TOPIC:

I don't think its being over dramatic to say that Swans are playing for their season this Saturday. 4 losses in a row and another defeat will be probably fatal to our finals chances. The reason is that the 3 weeks after that are away fixtures against WP, EF and Subi, 2 of which are probably defeats and the improved Sharks would also fancy their chances against us the way we are playing at the moment. So Swans must arrest the slide this weekend or the situation may become irretrieveable.

Nathan Blakely must have been close last week and was the team runner, so his presence would improve the team structure dramatically. Rhys Palmer will be available after accepting a reprimand for his indiscetion against Perth, I am hoping Kirk Ugle is not too far away,not sure about the nature of his injury but we have missed him in the last few weeks. Dave Ellard may not be available given his injury so there will probably be an opportunity to bring in one of the mids that played well in the reserves last week.Jackson Slater should also be back to add a bit of leg speed which the team was sadly lacking last week.

As for the opposition, looks like Swans may have lost out on the"alignment lottery" again like we did a few weeks ago against Peel. West Coast are getting some of their A graders back so the replacements will be dropping back to the WAFL. Also we hear that Liam Ryan is being punished for his recent indiscetion with a week in the WAFL ( so who is being punished here?) Alex Howard usually plays on him so he might want to put some extra padding on his back before the game.
The last time we played this mob in May we put together 4 quarters of high intensity footy so lets hope for a repeat performance.

I still think Swans will win by a margin of a couple of goals. The league average for Disposals / Goal is 29 apparently. Swans are apparently running at an average of 26 Disposals per Goal. Swans have scored 80 goals in their Home games whilst the opposition has 63 Away. And I think Swans won three out of the last 4 matches against the opposition? Apparently the lovely weather of late is turning pear shaped and a wet weekend is being forecast. Much will depend on whether Swans handle the wet conditions? Hopefully they can pile on a big winning score and bump up their percentage at the same time. Even a small winning margin will be a win and 4 points.

There is 10 consecutive games between these two sides without a win which is a rarity. Swans by 16p

mikeh wrote: I don't think its being over dramatic to say that Swans are playing for their season this Saturday. 4 losses in a row and another defeat will be probably fatal to our finals chances. The reason is that the 3 weeks after that are away fixtures against WP, EF and Subi, 2 of which are probably defeats and the improved Sharks would also fancy their chances against us the way we are playing at the moment. So Swans must arrest the slide this weekend or the situation may become irretrieveable.

Nathan Blakely must have been close last week and was the team runner, so his presence would improve the team structure dramatically. Rhys Palmer will be available after accepting a reprimand for his indiscetion against Perth, I am hoping Kirk Ugle is not too far away,not sure about the nature of his injury but we have missed him in the last few weeks. Dave Ellard may not be available given his injury so there will probably be an opportunity to bring in one of the mids that played well in the reserves last week.Jackson Slater should also be back to add a bit of leg speed which the team was sadly lacking last week.

As for the opposition, looks like Swans may have lost out on the"alignment lottery" again like we did a few weeks ago against Peel. West Coast are getting some of their A graders back so the replacements will be dropping back to the WAFL. Also we hear that Liam Ryan is being punished for his recent indiscetion with a week in the WAFL ( so who is being punished here?) Alex Howard usually plays on him so he might want to put some extra padding on his back before the game.
The last time we played this mob in May we put together 4 quarters of high intensity footy so lets hope for a repeat performance.

mikeh would you expect any other changes to our league team?

If Yukich and Clutterbuck play we can’t win. We must set up with players in their most comfortable roles,not playing them out of position so to plug a hole or for development. Start with our best mids in the middle,our best forwards up fwd and our best backs down back,pretty simple really!

swan42 wrote:

mikeh wrote: I don't think its being over dramatic to say that Swans are playing for their season this Saturday. 4 losses in a row and another defeat will be probably fatal to our finals chances. The reason is that the 3 weeks after that are away fixtures against WP, EF and Subi, 2 of which are probably defeats and the improved Sharks would also fancy their chances against us the way we are playing at the moment. So Swans must arrest the slide this weekend or the situation may become irretrieveable.

