TOPIC:

Winger wrote: Southerner, I thought the umpiring today was absolute 5hit. So bloody inconsistent and at times almost ridiculous. Today there were no rules, just laws.

Interesting free kick count Winger... WP 12 SF 20.. Didnt think WP were that undisciplined.

Maybe the WAFC were giving instructions to the Umps Nah only joking

Maybe Chookie spoilt the party

But having said that if you look at the stats SF lead in most of them so no shame on their effort as well

Great to see Swans win this one and would be great to help but with it being a dead rubber for us next week and the finals comming up could find a few WP players with niggling injuries having a rest day. Cant blame WP and maybe I am wrong but we are going through a hard slog with no breaks.
Gotta be realistic but having said that the 22 we put out next week and our depth there is no reason we wont beat CLA. Cla will have a lot more to play for than us.

I wonder if the CLA coach is cleverer than we think.. No Keplar today Seaby down to 12 HO . Was he resting players v Swans today.. 4 goals to Richardson kept them in it?
Looking at full strength side v WP? Will be interesting to see CLA ins and outs for next week.

We havent lost a game at Joondalup this year is a positive. CLA not as good as they think. Tag Richardson (Marcus Adams should keep him quiet). Cant see it being a problem.. Yeh I said that just to be nice as no game is predictable.

Bottom line who would we prefer to have in finals SD or CLA? SD comming off a break fresh to play EP. or CLA who are having some problems? Will leave that answer to you.

Looking forward to selections next week for WP and CLA. That will tell the story.

some more thoughts

What an inspirational goal by Rudy from an impossible angle in the 2nd quarter when everyone else was missing them. Rudy really put in today I thought. He did a lot more chasing when he didn't have the ball.

Matt Riggio was quiet in the first half but lifted later in the game when we needed him.

Joel Houghton won some important contests late in the game, should be in the team every week

Bluey and Faulkner played their usual games of 20+ possessions making sure we had our share of the ball. As I said before Blighty and Rogers were just superb all day.

Amesy generally kept Maister under control and Cary did a good job on the resting ruckmen. Unfortunately with Swoop missing this did not give us a lot of targets up forward however.

Missed targets and poor kicking at goal nearly cost us but luckily Claremont didn't have their kicking boots on either.

Broady is the most improved player in the WAFL. I'm sure he has caught the attention of a few AFL clubs with his dash off half back.

Even though Nathan Blakely was soundly beaten in the hit outs, he was very good around the ground and used his body well around the contests.

The key to beating Claremont if they make the finals ( and maybe a tip for West Perth next week) is to try and shut down their short chip passing game. They love chipping the ball around in their backline and waiting for an opportunity to go forward. I wasn't surprised that they had 40 more possessions than Swans today. It seemed like more actually.

Cardy wrote:

Winger wrote: Southerner, I thought the umpiring today was absolute 5hit. So bloody inconsistent and at times almost ridiculous. Today there were no rules, just laws.

Interesting free kick count Winger... WP 12 SF 20.. Didnt think WP were that undisciplined.

Maybe the WAFC were giving instructions to the Umps Nah only joking

Maybe Chookie spoilt the party

But having said that if you look at the stats SF lead in most of them so no shame on their effort as well

Great to see Swans win this one and would be great to help but with it being a dead rubber for us next week and the finals comming up could find a few WP players with niggling injuries having a rest day. Cant blame WP and maybe I am wrong but we are going through a hard slog with no breaks.
Gotta be realistic but having said that the 22 we put out next week and our depth there is no reason we wont beat CLA. Cla will have a lot more to play for than us.

I wonder if the CLA coach is cleverer than we think.. No Keplar today Seaby down to 12 HO . Was he resting players v Swans today.. 4 goals to Richardson kept them in it?
Looking at full strength side v WP? Will be interesting to see CLA ins and outs for next week.

Looking forward to selections next week for WP and CLA. That will tell the story.

Keplar did play today Cardy, he didn't do an awful lot as he was on Notte who is one of our best defenders. Seaby was mainly in the forward line, leaving Andrews to do most of the ruck work. Your point about resting some players makes sense. The only thing going for Swans I suppose is that your guys would like to go through the season undefeated at home and go into the finals with a win?

OOPS Sorry mate just had another look and was in with 10 poss..
Think he was out in previous couple of games. Notte would put anyone out of the game. WP dont like to lose any games as our coach said. I will be travelling up to Joondalup.. Assume a few Swannies will be there as well.
I though SF might of had the wood on us today with our outs but Bill must of had a change of heart and decided to go for it today. Glad he did as Rodda who originally out played and he stopped a lot of forward moves by Souths.
It was still a close one with key ruckman out and a couple of others being Rassa and Shannon just to name a couple.
All up though we have plenty of depth and as I said the 22 we put on the field next week will be good enough to do the job for the Red and Blue.
I wouldnt want it any other way.

All our 3 grades are now set in concrete so will be a few elevated from Colts to reserves etc etc..

Shit we should have a decent gate if half of your mob turns up. All good

ALL THE BEST TO SD and as they say it aint over until the fat lady sings

I dont think WP can afford to rest players TBH or flirt with form because finishing second wont mean a thing if the first final is lost because Bill fucked around with his side

Claremont tried to limit Notte's influence today by playing around him. They backed Maister in to beat Ames and used the other big man up forward to keep Notte wide and out of the contest. This worked as you can see by Notte's unusually low stat count but Amesy beat Maister today in a cracking one on one battle that was worth the price of admission in itself. Considering the influence Maister had in the previous encounter I believe it was the difference today in the end result. Well done Tallen, you are one in a million mate, we are lucky to have this bloke lead our great club.

