TOPIC:

Congratulations to Tony Notte who plays his 279th game for Swans tomorrow, moving past Stan Nowotny into 2nd place on the list of games played for Swans. Only Bill Walker is ahead of him on 305 games and if Tony goes around again next year he has a chance of surpassing that as well.
Tony has been a wonderful footballer and clubman for Swans and it has been a pleasure to follow his career since 2007.

Tony will finish on 282 this season if Swans dont make the finals. Even if he play all eighteen games next year, that takes him to 300. Swans would have to play all four weeks of finals next year and he would end up one behind Bill.
The COVID season of 2020 when only eight games were played may prevent Tony from breaking Bill's record. He would need at least two finals this season and Swans would have to reach the Grand Final next year for the record to be broken.

Some significant inclusions with Germs, Noble and Collins all back. Looking forward to a hard fought game of footy. Only our best 4 quarter performance will be enough to win today against the Sharks on their patch. Amazingly the ressies are also still in the hunt for a finals spot with a 5 win 8 loss record and a win over EF today should see them leapfrog East Perth into 5th place.

swansfan4life wrote:

Tony will finish on 282 this season if Swans dont make the finals. Even if he play all eighteen games next year, that takes him to 300. Swans would have to play all four weeks of finals next year and he would end up one behind Bill.
The COVID season of 2020 when only eight games were played may prevent Tony from breaking Bill's record. He would need at least two finals this season and Swans would have to reach the Grand Final next year for the record to be broken.

I think supporters of all persuasions would love to see Notte crack the 300 game mark as just reward for his loyalty to Swans and WAFL footy in general.  He's a fantastic player and an ornament of the game and to get to even 279 these days is some achievement.  I hope he goes around again next year.

It would be great if Swans could make the finals this year so that Tony could add a game or two to his tally. Would give him a real incentive to him to go around again next year to get to the 300 mark.

Super surprised how EF won as they did TBH.....thought on paper that was one of SD better line ups......hopefully you guys can pull something out of the bag v WP and Peel, and sneak into 5th spot..... tall ask though....but the whole of the WAFL will definitely be in your corner.....where's the hat eating Marley these days?... .did he go when STT got the flick?.....

Sharks far too good, poor by Swans lead by the coach - didn’t make a move all day

The Sharks were the better team all day, we hung in there gallantly to half time until the floodgates opened in the 3rd quarter and the last quarter was an absolute embarassment as all but a few players gave up the ghost and allowed EF to swarm all over us. We were absolutely smashed in the centre, our normally competitive midfield had off days, we fumbled, missed targets, were 2nd to the ball and played with very little intensity compared with the Sharks who were so hungry. They just moved the ball into their forward line with ridiculous ease and I lost count of the number of times they hit up their forwards on a lead.

To make matters worse, Notte came off injured in the 3rd quarter, hopefully it is not too serious. Our normally watertight defence struggled today as they seemed to be dropping marks that they normally would gobble up. However any defence in the league would have been struggling with the amount of clean ball that East Fremantle were getting in the middle.

There is still a faint chance of finals but it would need a massive turnaround next week against West Perth. The team looked totally flat and dispirited by the end of the game today and I think it may be beyond them.
 
I think we have to be honest here and admit that despite some really strong victories earlier in the season, Swans have gone backwards this year and were shown today how far away they are from being a premiership contender. They have basically stayed in the hunt for finals over the past few months by beating sides in the bottom 4 but have been handed a brutal reality check by a very good side today.
 

Yep, the reality check we needed that may have come at the right time - but hope of playing finals is fading. EF's performance - and congrats to them - highlighted problems on the field and in the coaches box that a number of honorable losses have disguised. Unsurprising we got thrashed in the middle for it has occurred all season with Germs' return also unsurprisingly making no difference. Without our seventh defender - the rain and sodden grounds of the last few weeks - the defence was swapped, but players dropped their heads very quickly that was very disappointing.

Lots to play for personally (Notte) and for the club (making the finals), but it made no difference.

mikeh wrote:

The Sharks were the better team all day, we hung in there gallantly to half time until the floodgates opened in the 3rd quarter and the last quarter was an absolute embarassment as all but a few players gave up the ghost and allowed EF to swarm all over us. We were absolutely smashed in the centre, our normally competitive midfield had off days, we fumbled, missed targets, were 2nd to the ball and played with very little intensity compared with the Sharks who were so hungry. They just moved the ball into their forward line with ridiculous ease and I lost count of the number of times they hit up their forwards on a lead.

To make matters worse, Notte came off injured in the 3rd quarter, hopefully it is not too serious. Our normally watertight defence struggled today as they seemed to be dropping marks that they normally would gobble up. However any defence in the league would have been struggling with the amount of clean ball that East Fremantle were getting in the middle.

There is still a faint chance of finals but it would need a massive turnaround next week against West Perth. The team looked totally flat and dispirited by the end of the game today and I think it may be beyond them.
 
I think we have to be honest here and admit that despite some really strong victories earlier in the season, Swans have gone backwards this year and were shown today how far away they are from being a premiership contender. They have basically stayed in the hunt for finals over the past few months by beating sides in the bottom 4 but have been handed a brutal reality check by a very good side today.

 

Mike well said above.
TBH I couldnt believe we were only 4 points behind at half time as just by balance of power alone in the game EF should have been at least 6 goals up, that was of course rectified in the 2nd half as we really raised the white flag and Old Easts destroyed a very meek Swans side who had their season on the line but played like they cant wait for it to be over.
Of the 32 centre bouncedowns yesterday I dont think we won 1 centre clearance for the day not 1, have a look at the disposals EF had about 420 to our 270 a whopping 150 more, the Inside 50 count was nearly double to EF who had 70 for the game, it was like a glorified training run for them with black & white witches hats providing statued token resistance.
Our work rate was almost non existent save for a couple of players, EF ran hard both ways to create an option when they got the ball or to help a team mate out and when on the rare times we actually had it we either butchered it most of the time or EF players ran hard to harass our guys and then had already run into space to receive the footy on that turnover whilst we stood still like a shag on a rock.
The conditions were absolutely perfect for footy, good weather, nice fast deck but only 1 team came to play to capitalise on them and that was EF who could give some cheek in the Finals but im not sure any of WP, CL, SF or Peel will give them the amount of time, space and lack of pressure they got yesterday!

As for next week we have WP at home and unfortunately the 1980s reunion might have to watch another shellacking unfold!