Nathan Blakely must have been close last week and was the team runner, so his presence would improve the team structure dramatically. Rhys Palmer will be available after accepting a reprimand for his indiscetion against Perth, I am hoping Kirk Ugle is not too far away,not sure about the nature of his injury but we have missed him in the last few weeks. Dave Ellard may not be available given his injury so there will probably be an opportunity to bring in one of the mids that played well in the reserves last week.Jackson Slater should also be back to add a bit of leg speed which the team was sadly lacking last week.

As for the opposition, looks like Swans may have lost out on the"alignment lottery" again like we did a few weeks ago against Peel. West Coast are getting some of their A graders back so the replacements will be dropping back to the WAFL. Also we hear that Liam Ryan is being punished for his recent indiscetion with a week in the WAFL ( so who is being punished here?) Alex Howard usually plays on him so he might want to put some extra padding on his back before the game.
The last time we played this mob in May we put together 4 quarters of high intensity footy so lets hope for a repeat performance.

mikeh would you expect any other changes to our league team?

Depending on the injury situation, I would say Blakely, Slater and Erceg for Yukich, Stewart and Clutterbuck. If Ellard is out I would give Chad Daniels or Josh Cipro a run. I am undecided about Faulkner.

mikeh wrote:

swan42 wrote:

mikeh wrote: I don't think its being over dramatic to say that Swans are playing for their season this Saturday. 4 losses in a row and another defeat will be probably fatal to our finals chances. The reason is that the 3 weeks after that are away fixtures against WP, EF and Subi, 2 of which are probably defeats and the improved Sharks would also fancy their chances against us the way we are playing at the moment. So Swans must arrest the slide this weekend or the situation may become irretrieveable.

Nathan Blakely must have been close last week and was the team runner, so his presence would improve the team structure dramatically. Rhys Palmer will be available after accepting a reprimand for his indiscetion against Perth, I am hoping Kirk Ugle is not too far away,not sure about the nature of his injury but we have missed him in the last few weeks. Dave Ellard may not be available given his injury so there will probably be an opportunity to bring in one of the mids that played well in the reserves last week.Jackson Slater should also be back to add a bit of leg speed which the team was sadly lacking last week.

As for the opposition, looks like Swans may have lost out on the"alignment lottery" again like we did a few weeks ago against Peel. West Coast are getting some of their A graders back so the replacements will be dropping back to the WAFL. Also we hear that Liam Ryan is being punished for his recent indiscetion with a week in the WAFL ( so who is being punished here?) Alex Howard usually plays on him so he might want to put some extra padding on his back before the game.
The last time we played this mob in May we put together 4 quarters of high intensity footy so lets hope for a repeat performance.

mikeh would you expect any other changes to our league team?

Depending on the injury situation, I would say Blakely, Slater and Erceg for Yukich, Stewart and Clutterbuck. If Ellard is out I would give Chad Daniels or Josh Cipro a run. I am undecided about Faulkner.

Brandon Erceg played very well in the backline last Saturday. I would like to see Rogers start in the centre to provide some physical presence.

Erceg too slow although can’t be any worse that Jack Watson! Hopefully Blakey,Ugle and Daniels in. Where is Hackett? If he and Slater fit they should also be in.

An interesting selection in the extended squad. Graydon Wilson an 18 year old from Newman is in the team straight out of a good Under 18's carnival where he had a few 20 + possession games.Will be good to have a look at him if he makes the cut. Otherwise the changes are as expected with Yukich and Stewart dropped and Ellard injured. Looking at the reserves squad, I note that Erceg, Dean and Witjk are all named which would indicate that the 4 on Swans bench would be Rogers, W and G Wilson and Clutterbuck.

East Perth will have a large contingent of Eagles players this week,especially given another 2 or 3 will come in after West Coast have pruned their squad for the Collingwood match. This will be a tough ask for Swans given their current poor form.

Mikeh - I think SD are good things this week. Playing an aligned WAFL side prior to their respective AFL side plays is always an advantage as they hold AFL listed players back just in case of illness/late injury. Plus with the Eagles playing away travelling emergencies are ruled out.

With both the Dockers and Eagles playing on Sunday I think the SD/Perth double is worth a few dollars.

I see SD have named 4 ex EP players in their squad. Should be an interesting game given the alignment decision a week or so back.