mikeh wrote: Swans return to Lathlain Park just 6 weeks after the Easter Sunday visit when they really pinched the game to be honest. The black and whites kicked more than half their score in a 10 minute burst at the start and a similar 10 minutes at the end of the game. Other than that Perth dominated the scoreboard.
Since this game Swans have been cruising along, winning all their four games, a close one against the Falcons was followed by comfortable wins over Subiaco, East Fremantle and Claremont. The Demons in contrast have gone backwards with only one victory over Peel to their name along with losses to East Perth, Subiaco and the Sharks.
On the surface then this appears to point to a victory for Swans which would be their 8th of the season and consolidate top spot HOWEVER there are a number of reasons to believe that Perth have a great chance of snatching a win on Saturday.
Firstly Swans are a young team who have been playing at a high level for many weeks now ( even in their one defeat to East Perth they played very good football). Logic says that a young team will inevitably have off days and I saw a few signs against Claremont a few weeks back that they were a little off the boil and not playing with the same intensity. It was just that the opposition was not good enough to take advantage of this
Secondly and possibly related to this will be the absence of Tallan Ames who, as well as being the best full back in the WAFL, brings to the table his leadership and motivational skills and if he was out on the ground he would ensure that the team were switched on. I'm sure that Bevan, Moody and the other Perth forwards will have a more comfortable afternoon competing for marks knowing that they are not going to have Tallan's big fist destroying their attempts and knocking the ball out to the advantage of the Swans defenders.
Thirdly, if you look at the premiership table, this is really season on the line stuff for Perth. If West Perth and East Fremantle both win their games on Monday, the Demons will find themselves marooned 2 games out of the top four and while it wouldn't be impossible to make finals from there, it would be a tough ask with 11 games to go.
So from Swans point of view, they will need to make sure that they are ready for a desperate Perth team and be prepared to play with the same intensity they have had all season. Ideally it would be great if we could start fast like last time to try and knock the stuffing out of them. The senior guys in the defence like Jetta and Simmo need to take up the leadership to make up for the absence of Ames. Our midfield must get on top and provide opportunities for Geappan, Cary and Davis. Ryan has become a huge influence in the WAFL this year and he is often a barometer to Swans performance.
Hopefully Elari and Rogers can perform like they have all year. They seem to lift another notch when they are playing against their old team. Another positive for Swans is that they seem to like playing at Lathlain in that we have won 10 of the last 14 played at the ground,often coming from behind.
Looks like the weather will be good and lets hope for a decent crowd for this game. I have always found Lathlain a great place to watch the footy
Yeah good write up Mike. Been the case in virtually every game this season that teams have jumped Perth at the start of the game and been able to go on bursts where they've kicked 4 or 5 in a row quickly. Happened last game against East Freo where they kicked 7 goals in two five minute bursts of play after Perth dominated. Normally we get in front by 3 or 4 and hit cruise control and that's when it happens.
Looking forward to this one. Enjoy watching Swans crash through or crash style of play. Season and coaching career on the line. Ames out helps but Geappen still there to terrorise us and show up our lack of a quality tall forward. Always love to welcome the Ginger Ninja and his brick shithouse sized mate back to Lathlain. Wish they were still in red and black.
