Rd 20 vs Essendon @ Marvel - Match Thread

[Goal Sneak]

Nice to win, but could have done without the late comeback. Parts of the performance was very good, parts weren't. A lot of the rebound and ball movement, for the first three quarters, was beautifully done. Conversely, we were being beaten in the clearances and contested possessions for much of the match. We also seemed to lack some drive when Rampe went off. I really hope it's only a minor strain.

I thought Gulden was BOG. Huge amount of drive and skill. McCartin and Cunningham had strong games in defence. Campbell, Florent and McInerney had some very effective ball movement; with McInerney producing some clutch efforts. Warner and Rowbottom battled hard in the middle, without getting consistently on top. While in attack, Amartey, Papley and Wicks took the majority of their chances.

Still alive, but obviously room for improvement.

This sums up much of my thoughts. I would add that Blakey played exceptionally but we really missed his run and carry once Rampe was injured.

[MattW]

I couldn't watch a single minute of this game, but an away win against a team above us and battling for a finals berth is pure gold.
Celebrate the wins

Yes.

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Was that JMacs best game for a longtime ? It bought he had some outstanding moments

He's been playing really well for the last month or so. Something has clicked.

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Nice to win, but could have done without the late comeback. Parts of the performance was very good, parts weren't. A lot of the rebound and ball movement, for the first three quarters, was beautifully done. Conversely, we were being beaten in the clearances and contested possessions for much of the match. We also seemed to lack some drive when Rampe went off. I really hope it's only a minor strain.

I thought Gulden was BOG. Huge amount of drive and skill. McCartin and Cunningham had strong games in defence. Campbell, Florent and McInerney had some very effective ball movement; with McInerney producing some clutch efforts. Warner and Rowbottom battled hard in the middle, without getting consistently on top. While in attack, Amartey, Papley and Wicks took the majority of their chances.

Still alive, but obviously room for improvement.

Yes. Warner was critical in the last. The only one who could get it going the other way.

[Captain]

Yes. Warner was critical in the last. The only one who could get it going the other way.

Absolutely, he was huge in the last quarter!

[MattW]

None of this is sustainable.

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[The Big Cat]

Don’t forget we had to travel across the country last week and play on concrete. Then fly all the way home. Then back to Melbourne yesterday. No wonder they’re looking a tad stuffed.

[waswan]

None of this is sustainable.

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Hopefully Ladhams comes in for Buddy and helps this

[rojo]

I was a bit surprised by Mills' seemingly casual kick for goal at the beginning of the last quarter. It sort of set the tone for how the quarter unfolded. As the quarter went on it looked like we would need someone to stand up and do something heroic if we were to win, but who?
Down to the last couple of minutes, up bobs ...... Papley! Phew.

[Markwebbos]

Earlier in the year people were containing we lost from winning positions, now they are complaining we won ugly?!?

It was season on the line for Essendon and they did throw everything at us. Despite losing Buddy in the first half and Rampe in the last quarter we hung on.

As others have noted JMac and the Chad were huge in the last quarter.

Fitness does appear to be a major issue.

Really hope Rampe is ok

We got smashed in the middle yet again. Hope you are right waswan and Ladhams / Hickey coming back improves things. Parker had a poor game, but he may have spent
Himself last week, I can’t see a quick fix.

GW$ will be huge next week, they’ve won six straight … If we can get over them I’ll start to think finals is possible.

[Matty10]

I’m happy - I really like beating Essendon.

[Nico]

It seems to be a never ending story. Lead by 4-5 goals and the opposition runs over us. That goal from Papley and the lucky bounce was our life saver. It very concerning how many one on one contests we seem to lose. A win was nice but something is not clicking correctly.

Agree, but we made some critical turnovers. Parker's panic handball to someone in a worse position than him. Just kick it in those situations. Mill's making so many disposal mistakes and yes, Wicks played a good game, but if he kicked that goal we would have been 21 points up and game over. Mill's miss never looked like going through for a goal. They were all momentum changes that let Essendon get their tails up.

[Auntie.Gerald]

None of us supporters ever know if we carried a few players into this game and or if the common “cold” had hit the squad and we were playing with a fair few crook lads.

We also don’t know if we had ramped up training loads prior to the last 4 games. Which has been fairly common for most elite teams leading into finals (so base cardio loads are high) and then can be reduced where needed last 4 games for specific players. Yet this tends to be the same for all teams, so not really a disadvantage at this time of the seasons for the Swans.

I do this as mentioned a few times our backline is ok but certainly not top4.

Our Ruck is still a major problem which leads to excessive gut running and chasing inefficiencies.

I didn’t see our game management nor adjustments when challenged due to injuries a problem as I felt we did the best we could with what we had vs their extremes momentum last qtr.

For me the problem is that some of the other team lists are really galvanising via their new coaching and healthy rebuilds last few seasons.

We are seeing much better football by teams that some of our supporters used to bag out. These teams have been underestimated by some supporters.

This comp brutal and of 1% in injuries, recruitment, coaching, performance and u get schooled.

I suspect that some teams have snuck under the radar somewhat like the Swans did previous two seasons and some of the teams below have improved in many areas and we have a major challenge ahead of us to be a relevant top4 team in 2023 and 2024.

GWS
Saints
Bombers

Are examples of teams that many of our supporters did not respect nor their recruitment strategies nor coaching. And or saw what we have been doing was superior?

Kingsley to GWS - enormous change

Lyons to Saints - great recruitment

Brad to the Bombers - great recruitment

Adelaide - also their rebuild is starting to pay dividends and a real belief in their squad

[Auntie.Gerald]

Apologies for grammar etc above.

I typed on my phone and auto text etc is just nuts

Unfortunately I can edit still from my iPhone without the whole post deleting?

[Dow]

Apparently not for all of us Captain....

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The thing is we all saw it, but you criticise without knowing all the facts and we never will, also how are you to know that if we had kept our style of play we wouldn’t have lost ?…. I am not defending the change of tactics I am just saying it’s hard to condemn without knowing why they changed

[Blood Fever]

Cats, Lions and Bulldogs all lost. Bulldogs got run down after losing a couple of players. We hung on and won without playing particularly well. We were away and in front of a feral crowd. Scott, Fagan and Beveridge are not dud coaches. We have won 3 in a row. Not sure why there is so much gloom on this thread.

[Captain]

No one is gloomy, just expressing dismay at the way we gave up a 37 point lead.

Some of us would have liked to see a continued attacking brand of footy in the final quarter, not a defensive brand of chipping it around and trying to run the clock down for the entire quarter.

Brilliant to get the win and that’s the main thing that counts.