The Interchange

[Plugger46]

The selection committee face a bit of a dilemna this week, that is, who do they leave out of the side?

James - Maybe has to play, for the inspiration, the fairy tale would be complete, and could be the difference between winning and losing.

Meiklejohn - Not ready yet as a Ruckman or a footballer, but in the absence of Ball, we need someone who can compete with Clarke and Biglands in the ruck, and also to help out Goodesy, so he is not a spent force just before the finals. Stevens did some ruck work last week, but I'm not convinced he could do it again this week, I have the feeling that he will be exposed on the bigger ground and won't be able to create a contest with the Adelaide ruckmen, as he would be giving away a substantial amount of height.

Nicks - Has run into some good form in the last few weeks, after he really struggled earlier in the year. Probably need him to play for his experience and ability. He is a South Australian too, and normally plays well over there.

O'Keefe - Having a great year, I love him, missed last week but has to play this week as he gives us another option up forward that the crows have to worry about.

Roberts-Thompson - Similar situation to Meiklejohn, need him in the side because of the height and the fact that the crows have so much of it, I would have him in the side ahead of Stevens.

Schneider - How could you leave this superstar out?

Sundqvist - Will almost certainly miss, but can consider himself unlucky because he has shown a fair bit in the last couple of weeks. I think next year will be the year 'Sunny' makes his name in the red and white.

Who do we leave out folks?

[BAM_BAM]

I would keep

O'Keefe - love him too
Schneider
LRT
Jimmy

why go with both talls gives Goodes opportunity to roam a little if the boys can handle the crows talls.

[Sid]

I would reckon the same as BAM BAM. If there was room for one more, i'd choose nicks.

[sharpie]

I dont actually think Heath will get a run this week. Therefore I think it will be:

Nicks
LRT
O'Keefe
Schneider

Nicks hasnt done anything deserving of being dropped. On the contrary, I agree he has hit some form in the last 2-3 weeks.

[Rod_]

As an emergency Heath will get a ride over to SA and get a visit and have a beer or 2 - being elevated to the senior list would give him heaps of confidence on being able to make the grade. Long term plan ....

Or is this another one of Roosy's plans to allow him to play at home in front of his old home croud and family - friends........


Wait and see

Rod_

[Donners]

The sides have been announced:

IN: LRT, O'Keefe
OUT: Sundqvist, Ball

No real surprises there, I suppose.

[swans85]

Umpires are

#2- Michael Vozzo
#5- Mathew James
#11- Scott McLaren

(in gold)

[footyhead]

I think it is a mistake not to name james ahead of Nicks. Because:

1 with the lose of Ball we need to blood tall players who can play forward or behind (especially ones who have been dominating at reserve level. )
2. If James played and we had a respectable lose, the high of James coming into the team would arguabley give the guys somthing to celebrate (especially having another talented and mobile tall up and running in the team set up).
Now if we have a respectable lose, there is some rethinking to bedone with no obvious focus for posativity in the comming weeks. If james played and played well (as you would expect him to do on his form in reserve grade), their would be a lot for the team to take out of a lose to work towards for the rest of the season and the finals. That opportunity has now been lost .
3. If they win (and what a great win it would be) who do you drop to get H. James in to the team within the next two weeks ?
you can't cos even if they lose the next week it will still be premature considering the importance and power of the win the week before (IE the crows - fingers crossed).
Now this is a problem, cos if james doesn't come in within the next two weeks, what hope does he have of playing well in the finals ?? (too much pressure with so little game time - we are cuuting it fine on him even if he played this week ! )
4. It is important we get Heath james into the team. If the Swans are to have a shot in the finals, we nedd more tall skilful footballs playing in defence or up the ground. This is exactly what James is and does.
5.because of the above reasons, Heath is more important than the likes of Nicks, cos we have quite a few players who can perform a similar role to Nicksy, but if heath played to his ability and fitted well into the team he would really add a dimention to us.
6. Nicks would get over it and still probabley end up contributing well in the finals.


Well its done now and I am a big fan of Roos and where the club is right now, but I don't think they backed themselves or their man completly this week and a big opportunity has been lost. Instead of real gain we have sybolic gain (in Heath being elevated to seniors). Unfortunatley sybolic gain will not help us this year. we still need to improve on our deficiency's if we are to win the flag IMHO.

[BAM_BAM]

Heath will not miss any game time this weekend in the Ressies as they have a bye weekend, so his fitness will not suffer from not playing.

A trip, as an emergency, home will be huge for him and probably inspirational for his team mates, so many of them hold him in such high esteem.

Even though they have named the team and he is not included, I remember earlier games where Magic, Cressa and Saddo were all named and didn't play. They played the emergencies in that game.

Obviously Roos has a plan, he's done so well this year with his tactics, lets hope this is another win in that regard

[liz]

Couple of comments here.

None of us really has a clue how ready for AFL footy James is at this stage. He's only played a handful of games in a couple of years, and while the reports say he's been doing well, he has hardly been "dominating".

If he were to play Roos would probably hope to only get a short period from him out on the ground. Chances are we'll be carrying another player on the interchange bench (especially if Meiklejohn plays instead of LRT) who will only get short runs.

If the team is to win this game, they'll need a strong contribution from every player, especially someone like Nicks who is capable, when he feels like it, of being a damaging forward. On balance, it is far more likely that Nicks will be a matchwinner for us than James.

If the players need the inclusion of James in the team to motivate them when they're sitting in second place with the possibility of home finals on the horizon then surely something is very very wrong with them.

This is in no-way anti-James. I'll be as thrilled as the next man if he gets his chance soon. But Roos hasn't done a whole heap wrong so far this year and I reckon we need to continue to trust that he and his team know what they're up to at the selection table.

[Reggi]

Originally posted by swans85
Umpires are

#2- Michael Vozzo


"#5- Mathew James
#11- Scott McLaren"

(in gold)

It's all over James and Mclaren are shocking against us

[chammond]

None of us really has a clue how ready for AFL footy James is at this stage.

Couldn't agree more.

There is no way that James is going to be a major contributor this season - the poor bloke's played what, 20 minutes(?), in the past two seasons. The only reason for giving him a run over the next few weeks is to see if he can cut it - it's only fair to give his body a genuine try-out before a decision is made about whether to keep him at the Swans.

As far as I can see, if Meiklejohn is promoted permanently, and Cresswell and Ball both continue next year, then picking up James on the senior list for next year might well mean that one of the youngsters (like Buchanan or Ablett) will be cut. It wouldn't be fair to them to not give James a proper test before a decision is made about next year.

[floppinab]

Somebody might correct me but I'm pretty sure James is yet to play a complete game in the ressies, he's not that far away but it'll be at least a couple of weeks before we see him in the seniors.

[CureTheSane]

Well, James was listed, and therefore should be nothing less than more than ready to play.

Nicks has been out of form for a long time IMO, and is on pretty thin ice.

I see the reasoning for keeping Nick for James, but I hope he is given a bit of a "If you wanna play finals....." speech before the game....

[sprite]

Has anyone got information as to how Heath James has gone in the reserves??

Has he been playing in the Ruck?

[penga]

Originally posted by floppinab
Somebody might correct me but I'm pretty sure James is yet to play a complete game in the ressies, he's not that far away but it'll be at least a couple of weeks before we see him in the seniors.


building on it each week, starting to be able to get through a whole game now, still a long way to go though

from james' chat transcript

http://sydneyswans.com.au/default.asp?pg=funngames&spg=chats&articleid=109798