R12 Swans V Saints @SCG - Live

[Aaron]

I think Razor has changed a little after his last injury and has been a little more consistent.

[NeonBible]

I am a dope!! I commented my thoughts on this game in the trade thread heh..

This match there might've been a case of too much left to too few, and we were lucky it didn't cost us! Hard to tell watching on TV but it appeared like Stk had a better spread of contributors and a very even team performance.. they just couldn't contain us when we were at our best!!

Parker and Mills were magnificent in the midfield as usual, but they didnt seem to get much support.. Joey was unusually quiet, and we didnt get enough out of Rowbottom, Florent, McInerney or Warner, who had 15, 15, 13 and 12 possessions respectively! That is not quite good enough from a second tier midfield group!! Stephens and Blakey were influential in the VFL game, so i would think about dropping one of Rowbottom or Warner as neither have been contributing much over the last month. Perhaps Blakey in the mids for Rowbottom, Stephens on a HFF for Warner, or maybe Wicks, who has also been quiet?? Interesting dilemma!!

[SwanSand]

I am a dope!! I commented my thoughts on this game in the trade thread heh..

This match there might've been a case of too much left to too few, and we were lucky it didn't cost us! Hard to tell watching on TV but it appeared like Stk had a better spread of contributors and a very even team performance.. they just couldn't contain us when we were at our best!!

Parker and Mills were magnificent in the midfield as usual, but they didnt seem to get much support.. Joey was unusually quiet, and we didnt get enough out of Rowbottom, Florent, McInerney or Warner, who had 15, 15, 13 and 12 possessions respectively! That is not quite good enough from a second tier midfield group!! Stephens and Blakey were influential in the VFL game, so i would think about dropping one of Rowbottom or Warner as neither have been contributing much over the last month. Perhaps Blakey in the mids for Rowbottom, Stephens on a HFF for Warner, or maybe Wicks, who has also been quiet?? Interesting dilemma!!

Not sure what Warner is doing at the moment. Low possessions which is fine but does not it use as well as we would want, Too fumbly and does not pressure the opposition as much as needed. Rowbottom appears injured, played 64% time on ground but atleast ran and pressured the opposition but again had some poor disposals. Wicks is our pressure forward and it would not be easy to drop him unless Gulden comes back. I don’t think either Stephens Bell or Blakey can do what Wicks does. Jmac I thought had an ok game. Without being super he was pressuring the opposition well. He needs to get better at reading the game a bit better and that would improve his positioning.

My biggest concern is Florent. He should be our next line midfielder and he just has a good game every 3rd one which is not good enough.

I think the marking by saints in our defensive half was the ease with which the ball was coming through the corridor with too many possible angles to contain. And the onus to block that was with the midfielders. In offence we were running further than usual and on turnovers we had no reference to the saint player and it was a very easy overlap play for them.

We also played Heeney in defensive half and I wonder if we get a good running wingman, we should leave him to play only a forward half game. He is an extremely good kick and Mark to cause front half headaches for the opposition.

[Ralph Dawg]

You can't give an AFL team a week off as they quickly lose the fitness edge. Besides, all AFL clubs are living in their own bubble right now.

Reduced load then? They just look a bit jaded, especially when compared to how they were at the start of the season. I'm sure there is a sweet spot in terms of maintaining fitness and recuperating from the first half of the season.

[NeonBible]

Not sure what Warner is doing at the moment. Low possessions which is fine but does not it use as well as we would want, Too fumbly and does not pressure the opposition as much as needed. Rowbottom appears injured, played 64% time on ground but atleast ran and pressured the opposition but again had some poor disposals. Wicks is our pressure forward and it would not be easy to drop him unless Gulden comes back. I don’t think either Stephens Bell or Blakey can do what Wicks does. Jmac I thought had an ok game. Without being super he was pressuring the opposition well. He needs to get better at reading the game a bit better and that would improve his positioning.

My biggest concern is Florent. He should be our next line midfielder and he just has a good game every 3rd one which is not good enough.

I think the marking by saints in our defensive half was the ease with which the ball was coming through the corridor with too many possible angles to contain. And the onus to block that was with the midfielders. In offence we were running further than usual and on turnovers we had no reference to the saint player and it was a very easy overlap play for them.

We also played Heeney in defensive half and I wonder if we get a good running wingman, we should leave him to play only a forward half game. He is an extremely good kick and Mark to cause front half headaches for the opposition.

Interesting thoughts, SwanSand. I've been happy with Florents progress this year, but you are onto something that the consistency isn't there just yet. He's a quality young player but i think it is safe to say he will never be a dominant midfielder, more of a silky compliment to the guys above him!! When you think about him from that perspective, Ollie not tearing games apart isnt so concerning!

