Round 18 Swans v Dogs Match Thread

[mcs]

The AFL media seem to have realised that Errol is a damn fine player.

Nine Things We Learned


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Wakey wakey, only several years late from the AFL media ha!

If the bloke played for a Melbourne club, we'd never hear the end of it.

[i'm-uninformed2]

Titus O'Reily has gotten in on the joke with Errol

https://www.titusoreily.com/afl/the-monday-knee-jerk-reaction-afl-round-eighteen2023

[dejavoodoo44]

Titus O'Reily has gotten in on the joke with Errol

https://www.titusoreily.com/afl/the-...d-eighteen2023

And top marks to the person in the comments section, who managed to turn ABBA's Berserk Warriors into a homage to Max Gawn.

[dejavoodoo44]

And top marks to the person in the comments section, who managed to turn ABBA's Berserk Warriors into a homage to Max Gawn.

Whoops, that's Mental As Anything's Berserk Warriors. Which was apparently about ABBA.

[i'm-uninformed2]

Hey Liz - as the earliest adopter of Errol from his Academy days - a genuine question as to whether or not you projected him reaching this level, and particularly this quickly?

[Kafka's Ghost]

Hey Liz - as the earliest adopter of Errol from his Academy days - a genuine question as to whether or not you projected him reaching this level, and particularly this quickly?

Was it Liz who posted that Errol would be recognised as the best of that draft for us? If so, kudos to you, Liz. The club could do worse than appoint you to the recruiting panel.


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[BRS328]

I must have missed something. Which Collingwood player got reported for this!!!!

[dejavoodoo44]

Coaches votes for the match. The Bont got 10 votes after all.

10 Marcus Bontempelli (WB)
8 Errol Gulden (SYD)
4 Tim English (WB)
4 Tom Papley (SYD)
3 Tom Liberatore (WB)
1 Aaron Naughton (WB)

[Thunder Shaker]

Apparently we are appealing the Rampe suspension. Feels like a waste of money to me as I reckon we have a snowflakes chance in hell they reverse the decision.

I have a hunch that Sydney may be trying to get it downgraded so it's only a week instead of two.

I find it hard to understand how Rachele from Adelaide gets three charges from the same match including a striking charge and is given the same two-week penalty as Rampe's rough conduct charge.

[liz]

I have a hunch that Sydney may be trying to get it downgraded so it's only a week instead of two.

I find it hard to understand how Rachele from Adelaide gets three charges from the same match including a striking charge and is given the same two-week penalty as Rampe's rough conduct charge.

How can it be downgraded? It's already 'careless' rather than intentional. There is no lower grading for a reportable action. If McNeill has concussion, there was contact to his head (whatever form that head contact took) plus the concussion diagnosis feeds into the AFL's algorithm and spits out high impact (at a minimum). That's how they get to two weeks.

So they've either got to persuade the tribunal that the concussion isn't related to this incident, or - the route they are taking - that it wasn't a reportable action (merely an accident), and thus no penalty should ensue. I don't see any route to it being downgraded to a week.

[Hotpotato]

I have no idea what the McNeil/Rampe incident is all about or how it became a reportable offence.
Was it picked via a passing satellite ?

[i'm-uninformed2]

Having watched Horse’s press conference and the footage, it seems the two competing arguments will be about who was responsible for the contact.

- Our broad argument will be as Duyrea swings onto his left, Rampe closes position in preparation for a marking contest and to spoil, but McNeil veered back at the last minute and the contact was accidental on Rampe’s part and a function of McNeil moving back just as Rampe is in the middle of a normal piece of defensive positioning.
- The AFL broad argument will be that Rampe moved early, with some speed and intent to block or bump McNeil, and was responsible for the contact and what followed.

Some of the footage is a bit vague, but if I had to guess, the AFL will lean heavily on the behind the goal footage to make a case Rampe’s movements were more substantive and aggressive. Not saying it’s right, but that’s where their case seems to lie.

I’m sure it’ll all be more complicated than that, but you get the idea.

[liz]

Hey Liz - as the earliest adopter of Errol from his Academy days - a genuine question as to whether or not you projected him reaching this level, and particularly this quickly?

Short answer is no.

What impressed me in the first game I remember seeing him play - an U18 academy game against GWS as a 16yo bottom ager (few months off his 17th birthday) - was how easily he stepped up to the level. I think it must have been his first U18 game, though he might already have played senior footy in the SFL by that time. Even in that game he was a bit of an Errol Everywhere, showing his endurance was far better than anyone else out there. He was easily BOG.

