Tweet
A lot of credit has to go to Longmire and Beatson. They took the best team in the AFL in 2016 and had the guts and vision to mould a new team with a different game plan. With salary cap pressure, and effectively only the draft to work with, they brought in the right talent for the times. It's exciting and entertaining footy and it's winning footy.
-
-
Great win, but we also won our first game against Adelaide last year and thought the rebuild was over.
But, it does maker the season look fun!Comment
-
Top win that. Just waiting for the calls to shut the academy from Victoria.Comment
-
I am a bit late to the party as I was watching on delay (4:30 am start time here) but what a performance by the young core of this team. You have to expect that, this year, there will be bumps in the road with this many young players in the side but the future sure looks bright!
I will take the kids and Hickey over acquiring Deniher, thank you very much!Comment
-
Well, that was fun wasn't it. I think when the Lions got three goals up early they thought it'd be a training run, and they got smacked
for it pretty quickly. What I really liked from our great 2012-2016 teams was their ability to make other teams look like park footballers
on a regular basis. Obviously it's very very early days but there were glimpses of that last night. Great game from Hickey. If he can
bring that two weeks out of three and not get injured it'll be a huge help in getting us into the finals this year. What I enjoyed most was
the pinpoint kicking, some of which was just outrageous. That kick from Papley on the wing where he centered the ball as he spun
around was just @@@@ing nuts. And the way our guys managed to hold onto so many of the bullets was impressive. Don't be writing off
JPK and Parker just because a bunch of these rookies had great games. They can have great games because they learnt from the
best. Looking forward to Saturday at our spiritual home and putting Adelaide to the sword. We need to turn the SCG back into what
it once was, one of the toughest road trips for visiting teams.Comment
-
That was such an enjoyable game to watch.
Nothing more exciting in footy than watching guys in their first game playing with such enthusiasm and composure.
Wonderful team effort and I haven't seen Fagan and his Lions so shell shocked !!!!
We just kept pulling away and finding another gear. Every single player in the swans last night contributed over and above my expectation.
Creative caos at its finest. Swarming and exploding forward from contests, quarter after quarter."be tough, only when it gets tough"
Comment
-
85 points scored from turnovers and 39 points from stoppages
The ability to dominate an opposition from turnovers was phenomenal last night.
We scored 6 more goals than the Lions from turnovers........very Richmond like."be tough, only when it gets tough"
Comment
-
I find it incredible that not one journalist asked Longmire what his thinking was to play a short backline against such a tall forward line. Or why McLean came in for Melican. And that goes for the 4 'distinguished' Fox commentators as well.
The water is very shallow outside the virtual pond of RWO.Comment
-
Not above admitting i was wrong. Thank christ i didnt have any $ on this game. In my defense faith has to be earned and Brisbane earned that faith by reaching a prelim while we finished bottom 4. I will not apologise for thinking we would get smashed.
Gulden is a special talent. So is Mcdonald. These kids are the future. Showing it from day 1. This is what i want to see and when credit is due i pay it. Liked Wicks game but would think he makes way for Mcinerney. Wherever is Stephens these days ??
Reid was a monster. I eat my words about Hickey. Awful in preseason game, superb last night. Liked what i saw. Tap work surprised the hell out of me.
Mills BOG. Heeney close. Nice to see him getting involved. Warner a bull. Papley is a star. Lots to like but it was only 1 game. We looked great vs GWS last year and stunk the week after. But good startComment
-
Some thoughts on the performance:
Game style: we've clearly adapted our game style and player acquisitions to the style the AFL have been wanting the fans m game to head in. This sets us up extremely well for a long time
Senior Players: Kennedy and Parker really stood out for the wrong reasons last night. Both will look more at home on the confined SCG next week. But they didn't move the footy in the same way as the younger players. Their experience will be invaluable this year, do hopefully they can find their groove. Parker seemed to give hope up forward
Florent: seriously concerned for his future in the side after last night. Was a liability defensively, and that gets identified by the coaches quickly. His positioning and slow decision making for the opening Bailey goal was a concern, and seemed to happen too often. An obvious talent with the footy
Warner: a real bull, but we already new that. His ability to win the footy and break away from stoppages was really impressive. Great confidence boosting performance
Wicks: how good is this kid. More skilled then I had imagined - both field passing and goal kicking were impressive
McCartin: he's home. Competed well in the air, on the ground and used it well
Rowbottom: played through discomfort, and was so good in tight. A lot of good little gives and knocks. Will keep impressing us this year
Cunningham: did a good job when on Cameron. Never really looks comfortable, but used his skills well
Lloyd: if you take out his free touches from kick ins, his stats aren't that impressive. Really think Ling will soon be a better defensive optionComment
-
Reasons I think this represents a leap forward rather than a single game anomaly:
- Midfield Mills. Easily best on ground and a career game for him. Gathered possessions all over the ground, marked really well and his kicks were penetrating. Brings class to the contest.
- Hickey. Outstanding game. Our second best player. Dominated the ruck, gathered meaningful possessions all over the ground. Really good at ground level. 23 possessions, 9 clearances - many from grabbing ball from ruck. I hadn't seen much of him before this year, but his stats suggested he'd played well as a second ruck. Looks like he's been underrated.
- Gulden. As John would say: just a massive competitor. Believes in himself, super smart, great skills. The type of energy we've needed. I said last night that he's a future Norm Smith medallist - he's a winner. Reminds me of Sam Mitchell.
- McDonald. Is dangerous any time he goes near it 60 from goal, with his contested marking ability and long kick. Smart and clearly a learner. Took pressure off Reid, but will develop even faster if he plays with Buddy.
- Healthy Heeney. The dude is a cat. He springs like a jaguar and lands so gracefully, but is hard as. His kicking off his non-preferred left has always been good, but is now outstanding. Every time he touched it we looked threatening. As well as kicking 3, he had a game high 4 assists.
- Warner. So strong in the hips - shades of Dustin Martin. Proactive - kept the ball moving forward. A team high 8 inside 50s and 11 score involvements.
- Further development from Rowbottom and Blakey. Tough game from the former, batting through with a knee injury. He was very good extracting the ball usefully from contested situations. Blakey had some rangy runs down the wings which I suspect will become a trademark.Comment
-
Steve Hocking has copped a fair bit of flack pre-season for his man on the mark rule change but kudos to him. All games this week have been really enjoyable to watch and it really has suited our new style of play.
Pretty much all positives coming from that game. I won't repeat the players mentioned as most of us are on the same page.
My only concern is with centre bounce clearances. They only won 4 more than us but when they did win them, the quality of exit was significant. Does anyone have the stats of scores from centre bounces?Comment
Comment