Tweet
I think most of us thought we had this at half time, despite not being in the lead. It was always a danger to have a bye and be jumped by a hungry team. We will have to get used to teams bringing their best as they seek to take down the ladder leaders. But if you come for the King, you better not miss.
-
-
Sometimes in life you get lucky and we did with Grundy becoming available. The way he allows our midfield to be assertive is fantastic. It’s not that he’s an elite tap ruck, though he can be very good at times and was today. But he holds position in the contest and wins plenty of contested ball, as well as grinding down his opponents. He had 21 contested possessions today, which is nuts. And he came along at just the right time for a midfield ready to blossom.
He was probably BOG for me, though Errol has fair claims too. Possies, score involvements and ground gained off the charts. Heeney and Chad did their thing. What a dedicated footballer Chad must be. I read something in recent weeks that he did lots of speed and sprint training back home over summer. You saw it with that late goal. He’s always had power and explosion, but to add that level of pace to his game is awesome.
A few other unsung heroes - Rowie in the centre had one of his best centre clearance games; Lewis Melican just a gun down back; and Amartey - who frustrated me early in the year - is really attacking contests these days.
All my mates who follow other teams hate Papley. Jam it. Go little man.
To put a 70 point turnaround on a good side that played well is seriously elite.
P.S: other than the start, if I had a minor quibble today it was a few blokes running past the ball when they just had to halve the contest. There was one from Isaac in the middle in the second quarter against Atkins, and one in defensive 50 from Ollie which led to a Cats goal.Last edited by i'm-uninformed2; 9 June 2024, 08:26 PM.'Delicious' is a fun word to sayComment
-
Round 2: Eight things we learned
(from afl.com.au)6) Sydney's spread of attacking weapons is unmatched
Sydney is averaging more than 100 points per game in its undefeated start to the season and its scoring has been spread across a variety of weapons. The Swans had 10 goalkickers while piling on 19 majors in their 30-point victory over the Bombers as a fired-up Tom Papley booted four and half-forward Will Hayward added three. Goalsneak Papley is among their leading goalkickers this season with six, alongside key forward Logan McDonald and midfielder Chad Warner, while ruck/forward Hayden McLean and Hayward each have five as the Swans loom as a premiership threat with their firepower coming in all shapes and sizes. - Martin Pegan
One doesn't need to change much here for the Geelong game. We won by 30 again, Papley kicked four again, and another good spread of goalkickers, nine this time instead of 10.
It's as if the AFL worked Sydney out in round 2 and basically put away their keyboards.
I don't mind too much. Flying high over the radar is just as good as flying beneath it."Unbelievable!" -- Nick Davis leaves his mark on the 2005 semi finalComment
-
Daisi
I agree with some of your comments, and Geelong are very well coached, but credit should be given to the Swans coaching staff who analyse the game and make small adjustments at each break and generally turn things around, which is also the result of good coaching.
My concern is why the slow starts have crept into our game, however I am equally confident our coaching staff are aware of this and will be doing all they can to ensure it does not continue, however it may take a loss or two during the season to reinforce this.
There is no doubt we have a very talented teamComment
-
Love the scene at the end of the afl.com.au match highlights package.....four Swans in an embrace after the final siren, Heeney, Warner, Rowbottom and Gulden.....our A-team midfield, loving life and celebrating another job well done!!Comment
-
I think - in part - it might be that clubs do set themselves for us and come with a plan to disrupt what we do. It then takes a quarter or so for us to adjust our tactics to negate what they're doing. Plus it's hard for opponents to maintain their plan for a whole game, especially when it relies on a higher level of pressure than they're used to applying. And we have the talent to put the score on the board from quite short periods when we get on top.
Certainly today that wasn't the whole story. We were fumbling in that first quarter, and very few players were running as hard as they do when we're at our best. I was particularly irritated with Amartey at quarter time because he had barely broken out of a trot and was part of the reason why the Geelong defenders took so many uncontested intercepts in the first quarter. But once he started the party in the second quarter I was made to eat my (silent) words.Comment
-
There are a few around the competition like that. Hate dirty Greene with a passion at the Giants, but would have him in a heartbeat at our club.
Gee he was big today in important moments Paps. Those two big goals from 50+ in the third quarter were massive moments of him stepping up and saying 'this is my moment'. He hasn't been quite his livewire self at times this year, but he doesn't need to be week in, week out. Keep doing his thing, and making a difference when it matters."You get the feeling that like Monty Python's Black Knight, the Swans would regard amputation as merely a flesh wound."Comment
-
Spot on as you nearly always are Liz. It was so telling today just how high the pressure was early on from the Cats in particular. But what we've shown several times this year is it doesn't take us long when we do get momentum to really hit the scoreboard. And keeping those levels of pressure up throughout a whole game (something I think teams will have to find a way to do against us if they are going to beat us in the best games) is exhausting. While both teams were very tired late, Geelong looked stuffed physically from mid way through the third. We came back to them late, and they almost used some class to make it really tight, before we burst their bubble and put some icing on the cake.
We have some freakishly good athletes fitness wise going around out there. Nobody in the Cats team could get anywhere near Errol in the last quarter - like anywhere near him. He just roamed as he pleased around the ground, causing utter havoc. Now you could say it was a one off, and he just had a day out. But we know he has had outstanding last quarters in just the same way several times this year. Then you had Chad, bursting a gut to get that final goal of his and running 100m + to do it. Even in some of the big boys - Logan McDonald for instance, who was still moving very well late. We are doing a lot right in that fitness regard, which holds us in good stead for those games that will come later in the year when gut effort and determination may be needed to get us over the line.
I thought the Geelong defence in general was outstanding today. They dominated the first quarter as you said, and then kept them in the contest for a long time - we kicked a lot of behinds, but quite a few were rushed after outstanding defensive efforts. Without their big blokes down back, I think we would of beat them by 50 or 60."You get the feeling that like Monty Python's Black Knight, the Swans would regard amputation as merely a flesh wound."Comment
-
I'm uninformed2. I totally disagree with you on Grundy as a tap ruckman. That is his strength. Grundy to Heeney by tap, goal. Brilliant tap to Gulden in the last quarter for a very special goal are only a couple. His centre bounce work and taps to advantage and follow ups have been a big part in our improvement. He reminds me of the great tap work by Jason Ball around goal. You could see Gulden set up for the tap just to Grundy's left. Both knew where the ball was going. In most games Grundy has taken his opponent to the cleaners. He gave English a father of a hiding against the Dogs.Comment
-
After we beat Essendon, and they were saying they were going to play dirty, Papley said they can bring whatever they want, but they are going to have to keep it up the whole game.Comment
-
Chris Scott makes me laugh sometimes. Going on about how they are missing their 2 best midfielders, and then trying to claim Stanley had a good game against Grundy..... Grundy smacked the @@@@ out of Stanley after quarter time, and if I remember rightly Mills and Parker haven't played a minute between them (though Parker may struggle to get back in)."You get the feeling that like Monty Python's Black Knight, the Swans would regard amputation as merely a flesh wound."Comment
-
Yes I'm also concerned about the slow starts. We can't keep giving up big leads. But the impressive thing this season is how we manage to get the game on to our terms and how quickly we can change momentum. When we were 5 goals down I was worried, but then remembered the Carlton game and how we managed to turn it around.Comment
Comment