TOPIC:

Fair play to Subiaco, they really had a crack today with an undermanned team and looked the better side in the first half. But gee whiz, Swans made life hard for themselves . They were totally obsessed with handballing, often to guys who were under pressure and in no better position. When they did kick, it was often zig zagging across the ground and they turned over the ball a number of times in the backline with kicks that didn't hit their intended target and gifted Subiaco a few goals in the process.  It was just a very sloppy performance for a team which has finals ambitions and was probably a continuation of the drop off in their game last week.

I can understand why Swans use a lot of handball and it looks good when they are running forward of the play and using their pace to advantage but so many of the 194 handballs today ( yes 194!) were sideways or backwards to a stationary player who was pounced on by the opposition. 

I don't think this style of play will hold up in a final and they have to be prepared to kick a little more to keep the opposition guessing, especially now that we have a couple of good key forwards. More direct footy would be to their advantage and on the occasions in the 2nd half that they moved the ball quickly by foot, it usually ended up in a mark inside 50

For me William Collins was by far the best man on the ground . He kept us in the game in the first half when Subiaco were consistently getting the ball out of the centre. !5 marks on the day was unbelievable and he repelled so many of their attacks.

Odonohue down back 🤦‍♂️

We had 30 odd more handballs, 76 in total, in the opening term than they did in total possessions. Ridiculous intent to start the game and for the life of me can’t understand why we went backwards and sideways so regularly. It becomes predictable to defend and invites pressure, there is no way that that plan stacks up against the best, no chance!!!! Yes change angles and try to make the opposition defend and the switch is useful but it was way over the top.

On numerous occasions today we had opportunity from Centre bounce or stoppage to go fwd and we went backwards instead of a kick fwd that would’ve at least finished in the fwd half and even i50. Whenever we did play quicker and more direct we seemed to score. 

All said and done it’s been a great effort to go undefeated in the last 9 and it’s going to take another decent recruit or 2 to make us genuine contenders next year but we are thereabouts and giving the best fans in the comp some hope. 

We must be playing to win next week which is obvious but win or lose i’d be resting a few in the next couple weeks, namely Doc and Notte.

Win one of the last 3 and at very least we will finish 4th and with a home final. 

 

Hard to believe Swans have 16o odd ball disposals and yet win by only 20 points. It is great Swans have enjoyed their winning run and the one drawn match. They won't be able to play like today in the Finals, otherwise will end in disaster. Hopefully the coach and playing group realise this and make some adjustments. Swans will need to be switched on next week against East Fremantle which would be the match of the day.

Danger wrote:

Odonohue down back 🤦‍♂️

We had 30 odd more handballs, 76 in total, in the opening term than they did in total possessions. Ridiculous intent to start the game and for the life of me can’t understand why we went backwards and sideways so regularly. It becomes predictable to defend and invites pressure, there is no way that that plan stacks up against the best, no chance!!!! Yes change angles and try to make the opposition defend and the switch is useful but it was way over the top.

On numerous occasions today we had opportunity from Centre bounce or stoppage to go fwd and we went backwards instead of a kick fwd that would’ve at least finished in the fwd half and even i50. Whenever we did play quicker and more direct we seemed to score. 

All said and done it’s been a great effort to go undefeated in the last 9 and it’s going to take another decent recruit or 2 to make us genuine contenders next year but we are thereabouts and giving the best fans in the comp some hope. 

We must be playing to win next week which is obvious as it would sure up a top 3 spot but win or lose i’d be considering resting a couple in the PT game, namely Doc and Notte.

Win one of the last 3 and at very least we will finish 4th and with a home final against Claremont or South. 

Win 2 of 3 and will finish 2nd imo and play EF or EP

Win all 3 and finish top. 



 

Not the best display and absolute rubbish compared with the type of football played at some stages over the last two-months - fumbling, inability to find a man when switching, not running - but a win is a win. Looks like McLachlan might be out for a fortnight at least and he will be missed, but that might open the door for Roche to come in. 

The late Ken Armstrong once said that the clean mark is the defender's best form of countering the opponent's thrush forward. Yesterday Collins and Pisani took a combined total of 25 marks in defence - and many were contested. No Subi player secured double figure marks for the day. I wish O'Donohue played in the middle for rarely yesterday did we attack through the centre, but his cutting out of Sokol to five touches and one behind was outstanding. I am glad, however, that the latest umpiring philosophy of giving as few frees as possible also applied yesterday (umpire no 1's presence simply added to the attendance figure), for Jeb got away with murder.
 
 

I think that the players and coaching staff deserve great credit for putting Swans in the position that they are in now. Absolutely noone picked them to finish in the top 5 at the start of the year and now here they are on the verge of qualifying for the finals. They have not been beaten since May and they have made a lot of progress in the last 12 months.

However in watching the team over the last 2 weeks I am getting this nagging feeling that Swans are starting to lose a bit of momentum. Their team footy which was so good about a month ago is showing signs of buckling even though it was good enough to hold off Subiaco yesterday.

I think the day of reckoning is going to be against EF next week. If they play the same quality of footy against the Sharks they will be beaten by 10 goals no doubt. Looking at the situation objectively, Swans have done so well to make it this far but I am wondering whether we are a still few players short of being a genuine contender for the flag. We have discussed the big man deficit a lot this year, where we have been totally reliant on Doc who has done a magnificent job against much bigger blokes. The other finalists have at least one big guy capable of dominating a game. The reality is that our mids are often behind the 8 ball when trying to get clearances and that puts extra pressure on our defence which they have handled very well so far. However,  I fear that the dam wall might burst against the two teams we are playing next.

One thing I have noticed about Swans this year is their tendency to start games very slowly. In fact they have only led at quarter time in 2 of their 15 games so ( both v West Coast). Again yesterday, Subiaco were 2 to 0 up then 4 to 2 before Swans squared it at quarter time. If they start slowly in big games they may not find it so easy to play catch up like they have on so many occasions this year.

I hope I am wrong and even if we put up a competitive performance against EF without winning, I might be a bit more optimistic this time next week
 

SH we are already sitting stone motherless last (surprise surprise yet again) on the free kick differential ladder below, dont give them even more ammunition to give the opposition more free kicks against us!!!

CL +42
WP +26
EP +26
SF +8
WC +4
SU +2
PE 0
EF -7
PT -7
SD -14

Only 2 clubs Perth (187) & Swans (193) have not received at least 200+ free kicks this season so far.....

 

Received news yesterday that G-M is likely to be available this week which was soured by the news that Blakely had his arm, sling like, in his jumper at games end. Hopefully not too bad.

What happened to McGlaughlin?

Still nothing on Hewitt.

Danger wrote:

Received news yesterday that G-M is likely to be available this week which was soured by the news that Blakely had his arm, sling like, in his jumper at games end. Hopefully not too bad.

What happened to McGlaughlin?

Still nothing on Hewitt.

Hewett was the runner in the Reserves game so he must be getting close to a return to playing, McLachlan rolled his ankle.
Ireland, Erceg & Ehlers made their return this week after missing almost the whole season so far, Howard & Bright still indefinite.

Beasley Hutton wrote:

SH we are already sitting stone motherless last (surprise surprise yet again) on the free kick differential ladder below, dont give them even more ammunition to give the opposition more free kicks against us!!!

CL +42
WP +26
EP +26
SF +8
WC +4
SU +2
PE 0
EF -7
PT -7
SD -14

Only 2 clubs Perth (187) & Swans (193) have not received at least 200+ free kicks this season so far.....


 

Your going to have to rectify that if you want to win a flag BH