Cardy wrote: OOPS Sorry mate just had another look and was in with 10 poss..
Think he was out in previous couple of games. Notte would put anyone out of the game. WP dont like to lose any games as our coach said. I will be travelling up to Joondalup.. Assume a few Swannies will be there as well.
I though SF might of had the wood on us today with our outs but Bill must of had a change of heart and decided to go for it today. Glad he did as Rodda who originally out played and he stopped a lot of forward moves by Souths.
It was still a close one with key ruckman out and a couple of others being Rassa and Shannon just to name a couple.
All up though we have plenty of depth and as I said the 22 we put on the field next week will be good enough to do the job for the Red and Blue.
I wouldnt want it any other way.

All our 3 grades are now set in concrete so will be a few elevated from Colts to reserves etc etc..

Shit we should have a decent gate if half of your mob turns up. All good

ALL THE BEST TO SD and as they say it aint over until the fat lady sings

Thanks mate, we will be very grateful if your guys can do the job on them. A few ex Falcons playing for Claremont should get the competitive juices going. Don't think I will be there next Saturday but I'm sure you will see some black and white in the crowd, maybe some of the players might take a look as well.

Cardy wrote:
ALL THE BEST TO SD and as they say it aint over until the fat lady sings

Has Outerseagull been taking lessons?

mikeh wrote: Outstanding display of guts and determination by Swan Districts this afternoon.

These guys just refuse to say die and when they were looking down the barrel in the 3rd quarter, trailing by 22 points in a low scoring game, they just came back again and prevailed in the arm wrestle in the last quarter.

As a supporter I am just so proud of their efforts this year. Today was like most of the rest of the season. What they lacked in skills they more than made up for with sheer effort and a team spirit that I have not seen the equal of at Swans for many years. Everyone of them today could hold their heads high with what they produced this afternoon. Blight and Rogers in particular were magnificent and I think this game was their best in a Swans jumper for both of them.

If this is to be Swans last game of the season, the supporters will have a lot of happy memories to take out of the year and much to look forward to in 2016 with all the young guys they have blooded this year.

If Swans can sneak into the top 5, you never know what they could do. They are already battle hardened from playing virtual elimination finals for the last 6 weeks so they will have nothing to lose.

Great gesture by the players to sing the song outside in the members area to recognise the supporters who may just have got them over the line today who knows.

Now we wait.........

The atmosphere at a Swans game at Basso has no comparison in the WAFL Mike as witnessed yesterday with the Macca Stand, Can Bar, Swan Bar & the Members all lifting the boys to get over the Tiges ..compare that to a $ubi home game where there would be more life at a morgue!

I spotted no less than 4 guys yesterday who are involved in AFL recruitment yesterday at Basso.

Colts observations -
Maybe they were there to watch the Petrovski-Seton show in the colts but his 16 possessions for the Tiges didn't set the world on fire. Young bloke Hackett from SD #9 caught my eye. His movement through traffic was a delight to watch, had great energy all game and always seemed to find the ball immediately on re-entering the fray from the constant rotation. #4 John Shaw played a cracking game in the guts looked a class above everyone at times in the wet. #15 Timmy Yorkshire's first half was elite and his ball use inside 50 in the wet was special to watch. First time I've seen the big #12 play, not sure of his name but a thick set Kalamunda boy who impacted the game and definitely has something about him. Heard he has only played a little bit of footy to this stage which if true is astonishing. #43 out of defence, i think a Bunbury lad, continues to impress me every time I see him play. His dash out of defence yesterday, link up play and great ball use had the Tiges running backwards throughout the game. Can't comment much on the Tiges lads, they didn't show up to play yesterday and were dominated for most of the game by a very hungry SD side in the freezing cold and wet conditions. Great job by Coops and the lads both yesterday and all year for that matter to ensure they finish in the 1 or 2 spot depending on the result of WP v CL next week.

A few observation from the Seniors-
Being that there were AFL recruiters highly visible everywhere you looked yesterday it was a great day for Rudy Riddoch to show he can add a defensive side to his game. His 4qtr intensity yesterday was probably his best yet in a black and white jumper. Interesting to watch how he and Nelson would combine up forward yesterday as both like to get in behind the defence. Scoreboard suggests it didn't work but maybe the conditions yesterday didn't allow it to work. Rudy was our most dangerous forward yesterday but this was on the back of the defensive pressure he applied. Finally saw him crunching a few blokes in his vicinity which is what we've all been waiting for. Danny Penny was at the game yesterday and I couldn't help but wonder if Rudy was inspired by his presence. I know I was.
Broady continues to shine, not only our most improved players but now one of the best players in the WAFL. Nobody would look forward to being manned up by our #29. Can't recall him being beaten in 2015 and his running ability is elite. I hope for his sake he gets picked up because he deserves the chance after the work he has put in to improve his shortcomings which don't seem to exist anymore. We wouldn't be in finals calculations this year without his efforts.
Matty Rogers played a cracking game again yesterday, seems to save his best efforts for the Tigers. Have a theory on this. He seems to step up a gear when the team is really up against it and being that this is the first win v Claremont this year might explain his form against them.
Tallen Ames showed why he deserved a testimonial yesterday with his effort on Maisters/Wilkes. Riggio will be getting one soon too going on recent form. Has really stepped up in the second half of the season.

Really hoping we get a crack at finals in a couple of weeks time. On any given day we can match it with all teams in this comp. Going to be an excruciating afternoon next Saturday checking scores up at Joondy.