If Pies beat Swans this week, should Swans play kids & lose last game

[Mark Busuttil]

Does anybody want the Swans to lose this week, win against Brisbane & then get smashed in the finals (Adelaide could finish 5th). If we lose this week, the sooner this season ends the better. My faith in the players to "pull out a big one" expired about 3 weeks ago. I've given up on 2008.:frown

The only thing that makes me glad is that nobody is within 5 goals of Geelong

[ScottH]

No, I still want finals.
Some of the team haven't played finals.
Some of the team may never play finals again.

[NMWBloods]

I think this season is about looking forward to the next few seasons and to that end one (or preferably two) finals games will be useful experience for the younger players.

[royboy42]

Does anybody want the Swans to lose this week, win against Brisbane & then get smashed in the finals (Adelaide could finish 5th). If we lose this week, the sooner this season ends the better. My faith in the players to "pull out a big one" expired about 3 weeks ago. I've given up on 2008.:frown

The only thing that makes me glad is that nobody is within 5 goals of Geelong

I would just as soon not read anything else as silly as this comment.

[Plugger46]

Does anybody want the Swans to lose this week, win against Brisbane & then get smashed in the finals (Adelaide could finish 5th). If we lose this week, the sooner this season ends the better. My faith in the players to "pull out a big one" expired about 3 weeks ago. I've given up on 2008.:frown

The only thing that makes me glad is that nobody is within 5 goals of Geelong

Why on earth would you want that? :confused:

We all support the club because we want them to be successful - I want us to go as far as we can. I don't think we can win the flag but I'd like us to win our last two games and finish fourth.

[hammo]

Why would any 'die hard Bloods fan' hope we get smashed in a final?

[Darren Thomson]

On their day our blokes can beat anyone, especially if we end up with our best 22 at the park. It's not over til it's over, and the pies might find out this week what a fighting swan can do. One of the qualities that has become most admirable about our blokes is that they don't give up (all thanks to Kell), and that's what they will be doing this week and forever I hope. Never give up

[Bas]

Nahhhhhh. We'll play the old blokes, get flogged and finish 9th.

That means PICK 8 will be ours.

I sadly agree. If we scrape into the finals, we will only be there for week 1. We are in a physically worse for wear condition which is similar to 2004 when we fell over to the Saints.

[NMWBloods]

Why would any 'die hard Bloods fan' hope we get smashed in a final?
I think you misunderstood the OP (which was worded badly). He doesn't want to see that ("Swans to lose this week, win against Brisbane & then get smashed in the finals"), but he thinks that will happen if we lose this week. Therefore if we do lose this week he'd prefer us not to make finals.

[573v30]

It's too late to tank.

[31 hard at it]

In 1970 I stood (for 5 hours) and watched the Bloods run onto the MCG for the first final in many many years.
We had tears in our eyes as we watched Bobby run around for his only ever final.

Never take a finals experience for granted. It should not be devalued because we have a winning culture now, i.e. we expect to be in finals !

Every season and every chance should be taken.
Enjoy 2008 for what it has given us (yes a share of heartbreak) and what it still might bring.

Finals experience is exactly what Bird, Ves, etc need to get that hunger.

[swantastic]

I think you misunderstood the OP (which was worded badly). He doesn't want to see that ("Swans to lose this week, win against Brisbane & then get smashed in the finals"), but he thinks that will happen if we lose this week. Therefore if we do lose this week he'd prefer us not to make finals.Then why would he say it then Nmw,i took it the same way as hammo,Royboy and Scott.I think your reading between the lines a little too much and IMO he's happy for us to get smashed.

[Plugger46]

In 1970 I stood (for 5 hours) and watched the Bloods run onto the MCG for the first final in many many years.
We had tears in our eyes as we watched Bobby run around for his only ever final.

Never take a finals experience for granted. It should not be devalued because we have a winning culture now, i.e. we expect to be in finals !

Every season and every chance should be taken.
Enjoy 2008 for what it has given us (yes a share of heartbreak) and what it still might bring.

Finals experience is exactly what Bird, Ves, etc need to get that hunger.

Well put.

