Rd 3 vs Western Bulldogs @ Marvel - Match Thread

[stevoswan]

Watching the Front Bar was improving my mood, but now they've got Liam Picken on to reminisce about the 2016 GF. FFS!

Wow....glad I stuck with 'Would I Lie To You?'. Feeling better already.

[Bangalore Swans]

Any apologists for the free kick count tonight need to understand the impact that inconsistency has on the way players approach the game .
They start to second guess what interpretation will be applied and subconsciously pull back ever so slightly on contested possessions the tackles become just a touch less vigorous and attempted spoils are less aggressive.

Yes we were outplayed and probably didn’t deserve to win but to suggest the free kick count was irrelevant and had no impact on the game is usually the domain of escapism and justification from opposition supporters.

I’ve been on the Scotches.

Apart from Blakey, The McCartin brothers and Hickey (before going off), there were on winners on the ground.

Chad lacked poise.

Wicks needs a spell.

RB performance was indicative of the strong 2021 feedback.

Heeney and Parker didn’t impact like they usually do.

Florent has lost his round 1 form.

Stephens and Campbell hand dropped.

McLean and Buddy didn’t bring the ball down enough.

Hayward was ok.

[dejavoodoo44]

Wow....glad I stuck with 'Would I Lie To You?'. Feeling better already.

It's okay, he's gone now.

- - - Updated - - -

No, he's back, but they've done with 2016.

"Can you remember anything that Luke Beveridge ever said to you?".

"Come to think of it, I can't actually."

[Bill Posters]

For the umpire apologists out there: yes it's simplistic to say the free kick count isn't an accurate representation of bias: IF you look at a single game. When it happens over multiple games, the stats add up. Here we are in round 3 and the swans have a -21 tally and the dogs have +30. Try extending that timeline. I don't think anyone would argue the dogs are intrinsically fairer players of the game.

And yes they would have won if they'd kicked straighter - but they didn't. We were within a goal in the last quarter.

So - discussing poor umpiring is fair game. Don't join the AFL and the media in pretending this isn't an issue.

[liz]

I reckon Tom McCartin was our best tonight. He made a couple of bad kicking errors in the first quarter, and was subjected to a block or two that allowed Naughton to take a couple of marks. But apart from that he won or halved most of his one-on-one contests with Naughton and took some strong intercept marks.

Blakey was good in the second half, Warner and Gulden better in the second half than the first (but still down on what they can do), and Hayward far from our worst. I also liked the second half ruck work of Amartey. He didn't win a lot of clean ball but his second efforts to try and clear the ball were impressive.

[Southern Swan15]

2 x 6 day breaks for Syd
The come down from buddys 1000
2021 runners up home deck
Dog 0 -2 and desprete to kick-start 2022
Bias umpiring
The only thing that went in pur favour tonight was the fact the dogs were so bad in front of goal....

Take it as a wake up, move on and be happy we are 2-1 and faced nothing but top 6 aides so far in 2022.

I’ve been on the Scotches.

Apart from Blakey, The McCartin brothers and Hickey (before going off), there were on winners on the ground.

Chad lacked poise.

Wicks needs a spell.

RB performance was indicative of the strong 2021 feedback.

Heeney and Parker didn’t impact like they usually do.

Florent has lost his round 1 form.

Stephens and Campbell hand dropped.

McLean and Buddy didn’t bring the ball down enough.

Hayward was ok.

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[stevoswan]

Frees since 2016 Bulldogs v Swans.
2022: 31-14.
2021: 29-16.
2020: 16-13.
2019: 22-22.
2018: 29-16.
2017: 31-17. 13-22.
2016: 17-16. 20-8.

208 to 144 over nine games.....they win the count 7 times, we win once with one drawn count. An average of a tad over 7 frees more per game over 6 and a bit seasons. Frankly, a nightmare run with the maggots.

[Bill Posters]

Also - Amartey stood up after Hickey was injured. Noone has mentioned him but i thought he was awesome.

[Nico]

An individual opinion much like every one else on here.
If anyone genuinely believes a lopsided free kick count has no actual impact on a team I suggest you check out the looks on the Swans players faces after some of the more contentious decisions. 3 or 4 of those a game can be absorbed when it’s 17-3* over a period of play it’s debilitating.
Yes we lost and probably deserved to but I can not dismiss the impact the umpires had on the game tonight.

The 2 obvious frees to us in the 3rd quarter about 30 out from goals may very well have changed the momentum of the game. A lop sided count like that must have an influence on momentum. Strange that the Fox commentators don't mention lop sided free kick count.

[Faunac8]

I do not believe that it has no impact. I just think that as a statistic, it gets far more attention than its influence merits.