I dont expect Rowbottom and Warner to be doing that either yet, but we do need more from them. Warner has faded as the year has gone on. He's a very exciting talent and you never know when he will do something brilliant that will turn the game on it's head in our favour! He's that kind of player! But when he's not doing those things, he tends to fade to the background!! Hard to know if to take the chance of resting him and then missing out on one of those Chad moments when we need it!!

Rowbottom an even harder one to get a read on! It's possible he's injured! 64% time on ground is very low, as i noted he was wearing the fluro green cap at training. Could be for the knee injury from earlier in the year, or the adductor strain he sustained during the Carlton match and played through. Or something else entirely that we don't know about!! But there have been times he's certainly looked capable enough physically - that fend-off to burst away and hit Lance on the lead yesterday was thrilling to watch, and he's had other moments where he has seemed unaffected! So i'm not certain he can play the injury card to excuse the passages where he doesn't have a positive impact, or an impact at all!

[goodie3shoes]

The Saints apparently won yesterday. The media only sighted Saints and their errors. Not a Swan played. Even the Mongrelpunt only mentions Sainters. We Swans just looked pretty and allowed Sainters to fall over their own feet. Ok, I get the media sucks up to the Victorian crowd but we are in the top six with some pretty impressive performances. So looks like the footy shows will have another Swan free week. Oh, Bud might get a short mention.

[caj23]

We snuck home again, I get the feeling we're staggering into the bye. Hopefully we can comfortably clean up the Hawks next week (although I've thought that the last 2 weeks!) and rest up with the week off.

Not sure who was playing on Higgins and Hill, but boy we let them off the leasch this week. I thought Hewitt could've been a candidate for Hill, i think his best work is as a mid or tagger rather than defence anyway. Also think Brand should've been retained. McCartin is getting beaten week in week out, Rampe simply isn't big enough, neither is Fox who had an ordinary day out.

How good was Amartey in the second half? Him and McClean have real competition for that spot, although Amartey has the added advantage of relief rucking

[Bangalore Swans]

Yeah....whatever. Must be wonderful in that rarefied air of yours. I hated umpires but I didn't give them hell like the bogans of today.....just spirited banter....and I will verbally bash umpires (on a forum....as if that effects them) whenever they deserve it and today they did.

I'd encourage your son to have a go, not discourage him with your own fear.....he may have more character than you give him credit for.

For the record Stevo, has there even been an umpire or referee in AFL or in other sports whom has met your expectations?

Do you simply dislike officials? Would an official ever do a good job in your eyes?

Stevo, we need your solutions on how to make the umpiring better?

My solution from weeks ago was to have each coach have one coaches challenge a half. People did not support this solution.

Can people provide some other ideas.

[Bangalore Swans]

I think he took way too much notice of Stevie J - that’s was his “thing” and for some reason a few of our lads have taken to doing this sideways samba style of kick too.

I would agree on Isacc’s kicking for goal. He is a wonderful exponent of the drop punt. I don’t know why he tried that around the corner kick late in the 4th quarter. Looked a drop punt for sure.

That left foot snap from a non acute angle only just snuck in.

I don’t mind if they run around when right on the boundary libe but it should be drop punts apart from that.

Matthew Lloyd and Tony Lockett struck over 2,000 goals between at around 70%. They used drop punts and kicked through the ball.

Why can’t modern day players follow these two?

[chalbilto]

For the record Stevo, has there even been an umpire or referee in AFL or in other sports whom has met your expectations?

Do you simply dislike officials? Would an official ever do a good job in your eyes?

Stevo, we need your solutions on how to make the umpiring better?

My solution from weeks ago was to have each coach have one coaches challenge a half. People did not support this solution.

Can people provide some other ideas.

If they umpires became full time professionals I believe the standard would improve overall. Further I think that if this were the case, then all of the umpires could rotate by have sessions with all of the clubs, that way building a relationship and understanding with the players and I stress that all of the umpires go to all of the clubs.

[stevoswan]

The Saints apparently won yesterday. The media only sighted Saints and their errors. Not a Swan played. Even the Mongrelpunt only mentions Sainters. We Swans just looked pretty and allowed Sainters to fall over their own feet. Ok, I get the media sucks up to the Victorian crowd but we are in the top six with some pretty impressive performances. So looks like the footy shows will have another Swan free week. Oh, Bud might get a short mention.

Yes, you're right.....they're biased wankers and it's frustrating but we've known thps for years.....for us it's called 'under the radar' and we like it that way. Swans teams constantly proving critics wrong and dragging these know-all's kicking and screaming into a reality they're not at all comfortable with. Love it!

[AB Swannie]

I've done some refereeing in other sports and it is a tough gig. However, the fact is that the umpires were poor yesterday and more of the poor calls seemed to go against us. I'm not of the belief (perhaps naive) that the umpiring is biased - I just think they had poor games just like some of our players.

