Slightly different write up tonight, given the result. What I saw out there today was a very very good football team and unfortunately that team is not Swans.
Because the game itself was effectively over as a contest by quarter time, there was an opportunity to have a look at the way that Subiaco players operate and how that contrasted with the approach of the Swans team.
Before you shoot me down in flames, I recognise that Subiaco have a lot more in the way of resources than the other 6 “real” WAFL clubs and they can afford to attract a high calibre of player with this advantage, however as we will all agree putting together a talented list is only part of the answer to winning a flag, the players need to gel as a unit as well and I saw that in bucketloads from Subiaco today..
It is actually quite scary how much the gap is between the top team and a 4th placed team who lets face it have done pretty well up to now with 5 good solid wins to their credit.
Even before the game started I noticed the difference in the respective teams warm ups. While Swans went through some standard drills and kicking for goals, Subiaco went through almost a military structured type regime, where players paired off with off field staff to practice skills. They seemed to be doing drills that would potentially simulate match conditions (a little 1 per center there).
Once the match got under way, Swans showed in the first 10 minutes they were really up for the contest and it was quite a hot game early. The boys had 3 genuine goal scoring opportunities in this period. Unfortunately the result was 3 behinds. At the other end Subiaco scored 2 – 1 from their first 3 entries. After the 15 minute mark Swans seemed to drop their work rate and that was the end of the contest.
I have rarely seen a team in the WAFL that has the ability to completely demoralise an opposition team as quickly as this current Subiaco team. They do this by a combination of hard work, gut running, team structures behind the ball to support teammates in trouble and an intensity level that wouldn’t look out of place in an AFL game. Their skills and decision making stand up very well under pressure although Swans didn’t really test that today after the first quarter.
By the 2nd quarter our guys had basically just conceded and Subiaco were doing as they liked. Horsely and Kitchen were getting possessions for fun and there was a moment in the 3rd quarter which I think summed up the game. Noble had narrowly missed a set shot and from the resultant kick out, Subiaco executed a coast to coast goal which was finished off by Horsley. No Swans player got within 20 metres of any Subiaco player in the chain of passes.
Some of our guys tried hard, particularly Matt Riggio, Tobe Watson and Cory Gault but it was all individual effort whereas Subiaco ran in waves and made Swans look like a bunch of Amateurs up against professionals.
I will allow others to speculate on what this result means for the competition as a whole. Needless to say I can’t see anyone beating Subiaco this year. They are obviously training to a certain level to cover the possibility that they will be ambushed again by an AFL loaded affiliate in a Grand final. I really think they have nothing to worry about this year. When you have a guy like Adam Cockie running around in the 2’s not being able to get a game, this is indicative of how far they are in front of everybody else.
For Swans, I hope Pickering, who I think is a very good coach will try and extract some learnings for the players from this experience. No point in just forgetting about it. Maybe the players could look at what Subiaco bring to the table in terms of their team disciplines and their hard work and perhaps try and learn from what they do. You can’t control the quality of players the opposition have, however the Swans boys can perhaps look at what they do and try and emulate some of these little things. No point in putting our heads in the sand and whinging. We have another game against Peel next week which is very winnable and if we do puts us back on track.