[ShockOfHair]

Win or lose we won't just be playing rookies for the heck of it. Roos was saying earlier in the week he'd like to blood more young ones but many of them (like Thornton, DOK, Schmidt (?)) are injured and others (presumably Currie, Murphy) are not ready.

Probably Jack and maybe Vespa will be back this week. But there's no way we won't make room for Leo against the Pies, and MOL should also be ready for round 22 -- doesn't leave much room for rookies.

The youth policy is there to improve our finals chances, not throw them away.

[NMWBloods]

Then why would he say it then Nmw,i took it the same way as hammo,Royboy and Scott.I think your reading between the lines a little too much and IMO he's happy for us to get smashed.
I disagree, but it serves to illustrate why people need to write more clearly.

[Lucky Knickers]

Wise words 31

[swantastic]

I disagree, but it serves to illustrate why people need to write more clearly.No matter how you write things different people will see different meanings.

[NMWBloods]

No matter how you write things different people will see different meanings.
"If we lose against Collingwood then we should play kids and lose against Brisbane, because if we lose to the 'Pies but we beat Brisbane and thus play in finals we will probably get smashed. Who wants to see that?"

Seems reasonably clear (albeit misguided).

[goswannie14]

In 1970 I stood (for 5 hours) and watched the Bloods run onto the MCG for the first final in many many years.
We had tears in our eyes as we watched Bobby run around for his only ever final.

Never take a finals experience for granted. It should not be devalued because we have a winning culture now, i.e. we expect to be in finals !

Every season and every chance should be taken.
Enjoy 2008 for what it has given us (yes a share of heartbreak) and what it still might bring.

Finals experience is exactly what Bird, Ves, etc need to get that hunger.
That was the first game of footy I saw live as an 8 year old.

[cruiser]

I would just as soon not read anything else as silly as this comment.I'll second that! There has been some really silly, negative, defeatist posts this week, so much so that i'm not reading much on this forum. Maybe a lot of these posts come from kids who have only ever known finals success and dont realise how much they will desperately want to see Sydney play in the finals when we havent been there for a few seasons. To them I say make the most of being in the finals while you have it.

[swantastic]

"If we lose against Collingwood then we should play kids and lose against Brisbane, because if we lose to the 'Pies but we beat Brisbane and thus play in finals we will probably get smashed. Who wants to see that?"

Seems reasonably clear (albeit misguided).Why?:confused: This is just another silly comment.

Your right on one thing,i dont want to see us get smashed either.

[Rod_]

Quote:
Originally Posted by 31 hard at it
In 1970 I stood (for 5 hours) and watched the Bloods run onto the MCG for the first final in many many years.
We had tears in our eyes as we watched Bobby run around for his only ever final.

Never take a finals experience for granted. It should not be devalued because we have a winning culture now, i.e. we expect to be in finals !

Every season and every chance should be taken.
Enjoy 2008 for what it has given us (yes a share of heartbreak) and what it still might bring.

Finals experience is exactly what Bird, Ves, etc need to get that hunger.

That was the first game of footy I saw live as an 8 year old.

I was 10 and I thought is was christmas - had to listen on the radio (wireless in those days)

Rod_

[bigswan]

What rubbish. We have a good record against the Lions and most probably will.win. There will be some significant ins. The younger players will gain their finals experience and us supporters will have the opportunity to see our team play in the finals. If we are not good enough we will be beaten, but the sun will shine the next day and the boys will go on to mad Monday. You can't be afraid of losing.

[NMWBloods]

Why?:confused: This is just another silly comment.
:confused: It was a clearer way of writing what I interpreted the OP to have meant.

[No 14]

As Billy Brownless said on the radio this morining about the boomers taking on the dream team and the fact that the dream team is $1.01 for a win.. "If there blood in it it's human"... after much mirth it was corrected "If there is blood in it it can be killed". Billy had to give up on philosophy. What he meant to say was ...

If you're in it you have a chance - If you ain't you got none.

We follow footy and we want our team to be there in September! I would rather lose in September than not be there - ask Richmond if they would trade losing in the first week of the finals against being 9th about 5 times in the last 10 years.

Swannies for the the premiership medal!

[AussieAnge]

Then why would he say it then Nmw,i took it the same way as hammo,Royboy and Scott.I think your reading between the lines a little too much and IMO he's happy for us to get smashed.

