Round 1 v Giants

[barry]

There is no point hating the ground. It is what it is.
As soon as the decision to play a season opener Derby and let both sets of members in, (both good decisions IMHO) the only ground that could take the potential crowd was Accor.

I'd also say that quite a low number of giants fans travel to the SCG as well. Sydney culture is not to travel. You see it in league crowds too. We don't live in Melbourne, and we don't want to.

[mcs]

There is no point hating the ground. It is what it is.
As soon as the decision to play a season opener Derby and let both sets of members in, (both good decisions IMHO) the only ground that could take the potential crowd was Accor.

I'd also say that quite a low number of giants fans travel to the SCG as well. Sydney culture is not to travel. You see it in league crowds too. We don't live in Melbourne, and we don't want to.

Those extra 500m from Spotless Stadium to Accor is such an arduous journey

I don't disagree with your broader point that away crowds aren't necessarily big in Sydney, but no excuse for such a pitiful giants contingent when the game was literally a few decent drop punt kicks from where they normally go to watch footy.

[mcs]

Watching the game on replay after watching it live. Gulden's tackling in the second half is outstanding.

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Exactly.

Also worth noting that I doubt there will be more than two (if any) regular season rugby league games with a larger crowd.

Some of the tackling in the 2nd half from across the team was outstanding.

For a little bloke Gulden's ability to stick the tackles already is fantastic. Can't wait to see what our tackling pressure can be like in a season or two when a few of the younger blokes add some bulk to them.

Finished watching the replay - as enjoyable on repeat as it was at the ground. Good tussle between two teams I think will be pretty decent this season. Liked how we gradually wrestled control in the 3rd term in particular - and really probably should have won by a bit more.

A lot of improvement to come, but a lot to like about the way we won that one. Early test on Friday against the red hot old age pensioner mob from Geelong - though Essendon were appalingly bad, so hard to judge how good they were off that.

[Melbourne_Blood]

There is no point hating the ground. It is what it is.
As soon as the decision to play a season opener Derby and let both sets of members in, (both good decisions IMHO) the only ground that could take the potential crowd was Accor.

I'd also say that quite a low number of giants fans travel to the SCG as well. Sydney culture is not to travel. You see it in league crowds too. We don't live in Melbourne, and we don't want to.

Yeah, footy with big crowds sucks anyway …


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[graemed]

I thought the McCartins getting on top in the second half, was really instrumental in turning the game. We were then able to run them ragged with our rebound. Blakey managed 629 metres gained: which is a lot, and I expect that most of them were in the second half. Rowbottom topped the side for tackles, clearances and contested possessions: so a great inside game. Mills was tireless. Florent, Gulden, Campbell, Stephens, McInerney and Heeney all had some classy touches. And Parker has started his Skilton Medal defence in excellent fashion.

Tadhg's votes on ABC Radio: Parker - 3, Florent - 2, Green - 1.

I watched the defensive aspect of the game very closely and while Himmelburg was able to get free and score in the first half. When Rampe moved from Ricardi to him his ability to impact contests fell noticeably. This left P.McCartin on Brander and T. McCartin on Ricardi. Much better match-ups.

[graemed]

I continue to be amazed by the game play of Eric Gulden.

As has already been mentioned here he is an elite tackler. He can win his own ball in almost any role. He has outstanding disposal skills. He is steady under pressure especially when shooting for goal. He is a strong overhead mark despite his size.

However, these strengths pale beside his game awareness. His vision, his sense of timing and his tenacity are remarkable for one so young. If any one example demonstrates his acumen and poise, the run out of defense with the two bounces and then to by-pass the temptation of passing to Franklin and to choose the correct option in the Heeney/Parker contest and then to deliver so well was exceptional.

[SwanSand]

Few observations
Geez the running and tackling by Heeney and Gulden is unbelievable ! They were everywhere. But besides that they are amazing ball users - makes them really deadly. Only problem that I feel is that Heeney has been asked to do too much !

Angus Sheldrick is going to be a gun! He is not worried about going into a contest - Ala Gulden and he had better forward crumbing positioning than Wicks. He knew where to run and kept his feet despite being tackled pushed. That was high quality debut. Not sure about his kicking yet, but hopefully he is ok.

Florent was great and hopefully he realises and trusts his abilities going forward. He has all the skills to be very good. He seemed to be less rushed than in previous years.

Rowbottom - what great 2nd 3rd efforts by this man and I think the scrap that he provided in the middle made it hard for them to get any rhythm in their game. He has a good kick on him but he does have a problem where he really struggles to kick straight under perceived pressure. But if he gets that under his belt watch out. I think this will be pretty much the first year where they will persist with him in the same role. So hopefully it is upward trajectory with managing perceived pressure.

Kennedy is not a half back flanker and his position is under threat with Lloyd to come back.

I wonder if we could have given Peter ladhams the forward role rather than Logan. Logan played ok but was being manned by a veteran in Keefe and having Peter there may have made Phil Davies more accountable to help out keefe too and that may have opened the game in our forward line.

