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Another game at Bassendean on Saturday, I must say that the fixturing has been much more sane for Swans this year. I remember in 2013, we played a game in round 1, then had a bye and then there was a 23 day break between a game on ANZAC day and the next one, due to a bye and the state game. It has been a lot easier to keep the enthusiasm going due to the consistency of games this year.

On the surface, looking at the form line of both these teams, it should be an easy victory to Swans, however the Tigers have on two occasions pulled out solid team performances this year and if given an opportunity can play the game on their terms. They still have a solid core of players who are capable of influencing games , Blackwell, Seaby, Foster, Murphy, Bradshaw and Neates are all names synonymous with Claremont's era of success but it would appear that the 2nd tier players have been struggling to provide the support required for them to be consistently competitive.

In contrast the Swans 2nd tier players have blended in beautifully with the experienced guys and their football has been relentless. The team has built in confidence over the last 6 weeks and their recent wins over Subiaco and East Fremantle have been the most impressive. Swans will lose Anderson and Conor Blakely to the under 18s this week ( we will really miss their enthusiasm) but to compensate we get back the Jetta's.

Swans need to hit the Tigers hard in the first quarter on Saturday and try to kill the game by half time. If we go in with a complacent attitude, there are enough good players in the Claremont side to cause us problems. I reckon Swans will win by about 6 goals. Harding shouldn't need to motivate the players much as Claremont have given us some pretty nasty drubbings over the last 3 or 4 years, so I think we owe them a few.

Faulkner is also an out for Swans, hopefully just a one week injury as he is a real 'in and under' player and we will miss him on Saturday.

It was a 26 point win, another 4 points and outright top of the ladder for the Swannies. 7 wins and 1 loss would not have been considered possible by even the players at the start of the year. So they deserve a heap of credit for their performance so far.

Having said all that, I thought today was the boys poorest game of the season, I think Harding summed it up pretty well at three quarter time. "Too much being done by too few". I think some of the Swans players were not going in enough for the hard ball and running forward of the play to try and get the glamour goals. They were butchering the ball a bit and missing targets. This gave away some easy possessions to the Claremont players some of whom have a bit of pedigree ( e.g Blackwell, Bradshaw, Murphy etc). Luckily for Swans the Tigers delivery into their forward 50 was pretty ordinary and they really only had Abbott as a functional forward.

In contrast we had Geappan who absolutely busted his gut all day, Cary made the most of his opportunities and Jukes who continues to grow in stature every week. That snap goal at the Bassendean end was a beauty. Matt Rogers is also a game breaker in the 50 and his raking kicks put the Tigers defence under pressure. Well done also to Jacob Burnham, was that his first league game? If so it was an excellent debut and he certainly didn't look out of place. Lost count of the number of marks that Simmo took and also Notte was grabbing a lot as well. Hopefully the injury to Casserley is not as bad as it originally looked.

The Tigers tried very hard and they didn't drop their bundle as they obviously have this season, but I reckon if Swans had played with the intensity that they have over the past two to three weeks, it would have been 10+ goals.

So Swans have a week off apart from the guys in the State team. They will feel fantastic with what they have achieved so far and they now have an opportunity to refocus their goals and look at what they are capable of achieving in the next part of the season. 3 out of the next four games are away from home, so it will be a challenging month for them.

First time we have been top after rd 9 since 1993

Like I have said many times, give the young blokes a go and see what happens. Look at young Shannon at West Perth.

Team looks like they are really enjoying playing together as a TEAM this year.
With the mixture of experence and young this team can do anything they want as long as they keep playing the way they have been no reason we cant be contenders this year. GO THE MIGHTY BLACK & WHITES.

Swandog wrote: First time we have been top after rd 9 since 1993

The financial woes at Swans has clearly been a blessing in disguise I reckon. You have been forced to play your local talent instead of recruiting big name scalps predominantly from outside over the past 5/6 years and have been reaping the rewards !

Glad to get the 4 points yesterday against the talent laden Tigers as I was a little worried going into the game with Faulky, Connor B & Ando all out and my concerns were vindicated with a sloppy first qtr but we improved after that and ended winning quite comfortably despite some very ordinary kicking at goals and even Rogers having an airy in the goal square.
Young Burnham looked composed in his debut League game which has been a while coming but good to see him stick around when others moved on and also Manton came in and did quite well.
Great to see the Colts with a new look side keep their unbeaten streak going despite losing a few boys to State 18's duties and also a few very good boys promoted up to the Ressies to fast track them for a possible League run later in the year in J.Daniels, Coniglio, Ridley.
Not sure what is going on at Tigerland (JB, T.O.O, Ol Boy et al will know better than me) as I know they had a few leave over Summer but it would be fair to say we had just as many if not more head for greener pa$ture$ and they still have a very good nucleus of senior players the equal of any team in the WAFL with blokes like Blackwell, Neates, Seaby, Murphy, Foster, Handley, Bradshaw, Hamp, Orzel, Ledger, Andrews, Franz etc plus promising youngsters in Abbott, Edwards and Cameron ..maybe they are taking a little while to adjust to a new playing style after the very successful McPhee/Webb era?

Tiges yesterday are quite possibly the shortest kicking football team I ever witnessed BH. They win the ball ok but then go nowhere with it hence why our defence looked so AFL like to Southerner.

Will take the win especially considering we were off the boil yesterday. Winning ugly is what good sides do when they aren't at 100% so it's at least something to take away from the game. Usually take a lot of pleasure from beating Claremont but as you've stated they aren't anywhere near it at the moment. Lets hope they can rebuild quickly, usually good things happen at our club when we both have strong teams

BH it's generally accepted at Claremont that this season and next will be difficult and rebuilding years. Lot of young talent will come through during this period.
We've had Murphy, Handley, Foster and Andrews all miss games through injury or late start to preseason. That said, a number of "2nd tier" players are not taking the opportunity or just not up to it.
As for the coach, the game on the weekend showed if you play a mobile big man, Abbott, up forward it makes a difference. Seaby has never been a big marking ruckman/forward, but a good tap ruckman, he's been played out of position or is carrying an injury.
Both Tiger of old and myself have been crying out loud for some height up forward, Hamp seems lost, or loses interest, no upper body strength to out muscle in marking contests. Brooks in the Magoos should be given a crack up forward.
Blackwell gets a lot of the ball, but doesn't hurt the opposition as most are backward of the centre, doesn't kick goals. We lack pace also. That's how I see it. bring on 2016!