Swans v Port.

[AB Swannie]

I forgot to mention McInerney and Hewitt as positives.

Someone mentioned earlier that Hewitt reminds them of Jarryd Lyons and I reckon that's a good call. Is not suited to playing Mills' old role in defence and was so much better last night. Looked composed winning 14 contested possessions.

McInerney is a KB special. Love his repeat efforts.

[Faunac8]

I've taken 24hrs to read the discussion and consider the game:

Concerns:

• Heeney - He's had a couple of poor games in a row but who hasn't. No way are you moving him from forward of centre. In dry conditions, he is one of the hardest matchups for opposition. Why do people jump off so quickly?
• McCartin - He's 21 years old! He's played less than a full season as a KPD! He will be in AA one day but it may take a year or two yet.
• Rampe - He has been a favourite for a long time but has declined dramatically this year. He has done such a tremendous job for so long, it is really evident when when he is down. I hope he gets back his mojo but at 31 it really is a concern.
• Bell - In an ideal world we'd have Blakey and/or Stephens playing instead of Bell but they've given less effort and so Bell got given his chance. Unfortunately, he is not quite up to it.
• Florent - I am concerned. He should be imposing himself more regularly and is not.
• Brand - struggled with composure. However, I do prefer playing that extra tall and so if Melican isn't right then Brand has to stay.
• FWD/RUCK - it goes to show how important Sam Reid. Amartey and McLean have both shown something in patches but have both struggled for full games.

Positives:

• Mills - has been outstanding in his move to the midfield. Look out 2022.
• Parker - can be criticised for his delivery at times but he was immense last night.
• Buddy - may he last for two more years so he can play more regularly with Logan McDonald.
• Hayward - has copped plenty from fans on here and just keeps doing his role.
• Cunningham, Dawson, Fox, Lloyd - as much as our tall defenders struggled, these guys were good overall.

Overall, I feel like we are still developing. The timing just might be a fraction off - I think we'll be at our best in 2023 but by that time Buddy, Rampe, and JPK will be gone.

Well thought out and considered post that sums up our situation nicely.
Be nice to think that Lance could still have something to offer in 2023 he has expressed an interest in potentially still playing after his contract finishes. Last night showed he can still keep a defender or three on their toes

[Auntie.Gerald]

Did anyone else predict ?

Melb 9th in 2020 to jump to 1st and 12 wins?

Sydney 16th in 2020 and to jump to 8 wins?

how did Melbourne make this massive jump ahead.....i mean top 4 is incredible let alone top2

9th to 1st is absolutely amazing with the same crew !!!!!

unbelievable actually

interesting 3 weeks ahead

What can we learn from the Demons ??? recruitment and or coaching ?

[Bexl]

Did anyone else predict ?

Melb 9th in 2020 to jump to 1st and 12 wins?

Sydney 16th in 2020 and to jump to 8 wins?

how did Melbourne make this massive jump ahead.....i mean top 4 is incredible let alone top2

9th to 1st is absolutely amazing with the same crew !!!!!

unbelievable actually

interesting 3 weeks ahead

What can we learn from the Demons ??? recruitment and or coaching ?

Just wondering if you remember 1995 to 1996 how Sydney improved their ladder position in 1 year

[Auntie.Gerald]

im with you Bexl.........lets go to no1 in 2022

nothing will stop us

[NeonBible]

Hi all

What a hectic and stressful weekend to many, my thoughts are with those over the border.

I watched this game this morning despite knowing the result. I admit that knowing I had a 4th quarter Buddy special to look forward to was the only thing that kept me excited by what I knew was a loss!!

A few thoughts:
- George Hewett forced me to swallow my words!! Didn't think too highly of him as a midfielder and didn't even think we would see him as a midfielder! Tremendous job on Travis Boak who is a superstar! Would like to see him do it for 4 quarters before being convinced he is a genuine part of our midfield mix. It did work last night though! For a half heh...
- How about that Callum Mills eh? Incredible game!! He never stops working! Neither does Parks, but we expect that of him, on this occasion i thought Mills was a little bit more tidy. But they have led us magnificently and would currently be fighting for the Bobby!
- I'm a little bit concerned about Papley. When he gets the ball in his hands, great things happen. But he doesn't get it in his hands much!! Does he need a spell in the midfield to inject him into the game??
- Hickey also looked a little off. I thought it was the second match in a row where he wasn't able to assert himself. I hope his knee is alright!!
- I certainly wasn't impressed with his game last night but i dont share the long term concerns about Rowbottom. He has multiple niggles so they are monitoring his training. He will continue to play as long as he is able to get off the pine and provide tackling pressure which they feel no one behind him in the twos can do.
- Anyone else think Heeney could be impacted by his ankle?? Doesn't look anywhere near as confident going for his signature leaps! I hope he is OK. Hes a very important player for us. We seem to play well when Heeney plays well. He is more of a barometer for us than Buddy in this sense!
- Were we less Buddy-centric last night?? Or was that just me? There were times he had a clear lead but we deliberately held the line and waited for another option. Finding that balance is a tough one!!

