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Saturdays clash between the 2 most in form teams of the competition promises to be an intriguing contest. A fine day awaits and hopefully there is a decent amount of traveling Tigers supporters in attendance. 

An interesting aspect of this game is that it seems both teams have transitioned into completely different styles of play that somewhat replicates that of their opponents, previously. Claremont are a far more negating outfit that is winning games by staying in the contest for longer (tackles numbers are huge, comparatively)and getting over the line with low scores while Swans are playing with more flow and intent than they have in the last 5 years, or even longer.

Swans now come into this contest, and in the future, as the hunted. It will be interesting to see how that plays out and hopefully there is still an element of us taking away opposition strengths and a pack hunt mentality as I feel this is where our base of good form started from. Everything offensively seems to have flowed from that. 

It’s a weekly topic of discussion but the ruck battle will again have significant influence on this contest. Eastland is undoubtedly the best ruck in the comp while Blakely has elevated his game in the past month by getting big numbers around the ground. It will be a fascinating duel and GM will also have a big say. 

The Tigers good form has also been on the back of Bolton’s return to the midfield. No doubt Odonahue will be sent to him at some point in the match. It has been interesting to see Jebb start as the half fwd and negate the best attacking oppo back before transitioning to the mid tagger in game. I’d like to see us go after Bolton, or Rogers, from the start, especially with a likely hit out advantage for the Tigers. 

Selection wise, you wouldn’t envisage much change. Howard should continue to build in the 2’s, as should Erceg when he becomes available. I’d be extremely disappointed and shocked if Collins made way for them and also Stephens for that matter. Both those lads provide far more flexibility at this stage of their careers and there needs to be an element of development during this period as well. Collins on Kietel last week was part of that development, for Collins and the team, and Collins did well after the initial onslaught. Not sure how far off Erceg is but I’d suggest even he doesn’t fit in that back 6-7 at the moment and I really hope the coach is brave enough to make the tough call on a couple of mates. That being said, no issues if they come into the team if form warrants a change. Interested in others thoughts on that. 

Up the other end of the ground the only possible change could be Cartwright for Reidy. Cartwright is coming off some huge form in the 2’s and while those numbers are predominantly in the midfield he undoubtedly has the talent to slot in up fwd where he’s always been dangerous. Reidy is an important part of the structure and his defensive attributes in tackling and pressure acts provide a need but I’d like to see if Cartwright can come in and do that but also hit the scoreboard as well. 

All in all it promises to be a pretty good game of WAFL footy and a huge opportunity presents itself for Swans to strengthen their credentials for a top 3 birth.

On a side note, it will be interesting to see if the colts boys who played 2’s last week drop back into the colts this week. If so that colts game should be a highlight also. 

Good preview Danger. I agree with you that there should be minimal changes in a winning team. Reidy didnt have a great game stats wise last week but he does a lot of unheralded stuff like pressuring opposition players who are trying to get easy passage out of defence as well as tackling and throwing himself into packs generally. The defence should remain intact unless there are injuries.
This is arguably the biggest game at Bassendean since the final in 2017 so hopefully there will be a good turnout

This being a huge game in the context of the season. You little beauty because the gossip heard this game is being covered by the SportFM commentary team.

It is also the Ch7 game WAG
and of course, even better, watch the stream via the website and you don’t have to put up with the brain numbing advertisements

Have been keeping the ear close to the ground and heard Swans are currently paying one dollar 65 c for the win. Whilst Claremont are sitting at 2 $ and 15c for the win. Those figures may/ may not change closer to bounce-down time. The weather conditions around the various grounds is said to be fine and mostly sunny with a maximum temperature of 20 degrees.

Not much gets past you, WAG!

What can you say about that? A real test by Claremont of Swans' game plan that appeared brittle a few times during the game - the 'Monts pressure caused much fumbling and poor disposal. Great discipline, however, shown by the team in keeping to the drill despite their opponents getting out at one stage to a four goal lead, and the win against quality opposition must give all confidence that they're on a good thing. 

Congratulations to Notte and Turner, and thanks to Claremont for the respect they showed to the two men with a guard of honour after the game.

Like you SH, I wasn't sure what to make of that game. Claremont were the better side in the first 3 quarters but wasted a number of opportunities to open up a significant gap in the scores. The result was that Swans were still in touch at 3 quarter time and managed to get their running game going in the last quarter. It was still very tight though and the Tigers didnt give up at any stage.

