Pre-match Discussion: Round 4 V Bombers @SCG

[mcs]

Is a kid not aloud a bad game ! One of our better players against Crows. 2 weeks ago or have we forgotten

This comment absolutely cracks me up after the absolute bath you gave a couple of kids in the 1st scratch match in pre-season for not meeting your lofty 'standards', but now your ripping into others because they might feel a player had an 'off day' and therefore may be under pressure to keep their spot. Or is it only okay when one has already passed on holy high judgment about players?

And no, I'm not advocating for McInerney to be dropped - but just enjoying exhibit #4,921 of your ability to weave and duck any which way if it fits your point of view.

[mcs]

I think we should leave the "rest the kids" thinking up to the club conditioning staff. I really dont think the game on the weekend was actually as taxing on our players as people think - it is possible to move the ball fast without running with it! And we did that.

I think Campbell had a poor game because Richmond put a heck of a lot of work into him with Bolton and Rioli defensively, seeing as he tore Adelaide apart. My tip is that Essendon will do that to Dawson this week, and Campbell will have another great game instead.

McLean will go out for Buddy unless Reid is sore from the cramps in the game, and I am not sure whether they use RB instead of Hewitt. JMac is playing on the wing rather than inside, and has way more dash than Hewitt.

Also, lets continue to play our best team each week. You just know that injuries will happen, as will losses we dont expect, so lets make hay whilst the sun shines!

I'd be very suprised if its Hewett that makes way for Rowbottom should he come back in.Hewett I would expect is one of the first names on the team sheet, week in week out when fit, and I can't see that changing - although he was quiet against the Tigers by his usual standards.

If you take out last year where he was injured for a large chunk of the season, he missed just 4 games in the entire period of 2016-2019. I know some struggle to see the value of him as a player (and maybe in time he will struggle to keep his place as more youngsters push on), but at this point his versatility, relative experience and general consistency makes him very hard to leave out (unless fitness is an issue).

It is a bit tough for the wingers with the swans current game style. There were a number of times McInerney was way out wide on his own but the kickers elected to go through the corridor. It looks like the wingers role is to drag the opposition winger out wide to open up the middle more. This means lots less touches.

Really interesting thought here, and it did happen a couple of times on the weekend. But I do wonder if it'll be relatively temporary to some degree - because we will get found out if we do keep playing the same way, week in week out - they call it 'prozoned' in European Football (After the company with the software) where when teams find a new or unique way to play the game, invariably by a certain stage in a season, most teams have figured out fairly effective ways to counter their tactics. Given the nature of soccer vs AFL, its harder for that effect to occur in AFL, but it has been seen before where teams start like a town on fire, then gradually get 'found out' across a season and find it more challenging as the weeks roll out. The point here is not to say that will happen, but to say we will need to develop flexibility in game style across the season to counter the moves teams will make to counter our approach. And using a bit more of the field (rather then relatively narrow corridors as we've done so far) is likely to be part of it.

Indeed, I'd suggest we saw perfectly well against Richmond our new found ability to show flexibility to offset strengths/weaknesses of other teams. I haven't seen stats (I assume its out there somewhere), but we used a lot more measured, short kicks on the weekend against Richmond then we did against either Adelaide or Brisbane. A nice bow to have in the armoury already, and we are vastly helped in that regard by our increasing number of players that can deliver accurately and effectively by foot. We are getting back to a point in that regard where it'll prove hard for teams to shut all the players down effectively, without someone getting away from them and having a really good day out. We hopefully can develop a similar outcome in the forward line on a consistent basis too.

[liz]

although he (Hewett) was quiet against the Tigers by his usual standards.
.

He has been credited by the media for keeping Martin under control. It's hard to tell on TV how much that was Hewett and how much it was a collective effort. Certainly Hewett was rarely (if ever) in attendance at centre bounces, while Martin attended more than half. But when Martin went forward I believe Hewett was mostly in charge of him. If so, Hewett being quiet was exactly what we wanted and needed.

[111431]

“Indeed, I'd suggest we saw perfectly well against Richmond our new found ability to show flexibility to offset strengths/weaknesses of other teams. I haven't seen stats (I assume its out there somewhere), but we used a lot more measured, short kicks on the weekend against Richmond then we did against either Adelaide or Brisbane. A nice bow to have in the armoury already, and we are vastly helped in that regard by our increasing number of players that can deliver accurately and effectively by foot. We are getting back to a point in that regard where it'll prove hard for teams to shut all the players down effectively, without someone getting away from them and having a really good day out. We hopefully can develop a similar outcome in the forward line on a consistent basis too.”

This was an impressive development by the swans during the game. In the first 10 mins or so we long bombed to our forwards and the Richmond defenders cleared it away easily. Somehow the message got out about the short kicks and they changed the way they played. In previous seasons that change would have been unlikely. I think we will have other options available to counteract

[mcs]

He has been credited by the media for keeping Martin under control. It's hard to tell on TV how much that was Hewett and how much it was a collective effort. Certainly Hewett was rarely (if ever) in attendance at centre bounces, while Martin attended more than half. But when Martin went forward I believe Hewett was mostly in charge of him. If so, Hewett being quiet was exactly what we wanted and needed.

