Changes for Round 18 v GWS @ Metricon Stadium Gold Coast, Sun 18 July 6.10pm

[AB Swannie]

I understand where you’re coming from .. I just don’t see the value in dropping him this week after that performance albeit there are more effective and obviously more talented players such as Chad on the sidelines ..does bringing in players in unnecessarily affect the team balance we had and can Chad use another week …if we lose yes he probably would be the one everyone points the finger at ..although you don’t know that with consistency of ganes he’s not going to be all the better for it and do we need to make changes as Neón Bible quotes
It’s not like I don’t understand your stats it’s just that I think after that win it’s unnecessary to change and to the eye he didn’t let me down in what I saw

I think we are reading the same book if not exactly on the same page.

I'm not unhappy to remain unchanged but I'd prefer to keep improving rather than waiting for a loss to change the side. If next week was the Grand Final, would you have the same philosophy of remaining unchanged?

[NeonBible]

Bell for RB is a no brainer. Ballarat isn't a great place to play footy - wind, freezing and good chance of rain. We need to tackling machine in to help at the coal face.
If you didn't watch the Suns Giants game on Sunday - the highest possession winners were inside players. Just a comparison of the that game and ours...
- Swans Dogs had 1 of the top 10 possession winners go at under 70% efficiency
- Giants Suns had 1 of the top 10 possession winners go at over 70% efficiency

This will be a game for the bulls. Would also consider CoR down back for his strength.

Hi The Runner,

You make some great points! I had not taken into account that every game and every ground will throw up a different set of conditions and a different tempo the game will be played at. I am fully with you that we will need our best midfield of bulls on song to beat GWS! They are a fierce unit in their midfield! It's an intimidating lineup - Hopper, Kelly, Green, Ward and Taranto. All strong and ferocious at the contest!

A player like Rowbottom does make sense in the line-up.. but it has to be said... which Rowbottom would we get? If it's the one that can't get on the field for more than 70% of the game and looks timid and nervous at the contest then is it really a win for us?? And even if it was the Rowbottom that was rated so highly, how do we fit him in?? We wouldn't want to mess with our midfield of Joey, Parker, Mills, Hewett and Florent that's worked so well in recent weeks!!

Interesting times ahead. I don't envy the selection committee one bit!!

[barracuda]

No mumford

[SwanSand]

Hi all,

Pretty rare that we get the luxury of being able to go in unchanged after a great win! We've got the chance to be able to do it... TWICE! I say we keep the faith and see how far this team can roll on!

A telling factor in our team win last week was the performance of many of the star Bulldogs players. Caleb Daniel is their best distributor but he had 10 turnovers against us. The Bont is their prolific goalkicking midfielder and he didn't hit the scoreboard. Macrae was kept under 30 for the first time this year, and Libba was kept to under 20!! Bailey Smith was named their BOG, and that is a victory for us! Good young player but he's not damaging with the ball (except when he is kicking goals in the first 10 seconds heh...)

The beauty of all of the above is that none were heavily tagged! I appreciate Hewett's input into the midfield, but he was swapping between Libba and Macrae rather than just one hard tag.. it was more of a great team effort of 22 players working TOGETHER to limit the impact of a handful of frankly wonderful players! Very hard to see JL - who values TEAM efforts above all - making unnecessary changes to that formula!!

CHEER CHEER

I think it was master coaching by Longmire. They made the doggies do what they are not good at and not comfortable doing. Spread wide, made them defend one on one, prevented their dinky handballs, and made them kick to one on one contests. It was just amazing to watch, how well organised we were and how well we ran without the ball.

But we were beaten in clearances and contested ball. If we do that against Giants they will probably beat us. We do need some good clearance work. Not sure what the answer is. RB us tackling well but does he provide the speed and tactics in that space. I am keen for Errol to be there but I know that may be a bit too much to ask from an 18 yr old.

[Aaron]

Here's an interesting videos from AFL Exchange titled: Is Sydney a Sleeper in the premiership race?

You won't want to miss these 4 minutes and 19 seconds of incisive analysis about the Swans, as we usually don't get much coverage from this Vic centrist crew.

Is Sydney a sleeper in the premiership race?

