Swans vs GWS - elimination final

[Bangalore Swans]

All the Giants planning this week will be focused on how to stop The Chad. They will probably forget that Buddy Franklin is even in the game. When Chad comes on the ground the Giants will turn to pillars of salt, then crumble to the ground.

Cameron will say in his post match presser: "If only Mills and Kennedy had played we could have beaten them, but Chad cut through our tsunami like a blue marlin."

Visions of Chad bursting toward goal have be been circulating in my brain all day. He'll kick 7 goals. 2 on the right, 2 on the left and 3 headers. Spectacular!

The Chad: Makes 'game changer' sound so inadequate.

Chad reminds me of the Millennium Falcon.

Millennium Falcon Chase Scene - Star Wars: The Last Jedi - YouTube

[Aprilbr]

I won't quite buy into the Chadmania currently on this site. He is a promising young player but is he the next Danger or Dusty? Its far from certain. Having missed many games it would be asking a lot for him to come into his first ever Final and dominate. A good contribution from him is what I'm expecting.

[stevoswan]

I won't quite buy into the Chadmania currently on this site. He is a promising young player but is he the next Danger or Dusty? Its far from certain. Having missed many games it would be asking a lot for him to come into his first ever Final and dominate. A good contribution from him is what I'm expecting.

We all love the Chad but only two are manic about him.....and it's not fair on the kid. While he probably can handle this weight of 'expectation', if we were all like that the pressure on him would be huge.

Let's all let him develop at his own pace.....which will probably be quite quick anyway. We've seen a lot of kids over the years who are prematurely put on a pedestal slide away into oblivion and soon forgotten.

[Captain]

Because they were giving Campbell a chance to prove himself and he blew it.

Using that logic, I don’t see how Bell deserves a game after his last start 4 possessions?

[wolftone57]

Am I alone in thinking us having no designated in and under midfielders is not a bad thing ? is it possible that we have focused too much on winning the contested ball? Could we actually win by not worrying about what happens at the centre square but rather for pressure and ability to create possessions from turnover? Maybe our selectors actually have a rough idea on what we need do to win the game? A lot of emphasis nowadays is on centre clearances but we have proof throughout this year that you do not need to win the centre clearances to win the game.
Let’s back our boys in on Saturday I think that we have a better than even chance of winning this and from there defining history.

I think we need to concentrate more on getting the ball out rather than getting the ball. Kennedy, Parker, Pebbles, Jude etc won lots of hard ball tie and again, and again, and again. What I mean by this is there were multiple ball ups. We thrived on them to run the opponents into the ground. To tire them out. contested ball was our thing. But getting it out was, and still has not been our thing. Our delivery when we did get the ball out was a swift big bomb forward. We attacked out oif defence. We attacked their defence so they could not get out. But we were never good at getting the ball out and delivering with precision.

This is what has changed. When we get clearances now we get players free at the back or through the contest and run, carry and deliver. We have true pace and skill in our smaller guys and even some of our taller guys, Dawson, Macca are both taller with huge skill. We are now capable of winning the ball out by skill not by brutal contest. Rowie gets the ball free somehow more often than not. Warner just extracts. Hewee taps and handballs out so quickly it is no loner a contested possession it is an extraction.

By the way I think Hewee is an incredibly clever footballer. He has a shimmer to die for. He shakes his hips when tackled and the tackle normally drops off. His sidestep is so good and his awareness is just sensational. That move last week where he just turned Miller inside out was sensational.

[TheBloods]

We all love the Chad but only two are manic about him.....and it's not fair on the kid. While he probably can handle this weight of 'expectation', if we were all like that the pressure on him would be huge.

Let's all let him develop at his own pace.....which will probably be quite quick anyway. We've seen a lot of kids over the years who are prematurely put on a pedestal slide away into oblivion and soon forgotten.

i am not manic about him FFS i said hes a special talent which he is everyone else agrees and ive said he needed to be in which he is and everyone agreed with that too . how many times have i said he wont get anywhere if he doesnt stay focused and keep working hard at his game . How is that manic !

[mcs]

I think we need to concentrate more on getting the ball out rather than getting the ball. Kennedy, Parker, Pebbles, Jude etc won lots of hard ball tie and again, and again, and again. What I mean by this is there were multiple ball ups. We thrived on them to run the opponents into the ground. To tire them out. contested ball was our thing. But getting it out was, and still has not been our thing. Our delivery when we did get the ball out was a swift big bomb forward. We attacked out oif defence. We attacked their defence so they could not get out. But we were never good at getting the ball out and delivering with precision.

