TOPIC:

Rushton Park not a happy hunting ground for  Swans in the last 3 to 4 years. Can they turn it around in this crucial game?. Peel have picked their full Dockers complement of 12 as expected including Reidy who dominates Swans every time we play them.  Edwards is a huge loss as he is a bit of an x factor in our line up and is hard for the opposition to match up on. We need to play at our very best to challenge these guys. The real question for me is whether the swans players really believe that they can beat this team stacked with AFL players

The record at Rushton Park is dire with Swans having won there once since 2016 and the recent clashes between the 2 sides have Peel winning the last 5 encounters by an average of 40 odd points - something needs to change. 

In the first encounter this year there were periods of that game where Swans had some good control. They lost the hit out count by 26 but won the i50 by 7 and this was off the back of Clarke, Rokhar and Chalcraft all getting 30+ and this is where the game is at. 

For Swans to give themselves any chance they must win the inside contest and can not rely on starting attacks from defence - risk being beaten on the outside by trying to win the game from inside. Very hard with the opposition having a dominant ruck but it’s where the game is at. 

Chalcraft and Cipro are crucial to this as they are more handballing types and they need to get their hands dirty here. The other key is Odonahue! Last couple of times he went with Brodie but this time he should go to Erasmus (can he keep up?) and Cipro and Chalcraft to do the job on Brodie - take away his hands and limit Peel from handball chains out of stoppage. 

If we can win the inside ball then it’s Clarke and Turner to do the damage on the outside. Turner with his run and spread and Clarke with his penetrating kicks i50 - 7 i50 in round 7. Pina is the other important piece as the defensive winger. 

What will also be important is holding our 6 ahead of the ball. We can’t afford to roll up a half fwd to the stoppage and give them the extra behind the ball because it will allow them to shift the ball on the way out - we must make them accountable all over the ground, beat them at consecutive contests and try to at least halve the next. 

Foward of Centre we need a more even spread, 55 entries last week and only scored on 24 occasions, that won’t cut it against the better teams in this finals series. Noble, Lynch, Kelly and Reidy had 1 shot between them last week and besides a couple of goals from Kelly here and there they haven’t been a threat i50. If Reidy holds his spot then maybe as a defensive fwd on Hughes or Selwood and don’t allow them to mark the ball in our fwd half or does Hewitt come in to see if he can play that role and add something different. Glass-Mckasker should be the replacement for Edwards, if fit, and can give us a bigger body in the ruck and deep fwd. GM needs to play like a bull!

Down back the 6/7 look set but does Erceg get the call up? If so then Hilton looks most likely to make way but I’m not sure Erceg has played enough footy nor does his form or lack there of from others warrant a change. It depends which way we look to set the game up imo. If we look to go defensive and have a spare back then this suits Erceg as this is his best role but going 1v1 across the field then I think he will get exposed. 

As stated by mikeh, the most important thing heading into this game is believing we can win the game. For mine this comes from the coaches and how they set the game up. Give them the belief by challenging them to beat them at their own game, beat them at the contest, hunt them, bully them and take the game to them - it’s a free hit and we can’t win any other way. 

Hopefully a large contingent of Swans fans making the trek and we get the chance to spur the boys on off the back of some brave and courages footy. 



 

Best of luck and I hope you smash the pricks.

BC wrote:

Best of luck and I hope you smash the pricks.

No chance darling. The Mighty Thunder by 56 points. 

Unfortunately I cannot see SDFC getting up here, record down there is a shocker for SDFC and they tend to lose by big margins and with the full 12 AFL players in with MandurahDockers I think they will cruise to an easy win.

BigDan wrote:

BC wrote:

Best of luck and I hope you smash the pricks.

No chance darling. The Mighty Thunder by 56 points. 

The Freo players should run out in Dockers jumpers to reflect the actual state of play.  That would be fair.

Edward's is a big loss for SD.......hard to replace 35 + goals at the pointy end of the season.....plus the kid is very unpredictable, and that in itself, is hard for any replacement to replicate. 

Replace him with something different, a bit of crunch time from Glass-Mckasker. He needs to play like a bull!!!

In - Erceg, Glass-Mckasker

Out - Edwards, Hilton

Tough break for Hilton but it was on the cards. Erceg deserves a crack if fit but if he gets beaten this week then Hilton should get his spot back next week. 

Just watched the colts game, well done to your boys, behind for most of the day against a quite valiant team from perth