TOPIC:

Second week in a row that the defence kept the opposition scoreless in the third quarter (strange round - of the teams losing today two teams were scoreless, two managed a behind, and only Perth kicked goals in the third) but unlike last week we piled it on and established a winning score.

I have questioned Swans' style this season of releasing the ball to a teammate only when he is in a perfect position to receive it and to maintain possession instead of getting the ball forward at all cost but possibly losing possession in the process. Last week WP in fluky conditions pushed, soccered - did everything - to get the pill forward while we floundered with trying to give the perfect release. Same thing happened today with Subi occasionally employing the soccer off the ground. However, our game style worked well today with clean moves and goals kicked from close range after a series of handballs took the ball into the goal square. Swans are slowly getting better at the game style, with the win today evidence that done correctly it will overcome most teams.

 

It was weird but enjoyable to watch gold and brown jumpers chasing black and white jumpers in the 2nd half.
I thought Subiaco were the slightly better team in the first half but they wasted a number of opportunities in front of goal. If 5-9 had been 9-5, we may have been looking at a slightly different game after half time. Giro was the dominant player in the first half and it was he that was instrumental in many of Subis centre clearances.

When Swans got to a 3 goal lead in the 3rd quarter I steeled myself for a Subi fightback because that is what we have all become accustomed to. To my surprise it never came and apart from an early effort in the final term it was all one way traffic.

I think our guys realised in the 3rd quarter that Subi were struggling and this was when their running game started to click. All the midfielders were excellent but Jesse Turner was everywhere linking the play up in defence and attack. 47 possessions is insane. Tom Edwards started clunking some marks and kicking goals. On the occasions that Subiaco went into attack there was Erceg and others taking intercept marks. When was the last time Subiaco were scoreless in a quarter I wonder?
Sam Fisher was another who led by example. I noticed that he and Beck were hobbling around with icepacks on their legs at the end of the game. Hopefully neither injury is too serious.

This is an important win for Swans. With other results yesterday going in our favour we now have a realistic opportunity to aim for a higher position on the ladder and potentially a double chance in the finals if we are good enough.

Congratulations to SD.

Congrats to a very good Swans team who were faster, more skilful and efficient and unlike the Kal game, ran the game out far better tan us. That type of footy will take you deep into September.

Swans have been great at Bassendean this year with a 5-1 record. However the away form is not looking as good with only 1 win from 4 games. To take the next step and become a real contender we need to start winning at a few other grounds. There will be some real tests in the 2nd half of the season with South Fremantle at the Port, Claremont  and East Fremantle at the WACA for us to try and improve this record.

Having read the comments above I tend to agree with all although I didnt think Subi was that dominate in the first half our execution going forward was the issue for us with some poor final kick inside 50s that they were able to capitalise on the rebound.
Once we tidied some of that up we were able to put more scoreboard pressure on by getting some set shots in our 50 instead of kicking straight to their defenders or to silly stationary 1 on 1s when we had forwards on the lead in space as better options, although it still wasnt not perfect even in the 2nd half with some of our kicks inside 50 not being to our forwards advantage.
It is something we need to tidy up going forward, as our mids are getting some footy and our defence has been pretty solid.
Hopefully getting these wins against the likes of SU, SF & CL this year is starting to give the current group confidence and belief that they can be beaten if we play at or near our best. I think in the past we have tended to believe the hype around them and even when there for the taking a few times we havent been able to get the job done late in the game due to certain factors. WP is the next bogey side we have to overcome if we want to be serious contenders in this League.