Match Thread. Swans v Hawthorn

[Bexl]

Stevo. You have been around life. People in life subconsciously favour people with charm, manners and a friendly demeanour.

Umpires are human. They don’t want to be yelled at or treated like dirt.

You are charming in life and you win 50/50s every where.

If that is how people umpire then that is Fu(ked up. UMPIRE FAIRLY FOR EVERYONE. Don't favour the people you like because they are nice to you!!!!!!

[COB]

There are a lot of whingers and argumentative people on this forum. Feel free to respond but no point as I won't be returning.

[Ludwig]

C. Warner was certainly an important missing link last night .

I'm sure he would have played down to the level of the rest of the team. Smart player. Knows when to get injured.

[Blood Fever]

There are a lot of whingers and argumentative people on this forum. Feel free to respond but no point as I won't be returning.

Raison d'etre of the site.

[Ludwig]

There are a lot of whingers and argumentative people on this forum. Feel free to respond but no point as I won't be returning.

Are you Connor O'Barry, the reflective twin brother of an Irish Swan.

Don't feel obligated to respond. You may be interested in an antithetical RWO forum on the dark web, which has some features that might be of interest to you. For instance, on this forum TheBloods (who goes by the moniker TheGuts), in every post expresses his unrequited love for James Rowbottom. Personally, I find it so sickening I don't go there anymore.

[MattW]

...
Our big problem is in defence. We were once again exposed for height. Fox is not a key defender and it's been a coaching staff error to play him as a key defender.

• I think it's time to swap in COR, but not as a key defender.
• Hewett has been okay, but it's time to end the experiment with playing him in defence and put him back in the midfield.
• Dawson is coming along as a 3rd defender and perhaps even the heir apparent for Rampe a few years down the road. But he too, is not a key defender.
• McCartin has been off the pace in recent games, but we have little choice but to persist with him at this time. But this should be constantly reviewed.
• Hopefully Melican will be ready to come back into the side after the bye.
• We should expose Gould and O'Connor to senior footy in the post bye period, even if they're not quite ready. Their development needs to be pushed along.
• The same for Ling and Campbell.
• Blakey seems a player who should be a good defender. He has all the right physical traits. I can see him developing into a Jake Lever type intercept marker. Some tall skinny types, like Haynes, Sam Taylor, Ridley and Dylan Grimes, have done well in this role. Does Blakey read the play well enough? Time to find out.
• We might consider trying Florent in defence, who has looked solid and composed under pressure.

We are getting good rebound out of defence, but the defensive aspects of the backline are seriously deficient and about as poor as I've seen for a Swans team. We won't get far persisting with a plan that's not working. So it's time to make some changes and try different things in search for a better solution.

I agree with almost all of that except (you won't be surprised to hear me say) O'Riordan. I don't understand your dedication to him. He's not great one-on-one, gives away frees and makes kicking errors. Can you explain it to me?

I'm three quarters into the reserves game from earlier and have been much more impressed with Ling.

It's interesting, watching Blakey with more space - his kicking is still poor. Shanks and dinks.

[Ludwig]

I agree with almost all of that except (you won't be surprised to hear me say) O'Riordan. I don't understand your dedication to him. He's not great one-on-one, gives away frees and makes kicking errors. Can you explain it to me?

I'm three quarters into the reserves game from earlier and have been much more impressed with Ling.

It's interesting, watching Blakey with more space - his kicking is still poor. Shanks and dinks.

I think O'Riordan has a very solid overall game. Far from perfect, but solid. He's 25 yo, but has only played 25 senior games, so in that respect, he's still inexperienced. He's had a few injuries at inopportune times. He had his best run of games in 2019, was improving with every game and looked the part by the end of that run of games. I would like to see him get another run in the seniors to see if he can reproduce that 2019 form and build from there. I wouldn't want to see him get delisted without getting another chance at AFL level. I think he's a better player than Nic Newman,who is a regular at Carlton.

I'm not dedicated to O'Riordan, but rather, I don't believe we've seen the best of him yet and he's at the crossroads due to his age and competition with Fox, who plays a similar role and plays at a similar level. The day will come when we will have to choose between the 2.

I also believe Ling can make it at AFL level and become a good player. He has the talent and can play a physical game.

I would like the see the Swans build depth in the squad, with lots of players able to come in and play a role for team when required, which is the mark of a championship team.

[MattW]

I think O'Riordan has a very solid overall game. Far from perfect, but solid. He's 25 yo, but has only played 25 senior games, so in that respect, he's still inexperienced. He's had a few injuries at inopportune times. He had his best run of games in 2019, was improving with every game and looked the part by the end of that run of games. I would like to see him get another run in the seniors to see if he can reproduce that 2019 form and build from there. I wouldn't want to see him get delisted without getting another chance at AFL level. I think he's a better player than Nic Newman,who is a regular at Carlton.

I'm not dedicated to O'Riordan, but rather, I don't believe we've seen the best of him yet and he's at the crossroads due to his age and competition with Fox, who plays a similar role and plays at a similar level. The day will come when we will have to choose between the 2.

I also believe Ling can make it at AFL level and become a good player. He has the talent and can play a physical game.

I would like the see the Swans build depth in the squad, with lots of players able to come in and play a role for team when required, which is the mark of a championship team.

I think we've seen the best of him. He's 25, as you say. I don't think he's really improved in two years. You say solid, but I think he gives too much up in contests.

I think Fox is limited too, but his point of difference is his leap.

