TOPIC:

gtrxuone wrote:

Well done to the Royals.
Really good game of Round 1 footy.
Momentum swings both ways.
Would of loved a draw.

it was a game of halves.Swans killed us in the second half in the midfield.Thank goodnes for Scott Jones taking some timely marks in the back half.Not sure whether swans had their best side  out there as we were missing at least five best 22.I have the feeling both sides will need to improve to make the top five.It is early and maybe both will improve.

Chaddy is Scot Jones your big ruckman.

Whinnen wrote:

mikeh wrote:

Yes I can't understand why Germs is not in the team, especially as Scott Jones monstered us in the corresponding game last year so you would think that we would need more rather than less big man strength.

I am also wondering what is the situation with McLachlan the new recruit from Geelong who has not been named in league or reserves and to my knowledge didn't play in any of the pre season games, Injury problems perhaps? Also no Frank Anderson in either grade so maybe he has had a setback in his recovery from the ACL. If anyone closer to the club than me can shed any light on this, I would appreciate it.

Mike, Anderson is working FIFO and bewilderingly Swans have agreed to play him every 2nd week on his swing. When you have Notte commuting from Busso and now Anderson on/off it can not be good for the morale of the other players on the cusp, not a good move by Swans for mine !

Anderson was in the huddle today so I think him missing out today was more to do with his injury. Also Notte was the runner today for Swans so he might be back sooner than we all think.

gtrxuone wrote:

Chaddy is Scot Jones your big ruckman.

yep and the only decent ruckman we have at the moment.

Well done Royals, like last year had our chances and fell short at the end, kicking to our forwards was terrible, at their feet, over their head or bomb it in and missed a lot of shots also.
Why is Germs playing reserves? Was superb last year and Jones dominated.
Anderson, Notte, Cipro, McLachlan, Bright and Collins all missing, can never work out how after 6 months off so many top 22 players are not available, apart from Notte of course

As Gtrx said a real see saw contest that would have been very good to watch as a neutral but nerve wracking for both sets of supporters. Such was East Perths dominance in the first half, I thought we were in for a right royal 10 goal thumping but credit to the boys for their fightback in the 3rd and I think they had the better of the early exchanges in the last quarter. However East Perth took advantage of their forays up forward with 3-1 whilst Swans were wasteful with 2 - 4 which included 2 fairly easy set shots missed by Jones and Edwards which would have put us a couple of goals in front. As it was East Perth got a new lease of life half way through the last quarter and on the balance of the game deserved their victory with Swans only winning one quarter.

Hard to make assessments in round 1, Swans had 4 of the top 5 possession getters on the ground but many of their possessions in the first half were turned over or ineffective. They still seem to have the same game plan as Pickering did last year which is predictable given that Pruen was an assistant coach under him. They still seem to lack big man presence around the ground. East Perth, led by the man mountain Jones seemed to be bigger and stronger and Swans only got the game on their terms when they tidied up their disposal and used their pace to advantage.

Young Hardeman acquitted himself really well I thought. 

Enjoyable game for the neutral. Definitely. Both crowds were into the game. Plenty of niggle. Some hard hits. Some high marking. Both coaches  cool under pressure. Thought Aiden Clarke starred in that last quarter. Game could have gone either way.

Thought the surface was much better than last year and that contributed to the high standard of footy. A faster game with better kicking. 

It was really great to see Jarrod Cameron back in a Swans jumper, hopefully he can realise his undoubted potential. 

Grump wrote:

It was really great to see Jarrod Cameron back in a Swans jumper, hopefully he can realise his undoubted potential. 

a bit fortunate his radar was a bit off.

Agree with JL that from a neutrals viewpoint it was a good game to watch especially the last qtr.Swans didn't lose any friends with that performance(some flat spots but not many) and when they started running harder the game changed.What I saw yesterday confirmed my thoughts that this will be a very even WAFL season.Won't be too many blowouts(possibly WC sometimes) and both Swans and EP will be in the mix.