Round 12: Swans v Giants in Perth

[aardvark]

The Stephens goal with assists from the kids was my favourite. I thought Florent was a bit better this week all though I'm not convinced he'll ever be an A grade mid.

[Blood Fever]

Core defence: Aliir, Melican, Rampe, Lloyd, Fox, COR, plus one of Brand, Gould, O'Connor, Ling, Stoddart. Absolutely no room for Mills, or Cunningham for that matter. Reid and Dawson can play both sides.

That leaves a lot of players available to play midfield: JPK, Parker, Mills, Hewett, Rowbottom, Florent, Cunningham, Stephens, Blakey. Heeney, Paps and Dawson to rotate through midfield. Taylor, McInerney, Ling, Stoddart, Bell and Warner to fill in as needed. Thurlow and Ronke not to be forgotten. Campbell and Gulden drafted this year. I get a count of 22. That's an entire team of just midfielders.

I omitted Clarke, Maibaum, Reynolds and Rowles, assuming they're getting delisted. Someone has to go, because we have zero retirements until 2022 (JPK, Buddy).

This is the way I see the team evolving and why I can't find room for new recruits. There are just not enough spots to play the guys we already have on our list. If they don't play, they will leave, like Membrey and Cameron.

If there are imposed list reductions, we will have a problem finding candidates to delist.



Jye Caldwell must have been reading the 2020 Trading and Drafting thread, got freaked out and was the lowest rated player on the day. The influence of RWO on games is enormous.

Mills and Cunningham have been excellent in defence this season. Why upset that?

[cherub]

Nicely put......the 'encroachment' rule is the stupidest, most harshly penalised infraction in footy. It's a shame our leagues leaders are too stupid to see that. Any rule that goes against the spirit of the game and the spirit of fairness should be scrapped.....and this one is the worst.

And it's not adjudicated consistently. Some umpires give plenty of warning and mark the mark, or yell 1metre or 2 metres to tell the marker to move back, and then there's the one Elijah Taylor was hit with, no warning , when he thought he was in the right place.

[stevoswan]

Well worth watching the highlights package. I think it captures most of the key moments. The Papley to Bell goal sequence is great, as is Stephens' goal.

Just good solid kicking for goal all round really.

I like the last bit of commentary on these highlights....."A masterclass from John Longmire and his young Swans.".....and may there be many more!

[Ludwig]

Mills and Cunningham have been excellent in defence this season. Why upset that?

Mills has already moved out to the midfield where he is more needed. I like Cunningham in defence, but I think we will prefer to use Ling, Stoddart or Mcinerney as our speedy halfback and move Cunningham to the midfield. Harry can also play on ball. Mills and Harry are both very good in defence, but the tendency is to introduce young midfield types to either halfback or half forward and move out the veterans to the midfield to make room.

[MattW]

Thought he had a breakout quarter in the previous game against the Pies. He seems pretty tough for a skinny looking kid. Laid the perfect tackle on, I think, Cameron not far from their goal, when Cameron was looking for a high free kick.

Clutch tackle. The Giants were craning their necks up for frees all night - like cats leaning up for a head scratch.

He shouldn't have been penalised for the last one either.

[Markwebbos]

Clutch tackle. The Giants were craning their necks up for frees all night - like cats leaning up for a head scratch.

He shouldn't have been penalised for the last one either.

From what I've seen most young players (was it game 3 or 4 for Stephens) get a rush of blood in that situation and give away a clumsy free. I thought it showed enormous composure NOT to do that. And yes, the commentary team were describing the one he got pinged in the back for as textbook, and questioning why he didn't get a HTB free. He seems to have a mature football head on those skinny, young shoulders.

[caj23]

What a great game, I genuinely went in thinking we were going to be flogged. Credit where credit is due, well done to Horse and the MC, the team selection and game style were perfect for the ground and opposition. Also thought the selection of Blakey was a howler, but the high half forward/wing is his best position at the moment.

So many great stories coming out of this season, the debutants, Bell, Fox, Thurlow, Sir Dane with his broken hand, Paps.

The future certainly looks brighter than 10 rounds ago!

[Captain]

Thought it was also a good game from Sammy Reid. Even though he didn't kick a goal, he took a few grabs and looked really good as the relief ruck.

Hopefully this means he is playing himself back into decent form.

[Ludwig]

For all those newly converted Rowbottom fans who have never watched his draft video, this might be a good time to do so. When I first saw it, I thought that if someone said to me this was the #1 draft pick in 2018, I wouldn't have even considered that it might not be true:

Pick 25: James Rowbottom

[MattW]

For all those newly converted Rowbottom fans who have never watched his draft video, this might be a good time to do so. When I first saw it, I thought that if someone said to me this was the #1 draft pick in 2018, I wouldn't have even considered that it might not be true:

Pick 25: James Rowbottom

Undoubtedly great value at 25.

The 2018 draft is strong at the top, but he'd probably be in the top 10 of a redraft at this point.

https://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/ft_drafts?year=2018&t=N&s=P

[Markwebbos]

Undoubtedly great value at 25.

The 2018 draft is strong at the top, but he'd probably be in the top 10 of a redraft at this point.

https://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/...r=2018&t=N&s=P

Isn't he the #2 or 3 ranked teenage midfielder ATM?

[MattW]

Isn't he the #2 or 3 ranked teenage midfielder ATM?

Walsh isn't a teenager; picks 2-6 are not mids and neither is Butters.

[TheBloods]

I owe an apology to one James Rowbottom. I do not regret stating we don't know whether he will be elite or not. But I do regret stating that he won't be with such certainty. His numbers to this point in the season are quite impressive.

He ranks in the top five of his age bracket in the following categories: 1st for contested possessions, 1st for tackles, 1st for clearances, 1st for centre clearances, 1st for stoppage clearances, 1st for ground ball gets, 1st for pressure acts, 1st for defensive half pressure acts, 2nd for player rating points, 3rd for total disposals, 3rd for inside 50s, 3rd for rebound 50s, 3rd for metres gained, 3rd for goal assists, 5th for effective disposals, 5th for intercept possessions, 5th for score launches.

In almost every category he was in company with the likes of Bailey Smith, Sam Walsh, Jack Lukosius, Connor Rozee and Zak Butters, all first round selections in the so-called "super draft."

I never doubted that he was the complete midfielder, but maybe I have been so focused on wanting to see the complete game from him that I was ignorant to a lot of the good things that he was doing. He looked our best midfielder against the Magpies a week ago, and the derby yesterday, early on he looked the silkiest player on the ground, which is remarkable when you consider some of the talent that was around him on the field .. Luke Parker, Josh Kelly, Stephen Coniglio, Tim Taranto. His impact waned as the game wore on, but by then he'd shown enough to officially convince me.

So, consider me convinced.

[707]

What GWS "highlights" are in the AFL highlights vidoe of the game? Their three wrong free kicks that resulted in their only goals? Or was it only Swans highlights?