R12 Swans V Saints @SCG - Live

[barry]

My son expressed an interest in doing some umpiring. I advised him not to it because there is no appreciation for what umpires do and they have to cop the umpire bashing that occurs in this post.

That story is obviously made up, but to any other dad's out there whose children are thinking of getting into umpiring, go for it. It builds character and resilience.

[Wardy]

For the record - the strange? biased? incapable ? brilliant ? umpires today : Curtis Deboy (11), Robert Findlay (23), Nathan Toner (38) !!!

So we got the work experience kids - again!!!

[Wardy]

Really pretty horrid win - thought we played much better vs Dockers for a loss. Bye can't come fast enough I suspect.

Joel a very big bonus on an otherwise fairly ordinary day. He does need to learn how to handball though.

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Isaac needs to sort his kicking out, because if he kicks like that to win us the GF there will be a riot. I actually think he's a pretty solid set shot kick so don't understand where this left foot screw kick nonsense has come from.

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.

[Swanny40519]

So we got the work experience kids - again!!!

I watched the game again last night and if those umpires - particularly No 11, ever umpire a AFL again then Gill is really scrapping the bottom of the barrel. They were so one sided and biased in their decisions, particularly those very soft 50m goals the saints got.

[Nico]

What kept St Kilda in the game was our 6 misses close in from set shots. Higgins missed up the other end but we were poor kicking for goal. Papley 2, Amartey 1, Hayward 2, Heeney 1. Heeney picked out his mum in the crowd on the opposite wing.

Update on that: Heeney missed 2 set shots. Gary Lyon was harping on about STKilda's poor kicking for goal, if we had kicked straight we win that by a street. A really bad part of our game was the centre clearances: 9 to 17 opened up our defence big time. It seemed for what ever reason our mids stood defensive side and Ryder kept hitting it the opposite side. Our blokes just stood there like garden gnomes.

[The Great One]

I am tired of getting the worse of the umpiring. Those 50m penalties for a gentle push were ridiculous. Then watch about Paddy Ryder stopping RB running for the ball by holding him on the wing 3rd quarter. How could the umpires not see that? I was amazed RB was given that free kick in the last minute, even though it was blatant.

As I said in a post a few months ago, I have serious doubts whether the AFL will allow us to win a competition whilever Buddy is in our squad. I am sure they wanted him to go to GWS and since then we have been on the receiving end of many suspect decisions.

Buddy should win a lot more free kicks than he does particularly when he is double and triple teamed in the forward 50

As others have said there is a bias towards Melbourne based teams that is blatantly obvious. Unless my memory is failing me I seem to recall the last all interstate gf was 2005 and 2006. When we qualified for the 2016 gf there was no way gws were going to win and the fairy puppies were born and parachuted to a premiership on the back of huge free kick counts in 4 finals.

The surprise as others have said was the free kick paid to Rowbottom that sealed the win. It was obvious but so was the one earlier on the left wing when he was tackled before he had it.

[Aaron]

So we got the work experience kids - again!!!

2 are relatively experienced.
Shirt #(Games this Season /Career) Statistics before R12
#11 (10/119)
#23 (11/265)
#38 (1/1)

[Ralph Dawg]

Whoever was predominately on Higgins needs to be dropped (was it Fox?). 7 shots on goal, 12 marks. He basically did as he pleased, as if he was playing unmarked.

Our defence is looking quite shakey, with a lack of cohesion. Horse said as much, making the comment in his pressers that they scored too many easy goals. Dropping off tackles is not helping. As good as JMac has been in attack, he gets swatted off too easily. Send him over to Trent Robinson and the Roosters for a refresher.

I also agree our midfield looks a bit knackered and I think the bye can't come quick enough. If not for Hickey being a one man midfield, we would've been slaughtered inside. He's just been incredible this year, even playing with one leg. If I was the coaching staff, I would just give the players a week off after the Hawks game.

[TheBloods]

Is anyone else as worried about JPK as I am?

WTF??

Has it occurred to you that Kennedy might be taking a back seat to give some of the younger mids around him a go ? He is selfless and the heart and soul leader of this club he would understand his job now is to pass the baton to the next generation. Not his fault they didnt take it , not one young mid had over 15 touches yesterday !

[Ralph Dawg]

That story is obviously made up, but to any other dad's out there whose children are thinking of getting into umpiring, go for it. It builds character and resilience.

My son is itching to umpire, which he can do next year. He's convinced they're all hopeless and he can do a much better job. I'm happy for him to do it as I think it will be a very humbling experience for him............

[Blood Fever]

Update on that: Heeney missed 2 set shots. Gary Lyon was harping on about STKilda's poor kicking for goal, if we had kicked straight we win that by a street. A really bad part of our game was the centre clearances: 9 to 17 opened up our defence big time. It seemed for what ever reason our mids stood defensive side and Ryder kept hitting it the opposite side. Our blokes just stood there like garden gnomes.

Spot on. We have been a lot better at this so far this year. With our forward line, even just halving centre clearances would have resulted in some more(easier) shots on goal. Hope this game was a one off in this area and we don't revert to how we've performed in the last few years. Hats off to our defence for limiting the damage. Also, probably explains why Ryder is so highly rated.

[The Great One]

Just a thought.

For a while I have considered what combination of umpires would be the worst the Swans could have in charge of a game. I came up with.
Stevic
Razor Ray
Mollison

But after yesterday I think we can add 11 Curtis Deboy to the list.

[Nico]

My son is itching to umpire, which he can do next year. He's convinced they're all hopeless and he can do a much better job. I'm happy for him to do it as I think it will be a very humbling experience for him............

Then he won't say they are all hopeless and realise what a difficult task it is. What he will quickly pick up is that players whinge about every decision.

[Nico]

Whoever was predominately on Higgins needs to be dropped (was it Fox?). 7 shots on goal, 12 marks. He basically did as he pleased, as if he was playing unmarked.

Our defence is looking quite shakey, with a lack of cohesion. Horse said as much, making the comment in his pressers that they scored too many easy goals. Dropping off tackles is not helping. As good as JMac has been in attack, he gets swatted off too easily. Send him over to Trent Robinson and the Roosters for a refresher.

I also agree our midfield looks a bit knackered and I think the bye can't come quick enough. If not for Hickey being a one man midfield, we would've been slaughtered inside. He's just been incredible this year, even playing with one leg. If I was the coaching staff, I would just give the players a week off after the Hawks game.

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.

[dejavoodoo44]

Just a thought.

For a while I have considered what combination of umpires would be the worst the Swans could have in charge of a game. I came up with.
Stevic
Razor Ray
Mollison

But after yesterday I think we can add 11 Curtis Deboy to the list.

Stevic, Matthew Nicholls and for a special encore appearance, Scott McLaren.