That being said, we won the game and move on. At the beginning of the year, there is no way we would've been favoured to beat the Saints. The predicted spots on the table are reversed so I'm thrilled that we won. We still have so much improvement that the competition should be scared for 2022 and 2023. I agree that the younger mids have dropped 10%. Warner, RB, Florent are not accumulating the ball like we would like. Hopefully, the bye comes and we can give them some rest, get Gulden and Campbell some more games and give some of the big boys a fright in September.

[Bangalore Swans]

If they umpires became full time professionals I believe the standard would improve overall. Further I think that if this were the case, then all of the umpires could rotate by have sessions with all of the clubs, that way building a relationship and understanding with the players and I stress that all of the umpires go to all of the clubs.

I think that’s a strong proposal.

I think the AFL would like to do this. After season 2019 there was a lot of money in the game. Now with COVID there is far less money, the industry has had to make financial cuts and the resources to fund full time umpiring is not there at the current time.

I like the proposal and I think it would deliver better decisions for all clubs.

- - - Updated - - -

Does anyone think it’s a huge concern that only 19,000 people came to the SCG yesterday?

It was a great day, Buddy was in form, the team has a winning record and the crowds didn’t turn up.

[SwanSand]

I've done some refereeing in other sports and it is a tough gig. However, the fact is that the umpires were poor yesterday and more of the poor calls seemed to go against us. I'm not of the belief (perhaps naive) that the umpiring is biased - I just think they had poor games just like some of our players.

That being said, we won the game and move on. At the beginning of the year, there is no way we would've been favoured to beat the Saints. The predicted spots on the table are reversed so I'm thrilled that we won. We still have so much improvement that the competition should be scared for 2022 and 2023. I agree that the younger mids have dropped 10%. Warner, RB, Florent are not accumulating the ball like we would like. Hopefully, the bye comes and we can give them some rest, get Gulden and Campbell some more games and give some of the big boys a fright in September.

Completely agree with the young ones. Maybe there isn’t enough pressure from down below. Once it arrives in the form of Campbell and Gulden And maybe Blakey and Stephens everyone would lift.

We are lacking in the run from half back. Braeden is being missed and Guldens forward entries are being sorely missed but Papley has stepped up and is placing it on a platter for others well in the last 3 weeks.

[stevoswan]

For the record Stevo, has there even been an umpire or referee in AFL or in other sports whom has met your expectations?

Do you simply dislike officials? Would an official ever do a good job in your eyes?

Stevo, we need your solutions on how to make the umpiring better?

My solution from weeks ago was to have each coach have one coaches challenge a half. People did not support this solution.

Can people provide some other ideas.

To be fair, my original comment was written somewhat in the heat of the moment straight after a game which was almost stolen from us. Excuse my passion. Are you happy with how 2016 ended?

Interesting that you completely miss (or choose to ignore) my point. I never claimed to know the solution....but it's obvious to all (who know the game) that AFL umpires need to leave their bias at the front door when they head out to travel to the match they are umpiring. I will never like a cheating official....would you? Some of the completely baffling decisions we receive are tantamount to cheating IMO.

I also understand that the league's constant tinkering with the rules doesn't make their job any easier. I certainly will commend an umpire on a good performance.....trouble is, that rarely happens these days. Again, it is obvious to all (who know the game) that the standard of AFL umpiring is on a downward spiral and that we are on the receiving end of some shockingly biased, potentially result changing decisions.

AFL umpires are not even fully professional....and what is the career path of an AFL umpire? Are they even former players who actually understand the game and have then umpired through the lower ranks and built up to a standard befitting of an umpire at the top level or are the league just grabbing accountants and the like who feel like 'doing something different on the weekends' then read a (confusing) rule book and attempt to pass a simple 'learner driver' type test to 'qualify'? Who knows?!

......and don't get me started on boundary umpires. Half of them can't even throw the ball in properly! It's not that bloody hard but how many times do you see two ruckman full on sprinting towards the boundary line in a vain attempt to just get to the drop of the 'throw-in'? It's an embarrassment for the highest level of the game.

Coaches challenge? Assuming this would be post game? Anyone can see that wouldn't be workable....and that the AFL would stuff it up anyway because they look at things in the same Vic-centric way the umpires 'see' things on the ground. If it was to happen during the game, like a goal review....can you honestly say you have confidence in bunker goal reviews from what history has taught us? I certainly don't and I don't think many would.

Yes, I agree it is a hard job but it's a job for resilient and fair minded people who have integrity.....it's not a job for a-holes with none. I wouldn't be discouraging anyone from having a go.....just that they do it with honesty and integrity and unflinching neutrality. Those that don't will rightly feel my wrath.....and they should feel yours too!

Oh and one last thing.....dismount from your 'fairness to all' high horse. As a Swans fan, it's draining to witness such A(V)FL naivety.

Cheers.