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Not an invasion by the grey nomads, but the first appearance by our raw rookie ruckman, Jake Orreal. Jake O is tall and much more solidly built than I expected, he got first hands to the ball in most of the ball ups he contested. He struggled to position himself correctly at throw-ins, and his general play is pretty well non existent. But considering his non footy background, this was a fairly encouraging start.
The Swans reserve graders led all day but struggled to shake off a determined but outclassed Tuggeranong side, eventually prevailing by 49 points. The game was a scrappy affair, the cold blustery wind and the cow paddock length grass on Stadium Australia contributing factors.
The rollcall of listed players reached a season high 15 players this week - but the continued absence of Laidlaw, Veszpremi and O?Keefe is a bit of a worry. Barlow and Smith were also absentees, so I spent half the game wondering if they were injured or if there had been a couple of hushed up injuries in the first team.
Even so, this was the strongest unit to take the field thus far, and a comfortable win against the bottom placed Tuggeranong side should have been on the agenda.
Shocking goal kicking by the usual suspects, Beckmans and Brennan, ruined what should have been a good start. Between them they butchered no less than five set shots in the opening quarter, so instead of a comfortable lead the Swans were only 11 points up at the quarter. More of the same in the second stanza, so 18 shots to 8 only yielded a 20 point lead at half time. The highlight of the second quarter was provided by ?Skull? Murphy ? he broke clear at half back after a daring intercept, the long pass was slightly off target but he kept running, accepted the handball and goaled from 40 metres out.
Up to this stage, Tuggeranong had employed a fairly disciplined midfield flood. This really bothered the top-up kids, and they were responsible for several costly turnovers.
In the second half the Swans made a few structural changes, Mocca White moved to the backline and instead of sitting on the pine when not rucking, Currie went forward. It was not until the final quarter that the Swans pulled away, as Tuggeranong?s flood dropped in intensity and the Swans forwards finally started to get the ball between the big sticks. We also finally saw some clean end to end stuff, resulting in goals.
Currie and Orreal consistently got first hand to the ball in the ruck contests ? make that the ball ups, the wind and limp armed boundary umpires turned many throw ins into lotteries. Jake in particular needs to work on his positioning for boundary throw-ins. I judged Currie?s taps to be a little more effective than the Caravan?s. In general play Jake O has a lot to learn, his kicking action is a bit suspect, but not as bad as we have been led to believe. In contrast, when not rucking, Currie spent much of the second half resting in the forward line, and caused considerable damage with good marking, and clean hands. Coming along nicely is Dan, just hope he can stay fit.
Nick Davis played the entire game off half back, as usual his clean hands and beautiful disposal demonstrated that he is several classes above this competition. More importantly, I detected some improvement in his off ball work.
In an even midfield I judged Timmy Schmidt to be the pick, slightly ahead of the sticky fingered Matty O?Dwyer. Fosdike got plenty of ball, but also fumbled a lot and made plenty of errors through poor execution and poor decision making. Mathews was a solid citizen, but even at this level he is no game breaker. Schmidt is not far away from returning to the first team, I would expect him back next week if Dicky Birds bruised wing causes him to miss.
Brennan?s clock is ticking. A lovely strong mark, but I cannot see any long term future in a player who kicks points when up forward or turns it over when up back. A miserable 1 goal 4 behinds today. Beckmans finally got his radar going, after his 1 goal 2 behinds plus another OOB in the first quarter; he kicked another two goals subsequently and did not cause a single flag to be raised again. He plays like a natural forward in that his timing when leading is good and he is a nice mark. But I judge he will always be problematic in front of goal, like Henry Playfair his technique looks dodgy.
Murphy took several strong contested marks, very impressive for somebody with such little experience on a windy day. He struggles to get the correct spin on his kicks when kicking on the run, they generally go in the intended direction but are the wrong depth. Only caught HTB twice this week, and his aggressiveness and line breaking ability are still features.
I am convinced Mocca White?s future is as a KPP backman. He made little impression up forward in the first half, but took several strong marks and ran freely when moved to CHB in the second half. Looks much more comfortable up back.
As for the top-ups, RBN had a first half he would rather forget ? he was responsible for two horrible turnovers trying to be too cute beating the midfield flood. Looked much more comfortable when moved forward in the second half and kicked a miracle snap from the boundary. I hope May was the #45, purely because whoever that kid was, he showed ability. Stipeiri kicked a goal in the last quarter that was frankly a fluke ? the kick was headed for the behind post but the bounce took a leg break that Warne would have been proud of.
SYDNEY SWANS: 3-7, 6-12, 11-15, 17-17-119 def
TUGGERANONG: 2-2, 4-4, 8-6, 10-10-70
SYDNEY SWANS
Goal Kickers: M. Beckmans 3, R. Brabazon 2, R. Bottin-Noonan 2, L. Brennan, A. Bruce, D. Spiteri, M. May, B. Mathews, D. Terlich, N. Davis, T. Sshmidt, J. Nesbitt, B. Murphy
Best Players: B. Murphy, N Davis, D Currie, M O?Dwyer, T Schmidt
TUGGERANONG
Goal Kickers: M. Ghirardello 3, J. Kickett 2, P. Lovett 2, K. Masters 2, C. Healety
Best Players: W. Overs, C. Healey, T. Takanen, D. Johnson, K. Masters, A. Lawder
The Swans reserve graders led all day but struggled to shake off a determined but outclassed Tuggeranong side, eventually prevailing by 49 points. The game was a scrappy affair, the cold blustery wind and the cow paddock length grass on Stadium Australia contributing factors.