FWIW I interpreted it the same way as NMW.

[Nico]

FWIW I interpreted it the same was as NMW.

Ditto.

[NTH DENI SWAN]

2005 the luck came our way nick davis against geelong okeefe against stkilda leo barry you are a star maybe its the v mans turn or birds come and get behind them we may not even have to beat geelong

ask any body who followed sth melb finish 9th you sydney people hang your heads

[573v30]

2005 the luck came our way nick davis against geelong okeefe against stkilda leo barry you are a star maybe its the v mans turn or birds come and get behind them we may not even have to beat geelong

ask any body who followed sth melb finish 9th you sydney people hang your heads

:confused:

[Mark Busuttil]

Are you guys for real? I love the Swans & do not want to see them smashed. As some people have correctly interpreted, if we lose this week & win next week, then I think we will play a meaningless final & get smashed. I say this because I've seen too many Melbourne finals where we have been smashed. If I thought that it would acheive anything, then I would want to see the Swans play finals. However, maybe it would make the team hungry to miss out, have a high draft pick & place pressure on a few players to retain their spot. I'm not sure that making finals every year without winning any is a good thing. Our form against the top 8 sides is not good. Does anybody honestly think that we could lose this week, yet beat Brisbane & win a final as well?

[bennyfrou]

In 1970 I stood (for 5 hours) and watched the Bloods run onto the MCG for the first final in many many years.
We had tears in our eyes as we watched Bobby run around for his only ever final.

Never take a finals experience for granted. It should not be devalued because we have a winning culture now, i.e. we expect to be in finals !

Every season and every chance should be taken.
Enjoy 2008 for what it has given us (yes a share of heartbreak) and what it still might bring.

Finals experience is exactly what Bird, Ves, etc need to get that hunger.

Top post! almost shead a tear reading about Bobby's only final!

[johnno]

In 1970 I stood (for 5 hours) and watched the Bloods run onto the MCG for the first final in many many years.
We had tears in our eyes as we watched Bobby run around for his only ever final.

Never take a finals experience for granted. It should not be devalued because we have a winning culture now, i.e. we expect to be in finals !

Every season and every chance should be taken.
Enjoy 2008 for what it has given us (yes a share of heartbreak) and what it still might bring.

Finals experience is exactly what Bird, Ves, etc need to get that hunger.

Exactly, although I have no 1970's experiences to talk about, I can tell you, having followed the swans from around 1979 onwards, that it was pretty dry in the early to mid 80's as well. When the Dr Edelston period came about, it was great, unfortunately even that only lasted a couple of seasons. We got smashed in the finals, but it was great to be there. We then had to wait another 10 seasons...thats TEN seasons people, until we tasted finals actiona again(1996). So just remember, dont take finals games for granted.

[bigswan]

You can recover your form by kicking two goals in a row. If we beat Brisbane of course we can win a final in Melbourne!

[Lohengrin]

Beating Brisbane at home is a far cry from beating Hawthorn or Geelong or even the Bulldogs in Melbourne.

There seems to be a bit of a perception that we could be a threat in finals because of our past or something. Unfortunately that's gone and it's unlikely we will be a finals threat. A drop in our performance is hardly going to be surprising though. Most teams that appears in a number of consecutive finals seasons, including one or two GF appearances, drop back to the bottom of finals or outside the top 8 in the next few years. There are few exceptions to that and there is little reason why we should be. The critical issue is for the club to recognise that quickly, dump any underperforming older players and rebuild effectively over a couple of years to return us to the top quarter of the ladder.

[2005]

In 1970 I stood (for 5 hours) and watched the Bloods run onto the MCG for the first final in many many years.
We had tears in our eyes as we watched Bobby run around for his only ever final.

Never take a finals experience for granted. It should not be devalued because we have a winning culture now, i.e. we expect to be in finals !
Every season and every chance should be taken.
Enjoy 2008 for what it has given us (yes a share of heartbreak) and what it still might bring.

Finals experience is exactly what Bird, Ves, etc need to get that hunger.


