Swans v Port.

[Meg]

Yes. My macular degeneration has really worsened this year.

Drink more red [emoji485].

[Meg]

Much better effort, much better game of footy. Just lacked a little polish at moments that mattered, but tremendous effort.

Lance Franklin is a joy to watch; he'll be missed when he's gone.

Thank you Giant, I’m so pleased to read this positive comment after wading through a lot of others ...

I really enjoyed watching the match, some great footy by our boys - and also some critical mistakes. In the end Port were too good. There’s no shame in that.

Have just watched Longmire’s post game interview. Everyone should watch it to get perspective. Players had two hours notice on Tues to get on the plane. Some of them didn’t get to say goodbye to partners and kids. Then they got up at 6am this morning to get on plane to Adelaide.

Then in warm-up for the match found out about the complete lockdown in Sydney for two weeks which guarantees they won’t get home for weeks now.

Longmire was obviously proud of them. And so am I. Winning is not the only thing that counts.

[Meg]

Thanks. I'm just hanging in with one eye. I've been getting Avastin injections this year, which has stopped the bleeding in the retina for the time being, but it still seems to be slowly getting worse.

Sorry Ludwig I made a flippant comment earlier when I thought you might be joking (as you often are). My mother had macular degeneration so I know how cruel it can be.

[Ludwig]

Sorry Ludwig I made a flippant comment earlier when I thought you might be joking (as you often are). My mother had macular degeneration so I know how cruel it can be.

No Problem. Flippant comments are in the spirit of Ludwig.

The Elephant in the room for me is how do we as a club rate Heeney ? Is he worth 600k a year or 400 or move on ? He had 2 vital moments to stamp himself in this game but flopped. He cant kick goals under pressure and is certainly not elite and please don't tell me he is injured as the best players still perform with them. I am now not a fan as he is one of those players that can do the spectacular but not when the side needs it under pressure.

Granted, Heeney had a poor game, but there were plenty of others. I don't like being too harsh on players when the conditions are wet. It's like a partial excuse, but we do need to learn to play better in the wet. Heeney is usually a good goal kicker, but has his bad days, like all forwards do.

It would think that Heeney is earning around 800k, and if he can stay on the park, he's worth it. He's an elite talent, but we would all like him to be more consistent and keep off the injury list.

[Bangalore Swans]

The post analysis would be very different if we had snuck an extra two goals. Let’s look at some positives:

Franklin - brilliant again. Superb last quarter tackle. Buddy 2023 looks a formality with Franklin continuing to gain fitness. His speed is really coming back.

J-Mac - great engine and really good delivery. Smart footballer as well. The early season prediction of TheBloods on Chad and J-Mac being the best of the Swans young players is proving astute.

I’ve given Papley some criticism in past weeks but his play today was very good. Chased with intensity, tackled hard and was rewarded with some good goals.

Parker was as good as ever. Great 3rd quarter mark and goal.

Cunningham and Lloyd played really well as small defenders.

Mills was very good.

Negatives:

McCartin and Rampe. Probably there worst games of the year. Rampe gave up a goal in the 1st quarter that changed momentum. Just needed to let himself be tackled out of bounds. Fox and Brand were not much better.

We can’t do much wrong in giving Gould a go. Melican is more valuable on the list than many give him credit for.

Heeney - I’m not what is going on. Started whining at team mates as time went on. He possesses an Academy grade drop punt. Use that weapon when kicking for goal (stop flirting with that around the corner kick at goal). Maybe a run off half back may help. Brad Hill was moved to half back and now has regained form.

Bell - in the words of Supermode “Tell me why”. Chases and tackles but doesn’t offer other qualities.

Rowbottom - fumbled the ball at key moments. Effort was good but lacking confidence.

Amartey - in the words of Eminem “back to reality”. Contributed well in previous two games. Swap with McLean.

I think the Chad factor cannot be underestimated. We are 0-2 with Chad out of the team. Chad would have broken some lines at key points during this game.

I hope for the rest of the season that we focus on young players like Gulden, Campbell, Chad, Gould, Logan, Stephens and Blakey. Give them all a good crack at it and get some corridor football going again.

[ugg]

Re: Bell. Agree for most of the game he looked ordinary but he delivered an excellent kick amongst a crowded 50 into Hayward who somehow dropped it, but it all worked out when he regathered and handballed to Buddy for the go ahead goal

[Matty10]

I don't like being too harsh on players when the conditions are wet. It's like a partial excuse, but we do need to learn to play better in the wet.

I am generally happy with the performance, except for our inability to play to the conditions. It was so frustrating.

