anyone would be knocking him. Our ball movement would be non-existent without him and Jones.

[dimelb]

Can someone teach Reid to kick a goal from direct in front. He is a retched kick for goal.

Enough to make you puke!

[liz]

I don't necessarily agree with Merdo's post but there are others who will blindly defend our coaches regardless of what they do.

It's not a case of blindly defending our coaches regardless of what they do. Its a case of:

a) realising there's no magic wand that can be waved to suddenly create a team capable of matching it with the best. Most of our reserves team are young and/or inexperienced.

b) recognising that the coaches have switched things around, and have been evolving the team and how we play for as long as Longmire has been in charge. Those who accuse the coaches of making no changes haven't been watching the same games as I have for the last several years; and

c) tempering any ideas/suggestions on how the team might improve (which are fine in and of themselves) with the acknowledgement that no-one on here comes close to having the game know-how and experience of Longmire, Blakey, Kirk, Cox, Johnson, Kennelly, Maxfield etc etc.

[Swanny40519]

I was at that game last night and a very disappointing result. The coaches and players need to take a good long hard look at how we are playing and what we want to play like in the future as we will not win many games this year if we keep this standard up.

a couple of observations :
- Sinclair did not contest for most of the hit outs or ball ups - just went to try and stop Gawn. Not sure if that was on purpose or he is injured and cannot jump.
- Buddy led all over the ground and was ignored nearly all the time. That would be ok if we had someone else to mark the ball but Horse in his usually defensive coaching style had no other talls in the forward line so Ronke, Papley and Jack were left there to contest.
- Reid cannot mark or kick goals - time to go down back and put McCartin back at CHF.
- We were thrashed around the centre all night
- Our defence was bad - Mills was very quiet, Thurlow's kicking was terrible, Lloyd takes too long to take his kicks and in the second half turned the ball over many times (like the rest of the team)
- Hewett has had a very quiet start to the year - looks slow and uninterested
- Ronke just not do enough to justify a place in the team and Blakey either needs a few games in the NEAFL or play up on the wing away from the big defenders - he is very fast for a tall player.
- Our kicking and handball skills are terrible - last year they were bad but even worse this year.
- We need a new or revised playbook - the existing one just does not work and I am not sure if Horse has the ability to change it.
- We have a very young team coupled with ageing and slow older players and not many in between. Decision time for the club as to what direction it will head to for the remainder of the year.
- Poor crowd but not surprising - traffic was terrible just trying to get to the ground and a Thursday night keeps families away.

[Ludwig]

Thanks Liz for those sober and tempering posts today, which addressed just about every issue from the many negative posters.

The Swans played some good footy at times, especially in the first half. There could be many reasons for the drop-off in the 2nd half, including fatigue from the 5 day break as well as the number of younger players.

We have to realise that there are no immediate answers to our problems. We will have to try a few different things as we go through the season until we stumble upon the best mix of players.

We are trying to implement a new and more proactive game plan, but just not executing well enough. And it's rare for any game plan to work when the team is not winning the contested footy. It takes a young team some time to get all the elements that make a successful side come together in one game and then on a consistent basis.

[Blood Fever]

I actually found yesterday's game quite entertaining if you put the result aside. The first half they matched the Dees in the middle and won probably more than their share of the ground ball. They moved the ball reasonably quickly but weren't able to create as many easy (or flukey) shoring shots as the Dees.

Sure, they dropped off in both ball winning and skills in the second half, but when they did have the ball, there were attempts at fast ball movement. It's just that the skills had come unstuck and so it was turned over too easily. But they were trying to take some risks and move the ball quickly. The best movement of the game (from the Swans) came in the final quarter and resulted in Jack's second goal.

I think it was much better than what we served up in the first couple of weeks.

We are attempting to move the ball faster and be more precise with our kicking. Our field kicking skills under scoreboard pressure last night were poor but when we had control of the game, we executed a lot better. Hopefully we can improve this skill execution as the season goes on because for the most part, we did continue to take some risks that, although they came unstuck, is really our only way forward from now on. There will be turnovers till we get better at it. Finals should be not our main priority this year and maybe next. This season not a failure if we reduce errors and turnovers but keep moving the ball quickly and to advantage.

[The Big Cat]

It's not a case of blindly defending our coaches regardless of what they know. Its a case of:

a) realising there's no magic wand that can be waved to suddenly create a team capable of matching it with the best. Most of our reserves team are young and/or inexperienced.

b) recognising that the coaches have switched things around, and have been evolving the team and how we play for as long as Longmire has been in charge. Those who accuse the coaches of making no changes haven't been watching the same games as I have for the last several years; and

c) tempering any ideas/suggestions on how the team might improve (which are fine in and of themselves) with the acknowledgement that no-one on here comes close to having the game know-how and experience of Longmire, Blakey, Kirk, Cox, Johnson, Kennelly, Maxfield etc etc.

Well said Liz. People on here seem to ignore the fact that under Longmire we have NEVER missed the finals, played in three grand finals, won a premiership, while at the same time lately playing the most number of kids in the competition. Plus has had to do it sometimes with his hand tied behind his back by AFL sanctions. Also (maybe via our own fault) we have endured the worst free kick differential in the league and against teams like WCE we are effectively playing against an extra man in terms of possessions that "Mr Free Kick Differential" has racked up.

He has tried to freshen up the coaching staff with new faces, but with so many youngsters in the team, things don't happen over night.

[Blood Fever]

No the Hawks and Cats have been spoilt

We've had a couple of great years but failed to fully capitalise on our talent over that period

You over rate our talent over the period. I reckon we largely over achieved compared to the elite talent that Hawks and Cats have had. Geelong's finals record since 2011 is abysmal by the way.

[Sandrevan]

Too many on here too quick to condemn Allir. Under siege in the second half and thought he did well as did Rampe.

I'm agreeing with you. I thought Aliir was our best player last night, followed by Jones and Florent.