TOPIC:

westaussieguy wrote: Am disappointed after logging on to check the score and Swans 21 points down. Had they won, Swans could have gone into the bye with some certainty. With Souths and Subiaco likely winners next week, Swans could find themselves 2 games behind South Fremantle instead of 1.

Look fwd to the next we play each other the Pretenders cup perhaps??

Nice train trip down to Mandurah today. Little did I know that would be the highlight of the day. Things went downhill from there. Firstly Rushton Park which has a lovely new grandstand and a very large scoreboard which puts the one at Leederville to shame. Pity that Peel have hardly any supporters to sit in the grandstand and their scoreboard shut down half way through the last quarter and it took them 10 minutes to get it up and running again. What a joke. Also we got an insight into the back up talent available to Peel Thunder on display in the reserves game, so they had better hope that Ross Lyon is as generous in releasing his players in the finals as he was last year.

Anyway on to Swans and what an insipid display that was. We got the ball 351 times, only 5 less than Peel, but I would swear that only 20% were effective disposals. If kicking the ball directly to the opposition, bombing balls in the forward 50 and handballing backwards to a stationary teammate were desirable statistics, Swans would be leading all of these indicators. As for relevant stats like contested possessions and tackling, we were found wanting and that has nothing to do with talent, it is all about desire and that was missing from many of our players today. At 3 quarter time Harding made the point that we were 25 down in tackles even though Peel had the ball more at that stage.

There were a few Swans players who put in for the whole game not just the last quarter. Kirk Ugle as others have commented was consistent in his effort and he tried his guts out all day. Tony Notte was the best big man, Nuich and Gault got monstered by the 2 Dockers players. Turner got the ball a lot but many of his possessions were turned over. Ellard had a bad day, Faulkner was OK and was quite prominent in the last quarter fightback along with Rogers and Banfield. Noble and Cary did a few things. Just too many passengers. I thought Slater was a positive because he was trying to create some run in the first 3 quarters when Peel had pretty much shut us down. He made mistakes but I think he showed enough to warrant further opportunities.

Peel were very organised and they were cleaner with their disposal, especially in the 3rd quarter when they put us away. Sheridan was everywhere, Logue showed a lot of dash, Darcy is very mobile for a big bloke. Some of the Peel based guys like Bell and O’Brien were prominent as well. FFS even Zac Dawson kicked a goal, that’s how bad things got!

Probably good for Swans to have a couple of weeks break here because the season has now taken a turn over the past few weeks and the team looks a little shoddy and seems to have gone back to its safety first 2016 mantra of minimising scoreboard damage. They showed a little flash of their 2017 style in the last quarter, just too late. They need to carry that into the next game because they will not win football matches against anybody playing the way they did today .

PS: Great to see Chris Yarran take another step today with 20+ possessions. I hope he continues to progress but the club needs to be cautious about rushing him back to league. Another 2 or 3 injury free reserves games at least.

Really good summation of the game there mikeh...not much to add. Missed tackles is where we got smashed. Peel's ability to get arms free in the tackle and keep the call moving was critical. Their bigger bodies like against Subi found us wanting once again. Taryce had his worst game for the season. Not sure what was up with him but he resembled a statue most of the game. Levi Ridley looked out of his depth at the level yesterday. At this stage I'd be going with Coniglio in front of him. What I did notice yesterday was a lot of bickering amongst players on field which is a big sign the wheels have started to fall off. Playing as a team is our biggest strength and we were beaten in this dept yesterday by a side that usually doesn't play the team game, disappointing tô say the least. The positives were Jackson Slater as you mentioned. At least he looked prepared to take the game on when stepping up to this level. I thought Jack Watson was a lot better yesterday after having 3 weeks of very nervous footy especially with ball in hand. Good to see some improvement in this dept for him.

