GAME DAY thread Swans v Cats Round 23

[Margie]

I thought we played pretty poorly today. Not being able to mark the ball is a big downfall of the team at the moment. If we can't take those big grabs in the forward line, we won't go much further.

The players seemed tired/lacklustre for most of the game and have to travel again next week. AAMI is another hostile venue, although I doubt Adelaide would have been too worried about playing us at ANZ had results gone our way today.

It will take a committed effort - we can do it, but everyone must be really switched on.

[Jewels]

Why would the plan be to be better next year? Surely it was to be as good as we possibly can be this year.

We recruited the players you list because every club recruits some new players every year, not because those players (all untried) are going to come in and replace five or six seasoned, quality players. We all hope we can improve next year - through Rohan, Parker, Jetta, Reid, Johnson as much as untried players - but this season is still very much alive. Do you not think the focus should be on going as far as we can this year? You never know what might happen...

Now, now, now Liz enough of this commonsense stuff.
I think we should just throw our hands in the air and concede defeat now cause it's blatantly obvious from so many of the experts on here that we haven't got a prayer of winning another game this year.

[Margie]

Now, now, now Liz enough of this commonsense stuff.
I think we should just throw our hands in the air and concede defeat now cause it's blatantly obvious from so many of the experts on here that we haven't got a prayer of winning another game this year.

We can win another game, but our skills need to improve quite dramatically to achieve that aim.

[Jewels]

We can win another game, but our skills need to improve quite dramatically to achieve that aim.

We had one bad game for Gods sake - ONE!

[Ratna]

Once before this season we lost three out of four. Everyone wrote us off as being lucky to make the eight and after that went on to win our next nine games.
Not saying we can do this again, (Three in a row from here would do) but I think there is still reason to believe in this team. In the last four weeks we may have lost to the three best sides in the comp on form. Except for today we have lost by very little over this period.
Credit where credit is due I think Geelong were very good today and to win down there is no easy task. Playing the type of football they played today they will be very hard to beat in the finals, they are strong, skilled and have a strong track record in finals. I don't think anyone would have beaten them today.
Heads up. We can beat Adelaide (although it wont be easy) and anything can happen from there.

[gossipcom]

Speaking of AJ, he copped the Longmire spray at 3/4 time.

[swansprincess]

Disappointed but really you aren't gonna win down at that @@@@hole of a place....IMO I think Alex Johnson is a becoming a liability in defence, we can't afford turnovers and players not being manned up, frustrating. Other than that I'm still baffled as to why Morton was dropped, he would of been handy in an otherwise dysfunctional forward line today. Onto next week and IF we play at our best and have Reid back I think we'll beat Adelaide. All is not lost, we can still win this thing, must win next week though.

If anyone is a liability it is Goodes lack of consistent form and Nick Malceski's brain fades down back. Twice in the third quarter he made hideous errors right near where I was sitting, I saw both unfold and directly result in goals. It was also around the time Geelong got on top of us..

But yes, why Morton was dropped and Walsh subbed out very early, leaving us with no genuine forward, topped the liabilties of selection / coach

[swansprincess]

I was there today and found it difficult to comprehend a number of things.
a) Why we have nobody who is prepared to remain in the forward line to give us a release when coming out of half back? This became even more apparent in the last quarter when we started to break quickly and then had to kick sideways as either nobody was home up front, or our 'forward' was marked by no less than two opponents.
b) What has happened to our centre clearances over the last few weeks? Earlier in the season we were the kings of clearances, but now the other teams seem to be able to take the ball away at will.
c) Why did we peak 6 weeks ago? I remember the Essendon teams of the 80's used to start well, fall away mid year, and then start to regain form and momentum leading into finals. Sheedy was the master of timing all this and it happened year after year. About 6 weeks ago I loved the way we were playing, but in the back of my mind I was concerned that we may have peaked too early. Handballs that were once slick and went to hand are now anything but, etc.
d) Is it true that Weagles crowds are more feral than Geelong? I find that incomprehensible. What an amazing experience at that ground today!

all of this is spot on!
I got screamed at in my face by a fully grown man before the game had even started!!! There were certainly some characters there today though..

[ScottH]

We can win another game, but our skills need to improve quite dramatically to achieve that aim.

The thing Geelong have that we don't is some big experienced bodies.
Many of our mob are still pretty raw.
I thought our skills were pretty good, but theirs (and hawks) were far superior.

Just need to get the form back that sunk the eagles. Last good game we played and won.

[BillyRayCypress]

I'm not negative. I hit the lead in my footy tipping.

Hannerbury had a poor game today. Really stuffed up a fair bit.

Well if at the start of the season, we were all told we would finish 3rd and be playing Crows in the first final, no one would have been complaining.

So bring on the Crows.

[Xie Shan]

The thing Geelong have that we don't is some big experienced bodies.
Many of our mob are still pretty raw.
I thought our skills were pretty good, but theirs (and hawks) were far superior.

Just need to get the form back that sunk the eagles. Last good game we played and won.

Playing the Crows won't help, according to Guy McKenna they are built like tanks! Or is he saying that the hoops make them look fat?

An undersized Suns outfit was shown up on Saturday afternoon by a Crows team that McKenna likened to "M1 tanks".

Adelaide has attributed some of its success in 2012 to its players' bigger bodies and with the Crows' fitness manager Stephen Schwerdt to join the Suns for next season, McKenna is hopeful his youngsters could develop in similar fashion.

"You saw today, whether it's the hoops of Adelaide ... it's like the M1 tanks playing with little dune buggies out there," McKenna said.

http://www.afl.com.au/news/newsartic...3/default.aspx

[Hazcam]

I'm not negative. I hit the lead in my footy tipping.

Hannerbury had a poor game today. Really stuffed up a fair bit.

Well if at the start of the season, we were all told we would finish 3rd and be playing Crows in the first final, no one would have been complaining.

So bring on the Crows.

You make a good point. I was expecting a top 6 finish after last year and we have done well to be 3rd. Oh so close to be 1st with just losses to cats, st kilda and Richmond if those other games went our way.