Round 9: Swans v Pies.

[Blood Fever]

Possibly. You didnt answer my question how do you fit him in the midfield with all those players ahead of him ? Or if hes in defense who makes way for him ?

If there is a shutdown job on say Martin or Boak or Petracca, he's in. Injuries often provide am opening. As it stands, your question is a good one but after yesterday, my question is, how do you leave him out? Need someone on Fyffe when he's playing in midfield. High up in B and F last year and has performed well in a lot of big games.

[TheBloods]

If there is a shutdown job on say Martin or Boak or Petracca, he's in. Injuries often provide am opening. As it stands, your question is a good one but after yesterday, my question is, how do you leave him out? Need someone on Fyffe when he's playing in midfield. High up in B and F last year and has performed well in a lot of big games.

After yesterday how do i leave him out , someone will have to be moved out of the midfield then

Hmmmm i need to be careful here lol

[Blood Fever]

After yesterday how do i leave him out , someone will have to be moved out of the midfield then

Hmmmm i need to be careful here lol

Selection not easy! Reckon he's in our best 22..He was runner up to Rampe in 2019 b&f. Injured for a lot of last year. Also, grew up on a farm like our coach. Longmire loves him so that helps!

[Ludwig]

Could see Hewett leaving end of the year.

I can see Hewett leaving as well. He's more than good enough to be in the best 22 at most clubs, but the Swans have too many good young mids that are likely to squeeze him out. Let's remember that we played this game without Campbell, Gulden and Stephens, all likely best 22 players next year, so something has to give.

Hewett is a RFA this year, so is in line for his big contract and we're likely to get the best value for him this year. We would probably get a 2nd round compo pick, which we could potentially use for a bid on someone like Mabior Chol.

[mcs]

Good write up and I liked the little message at the end.

I'd be disappointed if Buckley doesn't get a contract extension... loving what he is doing at the Pies

[dejavoodoo44]

I'd be disappointed if Buckley doesn't get a contract extension... loving what he is doing at the Pies

Bring back Eddie.

[Thunder Shaker]

Nine Things We Learned: McLean rises from Franklin understudy to sidekick

[dejavoodoo44]

Nine Things We Learned: McLean rises from Franklin understudy to sidekick

I like McLean. Although the author of that article seems to think that he largely just hangs around the goal square. When in actual fact, he often covers more ground than any other player; according to the tracker data. And while he does look a bit cumbersome, when the ball is on the ground, he can apply pressure. He can also lay a tackle, as Daicos found out. And I suspect that our players are becoming more likely to opt for him as a target; knowing that he'll either mark it or bring it to ground.

It will be interesting to see how he develops. While watching the Melbourne game, I was thinking that he's probably better than Ben Brown, and Brown has kicked around 300 goals.

[giant]

In kinda two minds about that effort - the glass half empty mind watched the game live and thought that we let a bumbling incompetent team not score a goal for half and still be within 2 goals with 10 mins to go.

The glass half full version watched the replay and thought that after a putrid Q1, we played some pretty good footy in tough conditions and via a really solid team effort.

Probably both glasses have an element of truth to them.

What I did like was that it was the Wicks, Warners, Florents, Papleys and JMacs that lit the fuse and not necessarily the usual suspects. A great sign. Let's keep winning and see where it takes us I guess.

[Ruck'n'Roll]

Has been caught HtB many times in that way

Is it possible be has a previously undiagnosed hearing difficulty? His inability to pick up on what team-mates are presumably telling him about, keeps happening - and against Geelong a mark was disallowed and he didn't hear the umpires.

Every Swans team needs an LRT

Indeed yes, play forward, play back, into the ruck. At the moment that role is not being filled by Sam Reid. And while McLean is a big unit, we're yet to see him play back, and he puzzlingly seems to be excluded from the ruck. It was understandable with Reid or Sinkers in the team but the preference for Blakey this week makes me wonder. Does McLean have a note from his mother? Or were his previous efforts so bad, that he's be stamped do not use in ruck? Maybe they are just trying to get him settled as a forward?

I'm not sure what to think about Blakey as relief ruckman. You don't often see Lizards in the ruck, indeed he's got so little meat on him for the moment we've abandoned trying to play him in a key position. I mean it's one thing to insist that tapwork isn't the be all and end all of a ruckmans duties, but I'd never thought a complete absence of knowledge/ability/clue on tapwork could be thought a prerequisite for the ruck.

Maybe they're just trying to get Nick involved in the play, but there's a huge potential for serious damage being done to the kid.

[Vonsteinman]

In kinda two minds about that effort - the glass half empty mind watched the game live and thought that we let a bumbling incompetent team not score a goal for half and still be within 2 goals with 10 mins to go.

The glass half full version watched the replay and thought that after a putrid Q1, we played some pretty good footy in tough conditions and via a really solid team effort.

Probably both glasses have an element of truth to them.

What I did like was that it was the Wicks, Warners, Florents, Papleys and JMacs that lit the fuse and not necessarily the usual suspects. A great sign. Let's keep winning and see where it takes us I guess.

It wasn’t overly pretty but I thought they did a good job to compile enough scoring opportunities against a team that did one thing very well, and that was set up behind the ball.

[Nico]

I can see Hewett leaving as well. He's more than good enough to be in the best 22 at most clubs, but the Swans have too many good young mids that are likely to squeeze him out. Let's remember that we played this game without Campbell, Gulden and Stephens, all likely best 22 players next year, so something has to give.

Hewett is a RFA this year, so is in line for his big contract and we're likely to get the best value for him this year. We would probably get a 2nd round compo pick, which we could potentially use for a bid on someone like Mabior Chol.

I thought he was pretty good on Saturday. Played straight ahead for a change instead of in ever decreasing circles. Clearly his best role is as a tagger.

[RogueSwan]

This suggests a new nickname for McLean: "Hands"...

--> Hans --> Hans Gruber --> Die Hard --> John McLean --> McLean should be his new nickname!
Either that or "Bruce"

[Bangalore Swans]

--> Hans --> Hans Gruber --> Die Hard --> John McLean --> McLean should be his new nickname!
Either that or "Bruce"

McLean strikes me as the perfect athlete from the movie “Moneyball.

He does a great job as a tall forward for a lower monetary commitment than other tall forwards going around the competition.

What about the nickname.

“Moneyball McLean”.

[Ralph Dawg]

I thought he was pretty good on Saturday. Played straight ahead for a change instead of in ever decreasing circles. Clearly his best role is as a tagger.

I can see a home for George in defence. He's a decent size, clean with his disposal and certainly knows how to keep a close check on his opponent. For alot of mid / forward types, he's set and forget as he can follow them all around the park. I guess though if another club views him as being an inside ball winner (North or Adelaide) and offers him a contract that reflects this, he will be hard to keep.