Murmurings that Don Pyke is on Collingwood's radar! I've heard from well connected people that Robert Harvey is not in their long term plans so they will be searching high and low for a replacement at the end of this year! To them i say.. get your grubby black and white mitts off our difference-maker!!

[Bexl]

With 3 talls in the West Coast forward line I think Brand stays in the team.

[Captain]

Wouldn’t mind Sinclair also coming in for Amartey.

[Agent 86]

.…What can we learn from the Demons ??? recruitment and or coaching ?

As someone wiser than me pointed out above many scoffed at the cost of recruiting May & Lever - but they’re not laughing at the moment.

Whether they have the talent up front to go all the way & kick winning scores in the heat of finals will be interesting to watch.

[SwanSand]

The team has dropped off considerably from the first few games and several players have been in poor form. It;s an opportunity to try a few different things, but not a reason to write off players completely. Players usually, but not always, find a way back to their best form during their early development years.

A few comments in response to the last 3 pages above:

Heeney has had 2 poor games, one when the whole team was off and another in the rain. Before that, he had some impressive games. I don't think he should move to defence, even though I'm sure he would do well. I would like to see him given more midfield time, but it would have been hard to do yesterday with Hewett moving into the midfield for the game. Also, we have plenty of options for small defenders, and don't need Heeney to add to that list.

McCartin has been down for quite a few games, and Rampe has also dropped off from his usual high standards. It's hard to know what to do about, except spin the wheel and consider other options.

Bell does some good things on occasion, but has yet to reach a level warranted to hold down a senior spot. I would still have him over the delist cutoff line. There are others I would cut before him. It's probably less than a 50-50 chance that he'll make it, but he's not a write off yet. If we elitist someone like Bell, he's only going to replace by a rookie who has even less chance of succeeding at AFL level.

I don't know what's happened to Florent lately, because he started the season in career best form.

I think the criticism of Rowbottom is excessive. It's fallen into the category of brainwashing now. Here's how it works:

1. When it starts there's a general consensus that Rowbottom is one of our best young players.
2. Someone vehemently and relentlessly challenges this viewpoint, discounting everything positive about him.
3. We all begin to reassess our original positive viewpoint on Rowbottom.
4. We look more closely at the weak points highlighted by his detractors.
5. A few more come on board the anti RB train, reinforcing this view and bringing more to question their original positions.
6. There's a critical focus on every move RB makes, and mistakes are found because of this scrutiny. It's similar to the position fans have that the umpiring is always biased against their team. The fans are looking for bias, so they find it.
7. The pendulum swings toward the position of the detractors.
8. The visual 'confirmation' of the negatives by scrutinizing every error made reinforces the linguistic or logic-based rationale of the detractors. This reinforcement is very hard to break. This is how brainwashing work. We see the extreme of the visual reinforcement in the film Clockwork Orange, but examples of how this works are everywhere to be seen these days.

I thought Rowbottom was in the top half of our player performances. He finished 6th in ranking points and 1st in tackles. He made a precision touch pass between 2 opposition players in the 4th qtr which was part of some of out best ball movement in the 2nd half. Bell was also involved in the play. It wasn't a BOG performance, nor was it one that fell on the wrong side of the ledger. But once the negative opinions become entrenched, they need constant reinforcement, like a booster shot, else we might fall off the bandwagon.

Chaddddd's halo grows larger with every mention of his name. Absence makes the heart grow ever fonder. His statue should be erected at the SCG by the time the covid lockdown is lifted and games are resumed in Sydney.

Completely agree with this.
I thought that there is still scope for improvement in Rowbottom as is with every other player (including Chaddddd !) but he gave very good second and third efforts at times.
I am more worried about Florent. He seems to not have the presence that we want from him given his level of experience. Not sure if it is the role he is playing or the lack of natural ability.

