TOPIC:

Beasley Hutton wrote:

mikeh wrote: I have never been so despondant in the many years I have been following SDFC. Today they ran for 2 quarters and looked like they were capable of playing some decent footy. After half time they decided to give up running for each other and allow East Perth to swarm all over them. School boy skill errors, Handballing to team mates under pressure and zero tackling pressure . The frustrating thing is that they have shown during games that they are capable of at least some effort and intensity. But they just do this when they feel like it and when the opposition start to fight back, they roll over like friendly puppy dogs. The margin of 8 points flattered us in a massive way today. East Perth were dominating but couldnt kick straight.

It is blatently obvious to me that the players are not accountable for their performances. They are unfit, soft and seem not to have an alternative game plan if bombing the ball into the forward line doesnt work. And don't give me that rubbish about young players, some of the worst mistakes were being made by the experienced guys and East Perth had just as many young guys running around out there but what they had was a team spirit that seemed to bond them together when Olongo was taken off. They are a club who are rejoicing in their new found independence from the AFL and are going in the right direction in
contrast to Swans.

Mike it is high time and long overdue that the leaders at this football club show some balls and leadership for a change and that means both the on field and off field leaders.
One part of that should be the club finally employing a fitness/strength & conditioning expert to oversee our pre season preparation something that hasnt happened for quite some time.
There should also be buy in from all 60 odd players in the senior squad for that or move them on as it is time to become a lot more professional in our training as it is quite evident it is not with the game day failures.
They have 6 weeks left to convince me there is a future with this football side or like yourself I will be partaking other pursuits on my Saturdays from next year and taking my money with it!
Enough is enough!

There are no leaders on or off the field.
Previous Directors in 2012-15 stemmed the bleeding and set the club on the right path financially yet go no support with a a way to overhaul football operations
The Fireman and the Teacher wouldn't move on the Lawnmower man who took umbrage at any suggestion that he and Harding weren't the people to take us forward.
Valentine & Cooper are the best Coaches we have had at the club in the past 9 years, yet their credentials were ignored even when Harding Advised that he wanted the colts job with the WAFC.
Now the Board is Moribund and too arrogant to fall on their sword.
We need someone like past Director Douglas who at the 2012 AGM suggested the Board fall on their Swords. 5 Did only Harvey and Rutherford hung on until their position was untenable.
Action need to be taken now, otherwise these clowns will make decisions for next season and that will be the end.
They already moved at last AGM to delay Board nominations for a month later than previous years and to require 25% of members having to sign to call a EGM.

Realswansman
Heard any talk about possible recruits for 2020.We need at least two ex-Afl recruits in our current side for 2020.

gtrxuone wrote: Realswansman
Heard any talk about possible recruits for 2020.We need at least two ex-Afl recruits in our current side for 2020.

We need hard running, big bodied mids preferably (23-25yo age bracket) GTR for a start.

Beasley Hutton wrote:

gtrxuone wrote: Realswansman
Heard any talk about possible recruits for 2020.We need at least two ex-Afl recruits in our current side for 2020.

We need hard running, big bodied mids preferably (23-25yo age bracket) GTR for a start.

Yeh we cant just seem to attract hard at the ball players like Rudy Riddoch (20+ possessions again yesterday) and Mather Rogers

Beasley Hutton wrote:

gtrxuone wrote: Realswansman
Heard any talk about possible recruits for 2020.We need at least two ex-Afl recruits in our current side for 2020.

We need hard running, big bodied mids preferably (23-25yo age bracket) GTR for a start.

BH as you know it's hard work being a Swans fan...Was surprised by the difference in standard between League footy+Colts...As our young players find out in the middle of the 3rdqtr in each game...Palmer what a loss this season...Think it shows you can only really play 4 or 5 kids in a side in Wafl....10 kids in the team is not working well and killing our senior players.

hang in there Swans fans, combination of too many kids, not enough talent and some poor coaching at times.
Pickering seems to be able to get us playing well enough to be in front most weeks or competitive but when we run out of gas we cant score, we were kicking with the breeze and are trying to play an AFL game plan which ended up with nobody in our forward half, not good enough.

Nice touch by the club to publish the thoughts of some of the players during the season in a series called "In their words" This weeks article was penned by Brandon Erceg who has been unable to play this year because of injury. Instead of going away and sulking about his bad luck he has chosen to assist the club in another way. Here is a short extract from his article:

It feels strange writing for this column, as I haven’t set foot on an oval as a player and won’t this season. Instead I have been helping out with the forwards in the reserves, which has been great, with a young group developing as the season goes on, with a very real chance to be playing finals at season’s end.

Although not technically a player for this season, and not spending as much time with the playing group as I would if training and playing, being involved from a coaching perspective has allowed me to see a different side of things. I can see firsthand the passion and the care Pickers, Burgo and the coaching group have for this group of players and this club. The amount of energy Pickers, and also in working more closely with Burgo, would expend during the week and on Saturday’s purely through thinking about games and the club would allow anyone to see just how much they want on-field success and progression for the club, to match the off-field strides we have seen this season with our community programs and match day festivities. Pickers cares immensely for the players, which is reflected both when he puts an arm around them when required, which to me appears to be often, along with having a hard edge with players when required.

Having to watch from the sidelines this year has been a struggle. I missed the first half of last season, but that was due to surgery, and knowing there was a strong chance I would be back halfway through the season, which I was, playing the back half of the year. This season knowing I won’t be able to play and be out there trying to help the boys, living the good times and also the struggle with them, has been hard to take at times.

The silver lining is that I have been able to sit back and look at things from a broader perspective, which has driven my own hunger for this club to have success. It has allowed me to ponder and think about new ways I can help the club move forward, as sometimes we get caught up in individual on-field performance being the only way we can influence team success.

This doesn’t mean I’m not thinking about playing though, and I can’t wait to hopefully have the opportunity to pull the jumper on again next season, and look forward with confidence to the success to come.
I have not met Brandon but he sounds like a very thoughtful young man who cares about his footy club and I'm sure there are others like him. Reading this has lifted my spirits somewhat and got me thinking that maybe there is a light at the end of the tunnel for Swans

MarkOlsen wrote: hang in there Swans fans, combination of too many kids, not enough talent and some poor coaching at times.
Pickering seems to be able to get us playing well enough to be in front most weeks or competitive but when we run out of gas we cant score, we were kicking with the breeze and are trying to play an AFL game plan which ended up with nobody in our forward half, not good enough.

If only modern coaches were not all sheep who all follow what the other is doing and in the afl and we had a few forwards stay back inside our forward third instead of all pressing up to follow their backmen up.
I will probably get accused of being a dinosaur but under this horrible looking modern pressing system I have not seen 1 game that would have made my Top 500 games seen in the WAFL over the last 40 years, it is just plain ugly, unsightly and far too defensive for mine!

Was it the 2010 gf or swans’ 1 point win over subi during h and a? Both good games.

not wrong Beas - we played our best footy into the breeze, run and carry and kicking to forwards positioned deep.
then kicking with a gale with decided to keep kicking it to Kyle Anderson by himself.