TOPIC:

Saturday twighlight fixture coming up and a massive game coming up for Swans early in the season. 

As I described in the post match report from EP, Swans simply have to win this game to keep their season on track. A bye to follow and then a much vaunted East Freo, albeit at home and then an away trip to Claremont. 

Several questions to be asked at the selection table…..
- do we persist with these 2 rucks or bring in GM and or Germs which would then provide us with a taller fwd option in GM. Surely GM plays!!!
- does O’Donohue come in and play a negating role, most likely on Constable. 
- do we need a small fwd who can lay a tackle
- who replaces Pasini assuming he doesn’t get up? (Hopefully Ehlers)

Dont really want to entertain a shootout here. Happy for us to play quicker with ball in hand and be more direct but there needs to be a balance and more of a defensive aspect which starts with a higher tackle count. A genuine ruck contest would also help keep the oppo mids accountable even if only at stoppage. 

Good signs last week despite the loss just with a few adjustments to be made. 

This game will show us if we are legitimate finals contenders or just mid bunch once again because if we are to contend for a top 5 spot then this should be at least a 5-6 goal win. 

Correct Danger, this game will tell us a lot about where Swans are heading this season. We don't want to get into the situation that we had in 2023 where we were 1- 6 and it was season over before the half way mark. I would ideally like us to be 4-3  after 7 games so that we would still be well and truly in the hunt for finals so this one is a must win. If GM is fit, he has to come in and I would also give Germs another chance and maybe give Doc a week off after the taxing task he had last week . Otherwise the team just needs to come out with the same intensity they showed for a large part of the game against East Perth. Oh yes and also kick goals instead of points.

The defence was shown up last week against EP. Some of the men back there were short of a run (Erceg) or just too slow (Howard). I was very surprised that they brought Erceg in for Taylor without the former having a run in the seconds - Taylor should have been one of the last to be dropped after the game against wce. I would drop Howard this week and replace him with Taylor, while Erceg will be better for the run.

Glass must come in but I am unsure where for I think he is wasted as a ruckman, while ruck itself - yep, still an issue. I would retain Smith, but I have never been a fan of Germs, with Blakely still IMO better but with obvious limitations.

Should be a good game.

SH Im glad I am not the only one who was staggered we dropped L.Taylor for Erceg who hadnt played a pre season game at all and in 30+ degree heat was always going to struggle and looked very rusty.
I also agree Howard should make way this week as he was far too loose on Medhat last week, Howard & Erceg's opponents kicked 10 goals between them, just not good enough!
Not sure why Ehlers hasnt played this season as he is one who will lock down on his opponent.

BH Ehlers played round 1. I think it wasn’t so much Erceg being rusty it was more his opponent being used to expose him dropping off and then that flowed on to imbalance the rest of the back 6. It will be interesting to see if he can adjust or the coach adjusts the way we play to suit him.

Team is out and as predicted Pasini and Collins will miss. Be good if the club could provide an update but that is highly unlikely and we are more a chance of finding out on this forum.

Looks to be a bit of by play going on as Chipper is named in the starting 18 and there is no chance he will be lining up in a back pocket. With the 2 outs you’d expect Taylor and Ehlers to both return. Chipper racked it up last week in the 2’s but his possessions took us nowhere, especially after half time and with some poor turnovers, Odonahue the much better option imo as can play a number of roles. 

GM to return and the young bloke given a rest which makes sense and Blakely holds his spot for the time being. 

Final team will be interesting. 

Danger Ehlers did not play in Rd1, I think you may be confusing him with B.Watson or Tester.
The only change from Rd1 to Rd2 was Erceg in for L.Taylor!
Also E.Smith injured a  lower leg late in the 3rd qtr last week but played through it probably to give a tired Doc a chop out in the heat and we already had a few injured soldiers play on who look like are also are out this week.

Beasley Hutton wrote:

Danger Ehlers did not play in Rd1, I think you may be confusing him with B.Watson or Tester.
The only change from Rd1 to Rd2 was Erceg in for L.Taylor!
Also E.Smith injured a  lower leg late in the 3rd qtr last week but played through it probably to give a tired Doc a chop out in the heat and we already had a few injured soldiers play on who look like are also are out this week.


my bad BH, possibly did get him mixed up with Watson. Anyhow, good young player is Ehlers and hopefully he gets a crack at it. 
 

That was pathetic by Swans! Out coached and outplayed!!!

At every contest throughout the night we were outnumbered, at times it was 2v4/5 and that is unacceptable. Pushing 2 half fwds into the contest did not help and it allowed total control in our forward half. 

To not have a tall, thick option deep in the first half hurt and we rotated our rucks off the bench for the most part. Blakely is a serious liability!!! But what was most shocking was GM at one point in the 3rd at full back and then into the ruck. 

2 weeks ago I thought if we beat EP we’d be genuine contenders and now I’m seriously questioning if this coach has what it takes! Either his plan is no good, the players can’t execute his plan or the players are no good. 

And if we want to play this atrocious no tackle game then we will finish bottom 3. The only 2 players to compete consistently all night were Lynch and Jebba. Too many blokes looking for easy ball and too much handball or sideways chip chip. Tonight was very much like the last 2-3 seasons. 

Danger wrote:

That was pathetic by Swans! Out coached and outplayed!!!

At every contest throughout the night we were outnumbered, at times it was 2v4/5 and that is unacceptable. Pushing 2 half fwds into the contest did not help and it allows the total control in our forward half. 

To not have a tall, thick option deep in the first half hurt and we rotated our rucks off the bench for the most part. Blakely is a serious liability!!! But what was most shocking was GM at one position nt full back and then into the ruck. 

2 weeks ago I thought if we beat EO we’d be genuine contenders fees and now I’m seriously question if this coach has what it takes! 

And if we want to play this atrocious no tackle game then we will finish bottom 3. The only 2 players to compete all night were Lynch and Jebba.

I’ll simply take my hat off to the Perth FC this evening …their blokes wanted it more and it showed. From the 2 games I’ve seen this year,  the ball  comes out of our fwd line way too easy for mine. 

The scoreboard flattered Swans because apart from a 15 minute period in the 3rd quarter, Perth were in control of the game. Perth are inexperienced and they made a number of mistakes which to some extent kept us in the game for longer than we deserved. Whereas last week I was encouraged by our performance, this effort has me wondering whether this is all going to follow the same pattern as 2023.

There didn't seem to me to be any plan that the team were following tonight. Whereas against East Perth the forward line had structure and looked dangerous, tonight it was dysfunctional and we reverted to bombing the ball to contests which made it easy for the Perth defenders. The only time there was some system was that patch in the 3rd quarter when Edwards presented and surprise surprise we kicked 4 goals in 10 minutes.

Like Danger I was very confused about how some of the players were being used and I was starting to wonder whether the coach is out of his depth or if he has got the team listening to him. I just saw some of the same old skill errors that supporters have been seeing for years now. Is it poor coaching or are some of the players simply not good enough. Who Knows? Again some of them could hardly raise a gallop in the last quarter and once again the team was being carried by Jesse and a few others.

We are now looking down the barrel at a 1- 3 start to the season with the premiers to come after the bye and as we know from 2023, the season can slip away very quickly once the losses start piling up early in the season.

Perth have certainly improved and whilst they still have some way to go to be competitive with the top teams, they are tracking in the right direction whilst Swans seem to have been treading water for the last 3 years.