#AFL Round 19 Swans v Cats Sun 28-Jul at SCG #AFLSwansCats @sydneyswans

[MattW]

Yeah, I'm struggling to work out what their intentions are with Menzel....needs more chances for sure. Today would have been ideal....but now Ronke will probably keep him out for another week.

Ronke may stay, but I think Melican will drop out, McCartin play back and Menzel come in. Melican trot up forward suggests he's facing a break.

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Seeing Jordan Dawson become a serious footballer has been the highlight for me this year , and he was the highlight for me today. His performance this year alone has made watching the swans games every week worthwhile. Heeney did some nice things and Mills was very good today. Also think McLean showed a bit , especially in the first half. Another honourable loss but good to see the boys fight right until the end , as opposed to dropping their heads and letting it blow right out.


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Agree re Dawson, classy with every touch.

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Yes, I think that Knoll should come in next week. His form has been on a gradual, but consistent, upward curve since he arrived. He now seems to have more fitness, pace and agility. While McLean has tried hard and has probably done enough to earn a new contract, we need a ruckman winning more hitouts, which should help to even up the lopsided clearance numbers of the last two weeks.

I think it'll be Naismith, judging from Longmire's comments.

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Agree with the first bit. BT right up the Cats. Davis is good. Quite balanced and informative.

Yes. I'm not sure Jude is up to the special comments role, though.

[crackedactor]

Yes, Dawson's triple shimmy goal was the highlight of the game. Closely followed by Heeney's sideline snap. Lowlights were the umpiring of Dean Margetts, Chris Scott getting agro after the siren and Blicavs' blatant staging. Hopefully Blicavs will be issued a heavy fine tomorrow.

Chris Scott had every right to get angry. Regulation 15 para 4 states that every Victorian. Club must receive 10 plus free kicks when playing the Sydney Swans. Geelong only received seven more free kicks today.


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[MattW]

Kicking on the run is one of Ronke's talents. His decision making that's the problem. His pressure and tackling were generally good today. He just made some poor kicks for goal and some rushed decisions in the F50. He should gain composure with time and experience.

Stoddart also has found the pace of the game difficult to adjust to. He can easily run himself out of trouble in the NEAFL, but not against Geelong. He'll figure it out. He's going to be good.

Agree re Stoddart. He's clearly classy, but adjusting to the pace. Selwood collared him a couple of times. He's proven himself at NEAFL, there is no point sending him back there. Give him a run of games and let him find the pace.

[111431]

Agree re Stoddart. He's clearly classy, but adjusting to the pace. Selwood collared him a couple of times. He's proven himself at NEAFL, there is no point sending him back there. Give him a run of games and let him find the pace.

Agree and then a pre season putting on muscle an weight

[Meg]

Could someone explain what Chris Scott was complaining about please? Did you see this on the TV coverage?

[stevoswan]

I think they have to send Stoddart back to the NEAFL after today, with a list of things to work on.

.....and a summer of gym work and protein powder.

[stevoswan]

Could someone explain what Chris Scott was complaining about please? Did you see this on the TV coverage?

A possible interchange breach by us....he said they were just 'seeking clarification'. The lopsided umpiring in his teams favour musn't have been enough for him.....

[ugg]

Could someone explain what Chris Scott was complaining about please? Did you see this on the TV coverage?

From what I gather the Swans had used all 90 interchanges and then a player was coming off and Scott was questioning this. In his press conference he said the match officials clarified it was okay because it was to do with a concussion test. I think the players involved were Fox and Ronke.

[mcs]

A Melican makes the same mistakes week in week out. Why does he insist on trying to body players out from behind by pushing them in the back. It is so obvious.

I would like to see Blakey leading up a lot more. When he does he really opens up our forward line.

Even though our list is young we have a long way to go.

I'd love as part of the evolution of our game plan to see us more generally defending more from equal footing/in front of the attacking player then constantly from behind. The days where that was a really effectively tactical approach are over imho, and we give up a lot of easy goals because our defenders get caught flat footed defending from behind. Very frustrating.

Melican is having a tough old year - struggling to regain form for sure. But I have faith that a good uninterrupted pre-season and his body staying right and he can get back towards the good footy of a couple of seasons back. He is still only 22 after all and relatively inexperienced. Always going to be tough as a key defender when our midfield as a group is getting beaten more often or not for clearances etc.

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Thought Dawson was great today. Also good to see Heeney back in some form and Ronke finally giving it a good crack. He was doing some gathering drills with Tadhg before the game, I noticed plenty of strong feedback and an encouraging pat at the end of the drill.

I didn't think the Swans were terrible and it would have been a lot closer with more options forward and/or better finishing. To be honest, I didn't mind getting a good look at how the ladder leader goes about it. Smashed us in the clearances, is a large part of it.

We're getting there, slowly, and there's a lot of hope for next season.

Geelong has an extra gear that other teams have, in terms of being able to throw in all that top class centre midfield class from their 'elder statesmen including Ablett and the duckwood brothers, plus the quality of Kelly. We did pretty well in the first half but couldn't go with that extra gear. Effort was good today, and with some better composure I think we could of been very close towards the end.

