Round 7 v GWS

[crackedactor 01]

Truly, the SCG is our Palace of Tears - I reckon there was about 50cms between us and 8 points. Sigh.

I'm from the glass half full school on this - any other week we win that game by 5 goals. They kicked 17.2!! (3 of their points were rushed) and I reckon half those goals were from the remarkable end of the spectrum.

Not delighted at our goal kicking (though it really only looked poor relative to their frankly unbelievable kicking) or letting 3 D50 stoppage goals get kicked against us in the final minutes but much more delighted at the intensity and effort generally, leadership from Parker, Lloyd and Franklin and returns to form from youngsters Warner, McDonald and Guilden.

Get a bit more of a sporting chance from the footy gods and we can still turn this season around.

Interesting comment from This morning's footy show. In the last quarter we had 20 inside 50 to GWS 10. They scored 7 out of 10 entries. 13 of the Swans inside 50 entries were aimed at a 36 year old at the end of his career in Buddy Franklin.

[giant]

Interesting comment from This morning's footy show. In the last quarter we had 20 inside 50 to GWS 10. They scored 7 out of 10 entries. 13 of the Swans inside 50 entries were aimed at a 36 year old at the end of his career in Buddy Franklin.

Yeh, I hear the thing about going to Buddy too often but in the last qr it seemed a deliberate effort to go to the pocket to the one bloke likely to give a contest and force a D50 stoppage - a pretty valid tactic in a tight finish. Unfortunately, it became all too predictable, the Giants swarmed around him and we were unable to keep it in there. And then when we did have time and space, we blasted it to their spare! We'll live and learn, but I don't think the over-reliance on Bud was what caused the result here.

[Ruck'n'Roll]

13 of the Swans inside 50 entries were aimed at a 36 year old at the end of his career in Buddy Franklin.

Only 13? That's an improvement isn't it?

[Ludwig]

Here are some of my thoughts on why we have lost ground from last year:

We had success in the 2nd half of last year with a nearly full list which was very stable until the GF. This year we have lost key players throughout the early part of the season.

We lost our 3 key defenders in one match and have looked disorganised since. We were better with Tom McCartin back, but getting our defence working right again will be more of a process than a fix. It takes time to coordinate the players to work together. We should see some improvement with Fox coming back next week. The rejig of our defence has taken away a couple of our most potent weapons on counterattack, Floorent and Blakey, who have been reassigned to more defensive roles.

The loss of Sam Reid cannot be understated. He was so critical to our forward line last year. Amartey was looking to have come of age, but then went down to a long-term injury. Buddy has looked well past it. He still works hard,and some of his greatness shines through from time to time, but he makes our forward entry predictable. It must be hard playing forward with Buddy in the side. Why put in an effort to get open when you know the ball is going to Buddy anyway? It was nice of Longmire to say Buddy was fantastic yesterday. He doesn't deserve to be shot down. But as I have said before, our team will not develop so long as Buddy is in the side. We are just delaying the time until our team becomes a perennial top contender. I will return to my pre-season opinion that Buddy should be our sub.

We have lost some of our outside ball movement effectiveness due to the decline of JMac and Stephens. For the Swans to continue on from their 2022 success, these 2 would need to continue their growth as footballers. JMac has been off his best for over a year now, so something is not right with him. And Stephens looks more like the player from mid-season 2022 than the end of season version, when he was making some important contributions to the side.

We need to bring in some younger players to fill the gaps left by injury and form drop-offs. We have to expect that they won't play as well as the players they've replaced, at least not at first, but this is part of the process. Unfortunately, Roberts got injured just when he seemed to be making progress. I think Sheldrick can become a good AFL player, but should be nursed into a midfield role rather than thrown into one. He needs to find his feet at this level before we can expect too much. I think HHK and Corey Warner can be given some more opportunities in the AFL this year. The rest will probably need a year in the VFL before cracking into the team.

I like Ryan Clarke, but he is so slow. He is so easy to run past. I think opposition teams know this now, which makes him ineffective as a shout down player.

Aaron Francis is another slow one. Maybe he can recover his skill set, but he is always going to be slow. He was worth a shot. He came cheap. but he doesn't look like a fit for the Swans. I would rather try Gould, who at least has some pace. He will need time, but at least we have a chance to find a player there.

