It almost seems the swans have always been poor at playing in the rain. Is this just my own perception or is it an actual fact?
When it started raining in the first quarter last Saturday, I instantly thought, "ohhhhhhh **************!" Sure enough, our game went downhill after that.
Can anyone explain the poor performances in the rain? Do they call off training when it rains or something? Do we draft players from drought-stricken areas?
* Waiting for horse to post something *
That is the best question anyone has asked on this forum for a long, long time. Shame I can't answer it.
The wet, and the extra long break at quarter time, well and truly played in the Giants' hands. These are not excuses mind you, just things that helped their chances because of our own weaknesses.
Today's a draft of your epitaph
In truly wet conditions, like Essendon and Carlton at SCG last year, I don't think we are that bad. When it's so wet that nobody can pick the ball up and the tactics are go in hard, fight and scratch to move it forward any way you can, we stand up pretty well.
We fall down badly when the ball is slippery through dew or drizzle like last week and Port last year etc. Our short handball game around the clearances to release guys into space just breaks down continually with the slippery ball, yet we don't seem to adjust our game in those situations.
For many years now I have contended we are a MUCH better team in the day than in the night when we often have to endure dewy conditions...
Driver of the Dan Hannebery bandwagon....all aboard. 4th April 09
I think it's a perception. As Triple B pointed out, we did well against Essendon and Carlton in the wet last year and we took the dogs apart in the wet at the SCG the year before. There's probably an argument that it favours the weaker team as it takes away the advantage of better skills or a better game plan and turns it into a slog fest.
it was a blip in the system
i cant analyse the loss any further
But i do remember .......Freedom is the road seldom travelled by the multitude !
Public Enemy - Show 'Em Whatcha Got - YouTube
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"be tough, only when it gets tough"
SCG dry but unrecognisable!
Because none of our players wee good boys as kids, like Hanners clearly wasn't, and were deprived slip'n'slides by Santa
Caro should get onto this
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Because none of our players were good boys as kids, like Hanners clearly wasn't, and were deprived slip'n'slides by Santa
Caro should get onto this
Lack of competitiveness in ruck exacerbated in wet: more stoppages, OOBs, messy clearances, yet more stoppages. Then the dam burst in the second half of the fourth quarter. Play two rucks!
Originally Posted by Triple B
That Port game last year was dreadful. We just tried the same things over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. Whereas Port clearly changed their game to suit their conditions, we just kept hitting our heads against a brick wall.
I think in those sort of slippery but not truly wet conditions, we still go in thinking our normal game plan will do it. I remember when Geelong beat us comfortably on a wet night (fairly recently at the SCG?) They completely changed their style of play to one in which you just force the ball forward at all costs, i.e. they played with a specific aim to get the ball forward and make the play to your advantage, in your attacking half of the field, and trust your guys further up field to control possession, even in a 1 on 1 situation.
I don't understand why we don't do that. For when its slippery and wet like it was at the Port game last year, its very unlikely that the other team is going to absolutely punish you kicking it long and taking lots of marks and getting you on the counter. We need to trust more in our defenders to do the job 1 on 1 in the wet, and take some risks to push the ball forward and break the congestion that way.
"You get the feeling that like Monty Python's Black Knight, the Swans would regard amputation as merely a flesh wound."
I shudder anytime we play in wet conditions. They have no idea how to adapt at all. Not saying that our skills don't sometimes get us over the line anyway.
Particularly in the backline we rely on quick handballs and run from behind to release the ball.
The slippery ball slows down the movement, and the heavy ground stops our run.
He ate more cheese, than time allowed
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