Our areas of need are clear for mine - midfield bulls for the next gen midfield and of course the ruck being sorted out (Though I thought Hayden Maclean did a pretty decent job in the first half. I like him and think he has shown a bit in very trying circumstances in the last couple of weeks.

Like you Neil there is a lot to like about the direction we are heading - and we had a couple of pieces of play (including the one where we butchered the shot at goal - was it Ronke) where quality ball movement and play ripped the current best team in the ladder apart from end to end.

Its those little moments that next season need to turn into 5/10/15 minutes periods, and build from there. There is a lot to like about the general direction we are going - and we have every chance with some good clever recruiting to come over the next year or two, that we have the nucleus of a very, very good football team coming together. It'll take time and patience - but it'll be worth it I think.

[mcs]

Agree re Stoddart. He's clearly classy, but adjusting to the pace. Selwood collared him a couple of times. He's proven himself at NEAFL, there is no point sending him back there. Give him a run of games and let him find the pace.

There is something about him - I like him. I agree he needs patience and time - at very least the rest of this season in the seniors for a decent run at it. The kid has a decent footy brain, just not quite there up with the pace of the AFL.

The one I think is going to be an utter beast of a player in time is Rowbottom. Numbers a bit down the last few weeks, and he makes his share of clangers - but the kid can most definitely play. Lovely play today to set up was it Heeney in the pocket after reading well from the throw up/throw in. Every week he impresses me by some aspect or other of his play. He reads the play well, gets in good positions, goes hard, can get clearances. Has all the attributes to be a very, very good player. A couple more years under Kennedy will do his midfield craft wonders. I think he is a real ripper - I think the 2018 draft is going to in the end be kind to us.

[mcs]

General comments from today - disappointing always to lose, but I liked the endeavour and effort, in particular in the first half where we really matched them for large parts, and without the generous helping of some very 'interesting' 50/50 calls in the 2nd quarter, we could of had a 2 or 3 goal lead at half time, which would have been absolutely deserved on the flow of the game. We couldn't keep it up for 4 quarters and their class shone through in the end, but there was a lot to like overall today - and we didn't let our heads drop even when the game was good, which was a good sign.

And right up there in my moments of the season will be the triply shimmy goal of Dawson - that kid is showing already at AFL level what we had all seen in his NEAFL time. The kid when on song is a very, very fine user of the footy - and to think he has played just 21 games at the senior level. He is on a huge upward trajectory - imho we should be looking to extend his contract now, even with 2 years to run. Just think what he can be like once he hits 50/75/100 AFL games. Starting to really learn to use his body well at this level too in the contest, and his field kicking is beautiful to watch. Get that kid locked up for the long term - he is going to be as big a cog as a Blakey, Heeney, Mills etc in our next Premiership challenge.


Really liked Maclean in the first half too - thought he toiled hard. Tired out of it later on, but the kid has something about him. Also thought O'Riordan did well and had his best game for us (bar the getting pinged HTB moment - but wasn't helped by his team mate), and as I previously said gosh I like a lot about Rowbottom.


There are gaps to fill of course, but there is a lot to like about our Cygnets coming through - there really is. Manage to fill some gaps in the drafts/trading over the next season or two, and I reckon we will be back challenging seriously for the flag as soon as 2021 or 2022. There is some really classy footballers in our team that still have the bodies of kids and are being outmuscled and can't match the physical strength of the more developed teams - yet. Give it a couple of years though, and getting the trading etc right, and we will be right back up there.

So I'm disappointed in today's result of course, but far happier than recent performances - and there was some moments of genuine fantastic footy today, that shows if it all clicks in time, we are going to be a damn good football team.

[Ludwig]

I was disappointed with Fox today, but it's hard to know what his instructions were, other than backup ruckman. Maybe he's doing some effective tagging that's not commented on.

Melican is finding it hard being a fullback. Sometimes he's just getting beaten by good skills and timing by his opponent, but gets frustrated and gives away silly free kicks. Maybe next year another option for his role will arise, like Maibaum, or Amartey, but someone has to do that job or it falls on Aliir, which restricts his play. I don't think we can drop him atm. He needs to get better at AFL level, not at NEAFL level. Let's remember that he's only played 35 games. He looked a lot better when Reg was taking the #1 forward.

[stevoswan]

There are gaps to fill of course, but there is a lot to like about our Cygnets coming through - there really is. Manage to fill some gaps in the drafts/trading over the next season or two, and I reckon we will be back challenging seriously for the flag as soon as 2021 or 2022. There is some really classy footballers in our team that still have the bodies of kids and are being outmuscled and can't match the physical strength of the more developed teams - yet. Give it a couple of years though, and getting the trading etc right, and we will be right back up there.

So I'm disappointed in today's result of course, but far happier than recent performances - and there was some moments of genuine fantastic footy today, that shows if it all clicks in time, we are going to be a damn good football team.

+1

[KTigers]

I thought we were pretty good in the first half, and except for a few silly free kicks we gave up in the second quarter we could
have been a couple goals up at half time. I know we lost the clearances badly over the whole game, but we were pretty good
out of the centre in the first half. Second half speaks for itself. Eventually the cream rises to the top. Man, that Kelly can play,
can't he?

[lwjoyner]

Agree on commentators, Jude was as bad as the rest of them always talking about the Cats