Changes for Rnd 19 vs essendon

[Bloody Hell]

The sub selection will be interesting.

With Laidler dropped you would have to assume that Shaw will be a starter despite his layoff. The only other person with dicey form is Cunningham ATM, but if he was made sub I'm not sure who would play that half forward role, unless they went with a setup like last year with Bird playing a defensive forward role.

Listening to Bomber Thompson on 360, he speaks about the importance of the HBF and recently they have been playing more of their guns back there. I suspect there will be a bit of responsibility given to the HHF this week.

I really like Lloyd, but he has look tired at times recently - he's a good starter though - I'd prefer to see him on the ground for the bounce.

[dimelb]

I think Wayne Carey is one of our more thoughtful footy commentators, and I'd be sure that Horse (happy birthday, by the way!) is well and truly covering the same ground. He has a point, as several posters here have pointed out:

The problem with superstars - Sydney still has the L-plates on

[Go Swannies]

I think Wayne Carey is one of our more thoughtful footy commentators, and I'd be sure that Horse (happy birthday, by the way!) is well and truly covering the same ground. He has a point, as several posters here have pointed out:

The problem with superstars - Sydney still has the L-plates on

Good piece by Carey. Like you I've been surprised by his insights. I don't think he's right here, though. I think last week's fail was partly getting our forwards functioning together again after a long time apart. And, as I've said elsewhere, I think we didn't play the game we plan to play against the Hawks in finals.

However, if we lose tonight then it wasn't tactical and Carey is correct.

[DK_]

The sub selection will be interesting.

With Laidler dropped you would have to assume that Shaw will be a starter despite his layoff. The only other person with dicey form is Cunningham ATM, but if he was made sub I'm not sure who would play that half forward role, unless they went with a setup like last year with Bird playing a defensive forward role.

Listening to Bomber Thompson on 360, he speaks about the importance of the HBF and recently they have been playing more of their guns back there. I suspect there will be a bit of responsibility given to the HHF this week.

I really like Lloyd, but he has look tired at times recently - he's a good starter though - I'd prefer to see him on the ground for the bounce.

My money's on Lloyd as sub - Horse rarely plays the same sub twice and Towers will play that quick defensive forward role. Cunningham's played tagging roles a lot this year and may get another gig shutting down Heppell or similar.

[DK_]

I think Wayne Carey is one of our more thoughtful footy commentators, and I'd be sure that Horse (happy birthday, by the way!) is well and truly covering the same ground. He has a point, as several posters here have pointed out:

The problem with superstars - Sydney still has the L-plates on

Good piece. I've got a theory that one of the big events that led to the 2012 flag was Goodes' injury (back when he was the heart, soul and backbone of the team), which forced the rest of the team to make do without him.

Still, there's something funny about Wayne Cary accusing a team coached by Horse of being too focused on key forwards.

[ShockOfHair]

Yes, I guess Duck knows whereof he speaks. He had a whole paddock to work with.

I get what he's saying about the Swans, but it's because our players have worked themselves into becoming 'stars' - rejects like Kennedy adn McGlynn and rookies like Jack and Smith - more than those two recruits.

But it's gilding the lily a bit to say the Hawks have no stars. Hodge, Bruest, Roughie, Mitchell, Lewis, Gibson, plus Lake and Rioli who'll be playing in the finals. A lot of star material there.

Anyway, I like how the season storyline is turning towards a Hawthorn premiership, or even Geelong. Let them wear the pressure as frontrunners.

[liz]

It sounds like the typical AFL commentary that defines trends based on the most recent game. While I don't think we're as even a team as we were in 2012 (partly because we have 2-3 players who I think perceive themselves as the 20th-22nd players in the team), no-one accused the team of relying on too few when we were beating up on Geelong. Or edging ahead of Freo. Or even when we beat the Hawks at the SCG earlier this year.

There were a few players down on their best last week but that doesn't suddenly make the team over dependent on superstars.

[Mel_C]

The swans bombers game from earlier in the year is on foxtel at the moment. I'd forgotten how much the essendon supporters booed at that game.

Lucky the game isn't in Melbourne tonight. The weather is terrible...so glad to be inside!

PS. Bruce's commentary is annoying even when it is a replay.

[Swansongster]

Yes, I guess Duck knows whereof he speaks. He had a whole paddock to work with.

I get what he's saying about the Swans, but it's because our players have worked themselves into becoming 'stars' - rejects like Kennedy adn McGlynn and rookies like Jack and Smith - more than those two recruits.

But it's gilding the lily a bit to say the Hawks have no stars. Hodge, Bruest, Roughie, Mitchell, Lewis, Gibson, plus Lake and Rioli who'll be playing in the finals. A lot of star material there.

Anyway, I like how the season storyline is turning towards a Hawthorn premiership, or even Geelong. Let them wear the pressure as frontrunners.

Agreed. Nothing we do from here can prise the Melbourne media off Hawthorn as their desired home-grown champs. They will not be nearly as gnarly on us as they would have been had we entered September with 18 consecutive wins under the belt. We are not exactly flying under the radar again but we are not the largest blip on the screen any more.

[Plugger46]

360 were doing something similar the other night. You'd think we'd been beaten by 6 goals. We had a number of midfielders down, yet we led by nearly 4 goals at one stage and could've pinched it late in the game.

Major overreaction to one game of footy which could've gone either way. Nature of the footy media, I guess.

[SimonH]

It's not about the one 'bad' game (not that we were all that bad, in truth). For a flag contender it's all about how you bounce back next week.

Granted, Freo were much, much, much worse than us in their loss last weekend?but apart from the W:L column, that wouldn't matter a bit to their chances if they bounced back, flogged Carlton, put in a very Ross-Lyon-like performance and St Kilda could all be written off as a momentary aberration. However, the game that they played last night, they looked shot?flat, lacking confidence, lacking intense pressure on the ball carrier and as the commentators said on more than one occasion, 'un-Fremantle-like'. They've got actual problems, not just 'problems' in the memory-loss world of week-by-week headlines.

So what was the true significance of the Hawthorn game to our season? We'll know by 10:40pm tonight.

[Blue Sun]

The game last weekend was an excellent match, it was the best live game I've seen in a very long time. Both the Hawks and Swans had their opportunities and played extremely well in patches. Perhaps if those 2 goal square incidents (Hill caught with the ball and later Goodes' mark) went the other way, we may have won.

In any case, I am confident that we can (and will) beat the Hawks in the GF with Hanners back in the side. He is the barometer for the Swans, when he is playing well, we are the best team in the competition. I am probably getting ahead of myself by saying that, but it is my honest opinion.