We don't have many magnets to move around right now, specially before some our long term injured players return, but we might as well try the ones we have.

There are many ways to fill the holes in the team over the post season, but it's too early to be specific now. Let's see how the team finishes the year to better assess the situation.

We are losing games the way inexperienced teams lose games. We shouldn't expect too much this year. What I want to see is effort, development and improvement. Winning is not important. Nor is whining.

[barry]

No doubt we have a depth problem. The bottom 3 or 4 players for GWS were handy, whereas ours went missing.

[KTigers]

Very interesting comment from Jesse Hogan where he said had played in a lot of derby games and "the feeling" in the Sydney
derby games was five or ten times "the feeling" in the Western derby games and Queens Birthday games. He said there was
almost a level of hatred that has brewed up between the teams over a period of time. Food for thought for all those who believe
that the rivalry between the Sydney teams is manufactured.

[KTigers]

I'm don't think the season is lost at all. We're basically the same team that made the GF last year. A couple of points
against Port and some extraordinary goal kicking (someone said it was 17.2 and three rushed behinds) by the Giants
is what separates us from being 5-and-2.

[stevoswan]

Only 31k. Poor.
Giants fans won't travel, swans fans won't turn up if it might rain.. Time to leave the SCG for derby games. It's a soulless Soviet era concrete rabbit warren with terrible access and hyper expensive food. ($2 for sauce?).

All derbies need to be out at Homebush. ANZ (Accor) if both teams are flying. Spotless if they are not. Bring the game to the masses.

Oh yeah.....the masses at Spotless!

[jono2707]

Only 31k. Poor.
Giants fans won't travel

What Giants fans? The AFL's experiment has failed - ship them off to Canberra (or Tassy) and be done with the cash bleed.

[troyjones2525]

Very interesting comment from Jesse Hogan where he said had played in a lot of derby games and "the feeling" in the Sydney
derby games was five or ten times "the feeling" in the Western derby games and Queens Birthday games. He said there was
almost a level of hatred that has brewed up between the teams over a period of time. Food for thought for all those who believe
that the rivalry between the Sydney teams is manufactured.

That's interesting to hear and the niggle was noticeable yesterday which isn't our thing normally so there may be something in that!

Sent from my SM-F936B using Tapatalk

[KTigers]

Given the horrible morning rain, torrential where we are, that’s a pretty good crowd.


Gesendet von iPhone mit Tapatalk

Agree. Sure it wasn't the 37K that came out in perfect sunshine for the Port game, but 31K was a solid turnout.
Every team has fair weather fans and our ratio of them isn't any different from the other clubs. Anyone who goes
to Giants games at their stadium will know their fans are not exactly the most well heeled demographic and paying
single game ticket prices for a game at the SCG let alone the food and beverage prices there might be a stretch.
I'm not sure it's cool to be critical of them for that.

[Mel_C]

Can't complain about 31,000 when Richmond posted that they expect a crowd of 25,000 today against Gold Coast. They have 100,000 members but because the game is at Marvel they won't go. Absolutely ridiculous when the ground is not far from the MCG.

[707]

How precious are Richmond and their fans, can't travel all the way to Docklands, might have to use unfamiliar change rooms pfffft

Was the GWS fan turnout yesterday really small? That's a worry for the AFL if it was.

[KTigers]

Can't complain about 31,000 when Richmond posted that they expect a crowd of 25,000 today against Gold Coast. They have 100,000 members but because the game is at Marvel they won't go. Absolutely ridiculous when the ground is not far from the MCG.

Hey Mel, a question. When Richmond play a "home game" at Marvel do their fans have to buy a separate ticket? ie it's not included as
part of season ticket package. I remember when we used to play the three home games at Homebush we had the same reserved seats
there for every game and it was just part of our season ticket packages.
When we play GWS at their stadium only about 10,000 Swans fans turn up as opposed to 30,000 plus that go to the SCG games.
I don't think that drop off is just about having to travel, I think it's also about having to buy single game tickets. And that puts
people off.

[barry]

Big picture here, but AFL in Sydney needs a marque game like ANZAC Day in Melbourne. This seems the perfect opportunity. The players are into it. Just got to get the administrators into it.