Possibly the worst first half of footy I've seen for a while, yes it was a bit slippery but little or no breeze and no sun, both teams could not hit the side of a barn, first qtr a combined 11 scoring shots for 1 goal!! by halftime it was 23 scoring shots for 7 goals though Swans had their best qtr with 4.2 to 2.4.
Lots of fumbled ball and dropped marks but a shining light in Delahunty who had a day out, Simpson & Riggio were gathering lots of possessions as were Robbo, Horse and Bogensperger, Kitch was being well held with just 4 in the first half.
Obviously Schoey read the riot act at halftime and they came out with much more urgency, Twomey was moved up forward and worked hard to create chances, the tackling intensity went up several notches, it needed to as Swans had smashed us in that department in the first half, that pressure created lots of turnovers resulting in a much better 6.7 to 3.2 qtr, we kicked the first 6 goals of the qtr but Swans stuck at it and when we relaxed a bit they got 3 quick ones. Notte going back to CHB was a good move and that was the main driver along with Cary going into the ruck for their fightback. Clang chimed in with 2 quality snap goals and Kitch stated to break the shackes a bit but was not as dominant as previous games with just 12 disposals for the game.
The last qtr was another good one for us but again the goal kicking was atrocious with 3.6 to Swans single goal.
Dela and Clang were the dominant big men around the ground, their big fella Yukich did well at the stoppages with 22 hitouts but did little elsewhere, just a youngster though and looks to have a good future. Shep kicked 2.2 but was just shaded by Ames who continues to be the backbone of the swans side, they would be totally stuffed without him. Horse, Phez, Robbo, Dela & Boges all has 20+ possessions so a good input generally from the mids unit.
While it was an ordinary effort by the lads and only 2 good qtrs, the mids & forwards were still able to produce 35 scoring opportunities while keeping Swans to just 16, while Swans effort cant be questioned the final scoreline did flatter them. If we had converted at the same % as Swans (just 50%) the margin would have been doubled. but bad kicking is bad footy.
Good to see Broughts suit up, he desperately needed a run, looked a bit rusty but did attack the contests all day, Boges was very good, runs hard has some pace and his disposal was very sharp on most occasions, should hold his spot depending on match ups.
Many of the stats were quite close. we had 8 more disposals, they had 9 more tackles, 10 more hitouts but 42 more marks whil!! the really confusing stat was the frees with Swans 22 to us 13. Now I have no problems with most of Swans frees they got, its just patently obvious that the umps, and not just in this game, appear to just let a number of quite obvious frees go and call play on, that is the only explanation for the significant negative discrepancy in frees that we are subject too. Anyway just my thoughts on the issue.
There is no question that Subi are a very strong outfit but for all to state that it's all done and dusted is a bit premature given Souths stellar start to the season, they are also undefeated and sit clearly on top of the ladder with a massive percentage, we face them after the bye down on their paddock, should be a great game, hopefully a fine day so we can see two quality sides display their skills, and the winner rightly claiming to be flag favorites.