Dirty Weekender wrote: Really good summation of the game there mikeh...not much to add. Missed tackles is where we got smashed. Peel's ability to get arms free in the tackle and keep the call moving was critical. Their bigger bodies like against Subi found us wanting once again. Taryce had his worst game for the season. Not sure what was up with him but he resembled a statue most of the game. Levi Ridley looked out of his depth at the level yesterday. At this stage I'd be going with Coniglio in front of him. What I did notice yesterday was a lot of bickering amongst players on field which is a big sign the wheels have started to fall off. Playing as a team is our biggest strength and we were beaten in this dept yesterday by a side that usually doesn't play the team game, disappointing tô say the least. The positives were Jackson Slater as you mentioned. At least he looked prepared to take the game on when stepping up to this level. I thought Jack Watson was a lot better yesterday after having 3 weeks of very nervous footy especially with ball in hand. Good to see some improvement in this dept for him.

DW surely that is a problem if you pick a young guy and then drop him the following? Admittedly with the double bye it is a bit different to the norm. One can either take the negatives or the positives out of the game. You and mikeh have highlighted the negatives; one of the positives, in my opinion, was that at 3/4 time we could have rolled over and got beaten by 10+ goals or we could, as we did, fight back and offer some hope for us supporters. Also, in the context of our season thus far compared to last year is significantly better.

What was the go with that bizarre incident with an AFL lister that seems to be getting more exposure than the game itself????

Mind you that twat looked absolutely off his scone in the footage

Southerner wrote: What was the go with that bizarre incident with an AFL lister that seems to be getting more exposure than the game itself????

Mind you that twat looked absolutely off his scone in the footage

Who was that?

Bennell Swan

swan42 wrote:

Dirty Weekender wrote: Really good summation of the game there mikeh...not much to add. Missed tackles is where we got smashed. Peel's ability to get arms free in the tackle and keep the call moving was critical. Their bigger bodies like against Subi found us wanting once again. Taryce had his worst game for the season. Not sure what was up with him but he resembled a statue most of the game. Levi Ridley looked out of his depth at the level yesterday. At this stage I'd be going with Coniglio in front of him. What I did notice yesterday was a lot of bickering amongst players on field which is a big sign the wheels have started to fall off. Playing as a team is our biggest strength and we were beaten in this dept yesterday by a side that usually doesn't play the team game, disappointing tô say the least. The positives were Jackson Slater as you mentioned. At least he looked prepared to take the game on when stepping up to this level. I thought Jack Watson was a lot better yesterday after having 3 weeks of very nervous footy especially with ball in hand. Good to see some improvement in this dept for him.

DW surely that is a problem if you pick a young guy and then drop him the following? Admittedly with the double bye it is a bit different to the norm. One can either take the negatives or the positives out of the game. You and mikeh have highlighted the negatives; one of the positives, in my opinion, was that at 3/4 time we could have rolled over and got beaten by 10+ goals or we could, as we did, fight back and offer some hope for us supporters. Also, in the context of our season thus far compared to last year is significantly better.

Understand 42, guess when we travel for 90 mins to get to a venue only to watch the team we support bickering on field amongst themselves it can be disappointing to witness. As you point out at least after 3/4qtr time the guys tried to take the game on by following the coaches instructions for the first time all day, let's hope it leads in to something after the bye. As for my Ridley comment the same logic of yours can be relayed to Conigs who seems to get dropped after one week every time as well. I will stand by my comment in saying that I believe Conigs is in front of Ridley at this stage of their developments however would be happy for either to get a consistent run at league level and see where it leads. Ripping young guys in and out of the team is not good for their confidence agreed. Another positive is I believe Yaz isn't far away and we might just see him back in after the bye. His performance in ressies yesterday was subdued, he did what he had to without getting too serious. If he can get a couple of good weeks of training in unscathed I'm sure he'll be in the mix when we are due to play again.

Southerner wrote: Bennell Swan

Which Bennell?

Sorry mate Harley Bennell