If you read and listen to the media today, you'd think St Kilda dominated all the game and we were lucky to win, let alone by 30. But after quarter time, with the exception of the start of the 4th, I thought we were comfortably on top, and had the boys bought the kicking boots along, it would have been a very comfortable margin.
Your Geelong comment at the end is what I thought too. When the game was there to be won, we found an extra gear and blew them away. The other thing I loved from that was the stoppage goal from Jack. I said to Mum next to me, we need to get a goal from this stoppage and we will win. And like clockwork, up popped Kieran Jack (on that note, he is going to be so important to us come finals time!) to kick that great snap. That was a great ability of the 05-06 team, and if we can continue to get more than our fair share of goals from stoppages over the rest of the year, then we will go deep into September.
Not as impressive as Hawthorn on Saturday but I think we have everyone else covered.
I'd back us at our best against the Hawks too but we will have to be a bit tighter in our marking when that game comes around. They are just so efficient in creating uncontested marks.
That was a pretty good effort by our boys to beat a desperate Saints after coming back from Perth.
I would never want his personality in our team but that sniper Milne is a good small forward. If he didn't go missing (i.e. get tagged out by Smiffy) in the middle two quarters it could have been a different result.
I guess it shows what value TDL could bring to our line-up (but who do we leave out?).
The sub situation emerges again as Everitt will need a game under his belt soon. I actually thought he had a wonderful opportunity to seal the match for a second time in 3 weeks as he was way too tall for his opponent but he dropped a very gettable mark pretty much in front of goal and certainly within his range.Thats why he needs a full game; to keep his skills up to scratch. Why not give TDL a run next week in the A's and Everitt in the B's?
I find the spin that opposition coaches have put on losses to us quite interesting.
Brad Scott seemed confused in his presser after our game against the Roos, claiming that they had "won" most of their key performance indicators yet were never really in the game. (Lately I've heard him refer to the game as one they could have won if not for inaccurate kicking for goal.)
Chris Scott claimed his team dominated three quarters and hence were unlucky not to win. (Strange that, because in the game I watched, the middle two quarters were arm wrestles, with both teams struggling to score.)
And now Watters also reckons they dominated for three quarters and it was only their poor conversion that cost them the game. Conveniently ignoring the fact that if the Swans had converted their chances in the first half, the game would have been over by the main break. Even the Saints first quarter "domination" was really only on the scoreboard. We had more scoring shots than them, and they weren't just scrappy rushed behinds - there were some genuinely easy scoring opportunities missed. Even in the final quarter, it felt like it was the Swans' poor disposal and decision making that mostly contributed towards the number of I50s that the Saints had. We were still pretty solid winning the contested ball.
James Hird's excuse - that Sydney didn't play like Sydney - is probably my favourite spin.
They're just looking after their jobs, like the pollies they reckon we'll believe anything.
It is almost like opposition coaches are like the media - consistently under rating our team, and hence have to come up with silly excuses when we beat them.
But I completely agree with your last sentence SS - they can keep it up all they want! However, I expect the key coaches in the competition, especially Clarkson (who has seen what a red hot Swans performance can do to his team) are not quite as silly as some of the other coaches out there. We will have to find several more gears come the finals to be genuine contenders, but with each passing week my confidence grows just a bit more that we will stand up to be counted when it matters.
# Believe - Bloods 2012!
Bookmarks