Certainly the effort was there, and the hard ball pressure was most certainly there. Need to maintain it for 4 quarters, but we weren't helped tonight by not having Hanners in our midfield rotation. As useful as Cunningham and BJ may become, they don't get a lot of ball yet and it was our bottom few that got shown up when the game was there to be won early in the last. Bring in Hanners, get Smith back to do a job on that little Poopoo or Rioli if he plays and get Tippett back, and I think we are right in it next week.
Looking forward to the media writing us off all week next week! If we bring tonight's effort next week and a bit more polish, we can win next week. Carn you mighty swannies - don't give up the Cup without an almighty fight!
"You get the feeling that like Monty Python's Black Knight, the Swans would regard amputation as merely a flesh wound."
Longmire just interviewed...happy with effort and winning tackles. Mal off as a precaution. He says Hanners, Nick Smith & Tippett all back next week. Will see how Jetta pulls up after Ressies (something tells me Jets could be a sub next week all going well). Horse also mentioned Goodesy ran well today and LRT is thereabouts. Ch 7 also showed Keiran Jack in the rooms sitting against the wall wrapped in a red dressing gown looking asleep. They said he looked a bit fluey...if so, thats a good sign as he will only improve.
Only got home for the last qrt. Was not impressed.
Feel better after reading the thread.
But still...
1st three quarters really were excellent CJK, especially in light of our poor last month. We dropped off in the last, which you can't afford to do against good sides. Certainly I think there is plenty of reason to feel far more optimistic going into the 1st final next week after the performance tonight.
"You get the feeling that like Monty Python's Black Knight, the Swans would regard amputation as merely a flesh wound."
Good effort in the first three quarters but the Hawks seemed to turn up their intensity in the last and that's where they won the game. We should expect that level next week though so we shouldn't prematurely assume we're back on track fully
We are back in town boys and girls. Still room for improvement and the last quarter was average but I did not want to win and play Geelong at Simonds Stadium anyway. Not saying we are premiers, but if we play like that. whoever beats us will really know about it. Goodbye Buddy , you will not be there next week and we will have Tippet.
Probably not PC to quote yourself, but I couldn't be more pleased the way things went:
1. Our midfield was linking up well again. Will only be helped with Hanners back in. He's a big part of it.
2. I didn't count on Buddy (most likely) missing next week. Makes our loss all that more important.
3. The main reason for the loss was their inside 50 marking, especially Roughhead. I think this can be fixed, especially if Richards can take Roughy instead of Buddy.
4. White is good, but is not a pack-mark forward. He did well, but is better suited when the main marking assignment goes to Tippett.
5. Some good signs with Rohan, but still doesn't get enough possession. He gets out positioned too easily. I hope he improves with more game time. His tackling is valuable. And he does kick straight for goal.
6. McGlynn looked much more valuable up the ground. He should be a tagger.
7. Biggs was much better than I imagined he would be. Great first game.
8. Does Lamb get back in this side?
9. Big advantage to play next Friday. If we do lose, we will play the following week in Sydney with and extra day's rest.
I'm feeling a lot more positive than I did after last week's game. We didn't go 100%, but showed that if we do, it will take a big effort to beat us. At 3/4 time, I hoped Horse would tell the players to take it easy and not worry about the scoreboard. Just don't get hurt. And they did! We gave up 3 quick goals and took the 'tanking' pressure off us. Well played Swannies!
In the article featuring Kizza in the Herald Sun today, it was suggested that opposition coaches have put our sluggishness over the past few weeks down to a heavy pre-finals training load. Maybe they are right as tonight they looked much fresher.
Those who have the greatest power to hurt us are those we love.
Looked heaps better and will improve with changes - especially Hanners and Smithy.
My Question is, how do we incorporate Tippett into the side and maintain the options in attack we had tonight? While it is a no brainer that Tippett is best 22, when he is there we have often looked one dimensional. The players moving forward get the blinkers on and only look for one option. The hawthorn backs are great cutoff marks and cover well for each other especiallty when the ball is moving forward in a predictable fashion. IMO if we go in one dimensional next week kicking to Tippett all the time we will be worse off than tonight despite having better personnel.
Tonight especially early I thought we were really wasteful going in to forward 50 but this was often due to poor delivery (sometimes under pressure) rather than being predictable as we have been at times the last few weeks. Jesse has looked dangerous and been doing all the right things, Mummy is running into form and Myke has been excellent. Horse has a tough job to incorporate all the talls into the side and make it work offensively. I know it is not what was planned when we secured his signature but I would like to see Tippett spend time in the ruck and have a three way rotation especially as both Pykey and Mummy are dangerous forward too, and it would not let the defenders settle. I also think Tippett has good agility that would be an asset around the ruck/clearances. The only problem is having 2 ruckmen resting in the forward line is difficult as it gets top heavy and the ball is likely to come out way too easy when not marked. Potentially next week if Hawthorn play 2 ruckmen we may need to use one in defence?
Dilemnas, dilemnas.... regardless what a great loss tonight, we were competitive with a depleted team(even if hawthorn were resting a few too), I feel quietly confident going in to next week, we have exposed some youngsters to a finals like game and we don't have to meet Geelong who I think we don't match up on well at the moment. For the first time in a month i am looking forward to finals, time for the september specialists to do their thing.
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