The rollcall of listed players reached a season high 15 players this week - but the continued absence of Laidlaw, Veszpremi and O?Keefe is a bit of a worry. Barlow and Smith were also absentees, so I spent half the game wondering if they were injured or if there had been a couple of hushed up injuries in the first team.
Even so, this was the strongest unit to take the field thus far, and a comfortable win against the bottom placed Tuggeranong side should have been on the agenda.
Shocking goal kicking by the usual suspects, Beckmans and Brennan, ruined what should have been a good start. Between them they butchered no less than five set shots in the opening quarter, so instead of a comfortable lead the Swans were only 11 points up at the quarter. More of the same in the second stanza, so 18 shots to 8 only yielded a 20 point lead at half time. The highlight of the second quarter was provided by ?Skull? Murphy ? he broke clear at half back after a daring intercept, the long pass was slightly off target but he kept running, accepted the handball and goaled from 40 metres out.
Up to this stage, Tuggeranong had employed a fairly disciplined midfield flood. This really bothered the top-up kids, and they were responsible for several costly turnovers.
In the second half the Swans made a few structural changes, Mocca White moved to the backline and instead of sitting on the pine when not rucking, Currie went forward. It was not until the final quarter that the Swans pulled away, as Tuggeranong?s flood dropped in intensity and the Swans forwards finally started to get the ball between the big sticks. We also finally saw some clean end to end stuff, resulting in goals.
Currie and Orreal consistently got first hand to the ball in the ruck contests ? make that the ball ups, the wind and limp armed boundary umpires turned many throw ins into lotteries. Jake in particular needs to work on his positioning for boundary throw-ins. I judged Currie?s taps to be a little more effective than the Caravan?s. In general play Jake O has a lot to learn, his kicking action is a bit suspect, but not as bad as we have been led to believe. In contrast, when not rucking, Currie spent much of the second half resting in the forward line, and caused considerable damage with good marking, and clean hands. Coming along nicely is Dan, just hope he can stay fit.
Nick Davis played the entire game off half back, as usual his clean hands and beautiful disposal demonstrated that he is several classes above this competition. More importantly, I detected some improvement in his off ball work.
In an even midfield I judged Timmy Schmidt to be the pick, slightly ahead of the sticky fingered Matty O?Dwyer. Fosdike got plenty of ball, but also fumbled a lot and made plenty of errors through poor execution and poor decision making. Mathews was a solid citizen, but even at this level he is no game breaker. Schmidt is not far away from returning to the first team, I would expect him back next week if Dicky Birds bruised wing causes him to miss.
Brennan?s clock is ticking. A lovely strong mark, but I cannot see any long term future in a player who kicks points when up forward or turns it over when up back. A miserable 1 goal 4 behinds today. Beckmans finally got his radar going, after his 1 goal 2 behinds plus another OOB in the first quarter; he kicked another two goals subsequently and did not cause a single flag to be raised again. He plays like a natural forward in that his timing when leading is good and he is a nice mark. But I judge he will always be problematic in front of goal, like Henry Playfair his technique looks dodgy.
Murphy took several strong contested marks, very impressive for somebody with such little experience on a windy day. He struggles to get the correct spin on his kicks when kicking on the run, they generally go in the intended direction but are the wrong depth. Only caught HTB twice this week, and his aggressiveness and line breaking ability are still features.
I am convinced Mocca White?s future is as a KPP backman. He made little impression up forward in the first half, but took several strong marks and ran freely when moved to CHB in the second half. Looks much more comfortable up back.
As for the top-ups, RBN had a first half he would rather forget ? he was responsible for two horrible turnovers trying to be too cute beating the midfield flood. Looked much more comfortable when moved forward in the second half and kicked a miracle snap from the boundary. I hope May was the #45, purely because whoever that kid was, he showed ability. Stipeiri kicked a goal in the last quarter that was frankly a fluke ? the kick was headed for the behind post but the bounce took a leg break that Warne would have been proud of.
SYDNEY SWANS: 3-7, 6-12, 11-15, 17-17-119 def
TUGGERANONG: 2-2, 4-4, 8-6, 10-10-70
SYDNEY SWANS
Goal Kickers: M. Beckmans 3, R. Brabazon 2, R. Bottin-Noonan 2, L. Brennan, A. Bruce, D. Spiteri, M. May, B. Mathews, D. Terlich, N. Davis, T. Sshmidt, J. Nesbitt, B. Murphy
Best Players: B. Murphy, N Davis, D Currie, M O?Dwyer, T Schmidt
TUGGERANONG
Goal Kickers: M. Ghirardello 3, J. Kickett 2, P. Lovett 2, K. Masters 2, C. Healety
Best Players: W. Overs, C. Healey, T. Takanen, D. Johnson, K. Masters, A. Lawder
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