It was good for the boys to experience some finals type pressure from a team they will likely come across in September and as you said SH, their skills didn't hold up very well particularly in the first half. I thought Swans took a huge risk by not playing someone like Germs after Glass- Mccasker pulled out. More or less conceded the centre clearances to Eastland and the Tigers midfielders. Claremont were clearly the taller side and were playing a kick mark style in the first half which Swans found hard to counter. They were also pressuring us very well forcing us into error. The coach implored the team to take the game on in the last quarter and play their own style of running football and this changed the momentum of the play because all of a sudden it was the Tigers doing the chasing. Once more it was Tommy Edwards and Aiden Clarke who kicked the crunch goals that got us over the line

Swans have made a habit of chasing down early deficits to win games ( 4 goals down in the 2nd quarter today) but they really need to work on these slow starts because the good teams will close them down if they get leads like this, particularly in finals

Rokahr and Chalcraft continue to play outstanding football and have lifted the whole midfield. Turner and Clarke have always been consistent but others like Cipro, Pina, Lynch etc have been contributing weekly and making the team hard to defend against.
Some other players worth a mention
Leigh Kohlmann , a quality leading forward. Makes our forward line much more potent with Edwards in the mix as well.
Jebh O'Donohue - love the way he competes and gets in the oppositions face
Will Collins - defended well all day but his running goal in the 3rd quarter was a highlight and I thought was instrumental in sparking the fightback
Jackson Mclachlan- only a little bloke but a terrier and competes for every ball
Tony Notte-  A lazy 21 possession, 8 mark game for his 305th appearance

Just a word about the umpiring . After not paying a holding the ball all day, an umpire gave one against Swans in the last couple of minutes which enabled Claremont to move the ball forward and tie the scores. Not saying it wasnt there but there were many other good tackles during the day that werent rewarded. This lack of consistency underlines the frustration that many supporters feel about officiating

So 7 wins in a row now with a bye next week and a clash with the Doggies at Freo in 2 weeks. 

This seemed a match of contrasts. Full marks to Claremont for having a red hot crack and not giving up all afternoon. They had kicked their highest first half score (thus far for the season) of 50 points. Swans first half score of 35 points was a touch below their first half average. Whilst Swans were not out of the match at the long break, one was hearing they had Swans measure.  To their credit, the Home team outscored the visitors in the vital third quarter. Even though both teams had 4 scoring shots in quarter 3, Swans booted 3 goals 1 to Claremont scoring 2.2. In the final term, Claremont inaccuracies did not help of having 6 scoring shots resulting in 1 goal. Whilst the Home team piled on 8 scoring shots which resulted in producing 4 goals in the final term.
As we get closer to finals time, Swans won't be able to give opposition teams a big lead and then expect to magically catch up somehow. It won't work that way because Finals are a different game. Well done to both clubs yesterday in what was a good hard fought game. And great to hear the respect and sportsmanship shown to Notte and Turner on their respective big days in front of what sounded like a big crowd at the game. 

A great fighting win that showed fantastic belief and the ride we are all on is not before time but make no mistake we were very, very lucky at the same time.

I’ve constantly and consistently stated that playing without a genuine ruck is not sustainable and it will bring a quick demise come finals time. Germs card has been marked, triple stamped and is somewhere in the AusPost hemisphere. Mind boggling really that we went with a 184cm back up who was making his league debut. Dont get me wrong… Kaporn looked capable up fwd but this insistence to not play Germs when the opportunity arose just gives the opposition first use  in most if not all matches. In saying that I don’t think Germs should play in front of GM or Blakely but Saturday was the great escape and as good as we know Blakely is, come finals time you can’t be going into a half time break with the opposition having double the amount of i50 which is largely due to ruck dominance. 

Kohlman and Edwards seemed to have worked out how to combine which is a big tick. 

Our ability to sway momentum is a highlight and the close game scenarios aren’t a fluke, there are 1 or 2 constants in every tight finish. 

It should be noted too that Saturdays game was our highest tackling game of the season even though we seemed to be the team under more pressure, possibly because of a very high hball count. 

Enjoy the break Swans fans, onwards to Freo in a fortnights time to stamp our spot in the top 3.