I also remember him playing a couple of NEAFL games towards the end of that season, and he again stepped up to the level with ease. He didn't dominate. He wasn't BOG. But he looked at home. In what was, I think, his second game, the team was losing quite comfortably at three quarter time to Sydney University in a final. I don't think the Swans had ever lost to Sydney Uni before, and H&A form suggested the Swans should win. At the start of the final quarter he was moved to the centre bounce, and the team started winning the ball from there. I don't think he even got his hands on the ball much, but just his presence around there seemed to make a difference. The Swans had a big final quarter and won the game.

What I didn't see in any of those pre-draft matches was his sublime kicking. Indeed I read a few draft profiles that noted his kicking as a strength and was a little surprised. On the other hand, those same draft profiles typically said his contested ball winning was an area for improvement, which didn't tally with the games of his I'd watched.

He played in the U17 GF curtain raiser in 2019, the same game in which Campbell was awarded BOG honours. It was a one-sided game, with Will Phillips and Elijah Holland both excellent alongside Campbell, and Errol was on the other team. I thought Errol was the best on his team that day (and I think the AFL match report listed him first in the bests lists for his team) but it was more about his work rate and ground level contests. His kicking was a bit messy that game (and we've seen his kicking effectiveness drop somewhat this year when he's played mostly onball).

I also watched him in the SFL Grand Final in 2020, playing for the Bulldogs. He was OK that game, but not a star. IIRC the weather wasn't great that day, and the game was a bit of a scrappy affair, and he looked like a young man at the end of a long season. That was the only SFL game I watched that year (and maybe the only one I've ever watched since the Swans stopped playing their reserves team in that competition) so I don't know how he looked in other games at that level. But he did come 2nd or 3rd in the competition-wide B&F that season. I think the whole AFL U18 competition was a write-off that year, due to COVID, as was the VFL, so he probably spent the entire season playing at that level.

We probably have COVID to thank for him not having a chance to strut his stuff in front of the national talent scouts in his u18 year. I daresay they knew about him from playing u18 as a bottom ager, and from his u16 exploits. And Campbell's star didn't suffer from not playing u18 in his draft year. So maybe they just didn't pay attention to his mini-growth spurt in that year. It's still perplexing that he was bid upon as late as he was.

I'd love to know from Beatson at which pick they were prepared to match a bid. I know it was expected he'd go in the early 20s, and I daresay they were ready and willing at that point in the draft. But did the club believe he was worth matching had the bid come in the early teens? They knew far more about him than anyone else.

[waswan]

Having watched Horse’s press conference and the footage, it seems the two competing arguments will be about who was responsible for the contact.

- Our broad argument will be as Duyrea swings onto his left, Rampe closes position in preparation for a marking contest and to spoil, but McNeil veered back at the last minute and the contact was accidental on Rampe’s part and a function of McNeil moving back just as Rampe is in the middle of a normal piece of defensive positioning.
- The AFL broad argument will be that Rampe moved early, with some speed and intent to block or bump McNeil, and was responsible for the contact and what followed.

Some of the footage is a bit vague, but if I had to guess, the AFL will lean heavily on the behind the goal footage to make a case Rampe’s movements were more substantive and aggressive. Not saying it’s right, but that’s where their case seems to lie.

I’m sure it’ll all be more complicated than that, but you get the idea.

The behind the goal footage is good enough, they just need to show Duryea at the same time, zooming in on the contest and blocking out the ball carrier isnt doing us any favours

[liz]

I will add that I went to watch half a dozen or so pre-season training sessions this year, and I often came away a bit underwhelmed. There seemed to be a bit of sloppiness in ball use - like players were going through the motions a bit, rather than concentrating on nailing every kick when there wasn't much pressure on. There was one session when Chad ran amok, and another where Papley and Heeney looked a million dollars, but none who seemed to maintain consistent levels across all the sessions I saw (which, admittedly, was a smallish sample).

The one exception was Gulden. Everything he did in every session I saw had purpose. If he made a mistake, he cursed himself under his breath but was then back up to get to the next contest to rectify it. Every disposal he made count. Every tackle was carefully executed. So I'm not surprised he has been our most consistent and most improved player this season (even allowing for the fact his improvement has come off what was already quite a high level).