Didn't mean Liz in terms of the role he played, solely from a statistics side of it. He did his job exceptionally well as part of the broader collective that minimised Martin's effectiveness on the day.

- - - Updated - - -

This was an impressive development by the swans during the game. In the first 10 mins or so we long bombed to our forwards and the Richmond defenders cleared it away easily. Somehow the message got out about the short kicks and they changed the way they played. In previous seasons that change would have been unlikely. I think we will have other options available to counteract

I wonder how much of the initial element was nerves and 'big occasion', rather then a deliberate chance in tactics? (I.e. once we settled we got back to gameplan 101 for the day).

Whichever way we got there, it was fabulous to see such an early season example of substantial flexibility in our approach.

[The Runner]

It's just the two obvious changes for this week. RB will be more valuable on the smaller deck on a dewy night than Jmac.

Interesting to see questions being raised on Lloyd. I still believe we'll see Ling leapfrog by seasons end.

[Maltopia]

McClean and Mcinerney (sp) out for Franklin and Rowbottom seems the obvious changes on a LIFO basis

Calls for resting players in round 4 is ridiculous, whether they're first year or 10th year players, they should have sufficient conditioning to back up the short turnaround

Younger players have bodies that are still developing and more prone to serious soft tissue (particularly ligament) damage, as the bones and muscles are still growing. Part of the reason why draft ages have gone up over time, as AFL senior games are a much different level than NEAFL/VFL and practice matches. As for ten plus year players, why is Franklin slated to "not play every game this year" then, and why did Michael O'Loughlin pretty much not travel interstate in his final years? The travel is hard, especially the older bigger bodies who take much longer to recover from match day, let alone being 6'5 or taller in an airplane for two trips.

And if one thinks that travel makes no difference, note that there are only four players on the 300 senior games played list out of 83 who played all their AFL games for WA or Qld (Pavlich, Mundy, Ashcroft and Black) and three were midfielders, not talls.

[Markwebbos]

He has been credited by the media for keeping Martin under control. It's hard to tell on TV how much that was Hewett and how much it was a collective effort. Certainly Hewett was rarely (if ever) in attendance at centre bounces, while Martin attended more than half. But when Martin went forward I believe Hewett was mostly in charge of him. If so, Hewett being quiet was exactly what we wanted and needed.

I read somewhere (although I cannot find the article, I’ve read so much about the game) that the mids shared Dusty in the middle and Hewett played on him 42% of the time. Which equates to the majority of the time he spent forward.

[TheBloods]

This comment absolutely cracks me up after the absolute bath you gave a couple of kids in the 1st scratch match in pre-season for not meeting your lofty 'standards', but now your ripping into others because they might feel a player had an 'off day' and therefore may be under pressure to keep their spot. Or is it only okay when one has already passed on holy high judgment about players?

And no, I'm not advocating for McInerney to be dropped - but just enjoying exhibit #4,921 of your ability to weave and duck any which way if it fits your point of view.

Kids i never rated highly in the first place so they cant afford to underperform.

Mcinerney is a gun. Special talents deserve time and patience. It wont always come together for them. Rd 2 he was awesome. All of latter 2020 he was awesome. He is worth the time we put into him which includes games.

[Mark26]

I would think that Franklin comes in for a tall forward. If everyone has recovered well, then you'd think it would be a swap for McLean.

Sore bodies would be the only other basis for changes imo and the swap would have to be like for like. For example, Ling for Campbell, Stephens for JMac, etc.

Otherwise, reward the team that's getting it done.

[royboy42]

I saw/heard Reid, Rampe, Kennedy, and at least one other go down with cramp during the game - they may choose to fight on, especially as they're all the senior players and our opposition are coming off a similar break, but with the luxury of a full list, they must be at least exploring some more rotations.

I was at the game, and people not there may not appreciate just how hot the day was. May well have contributed to the cramping and running out of steam for some. Overall, the team finshed up still running on top of the ground.

[crackedactor 01]

I heard that Campbell and Rampe pulled up sore after the last game, but there was no mention of it in the injury report update.

[SwanSand]

Kids i never rated highly in the first place so they cant afford to underperform.

Mcinerney is a gun. Special talents deserve time and patience. It wont always come together for them. Rd 2 he was awesome. All of latter 2020 he was awesome. He is worth the time we put into him which includes games.

No one is saying McInerney is not a special talent. But special talent does not mean they will always get there or get the spot in 22 just because of potential. Team balance, opposition and ground also play a part in deciding who gets into the 22. Also we do need more than 22 players if we want to be there in September.

If one player can be put in the corner of NonPerformance, so does every other player as we create a culture of Performance based team. Not saying that the performance has to be judged by us spectators but performance as assessed by the coaching group.

Sometimes the team needs a player to play a role by introducing doubt in the direct opponent (as Papley did with Liam Baker - resulting in Chad Warner goal) or by dragging the player out of the center square or by harrassing them. None of these would qualify as being defensive efforts by spectators but I am sure would be highly valued internally by the coaches.

[Thunder Shaker]

I expect Franklin to come in for McLean. If fit, Rowbottom comes in for a similar player with the sorest body, listed as "managed".

Alternatively, the player left out could become this week's injury sub, but with the 5-day break I don't see that happening.

[Markwebbos]

Is it just me or does this have Danger Game written all over it?