We played exceptionally well in forward half to prevent intercept marks and that was great for our small brigade.

Our centre clearance work and contested possessions need work or else we will still be the same 5-10 position team.

[Ruck'n'Roll]

Saw that too, very handy to have a Rampe

[rickmat]

Disagree about McDonald as when he was on the ground, he contested hard and doesn't shirk a contest. But give him some time as he has so much talent and just needs a good time on the ground and as we saw in the first 3-4 games last season, McDonald has what we need going forward, a key position forward who will kick loads of goals for the Swans

[Kumarangk]

Watching the game on replay after watching it live. Gulden's tackling in the second half is outstanding.

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Exactly.

Also worth noting that I doubt there will be more than two (if any) regular season rugby league games with a larger crowd.

NRL is all about the TV ratings. Nice if a good crowd turns up for atmosphere but the game transitions so well on TV people tend to stay home or flood the pubs & clubs.

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There is no point hating the ground. It is what it is.
As soon as the decision to play a season opener Derby and let both sets of members in, (both good decisions IMHO) the only ground that could take the potential crowd was Accor.

I'd also say that quite a low number of giants fans travel to the SCG as well. Sydney culture is not to travel. You see it in league crowds too. We don't live in Melbourne, and we don't want to.

Spot on.

[barry]

Those extra 500m from Spotless Stadium to Accor is such an arduous journey

I don't disagree with your broader point that away crowds aren't necessarily big in Sydney, but no excuse for such a pitiful giants contingent when the game was literally a few decent drop punt kicks from where they normally go to watch footy.

25,000 crowd. 65/35 ratio Swans to Giants = 16,250 swans supporters ( 32% of 2021 membership number) and 8,750 Giants supporters ( 28% )

Pretty much both sets of fans stayed away at a similar ratio. Weather, Covid, ground, lack of promotion ?

Or maybe its actually a good crowd figure. Only 16,000 went to last pre-covid Derby at Giants stadium in 2019. You could read into that that swans fans prefer Accor over Giants stadium. heaven forbid!

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Its an interesting dynamic. While at the game, it was apparent that when the giants were ahead in the first half, the swans fans weren't too flustered, and when the swans kicked on later in the game, the giants fans werent to flustered either. Only a few walked out early. (Contrast to a Collingwood Carton game, half the stadium would be empty by final siren) The vast majority of fans (except a few rabid on here) have a soft spot for both sides. This presents a problem for the AFL who want to drive a rivalry. As seen by crowds at both home grounds over the years, the swans v giants game is just seen as another H&A game, nothing special. So, if you were in charge, how do you maximize the derby (monetize it). ?
I think the best way is to make a festival of footy type thing. Embrace the common bond, rather than force a division. First round lock. Play AFLW round as a curtain raiser. etc, promotion. Make it an event.

In summary, if the AFL are disappointed at 25,000 crowd, then the AFL dont know Sydney. Which is embarrassing as AFL has been in Sydney for 30 years now. You'd think someone from Melbourne would bother to at least try and understand the place.

[Ruck'n'Roll]

Disagree about McDonald as when he was on the ground, he contested hard and doesn't shirk a contest. But give him some time as he has so much talent and just needs a good time on the ground and as we saw in the first 3-4 games last season, McDonald has what we need going forward, a key position forward who will kick loads of goals for the Swans

Ditto, I think he's doing well - especially given that he must have to keep an eye on ensuring he avoids getting in Bud's way.

[Bangalore Swans]

Did anyone watch the Adelaide v Fremantle game?

I would be interested to know what impact Dawson had for Adelaide and how we replaced Dawson’s impact in round 1?

[mcs]

25,000 crowd. 65/35 ratio Swans to Giants = 16,250 swans supporters ( 32% of 2021 membership number) and 8,750 Giants supporters ( 28% )

Pretty much both sets of fans stayed away at a similar ratio. Weather, Covid, ground, lack of promotion ?

Or maybe its actually a good crowd figure. Only 16,000 went to last pre-covid Derby at Giants stadium in 2019. You could read into that that swans fans prefer Accor over Giants stadium. heaven forbid!

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There was no way there was 8,750 giants fans there. 875 would be a lot closer to the truth. Even assuming an 80/20 split would be generous in my honest opinion.

And you know full well the comparison to 2019 is completely irrelevant, because Swans members don't get free entry to games at the Showground. As you know well, getting things for free is a strong encouragement for some to attend games.

The AFL were talking up expectations of 50K + for this game. I don't think 25,000 for a regular season game is necessarily a bad outcome at all. But for one where the AFL ensured members of both clubs could get in for free, and they did seem to spend a reasonable amount of effort trying to hype it up (as much as you can in Sydney anyway, where people are indifferent a lot of the time) given the Buddy factor, I don't think it was a particularly good outcome. 35K would of been about par for mine.

Of a side interest, I'd be intrigued to know what % of the crowd were there on actually purchased and paid for tickets. I think it would be <10%.

[Auntie.Gerald]

is it possible 8750 giants tickets were sold/free but not all went and a lot given to friends who are Swans supporters to get in for free?