This is what has changed. When we get clearances now we get players free at the back or through the contest and run, carry and deliver. We have true pace and skill in our smaller guys and even some of our taller guys, Dawson, Macca are both taller with huge skill. We are now capable of winning the ball out by skill not by brutal contest. Rowie gets the ball free somehow more often than not. Warner just extracts. Hewee taps and handballs out so quickly it is no loner a contested possession it is an extraction.

By the way I think Hewee is an incredibly clever footballer. He has a shimmer to die for. He shakes his hips when tackled and the tackle normally drops off. His sidestep is so good and his awareness is just sensational. That move last week where he just turned Miller inside out was sensational.

You make some good points as always - in particular you highlight the very different beast our current style of footy is against what we are 'renowned' for (by those lazy journalists that pump out the same old same old year after year). Its part and parcel of a move away from an intense game plan based around hard ball gets and running teams into the ground (grinding the will to play almost out of them), towards a team that still runs teams into the ground but in a very different way - through pace and skills.

The interesting test tomorrow will be how well we can hold the line of relying on pace/skills tomorrow - finals can be a very different beast, and I'm hopeful the playing group will continue to back themselves and the gameplan, and not retreat into their shells if things don't go quite as planned. Will be fascinating to watch and see how we go.

[Markwebbos]

I think we need to concentrate more on getting the ball out rather than getting the ball. Kennedy, Parker, Pebbles, Jude etc won lots of hard ball tie and again, and again, and again. What I mean by this is there were multiple ball ups. We thrived on them to run the opponents into the ground. To tire them out. contested ball was our thing. But getting it out was, and still has not been our thing. Our delivery when we did get the ball out was a swift big bomb forward. We attacked out oif defence. We attacked their defence so they could not get out. But we were never good at getting the ball out and delivering with precision.

This is what has changed. When we get clearances now we get players free at the back or through the contest and run, carry and deliver. We have true pace and skill in our smaller guys and even some of our taller guys, Dawson, Macca are both taller with huge skill. We are now capable of winning the ball out by skill not by brutal contest. Rowie gets the ball free somehow more often than not. Warner just extracts. Hewee taps and handballs out so quickly it is no loner a contested possession it is an extraction.

By the way I think Hewee is an incredibly clever footballer. He has a shimmer to die for. He shakes his hips when tackled and the tackle normally drops off. His sidestep is so good and his awareness is just sensational. That move last week where he just turned Miller inside out was sensational.

I would say that is an astute observation. We've gone from being a stoppage team to a turnover team. We are coming up against a stoppage team tomorrow. Lets see who prevails?

Justin Leppitsch (with his Richmond hat on no doubt) says: “Turnover always wins. I’m going to pick the turnover game every time.”
Justin Leppitsch's predictions for week one of the AFL finals

Mick McGuane says our challenge is: "Winning the contested possession count. Longmire’s men boast a 9-1 record when they win this area, but slip to 6-6 when they don’t ... There’s no greater evidence than the last clash with the Giants. The Swans were 35 points down in the second term that night, on the back of being minus-24 in contested possessions in the first half. They won contested ball by 22 in the final two quarters and ended up storming past GWS by 26 points. That’s not a coincidence. Luke Parker is the AFL’s sixth-best contested ball-winner in the past six rounds, so he will be vital again."...
McGuane says GW$ will want to try to "make it a stop-start game with as many stoppages – upwards of 80 – as possible to avoid giving Sydney rhythm" (How things have changed. It was the reverse a few years ago when they were the outside team!)
No Cookies | Herald Sun

McGuane predicts a 14 point win to the Swans.

TBH it's making me nervous that we are the favourites. Memories of even numbered years GFs etc. I think we are much better as underdogs.

[Matty10]

Using that logic, I don’t see how Bell deserves a game after his last start 4 possessions?

I think it might be more a matter of horses for courses than anything else.

[Markwebbos]

All the Giants planning this week will be focused on how to stop The Chad. They will probably forget that Buddy Franklin is even in the game. When Chad comes on the ground the Giants will turn to pillars of salt, then crumble to the ground.

Cameron will say in his post match presser: "If only Mills and Kennedy had played we could have beaten them, but Chad cut through our tsunami like a blue marlin."

