Swans vs Giants Solitary Pre-season Match

[Aprilbr]

Barry was a freak in the way he was able to play on forwards so much bigger than he was. But he also played in an era where defenders were allowed to scrag and chop and bump far more than they are nowadays.

Great comment about Fox versus Leaping Leo! So true. Ludwig also made this important point about Fox's lack of height. We desperately need a tall, key defender to establish themselves alongside McCartin. The hope is Mellican but if not him then Brand perhaps?

[Ludwig]

Strongly disagree with most of what you have written here. Wicks is involved in many Swans goals, you dont see it until the replays and you notice his deft touch or shepherds to set up a teammate in a better position. Invaluable. Modern game is all about forward 50 pressure, like it or not. 9 tackles for Wicks. That will see him in the rd 1 team and thankfully John Longmire won’t need your approval !

I'm glad you posted this. I strongly agree. Wicks is anything but a 'deer in the headlights'. He's been the most impressive surprise package of the pre-season (with Warner a close second). I've found Wicks to be a quick decision maker for someone of such limited experience. His hands are quick and he's always been a goal kicker. We don't have many success stories that come to the Swans as a Cat B Academy rookies, but Wicks looks the real deal. I have had the expectation that this route to the AFL is probably doomed to fail, but Wicks is proving the exception. It's hard to fit everyone into the Round 1 side, but I hope Wicks makes it through. He deserves it.

[Bexl]

Why are we discounting Fox as a KPD? Thought he looked the goods as Rampe's replacement down there last year

Yes I thought Fox was doing well towards the end of last season and I prefer him to Melican. But as he is injured this is the way it is for now.

[liz]

I think when it comes to Aliir, I'd back the club, who barely uttered a word when he said he wanted to go. Sure, Aliir will have some good
games but his chances of turning into a week-in, week out great defender like Rampe or Smith or Grundy are pretty close to zero.
Besides he wanted more money than we wanted to pay him.

I don't think that's accurate / fair on Aliir. From what I read he didn't want to leave. (He was a Swans fan before he was drafted and felt comfortable at the club). He wasn't out there looking for more money since he was in contract. But Port offered him a longish term deal on very healthy coin. Even then he indicated he didn't want to leave.

I am disappointed he's gone. Sure, he was inconsistent but also a lot of fun to watch when he was "on". He provided some "bounce" to our defence that was missing on Sunday. I don't know the club's reasoning, but I don't think we should underestimate the effect of the sudden squeeze on list spots and salary cap. I think a few clubs found themselves forced to make trades and shed players that they wouldn't have anticipated nine months earlier.

[Bexl]

Your “your mate” comment i am going to assume is about Rowbottom, because what else do you have to moan about if not him. You have said in the past that you have high expectations of him but isnt that a bit unfair ? He posted similar numbers to Hewett who is 5 years older than him, Florent who is 2 years older than him, and Warner who is only 1 year younger than him. He is the one you choose to single out again and say that he didnt have enough impact. He is only 20 years old for goodness sakes. He was awesome. Only two players on the ground on Sunday had double digits in contested possessions while going at over 80% disposal efficiency ... one of them was Josh Kelly, i will leave it to you to guess who the other one was !

BIG +1

[707]

Great comment about Fox versus Leaping Leo! So true. Ludwig also made this important point about Fox's lack of height. We desperately need a tall, key defender to establish themselves alongside McCartin. The hope is Mellican but if not him then Brand perhaps?

Brand is 198cm from memory and a very good shut down defender, that's what you need against the giants roaming FF nowadays.

Only just watched the weekend game, must say I was impressed with Campbell, Gulden (draft steal), Warner and Wicks. Don't know if we can fit them all in for R1 but I wouldn't have any problem if they all played regardless of the result. Get games into them asap, all should be long term players.

McDonald was very impressive for an 18yo KPF, on that small showing looks to be a very wise selection.

[KTigers]

I don't think that's accurate / fair on Aliir. From what I read he didn't want to leave. (He was a Swans fan before he was drafted and felt comfortable at the club). He wasn't out there looking for more money since he was in contract. But Port offered him a longish term deal on very healthy coin. Even then he indicated he didn't want to leave.

