TOPIC:

A win gets us to 2-3 and back in the hunt, a loss means we will be 1-4 with a mountain to climb so it goes without saying that this is a critical game. Once more they have scheduled this game on Sunday so the Dockers can play their emergencies. Looks like its going to be wet so that may be to our advantage as we were good in the rainy conditions last year.

On the team news, good to see Josh Cipro back in the squad, still no Frank Anderson in either league or ressies. Clark and Fisher still out but McLaughlan has filled that gap to an extent, He is a very good player and I can see why he won a fairest and best at Geelong. Tony Notte is playing his 3rd reserves game in a row, probably a bit tough for him to get back into the defence which is operating very well at the moment. Maybe there could be a spot open up for Tony in the forward line.

Peel are tough to beat down there so I am hopeful rather than expectant
 

I'd be expecting Swan Districts to be winning this match. Although realising currently early in the season, many of Swans stats are below the league average. The area of concern is the offence efficiency at the moment of 0.95 which is not as high as other clubs. Swans showed last week of their capability as they don't win very often at Fremantle Oval. This weeks encounter across at Mandurah looks like being played in the rain. If Swans can adjust to the wet conditions better, they should be banking the 4 premiership points.

Disappointing stuff after the first quarter, it needs saying.

Only the first quarter was anywhere near good enough. No excuses, Swans were just not up to scratch. Shaping up as another season without finals footy.

Although behind on the score board at the long break, one felt Swans were not out of the match. Their forward pressure in the first half being over 25% which is good. Also in the first half, accomplishing 21 ball disp per goal, 2.4 disp inside 50 per goal. Then they completely collapsed in the second half with their forward pressure dropping to only 8 percent which is a huge decrease. Ball Disposals per goal went up to 74. The disposals  inside 50 per goal went up to 5. Cannot win any games with figures like that. The contrast between the two halves is difficult to comprehend. The next match for the black & whites coming up against Claremont. Then the general bye for the state game. And the week after that, Swans take on Subi.

All of their losses up till today had been competitive performances but today was a complete surrender. 64 inside 50s to Peel as opposed to 27 for Swans tells the tale really.
They have definitely gone backwards from last year when they were unlucky to miss finals with a 10-8 record. They are of course missing their two best midfielders but not sure if even they would have made much difference
On the way Swans played today I can't see them challenging Claremont or Subiaco and if they lose these two games it will be 1-6 and season over.

At the completion of the next set of fixtures, it will be a third of the season gone already. Sadly the top of the league ladder is looking fairly set already! And sad to say there is already a bit of a gap opening up between the top 5 and bottom 4 placed teams which is not ideal for the competition as a whole.

Its a shame really as Swans have been good. Its likely to get worse with Jones and Blight with Hammys and Collins got poleaxed in massive proportions and is lucky to be alive, massive hit it was

mikeh wrote:

All of their losses up till today had been competitive performances but today was a complete surrender. 64 inside 50s to Peel as opposed to 27 for Swans tells the tale really.
They have definitely gone backwards from last year when they were unlucky to miss finals with a 10-8 record. They are of course missing their two best midfielders but not sure if even they would have made much difference
On the way Swans played today I can't see them challenging Claremont or Subiaco and if they lose these two games it will be 1-6 and season over.





At what point will the people who run this club stop making excuses and take ownership of where we currently sit on field but also our lack of success over a sustained period???

And who is in fact “running the show”? Is the league coach just a puppet? 

The current board and football department are people that have been in and around the club for a lot of this unsuccessful on field period. Are they the right people to take us forward or do we need change and a breath of fresh air?
 

Danger wrote:

mikeh wrote:

All of their losses up till today had been competitive performances but today was a complete surrender. 64 inside 50s to Peel as opposed to 27 for Swans tells the tale really.
They have definitely gone backwards from last year when they were unlucky to miss finals with a 10-8 record. They are of course missing their two best midfielders but not sure if even they would have made much difference
On the way Swans played today I can't see them challenging Claremont or Subiaco and if they lose these two games it will be 1-6 and season over.





At what point will the people who run this club stop making excuses and take ownership of where we currently sit on field but also our lack of success over a sustained period???

And who is in fact “running the show”? Is the league coach just a puppet? 

The current board and football department are people that have been in and around the club for a lot of this unsuccessful on field period. Are they the right people to take us forward or do we need change and a breath of fresh air?


 

I think that the goals for the football program have been lost a bit with all the other objectives of Swans becoming a community club, which they have done very well and also put themselves on a good financial footing which is great. The problem is that if you don't have a team that is challenging for finals consistently, only the most loyal supporters will stick with them. I found this goal in the most recent strategic plan on the website
Consistently deliver a top 3 WAFL and WAFLW ladder position, and a Premiership in the near future.
Well the WAFL league team has fallen well short of that goal winning only 34 of their last 85 games. Even in the relatively "successful" seasons of 2021 - 22 where they won 10 games, they came nowhere near a top 3 spot. Chances of them making the top 5 this year are falling away quickly, never mind the top 3 spot. Someone ultimately has to be accountable for the failure to achieve this goal. Meanwhile since 2020 we have seen East Fremantle and East Perth who were behind Swans in their development at that stage, surge past us with both in a position to challenge for a flag in the future.