Yes I agree it is not a statistic that should be highlighted when there is some semblance of balance and consistency, but when the discrepancy on interpretation is obvious and has the potential to impact on game results maybe can we agree that it can have an effect to some degree

[stevoswan]

Travis Head's hitting doing the job for me.

Wish I had Fox.....

[MattW]

I reckon Tom McCartin was our best tonight. He made a couple of bad kicking errors in the first quarter, and was subjected to a block or two that allowed Naughton to take a couple of marks. But apart from that he won or halved most of his one-on-one contests with Naughton and took some strong intercept marks.

Blakey was good in the second half, Warner and Gulden better in the second half than the first (but still down on what they can do), and Hayward far from our worst. I also liked the second half ruck work of Amartey. He didn't win a lot of clean ball but his second efforts to try and clear the ball were impressive.

Agree with all of that.

The Bulldogs are very good at shepherding/blocks. Generated a lot of contested ball.

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[mcs]

I reckon Tom McCartin was our best tonight. He made a couple of bad kicking errors in the first quarter, and was subjected to a block or two that allowed Naughton to take a couple of marks. But apart from that he won or halved most of his one-on-one contests with Naughton and took some strong intercept marks.

Blakey was good in the second half, Warner and Gulden better in the second half than the first (but still down on what they can do), and Hayward far from our worst. I also liked the second half ruck work of Amartey. He didn't win a lot of clean ball but his second efforts to try and clear the ball were impressive.

From all reports, it sounds like it took us far too long to work out a way 'around' what a few seem to have described as a midfield flood from the Dogs, and then we resorted to bombing it long at will in the last when a little more thought needed to be put into how we use the ball. Some of that is composure and experience that will come in time.

The thing Amartey brings that Maclean doesn't is a better ability with second efforts at this point - I like Maclean but especially when up forward, he really does feel a bit of a one trick pony to some degree. When we deliver to advantage he can look really good, when we don't, he doesn't offer much.

This is no shot at Buddy - but I kind of hope when he does retire, it is the point we finally put 'bomb it and hope' to rest. Its still our 'revert to' approach when things are not going well. Once upon a time I fully understand why it was the way, but we have a team developing that it should become nothing but a last minute must find a goal sort of tactic (i.e. break in emergencies only). I feel it will happen at some point - but still hard to watch whenw e do.

- - - Updated - - -

208 to 144 over nine games.....they win the count 7 times, we win once with one drawn count. An average of a tad over 7 frees more per game over 6 and a bit seasons. Frankly, a nightmare run with the maggots.

Look across their record against a lot of other teams and its repeated too - not just us that has had the short stick (though we were the final sacrificial offering in 2016 at the AFL fairy tale altar.)

[Nico]

I’ve been on the Scotches.

Apart from Blakey, The McCartin brothers and Hickey (before going off), there were on winners on the ground.

Chad lacked poise.

Wicks needs a spell.

RB performance was indicative of the strong 2021 feedback.

Heeney and Parker didn’t impact like they usually do.

Florent has lost his round 1 form.

Stephens and Campbell hand dropped.

McLean and Buddy didn’t bring the ball down enough.

Hayward was ok.

Harsh on Buddy. He did bring the ball to ground but most times his fellow forwards were not to be seen.
Wicks did the same last year at the wrong time of a game and got a 50 and we lose. He was so late to the contest tonight. Intentional and high contact. Gets a week no doubt. We had the momentum at the time. Thinks he is tough.
It's time Campbell was put on the ball. Waste of talent playing a negative role. Let him loose.
Agree on Rowbottom. His role is to be a tagger, but boy his skills when he has got the footy are average at best. He wasn't the only one but he refused to move the footy on quickly.
Chad looked to have the wrong boots on. There were at least 3 times when he had the chance to burst clear and he stumbled, allowing Dogs players to nullify him.

[longmile]

This is no shot at Buddy - but I kind of hope when he does retire, it is the point we finally put 'bomb it and hope' to rest. Its still our 'revert to' approach when things are not going well. Once upon a time I fully understand why it was the way, but we have a team developing that it should become nothing but a last minute must find a goal sort of tactic (i.e. break in emergencies only). I feel it will happen at some point - but still hard to watch whenw e do.

This is got nothing to do with buddy tho? Buddy isn't a good contested mark and this style doesn't suit him. This is something we have done pre buddy. It's just indicative of pressure panicked footy and not being able to lower our eyes. I'm pretty sure our team is aware that we are better going forward when our kicking is too a target rather than bombing. Bombing it forward isn't a symptom of buddy, it's a symptom of desperation