[stevoswan]

Hi all

What a hectic and stressful weekend to many, my thoughts are with those over the border.

I watched this game this morning despite knowing the result. I admit that knowing I had a 4th quarter Buddy special to look forward to was the only thing that kept me excited by what I knew was a loss!!

A few thoughts:
- George Hewett forced me to swallow my words!! Didn't think too highly of him as a midfielder and didn't even think we would see him as a midfielder! Tremendous job on Travis Boak who is a superstar! Would like to see him do it for 4 quarters before being convinced he is a genuine part of our midfield mix. It did work last night though! For a half heh...
- How about that Callum Mills eh? Incredible game!! He never stops working! Neither does Parks, but we expect that of him, on this occasion i thought Mills was a little bit more tidy. But they have led us magnificently and would currently be fighting for the Bobby!
- I'm a little bit concerned about Papley. When he gets the ball in his hands, great things happen. But he doesn't get it in his hands much!! Does he need a spell in the midfield to inject him into the game??
- Hickey also looked a little off. I thought it was the second match in a row where he wasn't able to assert himself. I hope his knee is alright!!
- I certainly wasn't impressed with his game last night but i dont share the long term concerns about Rowbottom. He has multiple niggles so they are monitoring his training. He will continue to play as long as he is able to get off the pine and provide tackling pressure which they feel no one behind him in the twos can do.
- Anyone else think Heeney could be impacted by his ankle?? Doesn't look anywhere near as confident going for his signature leaps! I hope he is OK. Hes a very important player for us. We seem to play well when Heeney plays well. He is more of a barometer for us than Buddy in this sense!
- Were we less Buddy-centric last night?? Or was that just me? There were times he had a clear lead but we deliberately held the line and waited for another option. Finding that balance is a tough one!!

Murmurings that Don Pyke is on Collingwood's radar! I've heard from well connected people that Robert Harvey is not in their long term plans so they will be searching high and low for a replacement at the end of this year! To them i say.. get your grubby black and white mitts off our difference-maker!!

Great post!

[KTigers]

Bell ran 14.6 kms to be the highest in the game, but only had 8 possessions. So he ran around a lot and did not much.

Maybe he has overtaken Blakey as the "new Gary Rohan". I usually like Rowbottom, but man he fumbles a lot. So many times
he gets to the ball and so few times can he get rid of it effectively. Spare a thought for the AFL scheduling department. Must be
a nightmare of a job at the moment. We pick on the AFL a lot and that's fair enough, but there are some folks there who are really
putting in right now. And also clubs like us and GWS having to round everybody up and get them out of Sydney with three
hours notice. I live twenty minutes from the airport and I'd need about three days notice just to get myself there.

[giant]

Did anyone else predict ?

Melb 9th in 2020 to jump to 1st and 12 wins?

Sydney 16th in 2020 and to jump to 8 wins?

how did Melbourne make this massive jump ahead.....i mean top 4 is incredible let alone top2

9th to 1st is absolutely amazing with the same crew !!!!!

unbelievable actually

interesting 3 weeks ahead

What can we learn from the Demons ??? recruitment and or coaching ?

I think many people would say the 9th in 2020 was the aberration, not the 1st (to date) in 2021 - they thoroughly underachieved last year. Looking at their squad at the beginning of the year, I thought it on paper the best in the competition - it was a question of whether they could get all those other intangible elements of their game together, which to date they've done very nicely.

[caj23]

Disappointing to drop that game, but at least it wasn't through lack of endeavour against an inferior team (see Hawks and Gold Coast games)

Agree with Neonbible that Hickey has looked off the last 2 games. If its his knee that's a worry given we've just had the bye

Thought Rowbottom was OK, not sure why there is so much angst over him.

Rampe and McCartin are both struggling at present, McCartin has been average to poor for most of the season, while Dane seems to have dropped off over the last few weeks.

I think we'll beat the Eagles, hopefully we get Reid, Warner and Campbell back sooner rather than later, although I don't consider the latter an automatic selection.

[snajik]

Losing by 10 points to a team on its home ground that missed last year's GF by a kick is far from a disgrace. Port were very good and we just got pipped at the end. Thought it was a real solid effort by the boys. A game they went very close to winning.
I reckon the impact of the weather has been downplayed. Port seemed to adjust much better to the drizzly weather. A few of our guys were fumbly, but both sides brought enormous energy and pressure.
Only 2 of our 14 games have been dud efforts. I'm pretty happy with how we are tracking.