[Ludwig]

I think we've seen the best of him. He's 25, as you say. I don't think he's really improved in two years. You say solid, but I think he gives too much up in contests.

I think Fox is limited too, but his point of difference is his leap.

There's a deep list management issue here as to why I think these players should be retained on our list, I would add players like Brand, Clarke, Taylor and a few others in this category. Because of the good drafts we've had we are going to be faced with salary cap issues beyond Franklin's contract. For the most part, the team is full of high quality young players who will have increasing salary demands through the next decade, and managers fishing for lucrative deals from other clubs. We have to retain good depth players who won't put too much pressure on the TPP, else we will end up with a revolving door of delistings replaced with low draft picks who aren't even good enough to be role players. We need to carry some amount of middle tier players who are capable at AFL level, because we can't bring in too many high draft picks until more of our established players push their way into retirement.

I won't say it's an equivalent case, but rather another angle to this list management game. I will use Essendon as an example. In 2014 Jayden Laverde and Kyle Langford were late 1st round draft picks. A lot of pundits and Essendon fans had given up on them and wanted them traded (if anyone would take them) or delisted. Now in their 7th season, they are regulars in the team and making a real contribution. Then there is pick 5 from the 2015 draft, Darcy Parish. He looked to be a bust, never improving from an ordinary 20 possession player, that is until this year when he's averaging 31 and has broken Essendon's all time possession number for a single game, and is a serious Brownlow contender. It's like a switch just turned on in his 6th season.

Circumstances may change in the future, like at the beginning of a big rebuild, but for now we are not at a stage where massive delistings are called for, because there is little to be gained beyond trying to add a couple of good quality players through top 40 draft picks or trades.

[stevoswan]

Stevo. You have been around life. People in life subconsciously favour people with charm, manners and a friendly demeanour.

Umpires are human. They don’t want to be yelled at or treated like dirt.

You are charming in life and you win 50/50s every where.

It may be true in life but it's still not acceptable in footy.....you pay it as you see it full stop. That is the true nature of neutrality. Pity humans are humans I suppose and can be weak in the mind....ie: bias and corruptible.

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There are a lot of whingers and argumentative people on this forum. Feel free to respond but no point as I won't be returning.

It's called adult footy banter mate.....don't run away. All fans welcome, it can just get a little lively here after a crap loss.

- - - Updated - - -

Are you Connor O'Barry, the reflective twin brother of an Irish Swan.

Don't feel obligated to respond. You may be interested in an antithetical RWO forum on the dark web, which has some features that might be of interest to you. For instance, on this forum TheBloods (who goes by the moniker TheGuts), in every post expresses his unrequited love for James Rowbottom. Personally, I find it so sickening I don't go there anymore.

[KTigers]

There are a lot of whingers and argumentative people on this forum. Feel free to respond but no point as I won't be returning.

Not just on this site. On Friday night I got into a barney with the people sitting in front of us because one of them actually turned around
and complained about my son talking about a movie ("State Of Play" starring Rusty Crowe actually) he had seen recently "too loudly" during
the game. I kid you not. We were four or five goals down at the point, so it was red rag to a bull and it didn't end well for them.
Whingeing, arguing... just part of the match day experience if you ask me.

[Agent 86]

Match Thread. Swans v Hawthorn

I'm three quarters into the reserves game…watching Blakey with more space - his kicking is still poor. Shanks and dinks.

I think he tries to be too clever with those kicks. ‘Dinky’ is the perfect description. The intention (of those kicks) is often good as he can usually see where it needs to go (unlike some). The execution lets him down. Just keep it simple and stop trying to be cute. And shave the mo.

[giant]

I think O'Riordan has a very solid overall game. Far from perfect, but solid. He's 25 yo, but has only played 25 senior games, so in that respect, he's still inexperienced. He's had a few injuries at inopportune times. He had his best run of games in 2019, was improving with every game and looked the part by the end of that run of games. I would like to see him get another run in the seniors to see if he can reproduce that 2019 form and build from there. I wouldn't want to see him get delisted without getting another chance at AFL level. I think he's a better player than Nic Newman,who is a regular at Carlton.

I'm not dedicated to O'Riordan, but rather, I don't believe we've seen the best of him yet and he's at the crossroads due to his age and competition with Fox, who plays a similar role and plays at a similar level. The day will come when we will have to choose between the 2.

COR or Brand? I don't mind COR either, just don't think Brand did much wrong when he played as a tall defender. The Hawks certainly got the better of us on that measure on Friday night - as they regularly do; it seems every other time we play them, Clarko plays the extra tall and exposes our defence.

[Ruck'n'Roll]

Stevo. You have been around life. People in life subconsciously favour people with charm, manners and a friendly demeanour.

If that is how people umpire then that is Fu(ked up. UMPIRE FAIRLY FOR EVERYONE. Don't favour the people you like because they are nice to you!!!!!!

I did some umpiring in the 90's, and the league's head of coaching was an ex-VFL umpire. He regularly lectured us on the importance of being charming with players, using their first names where possible, how to seem to agree with a player who you'd given a free kick against. As if it was a panacea of making crap decisions.

[KTigers]

I did some umpiring in the 90's, and the league's head of coaching was an ex-VFL umpire. He regularly lectured us on the importance of being charming with players, using their first names where possible, how to seem to agree with a player who you'd given a free kick against. As if it was a panacea of making crap decisions.

So umpires are being read extracts from pop psychology books at training. Awesome. No wonder things are going so well.