#AFL Round 20 Giants v Swans Sat 3-Aug at GIANTS Stadium #AFLGiantsSwans @sydneyswans

[Sandridge]

Just watched the reply of the final minute and the Reid "non-mark" is an absolute howler.
Can you imagine Collingwood, West Coast, Essendon, Bulldogs, etc not being paid that mark/free kick??
What are the chances of the AFL coming out and saying, "Yep, got that one wrong."

[Industrial Fan]

Menzel > Rohan

Also meant to mention earlier was quite telling I thought that after Rose kicked into the man on the mark, none of his team mates came to support him afterwards.

[barry]

In a game decided by less than a goal every free kick or non free kick is critical. We won the free kick count 15 to 12 so had the rub of the green.
Rose and henney had far more say in the result than the umpires.

Poor Rose, you could tell he knew he had just kicked his career into the man on the mark.

[MattW]

Menzel > Rohan

Also meant to mention earlier was quite telling I thought that after Rose kicked into the man on the mark, none of his team mates came to support him afterwards.

In fact, it looked like he went to slap hands with Papley, who declined. I felt a bit sorry for him.

[Ludwig]

Fifth loss in a row; 4th by less than 10 points. Some cynics might even say that it has the appearance of tanking. And even more cynical folks might say that the umpires have colluded in the scam. But we all know this is totally and utterly ridiculous.

A couple of weeks ago I said the game is just too difficult to umpire. All close games are decided by umpires. Every loser can point to one or two incidents where had things gone the 'right' way the result would have been otherwise.

At the end of the day we are not playing finals and sitting with pick 4 in the draft. So it goes.

It's quite stark the drop in performance for Rose when he plays AFL. It must be some kind of psychological barrier that blocks him from performing anywhere close to how he goes in the NEAFL.

[Hotpotato]

I only caught the the final 10 mins on the wireless. Jarrod Crouch (commentating) was imploring Heeney to ‘follow through’ with his two kicks for goal . He didn’t. Nick Davis should sort that . Thank goodness it wasn’t a Grand Final.

[Blood Fever]

Please explain your criteria for elite?


He wouldn’t be ranked in the top 50 defenders in the league

Name one opponent who has had the better of him playing the Nick Smith role this year? Held his own playing way out of his height and weight division yesterday.

[Matty10]

Also meant to mention earlier was quite telling I thought that after Rose kicked into the man on the mark, none of his team mates came to support him afterwards.

Yeah, I didn’t like that. Someone needed to pick him up (the game was still going too). I hope that is spoken about internally during the week - good teams show more empathy.

[stellation]

As an overall "building to something, just perhaps not this year" (which is not a state of mind we've had to consider in a very long time) game I found it quite encouraging and the game itself enjoyable.

I really enjoyed watching Menzel play, seems such a smart/natural forward- seems to do the right things to create space for himself and others. I hope we keep him around next year, if he can get everything right he'd compliment Buddy well.

I'm really not sure that the tv coverage should have been interviewing Sam Reid on the ground after such a close loss where he had a game winning opportunity late. That seemed a little odd and the poor chap looked lost.

[stellation]

I didn't want to dwell too much on the Reid no call, but couldn't help myself...

Here's the image of the marking contest with Stein's armed wrapped pretty clearly around Sam's and dragging it down; it looks like a textbook image to use to explain chopping the arms/infringing in a marking contest.

It's a tough game to umpire, I was willing to give the benefit of the doubt that they might not have had a good view so checked for the positioning of the umpires. The ball was coming back in after a kick-in was turned over (strong mark by the wonderful Jordan Dawson, by the way) so good coverage of umpires still in that end of the ground- there's two that should have had a good look to be able to see it.

[MattW]

Ray Chamberlain would have given it.

[Nico]

Ray Chamberlain would have given it.

But not Stevic. Umpire to the left had a very clear view.

[rb4x]

Five losses in a row where we have been smashed in hit outs and stoppages. I reckon with a half decent ruckman we would have won at least four and be in the fight for the finals. I don't know what Longmire has against Knoll but he has been at least reasonable in the NEAFL. It has been a bit hard tell as in the last two games he has been rucking against non recognised ruckmen. Ladhams and Ryder smashed Clarke yesterday so I think it is past time to give him a chance against recognised ruckmen. If not we can expect again to be on the back foot in the stoppage count against Port. If he gets towelled up then we at least know that we will have to trade for a ruck. Port have five on their books so we might be able to prise one out. Could give them Rose and a pick for say Frampton.

[Swanny40519]

But not Stevic. Umpire to the left had a very clear view.

Stevic would have given the free if it was Hawthorn or the Dogs ! But agree not the Swans.

Just shows that the AFL want their love child to be successful.

[barry]

I'm all for umpire bashing when the free kick count is 2:1 against, but we won the free kick count by 3.
There was a low number of free kicks overall, which meant the umpires let the play go a lot, especially in the last quarter.
Unlucky, but no conspiracy here