Practice Match: UWS Giants v Sydney Swans Reserves

[liz]

No one really out up their hand today I thought. Derickx also has a concussion to deal with but at least he has two weeks to recover

Yep, pretty flabby performance all around. Started decently enough, with a young defender wearing 34 making a few lively forays up the ground. He looked great, before collapsing in a heap in a marking contest and being helped from the ground. For the rest of the first half the Swans looked slow, disinterested and without much structure. Their intensity improved slightly after half time, but they were still a long way short of what we've seen in recent years.

Robinson was maybe the best of a mediocre midfield group but I've seen him play much better. Lloyd was pretty quiet in the first half but did get significantly better as things went on. Jack started well but seemed to stop around the same time as Alex Johnson. Harsh? Probably, but he'll need to get much better to force his way into the senior team (which is saying something, given how they went tonight).

I've not really seen anything from Lockyer or Marsh yet that says "AFL senior player in the making" and nothing changed today. Membrey looked slow and unfit. Perris wasn't moving well at all - wouldn't be surprised if he's carrying some groin soreness of some description.

Alir was far from the worst. He was at least energetic, made some nice spoils, and tried to provide a bit of run from defence. X was playing on Boyd, I think, for much of the game, and struggled to combat his height. Dick wasn't the worst.

Biggs wasn't too bad for someone who's had a bit of an interrupted pre-season. Hewett looked very young and could have passed for one of the top-ups. He was OK, maybe a bit tentative. But given he's had practically no pre-season it's got to be a wait and watch for him.

Zak Jones was reasonable. He didn't play onball, per se, but seemed to drift between half-forward and half-back. He turned the ball over at times but at least he showed good intensity.

For a mature player, I thought Derickx was very disappointing. Had a chance to take a few marks up forward but everything went right through his fingers. Nankervis wasn't much better, but at least has the excuse of youth. Mitchell looked completely at sea, but that's to be expected. He has at least learned how to tackle. Sammy did a few nice things but nothing to suggest he's ready to move up to the big time anytime soon.

Some of the top-ups provided many of the highlights. Ressies stalwart Doug Haddin (sp?) had claims to being BOG. He got plenty of the ball, did turn it over a few times, but produced a couple of great run downs and tackles. Number 50 showed a fair array of skill too. I heard him being called Jack but not sure of his surname - was it Jack Hiscox maybe? Number 52 was reasonably lively too, while 53 kicked the first two goals and looked very composed in doing so. He drifted out of the game after that but not a bad first outing - I am pretty sure I've not seen him play for the side before.

If any of these guys (and I mean our listed players, rather than the toppies) do have designs on playing much senior football, they'd do well to dig out a few tapes from nearly a decade ago when they likes of McVeigh and Malceski were trying to break into the senior team (I'm thinking 2005ish). They would run themselves ragged, linking up several times in the same play to move the ball from defence to the forward line. I reckon Jones was the only listed player out there today who showed anything like the required level of intensity. We know several of the rest can do this, because they did last year. Let's hope they find their mojo soon.