Love it !
My old man saw some great players in ordinary teams, then Ive watched some very good players in real bad teams and for the last 10 or so years have watched a pretty competitive,proud footy team go around in finals year after year. Wouldnt want the early 90s back .

[johnno]

Beating Brisbane at home is a far cry from beating Hawthorn or Geelong or even the Bulldogs in Melbourne.

There seems to be a bit of a perception that we could be a threat in finals because of our past or something. Unfortunately that's gone and it's unlikely we will be a finals threat. A drop in our performance is hardly going to be surprising though. Most teams that appears in a number of consecutive finals seasons, including one or two GF appearances, drop back to the bottom of finals or outside the top 8 in the next few years. There are few exceptions to that and there is little reason why we should be. The critical issue is for the club to recognise that quickly, dump any underperforming older players and rebuild effectively over a couple of years to return us to the top quarter of the ladder.

So according to you, we should just give up on 2008 right now. Paul Roos to players....

"O.K. Lads, its round 21, we are sitting in sixth place on the ladder, if we win one of our next 2 games, we will enbark on yet another finals campaign, unfortunately, I think it would be better to lose those 2 games, dump a few senior players, make way for some youth, dwell down the bottom of the ladder for a couple of seasons and hopefully draft and trade well enough to get us back up the ladder in seasons 2011 and onwards. Apologies to Hall, O'loughlin, Kirk, Jolly Bolton and co.."

God am I glad you have nothing to do with selection at the club and also am glad I dont have to sit next to you at the games. I'm sure you would be a riot.

[Lohengrin]

So according to you, we should just give up on 2008 right now. Paul Roos to players....

"O.K. Lads, its round 21, we are sitting in sixth place on the ladder, if we win one of our next 2 games, we will enbark on yet another finals campaign, unfortunately, I think it would be better to lose those 2 games, dump a few senior players, make way for some youth, dwell down the bottom of the ladder for a couple of seasons and hopefully draft and trade well enough to get us back up the ladder in seasons 2011 and onwards. Apologies to Hall, O'loughlin, Kirk, Jolly Bolton and co.."

God am I glad you have nothing to do with selection at the club and also am glad I dont have to sit next to you at the games. I'm sure you would be a riot.
What on earth are you on about? I didn't even mention that I think we should lose these next two games. Whether any supporter thinks we are unlikely to win a game also has little to do with the preparation of the coach and players. I am talking about the future. As a supporter of course I want us to win as many games as possible, but like a number of people here (and Roos) I think we are unlikely to make much of an impact in finals and we need to make sure we are planning for the next few years (which means dropping underperforming older players in the next year or two, not next week!). Perhaps you should read or clarify before you rant about what you think is the case according to me!

[johnno]

What on earth are you on about? I didn't even mention that I think we should lose these next two games. Whether any supporter thinks we are unlikely to win a game also has little to do with the preparation of the coach and players. I am talking about the future. As a supporter of course I want us to win as many games as possible, but like a number of people here (and Roos) I think we are unlikely to make much of an impact in finals and we need to make sure we are planning for the next few years (which means dropping underperforming older players in the next year or two, not next week!). Perhaps you should read or clarify before you rant about what you think is the case according to me!

Well, it sounded to me like you have given up on the year, the players and on the coach. If this is not the case, than I apologise.

[Lohengrin]

Well, it sounded to me like you have given up on the year, the players and on the coach. If this is not the case, than I apologise.
:) Just settle! Most of us don't give up hope, but still take realistic and long term views.

[JF_Bay22_SCG]

Nahhhhhh. We'll play the old blokes, get flogged and finish 9th.

That means PICK 8 will be ours.

I sadly agree. If we scrape into the finals, we will only be there for week 1. We are in a physically worse for wear condition which is similar to 2004 when we fell over to the Saints.

The scary thing is how the media & club seemed to be wetting themselves over the return of Leo Barry (who has shown that with ages his trick of running around in circles means he gets pinged more often than not :mad: )

If he is our saviour, then heaven help us both tomorrow night & in the finals! :o


How do the finals look? If we finish 4th we play the Cats at the MCG. If we finish 5th we have a home final against team 8, right? What about if we finish 6-8?:confused:

JF (who hates this time of year, logistics-wise)

[Lohengrin]

Interesting now...