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mikeh wrote: I was rather bemused at the appearance of Smirk in the team this afternoon. I know he was probably picked to fulfil a certain role (i.e stopping someone) but I have always thought he is short of the skill required to play at this level. He was shown up a bit on a few occasions today. Not sure if he was injured but saw nothing of him after half time. Would have been better to give Cipro, Fullgrabe or Erceg a go at it I reckon.

Had the job of reducing the rebounding ability of Blaine Wilson...kept him to 7 possessions only had 4 himself...did what was asked of him but like you are hinting at mikeh, was a move like that gonna help us win??? End result says no but I guess they had their reasons

Dirty Weekender wrote:

mikeh wrote: I was rather bemused at the appearance of Smirk in the team this afternoon. I know he was probably picked to fulfil a certain role (i.e stopping someone) but I have always thought he is short of the skill required to play at this level. He was shown up a bit on a few occasions today. Not sure if he was injured but saw nothing of him after half time. Would have been better to give Cipro, Fullgrabe or Erceg a go at it I reckon.

Had the job of reducing the rebounding ability of Blaine Wilson...kept him to 7 possessions only had 4 himself...did what was asked of him but like you are hinting at mikeh, was a move like that gonna help us win??? End result says no but I guess they had their reasons

We tried some things and some things worked and some things didn't and was happy with Smirks execution of his role. Unfortunately we don't have the likes of a Zach Strom sitting in our ressies.

Looking at some positives out of the game yesterday was we played probably the best footy we have for 3 years in that 1st qtr and a half against quality opposition unfortunately we just couldnt sustain it.
Looking ahead hopefully we might get some of our injured senior personnel back after the bye with any luck and I wouldnt be surprised if Sam Taylor gets a look at senior footy before years end either.

Beasley Hutton wrote: Looking at some positives out of the game yesterday was we played probably the best footy we have for 3 years in that 1st qtr and a half against quality opposition unfortunately we just couldnt sustain it.
Looking ahead hopefully we might get some of our injured senior personnel back after the bye with any luck and I wouldnt be surprised if Sam Taylor gets a look at senior footy before years end either.

In place of whom BH? Also, how id you rate Smirk's performance yesterday?

Beasley Hutton wrote: Looking at some positives out of the game yesterday was we played probably the best footy we have for 3 years in that 1st qtr and a half against quality opposition unfortunately we just couldnt sustain it.
Looking ahead hopefully we might get some of our injured senior personnel back after the bye with any luck and I wouldnt be surprised if Sam Taylor gets a look at senior footy before years end either.

Agreed BH, Sam adapted quite well to the ressies yesterday. Hard to see who he replaces 42 but the bigger picture for Sam might come in to play before team ambitions, that is the way of the WAFL in this era. The kid can play, that's for sure!!! Surely wouldn't do any worse with ball in hand in comparison to one of our regular defenders who leaves me with heart in mouth every time he has it, even moreso than Faulks and that's no mean feat..
As for Smirk he did exactly what was asked of him yesterday but that is in no way a guarantee he will hold his place.

A bit of overnight reflection to put things in perspective and also reading a few of the others comments and I have come to the realisation that I have been a bit harsh on the boys with my comments over the past few weeks, particularly considering where they have come from last year ( rock bottom by a long distance) to a position where they are more likely than not to play finals, the loss of key players in that a number of our best 22 are out injured and this impacts on our performances and we were also playing a potential premiership team yesterday which was oozing with class on every line. So no real shame to be overrun by them. I suppose I was frustrated yesterday by the gap in Swans output between the 1st and 2nd half, a lot of it had to do with the fact that South really ramped up the pressure but unfortunately when an opposition does this, Swans sometimes revert to their 2016 style of passive "minimise the damage" play instead of being aggressive and attacking the ball.Easier to say than do I know but they have staved off similar challenges in other games
I was in awe of some of the tricks that Tarcye Stewart showed us yesterday. The goal from the forward pocket was a gem. I also saw half a reserves game yesterday and was very impressed with the way those lads fought the game out against the top team. The scoreboard showed a 25 point win to SF but the fact was that they were only 1 point to the good going at about 20 minutes into the final quarter and Swans missed a number of opportunities to take the lead.Good effort by them and I think it will probably lead to further opportunities for guys like Cipro, Fullgrabe, Power, Sutton and others who stood out yesterday.
Hopefully some of our injured players will be back after the bye, Riggio should be OK you would think, wonder if Blight and Clutterbuck as well, was that Freddie running yesterday for the league team?