I am disappointed he's gone. Sure, he was inconsistent but also a lot of fun to watch when he was "on". He provided some "bounce" to our defence that was missing on Sunday. I don't know the club's reasoning, but I don't think we should underestimate the effect of the sudden squeeze on list spots and salary cap. I think a few clubs found themselves forced to make trades and shed players that they wouldn't have anticipated nine months earlier.

I'm just not sure how much saying you don't want to leave counts for when you do actually leave. It's like Jeremy Cameron saying
how much he loves GWS and doesn't want to leave, and then he leaves. Tho' Cameron was actually out of contract. Aliir had a contract.
If he really wanted to stay he could have. I'm always surprised when mid level players leave for an extra $100K/$150K a year interstate.
They lose almost half of it in tax and then there are relocation costs especially if they are buying and selling real estate.

[KTigers]

BIG +1

Yes, you would have to think if you are doing as well as Josh Kelly when he is having a good day, then you are going very well indeed.

[KSAS]

McDonald was very impressive for an 18yo KPF, on that small showing looks to be a very wise selection.

Heard several callers on SEN yesterday questioning why North didn't select McDonald on his showing last Sunday, particularly when they had parted ways with Ben Brown. They all reckon McDonald is going to be a goodun and some rated him higher than what the King brothers were showing at the same stage. Apparently Tilthorpe didn't raise much of an eyebrow in his performance with Adelaide. Very early (and unfair) to making such comparisons/predictions after just 1 official practice match, but it was interesting hearing the feedback from the punters nevertheless.

I for one am glad we picked McDonald as a long term KPF prospect over Daniher, even if he does recapture his form with the Lions as i don't think he fits where our list and cap $$$$ is at for now.

[liz]

I'm just not sure how much saying you don't want to leave counts for when you do actually leave. It's like Jeremy Cameron saying
how much he loves GWS and doesn't want to leave, and then he leaves. Tho' Cameron was actually out of contract. Aliir had a contract.
If he really wanted to stay he could have. I'm always surprised when mid level players leave for an extra $100K/$150K a year interstate.
They lose almost half of it in tax and then there are relocation costs especially if they are buying and selling real estate.

I suspect he was given a gentle nudge by the club. They wanted a ruckman and needed some draft currency. They pretty much gave WC what we got for Aliir. And bringing an experienced player in - even if it was only Hickey - might have necessitated losing an experienced player for cap reasons.

Why did Treloar and Stephenson leave Collingwood when they clearly didn't want to?

[rickmat]

Just had a response from Swans membership re why no information on the last 2 weeks about the Reserves games. As both games were only 2 quarters, they felt it wasn't worth doing an update for members / supporters. So I guess we will never know who played etc

[Ludwig]

One sluggish game doesn't make Mills a bad midfielder. I would reserve judgment for now. I think Mills would have had a sluggish game whatever position he played. It was just an off day.

It was just noted on the injury update on the Swans website that Mill suffered a concussion in the 2nd qtr or the game and has delayed symptoms.

This is most probably the cause for his below par performance. A bit too much rushing to judgment sometimes.

Buddy's on track to come back in an early round. Naismith is back in training, although some months away. Fox will be out with the finger tendon injury. Lloyd and Mills will play round 1. Our nearly clear injury list feels a bit unsettling. I hope it's not any calm before the storm.

[Ludwig]

Strongly disagree with most of what you have written here. Wicks is involved in many Swans goals, you dont see it until the replays and you notice his deft touch or shepherds to set up a teammate in a better position. Invaluable. Modern game is all about forward 50 pressure, like it or not. 9 tackles for Wicks. That will see him in the rd 1 team and thankfully John Longmire won’t need your approval !

I'm on the Wicks Bandwagon.

I just got my official Sam Wicks Swans cap in the mail today. Not exactly what I expected, but the colours are good.

[dejavoodoo44]

I'm on the Wicks Bandwagon.

I just got my official Sam Wicks Swans cap in the mail today. Not exactly what I expected, but the colours are good.

Can't quite make out the writing? But I think Wicks played for Manly, so it might be; Manly's Great?

[The Runner]

Wicks was brilliant on the weekend. He created several opportunities, including goals, without even touching the footy. There was a run down tackle on Coniglio in the middle, and later the crumbing of a pack to set up Parker. Just two of many.
His long switch to set up a goal, to I think Gulden, was brilliant play. He's got a great asset in his defensive work, but he is great with the ball.
He had 16 touches, a goal, 9 tackles and 6 score involvements.

Kids great