The AFL site has now made a change by stealth. The original video you noticed has now labelled as "How should Richmond attack the off-season? " The genuine "Is Sydney a sleeper in the premiership race " can be now seen at
"New Video Address"

[MattW]

Looks like we'll experience Ballarat at its Ballaratest.

Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk

[The Runner]

Hi The Runner,

You make some great points! I had not taken into account that every game and every ground will throw up a different set of conditions and a different tempo the game will be played at. I am fully with you that we will need our best midfield of bulls on song to beat GWS! They are a fierce unit in their midfield! It's an intimidating lineup - Hopper, Kelly, Green, Ward and Taranto. All strong and ferocious at the contest!

A player like Rowbottom does make sense in the line-up.. but it has to be said... which Rowbottom would we get? If it's the one that can't get on the field for more than 70% of the game and looks timid and nervous at the contest then is it really a win for us?? And even if it was the Rowbottom that was rated so highly, how do we fit him in?? We wouldn't want to mess with our midfield of Joey, Parker, Mills, Hewett and Florent that's worked so well in recent weeks!!

Interesting times ahead. I don't envy the selection committee one bit!!

I'd be swapping Bell for Rowbottom, and adding an extra body around the contest. There won't be as much footy on the outside - there were a lot less marks and more contested possessions in Ballarat last week than Marvel.
It's basically a park footy oval - a huge change from the pristine ovals covered by grandstands that we're used to.

And I'd be looking to swap Blakey or Lloyd for CoR this week. Going to be hard to carry two lighter defenders who don't really defend in to the game.

[joeykanga]

I think we are reading the same book if not exactly on the same page.

I'm not unhappy to remain unchanged but I'd prefer to keep improving rather than waiting for a loss to change the side. If next week was the Grand Final, would you have the same philosophy of remaining unchanged?

That’s a good question …for now Chad is a week away it seems …
There’s a lot of matches to go before a grand final including all the finals we’ll have to win

I presume by that point whether through form , team balance and team balance is actually
the one I value the most , natural attrition , suspensions we’ll have the answers as to who should be in from what we have available
well more importantly Jl will have all of the bodywork for the season

At the moment we’re tinkering and Chad and others when they’re back from injury will get those ganes

There’s no point trying to fit the wrong mix of players in even if they are the best available unless it improves the sun and doesn’t take away from the potency of each

For example trying to fit all out midfielders in and playing Hewett down back didn’t necessarily make a better team… Hewett is doing such a great job where he fits naturally

At the end of the day it’s the best team rather than the best individuals ..of course id want Chad in and probably ahead of Bell but it’s a hypothetical based on what’s the best team im their correct positions

[ugg]

The game will now be played in qld

AFL news 2021, Sydney and GWS to relocate, Victoria, Queensland, hubs, Covid-19

[MattW]

The game will now be played in qld

AFL news 2021, Sydney and GWS to relocate, Victoria, Queensland, hubs, Covid-19

Wowsers - a bit of a shift from hail and 8 degrees. Totally makes sense, though.

[Hotpotato]

Swans will be much happier up there , They can thaw out and play better .

[Meg]

Gawd, with two hours notice they threw clothes in a bag for Melbourne winter and they are now headed to Queensland?

You can do it Swannies!

[707]

Bugger freezing Ballarat, we're off to sunny and warm Queensland, smart move, sunny and 21 degrees Saturday at Metricon improves our winning chances

[bloodspirit]

The game will now be played in qld

AFL news 2021, Sydney and GWS to relocate, Victoria, Queensland, hubs, Covid-19

Jeepers! The season is taking agility to gymnastic levels. I guess this is taking the game to where there can be crowds. But how big are they going to be? Seems like a risk that clubs will get locked in different States.

[KTigers]

Jeepers! The season is taking agility to gymnastic levels. I guess this is taking the game to where there can be crowds. But how big are they going to be? Seems like a risk that clubs will get locked in different States.

mmm.... hopefully everyone can hold their nerve and realise a few footballers travelling around is not going to make any difference to the
Covid situation. The season must go on. Especially now that I've decided that only us, Melbourne, Footscray or Geelong can win it.
Imagine working in the AFL game scheduling department. It must be a nightmare. Whatever those people are getting paid, it's not enough.