[i'm-uninformed2]

Bell is an interesting one. My critique of him is not his endeavour, as he certainly cracks in - from his willingness to run to his tackling.

It’s that he’s not quite there positionally.

Compare him to Wicks as a small forward, who’s shown a superb defensive game and real potential with the ball. Bell doesn’t have that one stellar quality as a small forward.

Or compare him to even say a Hewett as a midfielder. He has both clear ball winning and clearance ability, as well as his capacity to tag. Again, Bell lacks a clear point of difference.

None of this is to knock the bloke. I suspect he gives everything he has. I’m just not clear what his obvious extra attribute and position are.

[SwanSand]

Watching this game i realised why the coaches were not sure about Brand. His disposals are awful. And I would trust that the coaches would know when Gould is ready.
I was expecting both Heeney and Kennedy to play wet conditions better but they did not have good games.
We have to get a lot better over the next few games to play finals. At present it appears as if we would drop out of the top 8 by the end of the year as most of the 9-12 teams are playing a better brand of footy than their first half.
We are carrying too many passengers and I am not sure where the improvement is going to come from - Warner is one, Reid another, but then who else?

[Blood Fever]

Thank you Giant, I’m so pleased to read this positive comment after wading through a lot of others ...

I really enjoyed watching the match, some great footy by our boys - and also some critical mistakes. In the end Port were too good. There’s no shame in that.

Have just watched Longmire’s post game interview. Everyone should watch it to get perspective. Players had two hours notice on Tues to get on the plane. Some of them didn’t get to say goodbye to partners and kids. Then they got up at 6am this morning to get on plane to Adelaide.

Then in warm-up for the match found out about the complete lockdown in Sydney for two weeks which guarantees they won’t get home for weeks now.

Longmire was obviously proud of them. And so am I. Winning is not the only thing that counts.

+1

[Ruck'n'Roll]

Gosh wasn't it terrible seeing Buddy battling 2, 3 and 4 opponents every time he went for the ball.

[longmile]

People's thoughts on playing Heeney in defence? He's been down on form the last two weeks and we have Hayward and Gulden in the forward line now, maybe his mark and leap can be used better in the defensive half as an intercepting player?

[Kumarangk]

No Problem. Flippant comments are in the spirit of Ludwig.

Granted, Heeney had a poor game, but there were plenty of others. I don't like being too harsh on players when the conditions are wet. It's like a partial excuse, but we do need to learn to play better in the wet. Heeney is usually a good goal kicker, but has his bad days, like all forwards do.

It would think that Heeney is earning around 800k, and if he can stay on the park, he's worth it. He's an elite talent, but we would all like him to be more consistent and keep off the injury list.

Fair enough, but he is the second highest paid Swan and apparently the only one other than Buddy in the top 20 AFL players salary bracket, so perhaps i may be being a bit hard on him but surely with the salary comes the expectation. As others have said a move to half back maybe what's needed but Horse can be very conservative ( some may say slow to react or dogmatic ) with his selections at times.

[barry]

Gosh wasn't it terrible seeing Buddy battling 2, 3 and 4 opponents every time he went for the ball.

Charlie dixon had 4 opponents most marking contests, but the umpires helped him out.

I'm not worried about that game. The resit was 50/50, and we didn't expect to win, so doesn't effect our finals chances.

[MattW]

Watching this game i realised why the coaches were not sure about Brand. His disposals are awful. And I would trust that the coaches would know when Gould is ready.
I was expecting both Heeney and Kennedy to play wet conditions better but they did not have good games.
We have to get a lot better over the next few games to play finals. At present it appears as if we would drop out of the top 8 by the end of the year as most of the 9-12 teams are playing a better brand of footy than their first half.
We are carrying too many passengers and I am not sure where the improvement is going to come from - Warner is one, Reid another, but then who else?

Yes, we're still too thin.

Changes which would improve us:
- Melican for Brand
- Reid for Amartey
- Warner for Bell.

But we also need key first-teamers to play better, particularly Florent, Heeney and McCartin.

Florent had no possessions in the last quarter - must be more consistent.

I think Heeney's output is affected by his goalkicking. When he starts missing set shots, as he has recently, he starts going quiet.

I think the decisive stat again yesterday was efficiency inside 50.

Port 28 shots from 47 inside 50s (60%)
Sydney 20 shots from 51 inside 50s (39%)

The former figure is above average; the latter figure is below average.

We're not going to go far with such a leaky defence.

I think he might need to flick Rampe back to their best forward, give McCartin a break.

Parker is a runaway leader in the Bob Skilton.