Visions of Chad bursting toward goal have be been circulating in my brain all day. He'll kick 7 goals. 2 on the right, 2 on the left and 3 headers. Spectacular!

The Chad: Makes 'game changer' sound so inadequate.

I'm going early. #NormSmithChad

[i'm-uninformed2]

I think we need to concentrate more on getting the ball out rather than getting the ball. Kennedy, Parker, Pebbles, Jude etc won lots of hard ball tie and again, and again, and again. What I mean by this is there were multiple ball ups. We thrived on them to run the opponents into the ground. To tire them out. contested ball was our thing. But getting it out was, and still has not been our thing. Our delivery when we did get the ball out was a swift big bomb forward. We attacked out oif defence. We attacked their defence so they could not get out. But we were never good at getting the ball out and delivering with precision.

This is what has changed. When we get clearances now we get players free at the back or through the contest and run, carry and deliver. We have true pace and skill in our smaller guys and even some of our taller guys, Dawson, Macca are both taller with huge skill. We are now capable of winning the ball out by skill not by brutal contest. Rowie gets the ball free somehow more often than not. Warner just extracts. Hewee taps and handballs out so quickly it is no loner a contested possession it is an extraction.

By the way I think Hewee is an incredibly clever footballer. He has a shimmer to die for. He shakes his hips when tackled and the tackle normally drops off. His sidestep is so good and his awareness is just sensational. That move last week where he just turned Miller inside out was sensational.

This is an excellent post. The only thing I’d add to it is how we use our speed to defend. The teams 2003-16 used to defend either in the contest, or by using our smarts to overwhelm a side heading into their forward line and then rebounding.

We now use our speed to close space, all over the ground. Whether that’s what we did to the Bulldogs, by shutting down their release players, or Richmond, by swarming back to cut them off on the wings (rather than in our defensive 50 as we traditionally would to a side shuttling forward).

Surging in at pace on an opponent, no matter where they are on the ground, both cuts their options, but creates an opportunity to get the ball moving forward before they set defensively. It frees space our kicking, and offensive run can exploit.

[Markwebbos]

Another interesting stat for 2moz: "Heeney ... has kicked at least three goals in seven games, Sydney winning all of them. But it’s not just the goals; in four of those performances, Heeney has also gathered more than 20 possessions to provide dual impact ... if he produces another three-goal, 20-possession-plus game this time you can have short odds on a Sydney win."

Matchwinners: The men to bust these AFL finals open | Footyology

[Thunder Shaker]

And in other news, the Swifts are playing the Giants in the netball Grand Final at about the same time as the Elimination Final. Cross-town rivals, now grand final opponents — which NSW team will win Super Netball in 2021? It may be worth while flicking over to the netball during breaks in play.

[The Runner]

Who do I think will have the better career at the club - Campbell. Who would I pick for this weekend's final against a tough midfield who will want to grind the game - Bell.
It's the right call. He'll give more physically than Campbell will tomorrow, and that's where the game will be won. We have enough good users of the footy. But lost 2 of our best 3 contested players. We need the physicality.

I really hope Warner comes back with a bang. We're going to need something special. This is a very very good GWS side (not well coached, but a good side). And they have Toby Greene back since our last meeting. Irrespective of what votes and awards say, he's the first player I'd pick if the entire league was up for drafting tomorrow. Hope Ramps can get the job done on him.

[mcs]

Who do I think will have the better career at the club - Campbell. Who would I pick for this weekend's final against a tough midfield who will want to grind the game - Bell.
It's the right call. He'll give more physically than Campbell will tomorrow, and that's where the game will be won. We have enough good users of the footy. But lost 2 of our best 3 contested players. We need the physicality.

I really hope Warner comes back with a bang. We're going to need something special. This is a very very good GWS side (not well coached, but a good side). And they have Toby Greene back since our last meeting. Irrespective of what votes and awards say, he's the first player I'd pick if the entire league was up for drafting tomorrow. Hope Ramps can get the job done on him.

Its the obvious angle to support the decision made, and I hope the selectors are proven right by their choice.

You do wonder in 20/30 years how GWS period under Cameron will be viewed. He may yet achieve success (I doubt it), but I suspect history will not necessarily look so kindly on it.

Hopefully someone can do a good controlling job on the grub Greene. Hard to disagree with your point though - any club would have him in a hearbeat, for as a footballer ability wise he is right up there.