Yeah that was Freddie doing the running again yesterday Mike he has been doing both the Reserves & League games for the last few weeks until yesterday to keep the fitness up whilst the injury heals.
And yes DW I know exactly who you mean in regards to heart in mouth stuff in defence when they have the footy in their particular hands to dispose of and that is if they havent dropped yet another sitter of a mark under no pressure whatsoever!!!

mikeh wrote: A bit of overnight reflection to put things in perspective and also reading a few of the others comments and I have come to the realisation that I have been a bit harsh on the boys with my comments over the past few weeks, particularly considering where they have come from last year ( rock bottom by a long distance) to a position where they are more likely than not to play finals, the loss of key players in that a number of our best 22 are out injured and this impacts on our performances and we were also playing a potential premiership team yesterday which was oozing with class on every line. So no real shame to be overrun by them. I suppose I was frustrated yesterday by the gap in Swans output between the 1st and 2nd half, a lot of it had to do with the fact that South really ramped up the pressure but unfortunately when an opposition does this, Swans sometimes revert to their 2016 style of passive "minimise the damage" play instead of being aggressive and attacking the ball.Easier to say than do I know but they have staved off similar challenges in other games
I was in awe of some of the tricks that Tarcye Stewart showed us yesterday. The goal from the forward pocket was a gem. I also saw half a reserves game yesterday and was very impressed with the way those lads fought the game out against the top team. The scoreboard showed a 25 point win to SF but the fact was that they were only 1 point to the good going at about 20 minutes into the final quarter and Swans missed a number of opportunities to take the lead.Good effort by them and I think it will probably lead to further opportunities for guys like Cipro, Fullgrabe, Power, Sutton and others who stood out yesterday.
Hopefully some of our injured players will be back after the bye, Riggio should be OK you would think, wonder if Blight and Clutterbuck as well, was that Freddie running yesterday for the league team?

Agree with your summation of the ressies yesterday mikeh...Fullgrabe was outstanding in that match yesterday. Sutton needs to stop playing midweek basketball and get his body right...ankles are holding him back big time at the moment and he doesn't have enough pace to be at 80% mobility-wise at best all the time. League footy awaits him if he can get a little more discipline built in to his week.

Beasley Hutton wrote: Yeah that was Freddie doing the running again yesterday Mike he has been doing both the Reserves & League games for the last few weeks until yesterday to keep the fitness up whilst the injury heals.
And yes DW I know exactly who you mean in regards to heart in mouth stuff in defence when they have the footy in their particular hands to dispose of and that is if they havent dropped yet another sitter of a mark under no pressure whatsoever!!!

You would have to question the reason why on a WET DAY a very experienced Swans player would choose to kick across to centre half back rather than kicking long down the wing or perhaps even worse why you would kick 30-40 metres backwards.

swan42 wrote:

Beasley Hutton wrote: Yeah that was Freddie doing the running again yesterday Mike he has been doing both the Reserves & League games for the last few weeks until yesterday to keep the fitness up whilst the injury heals.
And yes DW I know exactly who you mean in regards to heart in mouth stuff in defence when they have the footy in their particular hands to dispose of and that is if they havent dropped yet another sitter of a mark under no pressure whatsoever!!!

You would have to question the reason why on a WET DAY a very experienced Swans player would choose to kick across to centre half back rather than kicking long down the wing or perhaps even worse why you would kick 30-40 metres backwards.

Yeah that one to CHB was a shocker...so was the hospital handball in the wet on to Faulks non preferred left side. Heard the mantra from Harding in ressies and league about having to take a chance or 2 to force some attacking luck heading in to the breeze...that was not the occasion